Syracuse University’s Student Association may vote to change the organization’s constitution Monday night, SA’s Bylaw Review Committee chair said.

The Bylaw Review Committee, a newly formed special committee within SA, has been reviewing Article II of the bylaws, which focuses on the organization’s boards, committees and the cabinet. After the bylaw committee’s most recent meeting, the group discussed transferring the public relation chair’s ability to vote on the cabinet to the director of diversity affairs, which would require a change in the SA constitution.

Officials said this change would better serve SA’s priorities and needs.

Eddie Devino, the chair of bylaw review committee, and assembly member Marcus Lane Jr. have created a bill for this proposal and presented it to SA’s Administrative Operations Committee. If approved by the board, the SA assembly would then require a two-thirds majority vote to approve the bill, according to the SA constitution. This assembly vote will take place during Monday night’s meeting if all goes according to plan, Devino said.

If approved, the proposal will be on the ballot for SA’s upcoming 2017-18 academic year election, which will take place from April 17-20.

Also if approved, the proposal would ensure SA’s Public Relations Committee is replaced as a standing committee by a newly formed Diversity Affairs Committee. The public relations committee is currently one of SA’s four standing committees.

The Bylaw Review Committee believes that the Public Relations Committee only needs one or two individuals to do the committee’s work, Devino said. The public relations committee doesn’t have standing initiatives that need to be discussed on a weekly basis, he added.

A new Diversity Affairs Committee on the other hand would have to work more frequently on initiatives and might help SA’s relationships with student organizations on campus, Devino said.

“Giving them a standing committee will give their growth in that front,” he said, referring to the Diversity Affairs Committee.

Currently SA President Eric Evangelista and Vice President Joyce LaLonde began the 60th legislative session by together selecting two new public relations co-chairs. However, the public relations co-chairs selected — Ashley Summers and Teyra Anderson — resigned before the end of the semester, leaving the positions vacant.

Nicole Sherwood, a senior public relations major, was selected by Evangelista to take over as one public relations co-chair. However, her controversial appointment led to an SA Judicial Review Board investigation, after Evangelista failed to open up applications for the position to the entire student body.

Since taking over the position, Sherwood has been a liaison between SA and members of the university community, Devino said. Sherwood recently moderated an open forum where assembly members and the public could ask questions about what is going on within the organization. Despite her short tenure, Sherwood has done a lot of meaningful work for SA, Devino said.

The director of diversity affairs position was one of former SA president Aysha Seedat’s ideas during her tenure, Devino said. The position became official when Evangelista and LaLonde selected Diasia Robinson to fill it during this academic year.

One of Robinson’s initiatives as director of diversity affairs was funding a trip to Washington, D.C., in February for students to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

If the constitutional change is approved by the campus vote, it will recognize the work done by the review committee this semester, Devino said.

“I think there will be a lot of success with this move,” he added.

When Devino opened up a discussion about the new committee during the March 27 SA meeting, one of the ideas he suggested was to have the committee frequently hold panels with members of the Syracuse community to promote diversity at the university. The committee could also work with registered student organizations on a regular basis.

“The idea of this position is not only to represent a movement of SA by making the campus more inclusive, but would help the communication from a lot of RSOs to SA and beyond,” Devino said.

Published on April 2, 2017 at 10:20 pm

Contact William: wgmuoio@syr.edu