Despite having only about 20 members in attendance, Parliamentarian Stephen Thomas presented the Syracuse University Student Association’s restructuring plans at Monday night’s meeting at Maxwell Auditorium.

Thomas went over the Federalization Act of 2015, a bill that if passed would change committee structures in SA for the bill’s first phase. Under the bill, the Academic Affairs Committee and the Student Life Committee will combine to make up a larger committee of student affairs. Thomas said the combination of these committees should in theory give a better network for members to take advantage of.

“It allows these committees to have a lot more crossover between them,” Thomas said.

The Student Engagement Committee will also become the committee on registered student organizations, according to Thomas’ report. Each committee will keep its current chair for this semester and will collaborate in the larger committee if the bill passes, Thomas said.

Thomas said SA will have lengthy discussions on the bill at its Feb. 9 meeting and that the organization will vote on the bill the following meeting.

Later in the meeting, SA President Boris Gresely reflected on the cabinet’s recent retreat at Minnowbrook Conference Center. Gresely said the cabinet went over the possibility of adding a highly detailed SA binder that will define all the roles of committees and members, as well as the functions of SA. Gresely added that this detailed book will allow other students to learn about how SA operates.

“These are the sort of things students want to know so we have to make sure that information is out there,” Gresely said.

Gresely said the cabinet also discussed making improvements to SA’s website during the retreat. During the meeting, members of SA suggested adding lists and roles of representatives with pictures to the organization’s website, as well as adding an image of SA’s office to the site so it can be located easier.

Other ideas that were suggested during the meeting included adding signage outside of SA’s main office to increase exposure.

Published on January 27, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact William: wrnorris@syr.edu