In Monday's two-hour-long session, the Student Association Senate passed nine of the 12 amendments proposed by the assembly.
The first of the amendments proposed to move the election date for speaker of the assembly from the beginning of the fall semester to "no earlier than April 8 and no later than April 30." The speaker of the assembly would take office May 1, allowing him or her to begin preparing for the upcoming year over the summer. The amendment passed the senate unanimously.
The second and third amendments also passed unanimously, to change the period in which the assembly sets the date for the election of the SA executive officers from the last meeting of the fall semester to no later than Dec.7. They also voted to change the title of the New York State Student Assembly delegate to "State University of New York Student Assembly Delegate."
The fourth amendment dealt with another NYSSA issue, proposing that should a vacancy in the ranks of UB's delegates occur before Oct. 31, a new election must be held. The amendment failed by a vote of nine to one. SA Vice President Joshua Korman said, "I don't think SUNY delegate is a position to talk about this. Frankly, I don't think it's worth the expense."
A similar amendment proposed that in the event of a vacancy in the position of the vice president or treasurer of SA, a replacement must be appointed within two weeks of the resignation. This amendment also failed to pass the senate by the same ratio.
The proposal to readjust the distribution of senate representation for on-campus versus off-campus residents to account for the expansion of on-campus housing passed unanimously. As a result, the body will now be composed of six representatives for the on-campus residents and six for the off-campus residents.
"What this comes down to is a lot of people dealing with a lot of terminology," said Korman. "I haven't seen, during my years here, where on/off-campus students have different views."
Presently, all assembly and senate meetings where voting takes place must be announced in a campus periodical at least five days before the meeting. The seventh and eighth amendments will allow the meetings to be advertised in two of three ways: in a campus periodical, via the SA Web site or by e-mail to the assembly members. The meetings must still be announced five days in advance.
"I don't like The Spectrum to have this power," said Korman. "I think it's appalling."
The ninth proposed change to the SA constitution would have allowed assembly members to retain their office simply by obtaining the signature of either the speaker or one of the e-board members of SA. The proposal failed, eight votes to one, leaving assembly members to obtain 40 student signatures each semester he or she wishes to serve.
"It's designed so the more dedicated members come back," said SA Senator Gregory Haynes. Anthony Burgio, current senator and 2002-2003 SUNY SA delegate, agreed with Haynes.
"Getting 40 signatures is a great way to advertise SA," Burgio said. "It gets more people on board."
Resignation of both the speaker of the assembly and the chair of the senate were addressed in the 10th and 11th amendments. If a student resigns from either position during the school year or while classes are not in session, the legislative body must meet to appoint another leader no later than two weeks after the resignation, in the first instance, or no later than two weeks after the beginning of classes, in the second case. Both amendments passed, the first unanimously and the second with one abstention.
The last amendment to the constitution proposed changing the date on which an applicant to the assembly would become a member after receiving 40 signatures from students. The amendment was passed, removing the five-day waiting period to receive active status and allowing assembly members to become voting members by noon the business day after turning in their petitions.
