Leaders of Binghamton University’s Student Association and the Black Student Union (BSU) held a forum last night titled “Meet the Student Association” which arose out of BSU’s demands that the SA do more to increase transparency and connect with student groups.
Last spring, a campus furor was sparked when unofficial notes from SA Financial Council (FinCo) meetings containing several slights to groups were made public. The notes, which were written by multiple members of FinCo and compiled by then-SA Treasurer and FinCo Chair Justin Utegg during FinCo’s budget hearings last semester, revealed that a FinCo member had described BSU as a “shitty welfare group.”
The notes were emailed to SA Assembly representatives by then-Assembly Speaker Randal Meyer, though according to Utegg, he had only meant to share the notes with then-SA Vice President for Finance Adam Shamah, who was responsible for supervising the work of FinCo.
BSU leaders’ demands for redress last semester led to the SA Executive Board issuing a written apology to leaders of student groups via email, an E-Board promise to institute training courses in professionalism starting this fall for all elected SA officials and formal apologies from Utegg and several other FinCo members for having offended students. No FinCo member took responsibility for writing the remark, however.
BSU and SA held a similar “Town Hall Forum” on April 14 to discuss the group’s perception that a disconnect existed between the SA and students. At that meeting, the former SA Executive Board pledged to begin working on a number of audience members’ suggestions for ideas and initiatives by which the SA could improve its relations with students.
More than 80 students attended the Meet the SA forum last night, which took place at 7 p.m. in the Chenango-Champlain Collegiate Center.
The SA advertised the forum through a SA-Line -mail sent out last week.
“Have questions? Want to learn about us? Got suggestions?” the email read.
The six members of the current SA E-Board — President Katie Howard, Executive Vice President Liz Robbins, Vice President for Finance Karl Bernhardsen, Vice President for Academic Affairs Kate Flatley, Vice President for Programming Catherine Cornell, Vice President for Multicultural Affairs Carlton Ramsay — along with Assembly Speaker Andrew Howard and FinCo Chair Aaron Ricks attended the event on behalf of the SA.
Each student official provided a brief introduction of his or her role under the SA’s constitution and addressed the perceived disconnect between the SA and students.
“The No. 1 problem is miscommunication,” Robbins said. “Everyone is in their own circle. They get very passionate about their own student group. The same happens with community governments.”
Robbins said she hopes to improve communication, but she also noted that the task would be difficult. She cited as an example the desire expressed by some student groups that SA E-Board members attend their regular meetings.
“I would like to go to more student group meetings, but I can’t go to 250 group meetings every week,” she said.
Robbins suggested that students approach SA members with concerns.
“The Student Assembly isn’t something that was just formed, they were elected,” Robbins said. “It’s their responsibility to hear what you have to say.”
Andrew Howard encouraged students to attend SA office hours, as well as the Assembly’s meetings held every Monday night at 7 p.m. in Academic A. He said that he is trying to make the Assembly’s meetings more open, so that students can voice their concerns there.
“We have no other purpose but to listen to them [student groups],” he said.
The SA leaders promised that minute takers were being hired for future FinCo meetings, so that exact transcripts would exist of the council’s budget discussions.
Andrew Howard said the old system allowed for individuals who did not take their job seriously to write jokes or inappropriate comments in FinCo’s notes.
“We are hiring people outside so they think of us as employers, so they will take their job seriously,” he said. “They will say what was said and what happened.”
Katie Howard, hearkening to another SA controversy from last year, said that the SA would once again this year consider amending or replacing the SA’s constitution.
Last semester, the SA E-Board attempted to replace the existing constitution with a new one that completely reorganized student government at BU, centering it around a 10-member “Representative Council.” The proposed constitution failed in a campus-wide referendum by a nearly 2-1 margin.
“There will be a committee to look at the constitution to see why it was contended and to look at what we have and what options we have out there,” she said.
Stephanie Suriel, a senior double-majoring in Latin American and Caribbean area studies and Africana studies, and the founder of Power United Ladies Striving to Elevate (PULSE) who attended the forum, said she is still concerned with the level of experience of SA members.
“Some don’t seem to know what they are doing, but they are showing they are trying,” Suriel said. “I’m hoping this will be an example for future boards.”
Ravi Prakriya, a freshman and Dickinson Community representative, said he thinks the forum went well, though he is not sure what the SA’s objectives are.
“I still don’t know what they are trying to do,” Prakriya said.