Syracuse University students Tyler Rossi and Roy Tin will run together for president and vice president of Student Association’s 61st legislative session, respectively, SA officials announced at Monday’s SA meeting.

Rossi and Tin are both students in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. They join James Franco and Angie Pati as candidates for president and vice president.

SA officials also discussed an updated bike share program and passed a quorum bill at Monday’s meeting.

The updated bike share program will launch on April 2 following confirmation of funding by the university administration and Student Association.

The “Cycle Share” program, replacing the bike share program launched on Sept. 26 by SA Vice President Joyce LaLonde, will include two adaptive cycles, which will be more accessible to a wider range of students on campus. The initiative has received $6,000 from the university’s administration. Another $1,000 has been provided by the Student Association Student Advancement fund, LaLonde said.

All of the bikes have been purchased and will be hand delivered by Bike-On, the company that has provided the bikes, at Orange Ability 2017, an accessible athletics expo in the Women’s Building Gym from 1-4 p.m. on April 2.

The assembly on Monday unanimously passed the “Amendment of Definition for Assembly Quorum” bill, which will change how quorum is counted each session. Currently, students can apply for a leave of absence that removes them from quorum for the semester. This would include students studying abroad for a semester.

The assembly has failed to reach quorum multiple times this session. This bill will remove representatives who have a permanent, repetitive conflict from the Monday meeting roll call, but it would still allow their participation in committees. An example of this would be a mandatory class that takes place during meeting times, officials said.

Two other bills, Permanent Initiatives and Bylaws Committee Membership, were also passed during the meeting.

SA President Eric Evangelista was not at Monday’s meeting as he was away at a conference, Parliamentarian Obi Afriyie said.

Co-Chair of Community Engagement Kelsey Fowler discussed how her committee is planning the final Spring into Action events for the remainder of the semester. This weekend, volunteers will return to the North Side Learning Center and finish painting classrooms at the center, Fowler said.

Janine Bogris, Chair of Board of Elections and Membership, shared that petitions to become an assembly representative for the 61st session are being accepted until April 7. More details will be released in a school-wide email in the next few days, Bogris said.

Bogris also announced that Student Association will be hosting a debate for the upcoming Student Association election on April 10 during the normally scheduled Monday meeting. This will include the president and vice president ticket, as well as those running for comptroller.

Eddie Devino III presented on behalf of the Bylaws Review Committee about potential changes to the structure of SA committees. At the moment, there are four committees that assembly members must be on: Academic Affairs, Public Relations, Community Engagement and Student Life.

Devino discussed removing the Public Relations committee and creating a Diversity Affairs committee. The director of diversity affairs, currently Diasia Robinson, would become a voting member and would host events with community leaders in the area to promote diversity.

This change would be a change to the SA constitution, which would require the approval of a two-thirds majority of assembly in order to go on the ballot for the 61st session, Devino said.

Published on March 27, 2017 at 10:56 pm

Contact William: wgmuoio@syr.edu