Just one week before Spring Fling, multiple Binghamton Sound, Stage and Lighting (BSSL) E-Board members have publicly announced their resignations, largely in response to a controversial resolution passed in the Student Association (SA) Congress.

The resolution, which expressed support for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), passed last Tuesday in a marathon meeting and has not yet been approved by the SA’s Judicial Board. In the days since its passage, the legislation has drawn criticism from opposed student groups and state officials.

Two members of BSSL — a student-run, nonprofit production company that provides stage building, sound reinforcement and lighting services to student groups and University affiliates — said they no longer feel the SA represents their values in emails sent to every SA executive office and Pipe Dream. Lauren Stiefel, the organization’s former general manager and a junior majoring in electrical engineering, said she was “choosing to no longer associate with the [SA] and what they stand for.”

“The recent resolution passed in the SA Congress has made me feel targeted for my religion and my beliefs,” Stiefel wrote in the Friday email. “I refuse to work for an organization associated with the BDS movement, as it is only meant to divide this campus further and has ties to known terrorist organizations.”

The legislation’s opponents have requested an expeditious review by the Judicial Board to ensure its compliance with the SA constitution and bylaws.

“I recognize that I must spend my time advocating for my fellow Jewish students and focusing my attention of making campus safe again for all students,” Stiefel wrote to Pipe Dream. “I cannot work for an organization that directly contributed to the increase of tension and antisemitism on campus and has yet to release a statement regarding the effect of the resolution on the students it is supposed to protect and represent.”

She added that she believes the resolution will impact every SA subsidiary organization, and though she was prepared to give a speech Tuesday night, she was not given the opportunity.

Tyler Meier, the former technical director and a junior majoring in computer engineering, announced his resignation an hour later and urged the SA to cease “implicitly [supporting] terrorism and unjust murder.” He also described the neglect he feels the organization has faced from the SA.

“We now are losing [hundreds] of dollars a month for a horrible shift tracking app that we had absolutely no say over, we have been forced to pay for a tiny storage box at a [U-Haul] facility because nobody could sacrifice 50 square feet for our stage and nobody seems to be interested in having meetings or answering requests for any SA events, where the new expectation is that we just end up figuring it all out ourselves,” Meier wrote.

Daniel Croce, the SA’s vice president for finance and a senior majoring in business administration, wrote that a transition plan where existing managers will take on new roles is in place. Addressing Meier’s concerns about a lack of storage space, he said the University repurposed the originally agreed-upon location for the stage for a College-in-the-Woods renovation. While there have been efforts to find a new storage space, none were large enough to be able to support the stage’s movement on campus.

“Communication channels between SA businesses and our office remain open, and I want to reassure everyone that I am here to provide personal support and assist in resolving any issues that may arise,” Croce wrote in an email. “My commitment extends to every employee, regardless of their role or opinion, both in a personal capacity and in supporting our business operations.”

Croce added that payroll issues are a result of a broader system transition that has affected the entire SA, including Off-Campus College Transport. He wrote the “misalignment of the software implementation with our internal operational needs has posed several issues.” He emphasized that system transitions are complex and flexibility is necessary to successfully navigate them.

In a statement to Pipe Dream, BSSL’s E-Board expressed gratitude to Stiefel and Meier and said they were addressing concerns internally.

“As an SA-chartered business, we will continue working with the SA and address any concerns internally,” they wrote. “The opinions and beliefs of [Stiefel and Meier] are their own, and you are welcome to reach out to them directly if you’d like more context on their statements, which are not representative of the actions, thoughts and beliefs of BSSL as a whole. No matter what, BSSL as an organization needs to be a safe space for all of its employees, regardless of background.”