DeKalb | The Student Association Senate voted to postpone SA Bill 47026, which would combine the positions of the director of public affairs position with the director of advertising position, at a Sunday meeting.
“In theory, when you postpone indefinitely, it’s as good as voting no,” SA Senate Speaker Dillon Domke said. “I’ve got no idea quite frankly [as to why the majority postponed the legislation] unless there’s a real reason that we need to… . [Senators] should vote on it. Honestly, people are afraid to put their names on the yes or no vote.”
Prior to the 19-11-3 vote, SA President Nathan Lupstein said each of the positions had enough of a workload to be kept separate and the financial implications of having the two positions kept separate would not impact the financial efficiency of the SA.
Senator Timothy Bradner said a way to better clarify the separate roles of the positions would be to rename and redefine the positions in the bylaws.
Another change viewed at the meeting was a bill that would require directors in the executive branch to report to the Senate once every two weeks, according to Sunday’s SA Senate agenda.
SAB 47028, proposed by Senator Tristan Martin, sparked about five amendments, pushing the bill to the Rules and Procedures committee where the topic could be discussed more freely.
Greg Lezon, SA chief of staff, is in charge of holding students employed by SA in charge of their hours, and checks that their weekly reports are accurate and logged publicly on the SA’s website. Lezon was not in attendance at the meeting Sunday.
As of April 24, Four out of 11 members of the executive staff have not updated their weekly reports online since March 25, according to SA’s website.
Among those who proposed an amendment was Senator Aaron Vazquez, who said three weeks would be better instead of two weeks. Christine Wang, SA Senate speaker-elect, said senators should be expected to come to a SA Senate meeting every month in person.
Domke said he supports the additional standard of accountability senators would have with a verbal report because it would be more beneficial than just a written report. Senators could justify the hours they log instead of leaving it up for interpretation.
