Despite looming impeachment resolutions, Student Association President Adam Amit calmly stood before the Student Assembly and delivered his “State of the SA” speech Monday night, focusing on moving past mistakes and toward issues concerning students.
After Amit’s speech, the Assembly discussed resolutions for the impeachment and calls for the resignation of Amit, Student Assembly chair Elahd Bar-Shai and chair for Binghamton University’s Research and Planning Committee Lawrence Faulstich.
In his speech, Amit stated that he felt that “even in light of certain actions, our Student Association is on track and is having an exceptionally good year.”
Amit, Bar-Shai and Faulstich were officially censured by the Assembly on Oct. 26 for their misconduct at the SUNY SA conference on Oct. 24.
Amit, Bar-Shai and Falstich were removed from the SUNY SA conference for drinking after a full-body vote by representatives from more than 60 campuses. At the Oct. 26 BU Assembly meeting, the three admitted to their possession of the alcohol — one beer each — and to allowing an unnamed undergraduate to vouch as a representative of the Graduate Student Organization without the organization’s approval. The addition gave BU’s delegates additional voting power.
In addition, at Monday’s meeting, Assembly representative for Off Campus Community College Randal Meyer proposed a resolution to censure Assembly representative for OCCC Josh Berk for being complicit in the GSO scandal.
“[Berk] did in fact knowingly falsify and alter information in official documents to register an undergraduate as a graduate student at the recent SUNY SA conference,” the resolution stated.
Berk stated that he was not involved in the falsification of the document and that “the proposal is completely unjustified.”
The next resolution, proposed by Assembly representative for OCCC Aaron Butler, stated that impeachment was not necessary but called for the resignation of Amit.
“If anyone should take the blame, it should be the person at the top,” he said.
In his speech Amit admitted that mistakes were made, but he focused on three issues that he felt were the most important to the student body as a whole, including budget cuts, off campus housing and the recent events involving the men’s basketball team.
“… While we don’t know where or how these cuts could possibly affect our campus, we do know that any decrease will effectively hurt our entire University,” Amit said, referring to the latest $90 million budget cut to SUNY ordered by Gov. David Paterson.
Amit vowed that his administration would not stand for these cuts without students’ voices being heard.
He then emphasized the importance of community by introducing his idea for legislation called the Neighborhood Project, which, when complete, is set to include “provisions for safety, curb appeal, landlord responsibilities, code enforcement and a strong community feel.”
The last issue Amit expanded on was the need for school spirit and pride for the BU basketball team and the University.
“This University now looks to us to regain the lost spirit and pride that we overflowed with only seven months ago,” he said.
But pride in the executive board was not the sentiment of the following resolutions. Aside from Meyer and Butler’s resolutions, six more were submitted by Dickinson Assembly representative Ian Swan. Each resolution individually called for the impeachment or resignation of Amit, Bar-Shai and Faulstich.
According to Meyer, the resolutions will be brought back to the communities for an unofficial vote and will be moved to old business Monday, Nov. 9, where they will be voted on by the Assembly. These resolutions will then require a 75 percent approval to pass.
The Dickinson Town Council (DTC) believes that all three representatives should be punished for their actions.
According to Jevon Williams, Dickinson president, there is an overwhelming response from the DTC to call for a resignation or impeachment of the three representatives.
Amit plans to meet with DTC Tuesday night to explain his position.
Swan removed the three resolutions he proposed for resignation after Meyer pointed out their invalidity.
”The bylaws state that you cannot have a binding statement in a resolution and cannot demand a specific action,” Meyer said.
The administration maintained their approval of Amit and SA leadership through a letter to the Assembly written by Vice President for Student Affairs Brian Rose, which was mentioned but not fully read at the meeting.
“I also ask you all to consider whether a protracted leadership struggle is truly in the best interests of the SA, Binghamton students and the University as a whole and to be guided by such a broad perspective as you deliberate,” Rose wrote.
A copy of this letter will be e-mailed to every Assembly representative to present to their communities.
Amit plans on performing his presidential duties to the best of his ability for the rest of the time he is in office.
“My job ends on Commencement Day: May 16, 2010,” Amit said. “If the students see fit to remove me from office before then that’s their decision, but otherwise I will work as hard as I can until my last day in office.”
— Sophia Rosenbaum contributed to this article