The Student Government Association came to a consensus on the confidential informant program this past Tuesday night at its weekly meeting.

Throughout the four hour meeting, much debate took place over the confidential informant program, where the final voting revealing 19 votes for, 14 votes against and one abstention in regards to the support of abolishing the program.

“When you have a body of students that represent the whole campus, (this resolution) is supposed to represent the opinions of the student body,” said Jennifer Raichel, chairwomen of the Undergraduate Experience Committee, on the resolution. “I also think that making a statement shows that we are informed on the issue.”

The resolution was intended to serve as a public stance on the confidential informant program that was recently suspended at the University of Massachusetts. The SGA’s official stance is that no reform that can be made to justify the confidential informant program, and that it is the recommendation of the SGA that the program should be permanently discontinued.

SGA Attorney General Ritika Kumar, a sponsor of the resolution, added that there was a great need for an official statement from the SGA. Kumar argued that the statement would influence SGA President Vinayak Rao’s position on the issue at administrative meetings he sits in on.

Rao backed up that statement saying, “As the executive officer of the SGA, I need to stand by whatever acts as the best interest of the student body.”

Rao added that the resolution, as well as the opinions of dissenting senators, would shape his views on the issue and would have influence via his role in university policy.

Other business

At some point over the weekend, an incident was reported to the UMass Police Department that a hate crime was committed on campus. A student’s door was vandalized with written racial slurs, and these acts were condemned by the members of the SGA who spoke about them. UMPD is currently investigating the incident.

“I, as president of the SGA and a student of color, condemn this act” Rao said when speaking on the incident. “I want to make it clear that the SGA does not condone this. This disgusting act of hatred will not go without consequence, I can promise you that.”

Several others, including Kumar, Vice President Jacob Schissel and SGA Adviser Lydia Washington all described frustration with the act itself, as well as the apparent lack of a public response from the University or UMPD. There was also a number of people in the room who were unaware of the vandalism.
Tyler O’Day resigned from his position as chairman of the Diversity and Student Engagement Committee. The first to comment on his resignation was Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life Enku Gelaye, who praised O’Day for “doing a significant amount of great work in the past year.” O’Day was replaced by new Chairwoman Emily O’Neil in a resolution sponsored by Speaker of the Senate Sïonan Barrett.

“(O’Neil) hopes to reaffirm the mission of diversity on campus and within the committee,” said Barrett, who gave a speech as to why O’Neil would be the right fit for the position.

Senators also discussed an opinion column recently published in the Massachusetts Daily Collegian written by Secretary of Diversity Josh Odam titled, “Male privilege and the SGA: How we’ve been overrun by ‘megaphone guys’.” The column described Odam’s understanding of unequal statuses for men and women in the SGA. Although it was only discussed briefly during Tuesday’s meeting, Odam’s piece was universally supported by those who spoke about it.

Senator Ryan DiZoglio’s “horse project” also saw a breakthrough Tuesday night.

Although the project is still clearing a few liability based hurdles, it seems likely that at some point this year UMass home football games will be preceded by someone dressed as Paul Revere riding around on horseback warning that the away team is coming.

William Keve can be reached at [email protected].