The UOSA Student Congress voted to indefinitely postpone changes to the requirements of who can run for UOSA president.

The proposed bill would have required anyone wishing to run for UOSA president to serve two consecutive or three non-consecutive terms in any branch of UOSA before being eligible to run for OU’s top student office.

“I wanted to make these changes to the rules not to discourage anyone from running, but to use the changes as a way to get more people involved in student government,” said Jason Robison, Congressional Administration Committee chairman and political science and international and area studies junior.

Robison said if people wanted to run for UOSA president under the new rules, they should think about becoming involved in student government.

“I also feel that the experience someone would receive from serving the required terms in UOSA would help them become a better president,” Robison said.

Robison faced questions from members of Congress and Oklahoma Students for a Democratic Society Spokesman Matt Bruenig. During that time, Robison said he was not pushing the bill for his own personal advancement into higher office.

Robison accepted a friendly amendment from UOSA Student Congress Secretary Brittany Pritchett that removed the term requirements but still made presidential candidates have a 2.5 grade-point average and be in good financial standing with OU.

But in the end, the bill was postponed indefinitely.

Members said they could not debate the bill because the UOSA Code Annotated, which contains the laws enacted by the Graduate Student Senate and Student Congress, had not been updated to accompany similar legislation that changed the requirements to who can run for Campus Activities Council chair.

“It is usually the job of the UOSA General Counsel to update the UOSACA, but because of the office being busy with other things, the code has not been updated fully,” said UOSA Student Congress Chairman John Jennings, management information systems senior.

Jennings said though members had an out-of-date copy of the UOSA Code Annotated, the law that was passed last year that changed the CAC chair requirements was still in effect.

Members who visibly disagreed with the bill, and who were confused on what the actual UOSA law stated, voted to postpone the bill indefinitely by a vote of 21 in favor, nine voting no and six members abstaining from voting to postpone the measure.

Robison will be able to bring the bill up again in the spring during another session of Congress.