A Finance Board member and former assembly representative was elected as Board of Trustees liaison, a position that assembly representatives deemed one of the most important student-held positions on campus, during Monday night’s Student Association general assembly meeting.

The assembly elected Kyle Coleman over three other candidates to serve as a representative to the board. Coleman, who unsuccessfully ran for SA president in the fall, will be responsible for relaying students’ concerns and submitting a report to the Board of Trustees before each meeting. Two seats on the Board of Trustees are available to students, with one automatically awarded to the SA president.

“The best thing about this job is the opportunity to take student concerns to the highest level,” Coleman said after the meeting.

Due to parliamentary procedure, the association wasn’t able to compare the candidates in the initial round of voting. Instead, candidates were kept in contention if representatives felt they were qualified for the position. The final vote boiled down to Coleman and Emily Ballard, Board of Elections and Membership chair. Vice President Duane Ford and Nate Eldridge, a sophomore economics major, did not make it past the first round of votes.

During his interview with Student Life Chair Ivan Rosales-Robles, Coleman named campus segregation as one of his greatest concerns, stressing the point once more in front of the assembly.

“We have a lot of different communities and it looks like this campus is broken up into a lot of different parts,” Coleman said.

Jesse Feitel, whose term as liaison concludes at the end of this academic year, expressed confidence in Coleman’s ability to serve as a “thoughtful and mature” representative after the meeting.

NYPIRG and BE WISE resolutions approved

The assembly approved a resolution urging high-ranking university officials, including the chancellor and provost, to adopt a “clean construction” policy.

Co-authored by New York Public Interest Research Group representatives and SU students Nicole St. James and Hanna Kim, the resolution called for all diesel vehicles used for university construction to be outfitted with diesel particulate filters. The bill also asked that the “unnecessary idling” of vehicles and equipment be limited to three minutes.

The assembly also approved a resolution backing the work of the BE Wise campaign, an effort sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs, which educates students on alcohol poisoning and drinking responsibly.

Bills introduced

Two resolutions — one calling for university administration to divest from oil companies such as Exxon Mobile, and another seeking to allow SA presidential hopefuls to name a vice president as their running mate — were proposed.

Five percent of the university’s endowment, or between an estimated $45-$50 million, is being invested in fossil-fuel-burning companies that contribute to climate change, said Sam Giber, one of the students who presented a PowerPoint presentation regarding divestment efforts.

“It’s about investing in companies that match the mission of the endowment,” Giber said.

President Allie Curtis and Ford also introduced a bill that, if passed, would allow a presidential candidate to run with a vice president during the campaign. Both resolutions are expected to be voted on during one of the semester’s two remaining assembly meetings.

Other business discussed: 

• Forgoing a formal presentation in the interest of time, Sean Dinan was unanimously elected as chief of staff. Dinan said he would also like to concentrate more power in the assembly. The chief of staff position was left vacant following PJ Alampi’s resignation two weeks ago.
• Lara Alkarim, a representative in the College of Arts and Sciences, was elected as the alumni representative for the Class of 2016.
• Chancellor Nancy Cantor will attend next Monday’s general assembly meeting at 7:30 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium. An additional meeting was added to the assembly’s calendar to accommodate the semester’s remaining business.

Published on April 16, 2013 at 2:16 am

Contact Debbie: dbtruong@syr.edu | @debbietruong