Student Assembly

Minutes - Student Assembly
August 29th, 2013
4:45pm - 6:30pm
Willard Straight Hall

I. Call to Order

U. Smith called the meeting to order at 4:45pm

Members present

S. Balik, J. Batista, G. Block, E. Bonatti, T. Drucker, R. Gademsky, I. Harris, M. Henderson, T. Hittinger, L. Liu, M. Lukasiewicz, Y. Ma, A. Murphy, C. Pritchett, U. Smith, M. Stefanko, T. Talbot, B. Thompson, N. Tulsky, L. Wershaw

Members excused

J. Lee

II. Oath of Office for New Members

U. Smith led the new members in the Oath of Office

III. Open Microphone

• Jonathan: Why the Student Activity Fee? Who makes the decisions and why? Where do the unused funds go? Why not have a Student Activity Debit Account?
• Darrick Evensen introduced himself as the graduate trustee.

IV. Announcements/Reports

Elections Update — A. Muglia

Materials are due next Tuesday. There are 4 freshman seats, one LGBT seat, and one transfer seat

Committees Update — M. Lukasiewicz

Committees are partially staffed, as they left room for new applicants of the semester

V. Business of the Day

R.1: Approval of the 2013–2014 Standing Rules — S. Balik

• New outreach requirements for members
• G. Block: Regarding Section 6 Rules 4 and 7, how will a mass email be practical in terms of timing (thinking specifically of byline funding groups that the Appropriations Committee works with) and what is meant by the email signature?
  • I. Harris: Rule 7 is for the Cornell CMail account signature — asking that members put a link to the SA website in their signature
  • U. Smith: Rule 4 is not a new rule and it only pertains to SA-based mass emails
• M. Lukasiewicz: Motion to amend Section 6 Rule 7 to add in the last sentence “when conducting official SA business”
  • Call to question, seconded, dissent expressed
    • Vote to vote: 16–2−0
  • Motion passed by a vote of 18–1−0
• C. Pritchett: Can you further clarify how outreach events will be assigned? Like the outreach idea, but concerned about hand holding
  • J. Batista: Given members’ schedules, each will be assigned 3 pertinent outreach events per 2 week period to which the mumber must attend 2
  • M. Stefanko: Believes this is really important in terms of accountability and reaching out to the community. It won’t prevent members from attending other events they want to go to
  • E. Bonatti: Thinks the SA members should be held accountable to their representative constituencies and should not be obliged to visit other events, though it is a good idea
  • J. Batista: The hope is that in assigning events, it will become a habit for members. The rules can be amended in the future as needed. The hope is that this new method will be better in the long run for the SA
  • T. Hittinger: It seems like it was a previous assembly that wasn’t great with outreach. Suggests starting with a less stringent system to see how people do on their own voluntarily
• M. Lukasiewicz: Motion to amend adding Rule 8 to Section 6, passed from last semester
  • Call to question, seconded
  • Motion passed by a vote of 17–0−0
• T. Hittinger: Motion to amend requirement of events from 2 to 1 (per 2 week period)
  • Call to question, seconded
• Motion passed by a vote of 11–8−0
• C. Pritchett: Motion to amend to strike “such events will designated by the Vice President of Outreach”
  • Call to question, seconded
• Motion failed by a vote of 3–13–0
• Call to question, seconded, dissent expressed
  • Vote to vote: 15–4−0
• Resolution 1 passed by a roll call vote of 19–0−0

R.2: Approval of the 2013–2014 Operating Budget — G. Block

• Attempt to be stricter in how funds are being spent
• Budget outlines initial allocations as more funding can be provided later
• M. Lukasiewicz: Why has the budget increase by $800 for Community Life and Inclusion and Diversity?
  • Money is set aside in case committees come up with events. The hope in the near future is to educate the committees on how they can efficiently spend their funding
• E. Bonatti: Why increase the amount when money can just be placed into Special Projects?
  • To clarify, the increase is not too big as the community life category absorbed a few committees. Don’t think there is much of a difference in where money is placed
• A. Muglia: What is the rationale behind the budget for the elections?
  • Money goes to the Office of the Assemblies for the elections system
• T. Talbot: Where does the non-used money go?
  • It will go into a rollover reserve account for special projects
• J. Batista: What is the SUNY SA funding for?
  • Travel for semester meetings of all the SUNY student governments
• Call to question, seconded
• Resolution 2 passed by a roll call vote of 19–0−0

VI. New Business

R.3: SAFC Charter Changes — G. Block

• Last year in an attempt to make funding easier for organizations, a change was made to have a funding deadline per month instead of only one at the beginning of each semester
• The switch to OrgSync has been difficult and the SAFC has requested that the aforementioned change be reverted to is previous state as they work with the new system. The goal is to bring the monthly deadlines back.
• C. Pritchett: What do you see in the future of the relationship with OrgSync?

They promised us a lot of functionality but it’s taking longer than expected. The SA will be kept updated

• Call to questioned, seconded
• Resolution 3 passed by a roll call vote of 19–0−0

VII. Overview of New Requirements

See the attached PowerPoint

—
Respectfully submitted,
Chelsea Cheng