Syracuse University & SUNY-ESF Student Association

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[edit] History

A student council/government/association has existed in one form or another since the University's founding.

A Women’s Student Government and a Men’s Student Government were created in 1917 and 1930 respectively. The student's current representative organization is Student Association (SA). The SA looks to 1957 as the year of its foundation.

In 1957, the traditional Pinebrook conference took place with the idea of closer ties between the male/female student governments. A joint student legislature became the fruitful result, while both organizations’ maintained separate officers outside of the body. This student legislature still exists today, now as the Student Assembly. It has always met in Maxwell Auditorium.

Over the past 50 years the male/female governments have merged, the organization's name and the legislature's name has changed to reflect changing times, attitudes and most importantly the role of the student legislature and student representation at Syracuse.

The SA-SGA Alumni Organization, founded in 2001, oversees the historical record of the Association and its predecessors.

-Historical Timeline [1]

-History of the organization's name [2]

-List of constitutional changes [3]

-List of legislative sessions, by year [4]

-List of past officers [5]

-History of the Student Activity Fee [6]

[edit] Current Structure

The Student Association's organizing document is the SA Constitution [7]. Changes to the Constitution need to be approved by the undergraduate student body.

The Constitution requires a Code of Statutes be maintained by the Assembly for all other rules and regulations, known as SA law. The Code contains five statues:

1. Elections Code [8]

2. Ethics and Conduct Code [9]

3. Operations Code [10]

4. Student Activity Fee Financial Code (or Financial Code) [11]

5. Judicial Code [12]

All undergraduate students at Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF are members of the Student Association. They can vote in campus wide elections and referenda. They also pay a Student Activity Fee (SAF), the Association manages.

The SA is organized around the Student Legislature, now in its 50th legislative session. The student body elected President presides over these meetings as Assembly Speaker. The undergraduate students of the University's schools and colleges elect Assembly Representatives to represent them in the Assembly. The Assembly meets each Monday evening in Maxwell Auditorium.

The Assembly maintains a Finance Board, chaired by a student body elected Comptroller and 10 members, elected by the Assembly. The Board recommends to the Assembly policy and requests for the allocation/designation of SAF monies.

The Assembly maintains a Board of Elections and Membership to oversee all elections and a Judicial Review Board to ensure all organizations rules are followed and to sanction/remove officers in violation of those rules.

The Association also maintains a Cabinet of its executive officers comprising the President, Vice-President, Parliamentarian, Recorder, BEM chair and 3 at-large seats from the Assembly. The Cabinet sets the Assembly agenda and initiates the "Student Fee Vision" and all Association Resolutions.

The Assembly elects students to serve as University Senators in the University Senate, presided over by the University Chancellor as Senate President. They also elect two students to serve as non-voting members of the University's Board of Trustees.

The Assembly has little direct control over University policy aside from a loud voice and a soap-box. Its main concern is the allocation/designation of the SAF and to channel student concern to the various administrators and University committees where policy can actually be altered. The SA places emphasis on Senate Committee participation for this reason and lobbies on the student’s behalf, like a labor union.

The Association as defined by Ifshin, “would be an Association similar to a labor union that would not attempt to act as a government but rather to do what it presently does now – act as a force on behalf of student interest where the real power is, the administration. The ...Student Association would act as the political representative of the student.”

The current confirmed cabinet is as follows:

Ryan A. Kelly - President

Marlene J. Goldenberg - Vice President

Brandon S. Mathieu - Senior Associate to the President

Jasmine L. Jackson - Director of Internal Affairs

Michael E. Rizzolo - Comptroller & Chair of the Finance Board

Crystal V. Beavers- Chair, Board of Elections & Membership

Marko G. Markov - Parliamentarian

Meaghan C. Monfort - Association Recorder

Michael R. Fleishman - Director of Technology

Katherine E. Chillscyzn - Chair, Committe on Student Engagement

Jessica A. Oster - Co-Director, Public Relations

Mark E. LaFrance - Co-Director, Public Relations

Lawrence W. Seivert - Chair, Committee on University Affairs

Joseph D. Wieder - Chair, Committee on Academic Affairs

[edit] Notable Association Alumni

Peter H. Jeffer '68

David M. Ifshin '70 (attorney, general counsel to President Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign for the White House and a close advisor.)

Richard S. Madaleno [13] – ’87, A&S, ’89 Maxwell – member, Maryland House of Delegates

Frederick S. Philips [14] (onboard Pan Am Flight 103)

John M. Mandyck '89, G '92 (Carrier Corporation)

• Syracuse University & SUNY-ESF Student Association