“Tonight there could be some heavy topics on the agenda,” Colin Humphries, president of the Student Government Association (SGA) proclaimed before the Senate at its 1919th Regular Meeting in the Student Union’s Cape Cod Lounge. “Please be respectful of each other, and please stick to the policy. Don’t interrupt each other and don’t harass or threaten students before, during or after the meetings because at the end of the day, we’re all here for the same reason, and that’s because we care about students.”
The president’s remarks set the tone for the remainder of the nearly three hour long meeting, which saw the SGA vote to reaffirm its May 3 2024-S64 resolution in favor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s divestment from defense contractors and manufacturers. The meeting was marked by heated debate and a divided Senate.
The meeting began with an announcement by Senator Ella Prabhakar regarding the Professional Staff Union (PSU), which has been bargaining with Chancellor Javier Reyes and administration since last year. They are advocating for better wages and fair treatment of workers and addressing discriminatory conduct cases.
During officer reports, President Colin Humphries discussed a meeting he attended with VP Leone, Speaker Flanagan and University Trustee Olivera. In it, the group met with Congressman Jim McGovern, Massachusetts State Senator Jo Comerford and Amherst’s State Representative Mindy Domb about activism on the UMass campus.
Vice President Dale Leone discussed his meeting with the Administration Finance Committee and said that he is working with the Vice Chancellor Andrew Mangels while “looking to push for more state funding.” They detailed that they are finding ways to create more funding for UMass and public colleges overall.
Chair of Academic Oversight Bella Rabin explained her recent initiative, attaining 100 new IClickers for students who need them. Ranya Merchant, Secretary of the Registry, announced the results of the new RSO process, with 41 new RSO’s accepted and 31 denied. Chair of Ways and Means Maia Shteyman announced that RSO’s can now begin their budgeting, with the budget template now being available in Campus Pulse.
During the Committee of the Whole, Attorney Benjamin Ferrell from the Student Legal Services Office (SLSO) reviewed the basic information pertaining to the Wellman Document, the Board of Trustees’ (BOT) “formal statement on University governance.”
“Governing the university is tough,” Ferrell said. “With 40,000 students, including graduate students, it’s like running a city.” Recognizing this complexity, Ferrell added that the BOT encourages students, faculty and others to help advise campus policies. Ultimately, though, the BOT has complete authority over all university rules and regulations.
In Special Orders, Speaker Flanagan introduced a motion to block motions S16-S18 together into one vote. These motions appointed Hai Tran as Chair of the Committee on Undergraduate Registry Oversight, Kundayi Mazando as Chair of the Committee on Undergraduate Services and Maia Shteyman as Chair of the Committee on Ways and Means. The blocked motion passed unanimously.
To a packed room filled with pro-Israel and pro-Palestine representatives, Speaker Flanagan read the full details of Resolution Two, “…a resolution supporting the Reaffirmation of 2024-S64, the Resolution to Boycott Divest & Sanction and Drop the Charges on the UMass 57 & Subsequent Dropping of Charges for those Arrested During the May 7th 2024 Peaceful Protest.”
“We support the democratic process that took place last semester,” Leone said. “All protests that we have seen regarding pro-Palestine or regarding divestments are related back to the fact that 73.1 percent of students support some form of divestment.”
In a student survey conducted by the SGA, 91.6 percent of all 2,620 student respondents expressed no confidence in Chancellor Reyes after his handling of the May 7 encampment-style protest left more than 130 people arrested on campus.
Dan McGlynn, a junior journalism major, news editor for the Amherst Wire, and writer for The Shoestring, spoke before the Senate to give background information regarding what an endowment is, and what divestment means for the University.
After roughly 30 minutes of debate for the reaffirmation, the Senate voted to pass the motion to reaffirm 2024-S64.
Motions S.19 to add Akanksha Sharma to SGA payroll and S.20 to appoint Hailey Martin to the position of Undersecretary of Sustainability were passed. Motions S21. through S.26 were passed, appointing Aishwarya Vishnubhotla, Sabrina Ishanyan, Paige Sheehan, Catherine Hardiman, Owen Mullins and Brian Beltrami to the position of Conduct Advisor. S.27 to appoint Divine Eche to the position of Treasurer and S.28 to appoint Ava Pujado as Deputy Attorney General were also passed.
The meeting adjourned at 9:21 p.m., after 2 hours and 51 minutes.
Nathan Legare can be reached at [email protected]. Abby Joyce can be reached at [email protected].
