The Student Association elected a representative to the class of 2017 Alumni Board and failed to pass a proposed amendment to the bylaws in its final meeting of the semester.

Kelvin Sherman, Kamille Stewart and Taysha Watson, all non-SA representatives, presented a funding bill to the assembly proposing that multiple organizations be allowed to apply for funding for the same event. The bill was proposed to express opposition to the enforcement of a funding policy that prohibits organizations from collaborating financially when they apply for SA funding.

If passed, it would have gone into effect for the spring 2015 budget process.

“The point of collaboration is to diversify programming and to achieve more than you can on your own,” Sherman said. “It’s important that we have the liberty to apply for and collaborate with each others’ events.”

Members of various student groups were in the gallery supporting the three students who presented the bill. Students represented organizations such as the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists and Students of Sustainability.

Following the initial presentation of the bill, Comptroller Patrick Douglas spoke about some of the main issues with it, specifically that the bill said small groups should be able to collaborate since they don’t have an alumni base to contribute to events. But, Douglas said he rarely sees alumni cutting checks for organizations in general.

He added that he was willing to continue working on the bill despite its problems.

“I think this bill shows a lot of merit and initiative,” he said. “I’m not saying no, but we need to revisit it and change it.”

After nearly half an hour of discussion, the bill failed to receive a two-thirds majority and did not pass. The bill can be reintroduced later, but must be changed in some way.

The assembly also elected Jack Harding, a freshman representative for the College of Arts and Sciences, to the class of 2017 Alumni Board. The board maintains contact with Syracuse University alumni and encourages them to remain connected to the university.

During last week’s meeting, four candidates were up for the position. No candidate received the required majority of votes, and the field was eventually narrowed to Harding and Katie Hochrein, a freshman representative for the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

After the first round of voting for the position this week, neither Harding nor Hochrein received a two-thirds majority. Assembly members then discussed the strengths and weaknesses of both candidates before voting for a second time.

No candidates received a two-thirds majority in the second round, so Speaker Ben Jones made a motion to temporarily suspend the rules, which allowed Jones to cast the deciding vote. Jones called it “an emergency measure.” The assembly approved the motion and Jones cast his vote in line with the assembly, giving Harding the required two-thirds majority.

Presidential report

President Boris Gresely gave his final presidential report of the semester. He reflected on what the assembly accomplished during the past few months and recapped the Bain & Co. report, which the university released Friday.

Gresely touched on some initiatives that SA committees focused on during the semester, such as expanding operating hours for Carnegie Library and the Life Sciences Complex, completing a transfer student survey and creating the Committee on the Budget.

Next semester, SA will focus on reconnecting with the student body, Gresely said. He said one aspect of the reconnection phase is hosting a student affairs summit, which will allow student leaders from across campus to meet and interact.

“The student affairs summit will allow us to capture the culture of SU,” Gresely said.

When discussing the Bain report, Gresely noted that it covered many areas SU can improve upon. But, he said he’s confident that the current administration will be able to make the necessary adjustments.

Said Gresely: “I think we’re in good hands and this leadership will help move SU in the right direction.”

Published on April 29, 2014 at 2:25 am

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27