Syracuse University’s Student Association elected a new speaker of the assembly and recorder for the upcoming legislative session during Monday night’s meeting.

Sophomore Lilly Umana will be SA’s speaker, while sophomore Taylor Grosso was elected as recorder.

The speaker is in charge of streamlining communication during meetings. Umana said she would change how SA representatives interact with one another in meetings because assembly members tend to speak over one another. Umana wants to ensure everyone remains respectful in group discussions, she said.

“It can get complicated if we have two very clear sides, so just making sure everyone stays respectful,” Umana said.

Umana will consider changing the room where SA holds its weekly assembly meetings, she said. Members find it hard to engage in Maxwell Auditorium, where the weekly meetings are currently held, she said. She added that members should be able to see one another while have discussions.

Grosso said she is interested in becoming more involved in SA. To help members know how many absences they have, she would want to keep track of absences in a shared, online document. SA currently has an online document for attendance, but not all members know about it or have accessed it, an assembly member said.

The organization will elect a parliamentarian for the upcoming legislative session during next week’s meeting, the final one of the semester.

SA President Ghufran Salih said she has confidence in the future of the organization for the upcoming session.

“Everyone who was elected today and everyone who was elected two weeks ago is going to do an amazing job in creating the legislative session into what they want it to be,” Salih said.

Other business

• Salih and Vice President Kyle Rosenblum announced that Crouse College now has an accessible, gender-neutral bathroom. Similar bathrooms will be built in three other buildings on campus, they said.

• The Haven Hall study lounge will be accessible to all SU students next semester as an alternative to Panasci Lounge in Schine Student Center, Salih and Rosenblum said. About 80% of Schine will be closed when renovations begin in May, including Panasci Lounge. There will also be more study areas open in the Life Sciences Complex and the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, they said.

• Stacy Omosa, the incoming SA comptroller, proposed a bill that would move finance board elections to September. Elections are currently held in February.

• Senior Will Pritchett said he would start drafting a resolution that praises SU for endorsing a community grid option to replace Interstate 81’s aging viaduct. SU Chancellor Kent Syverud endorsed the plan in a campus-wide email Friday.

Published on April 22, 2019 at 10:52 pm

Contact Hannah: hagraf@syr.edu