The administration frequently requests feedback from the SA on room and building renovations. Based on these meetings, discussions, and comments from students, we’ve compiled a renovations checklist to streamline this feedback mechanisms and make sure the SA is all in the same page. The checklist was endorsed by the Senate and will be sent to the necessary administrators. [...]
The agenda for tonight’s Senate meeting is now available. Please note that this preliminary agenda is not final, and may be changed before the meeting. We encourage you to attend the meeting at 8 p.m. in the Gowen Room of Wilson Commons.
- Motion to de-recognize Amnesty International.
- Motion to endorse the Renovation Checklist.
- Motion to approve Wesline Manuelpillai as an ACJC Justice.
- Motion to approve Erik Roisland to serve as Summer City Cycles Coordinator.
The Senate will also approve the appointments of Standing Committee Chairs, including:
- Senator Stark to serve as Chair and Eudora Erickson as Deputy-Chair for the Student’s Association Communications & Public Relations Committee
- Senator Macias to serve as Chair for the Student’s Association Elections Committee,
- Senator LoTempio to serve as Chair for the Student’s Association Policy & Review Committee
- Harika Kunchala (Fall) and Antoinette Esce (Spring) to serve as Chair for the Student’s Association Projects & Services Committee.
In addition, the Senate will also consider:
- Motion to approve Alyson Manning as Students’ Association Treasurer.
- Motion to approve Antoinette Esce to serve as the Summer Executive Liaison.
- Motion to grant the President the power to appoint over summer recess.
- Motion to appoint two Senators to serve on the Steering Committee.
View the Agenda
The Senate meeting for Monday, April 22, 2013 has been cancelled. The next Senate meeting will be held on Monday, April 29, 2013. Please contact Aditi Simlote with any questions.
In the past year, the College has commissioned two Committees, the Educational Technology Committee and Experiential Learning Committee, to explore the development of undergraduate academics at the University of Rochester. In their reports, these committees have laid out various steps that can be taken to improve our academic experience.
The SA Government, in its capacity as an advocate of the student body, has drafted its own report to respond to these ideas and to encourage action on specific initiatives. In short, we believe that advising, mentorship, and student involvement are key priorities for the improvement of academics in the near future. [...]
At the SA Senate Meeting of April 8th, 2013, the Senate:
- Amended the bylaws to specify the number of votes required to serve.
- Additionally, the Senate approved Constitution changes for Circle K, Habitat for Humanity, Refugee Student Alliance, UR Rotaract, and Partners in Reading.
- The Senate overruled the decision of the Policy & Review Committee and granted preliminary status to URBlueCrew.
- The Final Budget for FY 2013-2014 was approved by the Senate and, after a lengthy discussion, Meliora Capital was funded in full.
Note: these are the minutes from the first portion of the meeting. Minutes from a later portion of the meeting will be published shortly.
Read the minutes or view the archive
The agenda for tonight’s Senate meeting is now available. Please note that this preliminary agenda is not final, and may be changed before the meeting. We encourage you to attend the meeting at 9 p.m. in the Gowen Room of Wilson Commons.
Some highlights include:
- Motions to approve Dan Tucker and Taylor Watson to serve as ACJC Justices.
- Approval of constitution changes to Community Service Network.
- Motion to endorse the Academics Report.
- Motion to certify the Spring 2013 Elections Results.
- Motion to approve the Minutes and Attendance Records from the March 25th, 2013 SA Senate meeting.
- Motions to appoint a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker to the Students Association Senate.
View the Agenda
Elections for Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Senate will be held on Monday, April 15, 2013 beginning at 8:00 p.m. Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Speaker Topudurti at stopudur@u.rochester.edu or Deputy Speaker Bendes at jbendes@u.rochester.edu.
To be selected Speaker or Deputy Speaker, a candidate must have the vote of a majority of the Senate. Candidates will be allowed opening remarks and an interview by the Senate in the absence of the other candidates prior to the vote.
Candidacy must be submitted via email to Speaker Topudurti by Sunday April 14th, 2013 at 12:00 p.m.
Speaker of the Senate
The Speaker of the Senate is in charge of managing Senate meetings and dealing with Senate’s concerns. As the head of an entire branch of the SA, he or she deals with high level administrators.The following year’s Speaker is selected by Senators at the end of the Spring semester. The skills include: having strong management, being motivational, being precisely organized, and being articulate with clear communication
Deputy Speaker of the Senate
The Deputy Speaker of the Senate assists the Speaker of the Senate with managing Senate meetings and dealing with Senate’s concerns. In addition, the Deputy Speaker typically takes the minutes for Senate meetings. The following year’s Deputy Speaker is selected by Senators at the end of the Spring semester. The Deputy Speaker also organizes functions and events within Student Government. Skills include: having strong writing skills, being precisely organized, and being articulate with clear communication.
As a result of many hours of work, a new document has been created to help SA recognized organizations write and revise their constitution. This document has improved on the prior constitution template, including:
1. Various options and choices within the template
2. Final checklist for consideration before submitting the constitution
3. Glossary of key terms
4. Polished mock constitution [...]
The agenda for tonight’s Senate meeting is now available. Please note that this preliminary agenda is not final, and may be changed before the meeting. We encourage you to attend the meeting at 9 p.m. in the Gowen Room of Wilson Commons.
Some highlights include:
- Motions to approve constitution changes to Circle K, Habitat for Humanity, Partners in Reading, and Refuge Student Alliance.
- Motion to grant the appeal of URBlueCrew.
- Consideration of the Students’ Association Budget for FY 2013-2014
- Motion to amend the bylaws to redefine the procedures for appointing the SAAC Treasurer, and to more accurately define eligible candidates in SA elections.
View the Agenda
At the April 1, 2013 Senate meeting, the Senate voted to endorse the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act, a piece of legislation that has been considered by the United States Congress. According to the summary of the Congressional Research Service, the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2011
“Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow tax-exempt charitable or educational organizations to make collegiate housing and infrastructure improvement grants to certain tax-exempt social clubs (e.g., college fraternities and sororities) which apply such grants to their collegiate housing property.”
The University of Rochester joins a larger group of college and university student governments which have expressed support for the legislation. Minutes from this meeting will be posted in the coming week, but you can read the full resolution below.
Resolution endorsing the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act
Vote by Roll Call:
- Bade – Yes
- Burke – No
- Esce – No
- Halpern – No
- Macias – Yes
- Manuelpillai – No
- Mclaughlin – No
- Metzler – No
- Perrotta – Yes
- Rambarran – Yes
- Salazar – Yes
- Sanchez – No
- Spica – Yes
- Stark – Yes
Motion Passes 8-7-0
Note on no votes: Many Senators expressed concerns that the act was not in the best interest of all students but only members of the greek community. Furthermore, because University of Rochester fraternity houses are owned by Residential Life, they argued that the act would not benefit current undergraduate students.
