Meter

Issue date: 12/7/08 Section: Business

2008-2009 TSU Delegates

Students from all across the state gathered together at the state capitol for the Tennessee Intercollegiate Student Legislation 39th general assembly.

The four day event, allows students from different colleges around Tennessee to gather to mock the process of the State Legislature.

Many of the students attended the assembly simply because they have an interest in politics; in fact, some of the delegates were not even political science majors.

"It was a great experience especially for me not being a political science major," said Cassie Martin, a sophomore psychology major from Chattanooga. "The things I most enjoyed were the debates and the whole feel of the House of Chambers."

Students come armed with bills which they plan to introduce, debate and hopefully get passed in the House of Representatives.

The TISL General Assembly is very similar, if not identical, to the State Legislature. Students, or delegates, were given the opportunity to introduce their bills to committees that directly tied to their bill.

For example, any bill that had anything to do colleges went to the Higher Education Committee. The committee could then decide to change bills pertaining to the subject.

After students were given the chance to introduce and answer questions about their respective bills, the committee either voted to send it to the floor with a recommendation for passage, a recommendation for defeat or with no recommendation.

Afterwards, delegate had to wait until their bill was brought up on the floor, where they answered questions from the entire General Assembly and debated. After the debate, the bill was either passed or failed.

"I really enjoyed my experience with TISL, it was an accurate portrayal of the State Legislature and our roles as delegates were completely realistic," said Allison Manning, a senior political science major from Nashville.

More than 47 colleges attended from University of Memphis, Sewanee and East Tennessee State University.

The students, some of which who had never even seen the process of the Legislation in Tennessee, quickly picked up the parliamentary procedures, and debated bills just like true Tennessee politicians.

Their hard work and passion to for politics eventually paid off, as TSU and Jackson State Community College were announced best delegation.

"I'm very excited. I think it shows the quality of people that represent TSU," said Philip Stoecklein, a senior political science major from Nashville.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools