The Job of a Student Assembly Chair on a College Campus

On every college campus, the student government plays a prominent role in making policy decisions and representing the views of the student body. The student government body is similar to that of the House of Representatives. Each person on the governing body gets to express their view points. Also like the House of Representatives, the student legislative body is overseen by an assembly or legislative chair.

The legislative chair is responsible for setting an agenda to be discussed each week at the general body meetings. On the agenda, bills are up for vote and discussion. Usually, a member of the legislative body will propose a bill to be voted on by the members of the governing body. Debate procedure will follow and then most likely, the bill or policy in question will be voted on by members of the governing body with a certain quota likely needed in order to pass the bill or policy.

The legislative chair basically controls the flow of conversation during the legislative body meetings. When someone wants to speak, they need permission from the chair and the chair is also responsible for calling meetings and ending meetings. The chair has a lot of power and can even impeach members on the executive, legislative or judicial bodies if the quota reached is received by the members of the general body.

The legislative chair is a very important position and needs to know all of the rules, policies and regulations set forth in the student governing body by-laws and constitution. The legislative chair also needs to be aware of any new developments throughout the past week that have occurred on the college campus concerning the student body or administrators. The legislative chair often has to be in constant contact with school administrators in order to be aware of any new developments. This involves having weekly meetings with administrators and the student executive board so that the legislative chair can relay those concerns back to the student governing body.
On the student governing body, only elected represented officials have the right to speak and vote. The only exception is if the legislative chair allows someone to speak or puts a guest speaker on the agenda for that meeting. In some meetings, members of the executive board might also ask members of the executive board to talk about ongoing developments in the student body. The legislative chair might also ask a student or student organization to answer questions before the student governing body as a means of gathering information to make an informed decision.