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Members of Student Association proposed an amendment to its constitution Monday that would shift the start of each legislative session to the end of the spring semester.

Under SA’s current constitution, legislative sessions began in the fall semester. The new system, which SA’s Parliamentarian Joshua Shub-Seltzer proposed, would allow the Assembly to meet at least once before summer break. 

“This means that, in the time between the election and then, the president and vice president can search for cabinet members and we can start doing confirmations during the summer,” Shub-Seltzer said at Monday’s Assembly meeting. “This has been an issue year after year — assembly in recess can’t do anything, and with no cabinet, this allows people to be put in place before the summer.”

The proposal also changes the structure of SA to elect assembly members based on representative groups rather than their home school or college. While schools and colleges would still have  representatives, other communities on campus, such as the Center for Disability Resources, could elect representatives to serve as assembly members. 

Amanda Byrne, SA’s Student Life Committee co-chair, said she’s planning a panel with Jewish student leaders on campus to talk about a recently proposed bill condeming anti-Semitism and what can be done going forward to improve relations with the Jewish community on campus. SA decided to table the bill after disagreements about some of its details. 

“I know a lot of people had questions about the language and contents of the bill,” Byrne said. “If this bill is untabled, I think this is a great opportunity to ask questions and learn about what it means to the  Jewish community.” 

Assembly member Yasmin Nayrouz said she would work with the Barnes Center at The Arch to allow students to cancel reservations on its website and make appointments for medical appointments on campus that aren’t related to COVID-19.

“We’re focusing on gathering student concerns on health and wellness, so we’ve made a survey for their concerns,” Nayrouz said. 

Published on March 2, 2021 at 12:47 am