The Board of Cooperative Activities will no longer be a component of the Student Government Association after a passed motion Monday night. The motion changed the constitution allowing the Board of Co-Operative Activities to become integrated into the Financial Affairs Committee and gave the president of SGA and the vice president for financial affairs voting rights on the Board of Directors.
While the motion passed, some senators did not feel comfortable making the decision.
“I don’t think we should make this vote at all this year. I kind of think that it got over some people who really don’t care as much about it,” Senator Oliver Laniear said. “I don’t feel like we are informed about it where we are still asking basic questions. I just feel like people aren’t totally there in understanding exactly what this board is going to do. It’s past if you agree or disagree with it. It’s if you’re informed on what you’re voting on.”
President Buddy Clements remindedLaniear that there were two open forums held discussing the changes.
“We had more attendance at the first open forum than we’ve had in three years,” he said.
Anthony Plumberg, Vice President of Campus Outreach, voiced doubts about the motion but concluded that it was worth passing.
“Yes, I have some doubts, yes I have some trepidation as to what this board will entail and where it will take student government, but I am fully confident in placing this trust in a group of outside people that are committed to allowing the student government association to thrive,” he said. “I think this is the best possible option for us to take.”
The motion passed, giving way for the Board of Directors to be created.
“Right now we are opening the door to the board. We still don’t have the bylaws, those will still need to be approved. We still need to find people for the board,” Clements said. “We still have a lot of work ahead on this board, but that’s the first step.” The next step will be establishing a search committee for the board.
SGA approved itself to receive $2,344 out of Budgetary Reserves. A friendly amendment added the other collaborators for the spring outreach event to the request.
“Instead of using AVI which we all love so near and dear, I wanted to go outside the university and bring a more different fling, a different flare to our campus,” Senator Alex Merida said.
He anticipated bringing orders of Chipotle for 200 students as food.
“I had previous experiences with AVI and I just don’t like the selections I could get,” he said.
Dr. Robert Watson, Interim Vice President of Student Affairs, voiced concern at Merida’s plan.
“We have a contract with AVI. We cannot go out and provide private catering as long as the contract is enforced just because we want another name or just because we want another food. That is the purpose of a dining services contract. That has to be honored, legally it must be honored,” he said. “If it’s a situation where AVI cannot and will not provide that’s something you must have in writing to protect the organization.”
The contract with AVI is to be examined and discussed before any further action is taken regarding food.
“Do not make assumptions, that leads you down the wrong path,” Watson said. “This is a legal and binding contract. You do not want an issue coming back about why and how did this happen.”
The friendly amendment adding the collaborators to the event was done to reflect discussion at the meeting and show that the money was not just being used for SGA.
“Whenever we’ve asked ourselves for money we have to really be careful with what we do,” Clements said.
Constitutional changes regarding the election policy were immediately tabled. An open forum to discuss the changes will be announced by SGA. The proposed change would alter the policy to read: “Elections for the Officers and all Senators shall take place no later than 14 days before the start of final exams for the spring semester as scheduled by Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania.”
Sound and Literary Art Book (SLAB) was approved to receive $71 out of Budgetary Reserves for printing costs.
WSRU 88.1 FM for approved the receive $2,340 out of Budgetary Reserves for three new laptops to replace outdated computers.
“The ones we have either only half the screen works, they’re so slow you can barely use them and one other one does nothing more than make an angry noise when you press the power button,” Senator Cody Moody said. “This will help the station evolve into this century.”
The group did not purchase through the university in order to have administrative controls over the computers and will use their own IT specialist for maintaining the computers.
The international honor society for students, professional counselors, and counselor educators Chi Sigma Iota: Alpha Gamma was approved as a new organization with a friendly amendment correcting the spelling.
SGA also approved a proclamation recognizing veterans to be read at the dedication for the Veterans’ Center.
