On Wednesday April 23, the University of Massachusetts Student Government Association (SGA) Senate met in the Cape Cod Lounge for their weekly senate meeting.
During their 1938th regular meeting, the senate discussed joining national organizations, Registered Student Organization (RSO) reform, and recent visa concerns.
Following the open announcements and roll call, the organization began their meeting with unfinished business regarding a motion allowing the UMass Amherst SGA could join the United States Student Association (USSA).
According to the Action Network, the organization is, “the country’s oldest, largest, and most inclusive national student-led organization, develops current and future leaders and amplifies the student voice at the local, state and national levels by mobilizing grassroots power to win concrete victories on student issues.”
Senator Charles Walker-Hoover, a member of the social justice and empowerment committee sponsored this motion. Throughout his presentation, Senator Walker-Hoover mentioned the perks SGA would have if the motion passed. He stated that joining USSA would provide the organization with national networks, resources and opportunities.
At the beginning of his presentation there was a debate over the use of a Google Form as a consultation form to receive student input.
The main concern was that the form wasn’t collecting UMass Amherst student email addresses and that anyone could access the link via the SGA’s Linktree.
In addition to the consultation form concerns, many senators had questions regarding how SGA would be involved.
Chair of the Ways and Means Committee Maya Shteyman asked, “[if being a part of USSA] would be an opportunity for any UMass Amherst student to join or just for SGA officers.”
Senator Walker-Hoover stated that the intention of joining this organization would be so every UMass Amherst student interested in activism could be a part.
Walker-Hoover also said that many Boston colleges like Harvard, Boston University and Boston College were members of USSA.
After the USSA motion was passed, the senate moved onto new business, where they discussed two new motions.
The first motion, S94, discussed the appointment of Lara Gutierrez as Conduct Advisor. The motion was the approval of her to be added to the payroll as she obtained the position after Keira Cook took over the role of Attorney General. The motion passed.
The senate then discussed Motion S.95, a bill to amend the application process for RSOs. Motion S.95 specifically was proposed to amend specific sections of the General Bylaws of the Student Government Association.
Secretary of Registry Rayna Merchant led the discussion in front of the senate members. The majority of the changes to the bylaws were focused on clarifying language as well as implementing new processes for RSOs.
Secretary Merchant stated there were three main goals of this motion.
These changes were made to “balance out the workload for Secretary of Registry and chair of UROC, making instructions and language more clear and raising the threshold for RSOs.”
After the presentation of the motion, there was a discussion about passing amendments to this motion, which were sponsored by senator Jacob Nevins.
There was an extensive conversation about Amendment B, which regarded “the membership through selective process, including and maintaining active status with a minimum of ten SGA members instead of the newly proposed twenty members in the motion.”
Nevins mentioned that for many RSOs, including Doo Wop Shop, an acapella group on campus he is a part of, don’t have room for twenty members. Nevins emphasized that there are many RSOs on campus that go through selective processes, like auditions, where having a larger general body wouldn’t be needed.
There was an extensive discussion and debate on this motion. The amendment raised many questions throughout the senate. Ultimately, after having the conversation, the senate moved to table the amendment back to the Administrative Affairs committee.
There was more conversation about if this was feasible due to the semester ending.
After deliberation on whether to table the motion back to committee, the senate passed a motion to table Motion S.95 to next week’s senate meeting on April 30.
The meeting was closed with officer reports and senate committee reports. President Colin Humphries took time to update the senate members about the issues regarding immigration on campus right now. He stated that he has met with multiple boards, as well as Vice President Dale Leone, Secretary of Public Relations and Marketing Hadiya Ahmad and President-elect Michael Burowski to discuss resources and solutions.
President Humphries also addressed the rumors about ICE on the UMass Amherst campus. Humphries confirmed that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has not “stepped foot on campus.”
He added that he has met with University Relations as well as university police to see how the University is going to respond in the future.
At the end of his report, Humphries mentioned that the end of year banquet for SGA will be held on May 9.
Sydney Warren can be reached at [email protected].
