The Student Association senate met again Tuesday for the 49th Legislative Session.
Neely Laufer, vice president of SA, led her second senate session of the term. There were 14 senators present, one a new addition to the senate.
The minutes and agenda were quickly approved to begin the meeting. There were no guests to the senate and no one to make public comment.
President Tucker Sholtes spoke to the senate and began with an apology for not being present the week prior. He was out of town at a competition for ENACTUS. Sholtes handed out information on SA director positions as he will be adding some new ones such as chief of staff. While he has not finalized the positions, he wanted the senate to have an idea what he is looking for. He also encouraged senators to set up times to meet with him for 30 minutes so he could get to know them.
Laufer discussed attending SUNY SA in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. She told the senate about her experience and how at one point the voting members debated whether to hold a vote in order to vote on whether to end the meeting. She noted that Oswego State’s SA has more senators than most. She said that they would most likely return in the fall because they learned a lot during their trip.
Hassan Al-Shareffi, the director of finance, said he has found three quality candidates to replace him for next year. He said he will have the candidates shadow him to see how they handle some of the responsibilities of director of finance. However, the final decision is left up to Sholtes as to who takes over the role. Al-Shareffi said he hopes to have a budget proposal to show the senate soon to have it finalized. He said he will send the budget to the senators in a spreadsheet for them to review before the meeting where it’s discussed. He plans to have everything budget-related handed in by Friday. Al-Shareffi also said to the senate that after things are finalized, they can make changes, possibly provide some new computers for executive offices and others in The Point. Senators also will be provided a free ticket to the SAPB spring concert if they want to attend. Laufer also said Oswego State could possibly host SUNY SA next year.
There were no committee reports this week.
Rules and Judiciary have decided to meet biweekly as stated in the SA code and have moved the meeting time to 3 p.m. on Thursday in Campus Center room 137. There is still continued stress on recruiting two more senators to join the senate so they can meet the necessary quorum and to have more club involvement with SA.
The senate had one bill to review at the meeting. The bill was to fund the event titled Speak up and Slam to be hosted in Lake Effect Cafe later this month. Ethan Gormley was representing the event organizers who were asking for $212.94, which will come out of the joint organization fund. The event will showcase a mixture of slam poetry, short fiction and other literary styles. Gormley said that the event has the full backing of the Creative Writing, English and Cinema and Screen Studies departments. Al-Shareffi supported the event to be funded in full by SA, something he said he rarely does. The bill passed unanimously 14-0-0.
The next SA senate meeting will be held on Tuesday in 102 Lanigan at 6 p.m.
