Thirty-three pages of Student Association bylaws were introduced to the general assembly at Monday night’s meeting.

The bylaws were presented by parliamentarian Stephen Thomas and put into code the changes made to the constitution last semester. In addition to clarifying many of the constitutional changes, including the new role of speaker, the bylaws also reflect many things SA already does but are not strictly allowed in the codes.

After Thomas presented the bylaws, former parliamentarian and current speaker of the assembly Ben Jones strongly urged the assembly to read through them before voting in the next meeting.

“These are a big deal,” Jones said. “These are the rules for how we work and if we don’t work well internally, then how can we work well for the students?”

Highlights of the new bylaws include:
• Defining the role of the speaker: The speaker is a non-voting member on all committees except the Finance Board and the Judicial Review Board. He or she can also call for special meetings or cancel meetings.
• Redefining the role of the Board of Administrative Operations: AdOp will now share power with the Board of Elections and Membership in applying demerits. It will also annually audit all members of cabinet and a randomly selected one-quarter of the assembly.
• Updated ethics and conduct codes: The bylaws now explicitly discuss how to deal with conflicts of interest and also outlaw ethical issues such as blackmail, bullying and trading favors not already banned in the codes. All assembly members must also sign a document agreeing to abide by these rules.
• A more defined impeachment process: AdOp will now conduct a 10-day investigation of the charges, hear witnesses and issue written witness statements to the assembly. The chair of the Judicial Review Board will also preside over any impeachment proceedings. The bylaws also more clearly define punishments for infractions.

The assembly also voted on the campaign reform bills introduced by former SA Vice President Duane Ford at last week’s meeting and previously discussed at the Administrative Operations committee meeting on Sunday. Members were asked to vote not on whether to pass the bills, but on whether to include the provisions in the bills in the new bylaws. Ford was not present at the meeting, so chair of the Board of Elections and Membership Dan Hernandez presented the bills on his behalf.

Most of the discussion surrounding the bills was reserved for the bill that would give candidates money from the SA public relations budget to run their campaigns. The original bill called for splitting up half of the PR budget among the candidates, with each campaign receiving up to $1,000 in funding.

The amended bill would prohibit the use of any outside funds for campaigning, Hernandez said. In addition, rather than splitting the PR budget in half, a set amount of $3,500 would be split among the campaigns. The $3,500 amount was chosen because it was a little higher than the total amount spent in the last election, when SA reached roughly 30 percent of the student body, Hernandez said.

The amended bill generated a lot of discussion, with many members disliking the chosen dollar amount and the fact that candidates would have to get funding approval from SA for every campaign-related expenditure.

“I think that giving a student up to $1,000 in student activity fees is incredibly irresponsible,” said Allie Curtis, former SA president. “I don’t even think that anyone’s hit $1,000 in the last couple years.”

In the end, the bill was tabled so it could be discussed further in the Administrative Operations committee meeting.

The assembly also voted to amend the bill that prevented campaigns from using academic listservs to campaign to allow candidates to use RSO listservs to campaign as long as they had permission. The assembly also voted down a bill that would prohibit door-to-door campaigning during election week.

The other three bills were passed as Ford originally presented them.

Vice president Daniela Lopez gave a brief report on the Campus Law Enforcement Community Action Committee meeting held last week. The committee consists of Syracuse Police Department officers, Department of Public Safety officers, SU administrators and SU undergraduate students. The committee discussed proposed changes to DPS uniforms and the best ways to help students understand the differences between SPD and DPS.

Additional business discussed:
• Current president Boris Gresely reported that he met with Student Affairs this week to discuss how SA can be involved in expanding the Orange After Dark program, and how SA can help alleviate overcrowding on the Centro buses that take students to Destiny USA.

Published on February 4, 2014 at 2:06 am

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta