The Student Association Assembly approved 12 new amendments to the SA Constitution at its Tuesday, April 16 meeting. All the amendments, proposed by the Constitutional Revisions Committee, passed unanimously, with only one abstention. The SA Senate will vote on the amendments at its meeting Monday.
Currently, SA's constitution states that the speaker of the Assembly be elected at the assembly's second meeting in the fall. The assembly voted to move the election to a date between April 8 and April 30 to allow the speaker more time to prepare for the upcoming year.
"This is the most important amendment because [the assembly] was so weak in the past and now the speaker will be prepared and ready before the semester starts," said Lorenzo Guzman, chair of the Constitutional Revisions Committee.
Jennifer Tuttle, current speaker of the SA Assembly, agreed.
"This amendment was desperately needed because students were being thrown into this position without any preparation in past years and now they will have all summer to prepare," said Tuttle. "This can only benefit the student government in the future."
The Senate currently has four senators representing students residing on-campus, four representing temporary off-campus students and four representing commuters. The proposed amendment would evenly divide the senate into six off-campus and six on-campus senators, grouping the commuters and off-campus residents into one category.
According to Guzman, UB is the only SUNY institution that makes the distinction between temporary off-campus and commuting students. Temporary off-campus students are defined as those students who do not reside in the residence halls or in on-campus apartments but who are not originally from the Buffalo area.
"This gives more equal representation within the Senate," said Tuttle.
The amendment would even out the ratio of on-campus to off-campus senators, said SA Vice President Joshua Korman, as the number of students living on-campus has increased by 3,000 in the last three years and by next year the number of on-campus and off-campus students should be even.
Guzman believes the changes to the Senate will be the most difficult amendment to pass because off-campus students will lose two seats in the Senate.
"I hope they realize that half of the students currently attending UB are living off campus and this adjustment should be made with the change of the student body," said Guzman. "That's why we are here."
Two amendments were also passed concerning UB's New York State Student Assembly Delegation. At present, no procedure exists to determine who takes over a NYSSA delegate position in the event that a seat becomes vacant, as when NYSSA Delegate John Haumesser failed to return to UB in the beginning of the fall last year, leaving SA President Christian Oliver to appoint current SUNY Trustee George Pape.
With the amendments in place, if a NYSSA vacancy occurs prior to Oct. 31, while classes are in session, the assembly must meet within two weeks to plan an election. If they are unable to do so, the president can appoint a delegate to fill the seat. If the vacancy happens over the summer, the assembly and senate have until the second week of classes to plan the election or a presidential appointment becomes necessary.
The same conditions would apply to a vacancy in the SA Senate.
Oliver disagreed with the latter amendment on the grounds that delegates are required to attend two conferences, one in October and one in April. If a vacancy occurred less than two weeks before the NYSSA conference, it would be impossible to hold an election and such a short amount of time and UB would lose representation, Oliver said. He felt it would be more efficient to keep the election deadline at Sept. 31.
To increase assembly participation, the assembly also voted on an amendment to change the method of meeting notification, which currently requires that notice be given seven days prior to a senate or assembly meeting in a campus periodical.
Tuttle said problems could arise when an advertisement cannot be published in time or when officials encounter difficulty reserving a room. The approved amendment would allow the assembly to advertise meetings with greater convenience by utilizing at least two out of the three following methods: a campus periodical, the Internet, either the SA or an SA-affiliated Web site, or a campus periodical's Web site; or through e-mail or listserv.
Guzman said the Senate and Assembly would utilize all three lines of communication on a regular basis.
Another of the amendments is intended to speed the process by which students become full voting members of the assembly. Students are currently required to submit 40 signatures to the Elections and Credentials Committee and cannot become a voting member until five days have passed. The amendment would make a student a full voting assembly member at noon the following business day after submitting his or her petition.
To remain an assembly member, a student must obtain 40 signatures each semester. A complimentary amendment would allow assembly members to obtain the signature of the speaker or two of the three executive board officers if he or she wishes to continue assembly membership.
Oliver opposed the amendment, saying it could cause a conflict of interest in the event the assembly is called on to impeach an executive officer or speaker.
The assembly also voted to change the title of NYSSA Delegate to SUNY Student Assembly Delegate. Guzman believes this title is more appropriate because the organization is formally called Student University of New York Student Assembly.
Tuttle described the amendments as "overdue," especially those concerning the election of the speaker and the five-day waiting period.
"[The amendments] all are beneficial and a package deal," said Korman. "They will help operations and organizations run more smoothly."
Guzman agreed.
"These amendments not only give the student government more foundation, you can misinterpret the messages," said Guzman. "These amendments give clarity to where there was fog."
