Student Association is making strides to build a relationship between full-time students enrolled at Syracuse University and part-time students enrolled in University College.

In the recent presidential election, four referenda were voted on and passed by popular vote of the student body. These referenda were put in place by members of SA and voted on by the student body. In order for a referendum to pass, one-tenth of the student body must vote and a majority must vote in favor of the change, President Dylan Lustig said.

The most notable referendum to the constitution is an amendment that allows part-time students enrolled in University College to serve as general assembly members, just like full-time SU students, Lustig said.

“There is one referendum that deals with University College that is pretty important,” Lustig said. “It now allows part-time students in University College to vote, which builds a relationship between part-time and full-time students.”

Part-time students enrolled in University College do not pay a student fee and therefore have not been eligible to serve in SA alongside full-time students in the past. The referendum’s passage is the first step toward giving University College students a voice in SA.

“This is the first step to get the ball rolling,” Lustig said. “Allowing them to vote in our elections gives them representation in the assembly.”

For the referenda dealing with University College, 1,809 students voted in favor of allowing University College students to serve in SA, and 1,639 voted against the change.

The constitution for SA was written in the 1990s, and therefore the laws are not currently representative of the campus. The referenda were put up for vote to modernize these codes, Lustig said.

“These codes were written in the early 1990s, so there is a lot that should be in the constitution that is not in there,” Lustig said. “A lot of it was just cleaning up what was in there and making it more relevant.”

Besides the University College referendum, other referenda will make changes, including clarifying vague wording of sections of the SA constitution and creating a distinction between committees and boards within SA, said Jenn Bacolores, chair of the Board of Elections and Membership.

She described the referenda regarding clarifying vague wording in the SA constitution and making a distinction between boards and committees as “housekeeping” issues.

These referenda passed easily: 2,943 students voted to clarify vague wording while only 418 did not, and 2,912 voted to make the distinction between committees and boards while 451 did not.

The required majority to elect a member to the Judicial Review Board will be changed from a four-fifths majority to a two-thirds majority.

For this referendum, 2,130 people voted in favor of changing the majority and 1,297 voted against it.

Published on November 26, 2012 at 12:35 am

Contact Taylor: tblupo@syr.edu