Vice President for Finance Chris Powell will ask for the formation of a committee to review the actions of Vice President for Multicultural Affairs David Redbord tonight at the first Student Assembly meeting of the semester.
Powell stressed that the purpose of the volunteer committee will be to discuss possible problems rather than take action immediately.
‘I didn’t want to be hasty about taking action,’ Powell, a senior economics major, said. ‘We’re going to sit and have a discussion, search for a pattern of abuses.’
Powell explained that he decided to take action against the office of the VPMA after learning of a release that Redbord drafted for a program that Powell said Redbord had been asked to stop.
‘David has acted beyond the scope of his office,’ Powell said, noting that he believed he had seen Redbord also act unbecoming of a Student Association officer by participating in a protest during a lecture by Daniel Pipes in December.
Though Redbord stated that he would welcome the formation of a committee on the subject as he hopes it could expedite the development of the program, entitled Cultural Exchange Through Hospitality, he also said that he had never formally been asked to stop work on the program and that what he had drafted was an application, not a release. Redbord said that this was done after conducting a student survey as to interest and concerns.
‘Once the survey results were compiled, my office created an application for any interested student to use as a foundation for understanding the program,’√ù Redbord, a senior history major, explained.
Cultural Exchange Through Hospitality (CETH) is a program proposed by Redbord in October that would allow for international students already attending Binghamton University to interact more with enrolled American student volunteers.
‘[CETH] would take place for some portion of time in the home of the American student’s family over a school break,’ Redbord said, adding that the program would allow both students to experience a cultural exchange that otherwise would not take place.
While Powell admitted his support for Redbord’s proposed program, he said that his main concern was liability.
‘It’s a great idea and I would love for it to happen but there are really untold legal exposures,’√ù Powell explained. ‘Litigation is the main concern.’
Powell said that due to the time limitations and amount of legal possibilities, the SA was not comfortable with beginning the program and so Redbord was asked to stop.
Redbord, however, said that he was unaware of such hesitation.
‘Powell had expressed some concern to me about the one and only issue of liability, which I immediately brought before the Student Assembly,’√ù Redbord said, explaining that he wanted to make sure there was still support for the program. ‘At the time, continued support was shown, and no questions were asked regarding this issue.’
Powell will speak before the Student Assembly on this issue tonight at 7 p.m. in the Old University Union in room 221 A.