Last week’s conflict of interest over the appointed Administrative Affairs [A.A.] chair position in the Student Government Association Senate has left many questioning what will come of tonight’s Senate meeting.
Speaker Jim Eltringham’s decision to appoint Jennifer Teixeira to the A.A. chair raised several issues over the final vote.
Last week Senator Aaron Saunders expressed concern and disgust over the fact that the vote was broken by Eltringham, and felt that he had extended his vote improperly.
However, Eltringham declared that this was untrue, and that he broke the tie based on experience, not on personal biases.
SGA members have also expressed their views on the situation by explaining that they feel it is time to get over backroom politics.
“I think it’s definitely time to work on issues with students,” said Student Trustee Seth Avakian. “Not this inner room squabbling.”
However, others felt that the issue between Eltringham and Saunders might be a continuing issue in tonight’s Senate meeting.
“I think that last week’s meeting went well, but I think that there is going to be some talk about last week’s conflict of interest,” Associate Speaker Michel McCarthy said. “I know that Aaron Saunders wrote a motion regarding the rules and ethics, and I think that will be an issue.”
Saunders submitted a motion of abstract charges against Eltringham explaining that ethical standards were violated; however, in order to be considered, it must be submitted to a Rules and Ethics committee, which would then approve it.
“In order to go through the Senate a Rules and Ethics committee would have to be appointed by Jim [Eltringham] and I,” McCarthy said. “It would be made up of individuals from the Administrative Affairs committee, who would make the final decision whether or not to approve it or not.”
Another issue on the SGA’s agenda will be the upcoming President and Trustee elections. With nomination papers due Thursday, March 15, by 5 p.m., possible candidates will be scrambling to receive their final signatures to put them on the ballot.
The upcoming elections will be looking at two referendum questions. One will focus on the ALANA [African American, Latino, Asian, Native American] Caucus seats in the SGA. The ALANA referendum question, which was removed from this past Senate elections ballot, will be placed on the President and Trustee election ballot. It will call for a reduction of the seats in the SGA Senate.
MassPIRG [Massachusetts Student Public Interest Research Group] is also looking to have an approved referendum question on the ballot. This would be a question regarding MassPIRG’s existence at the University of Massachusetts campus and if students would like to continue funding them through a waivable, seven-dollar fee.
Tonight’s meeting will take place in the Campus Center at 7 p.m.
