A final verdict regarding the investigation into Student Association President Eric Evangelista’s alleged violation of the SA constitution will be made Friday.

SA’s Judicial Review Board chair Abdulaziz Al-Sulaiti provided the update at SA’s assembly meeting Monday night in Maxwell Auditorium. Al-Sulaiti said Evangelista committed a “possible and potential constitutional violation” by appointing a co-chair of public relations without opening applications to the student body.

Evangelista appeared in front of the JRB on Monday for a judicial hearing, but the meeting was kept private. If Evangelista is found guilty of having violated the constitution, he will have the ability to appeal, Al-Sulaiti said.

Evangelista allegedly violated the SA constitution by not acting on the assembly’s request to send a campus-wide email calling for applications for the public relations co-chair position, according to a copy of the violation notice obtained by The Daily Orange. Evangelista originally appointed a student to that position without opening applications to the student body.

“Failure to execute Assembly’s decision is a clear Constitutional violation per Article IV (4.2) which states: The President shall be responsible for executing the decisions of the Assembly,” the violation notice states. “The JRB will treat any and all violations of the Constitution and the Bylaws seriously and considers this act intolerable.”

Other business

Here are other highlights from Monday’s meeting:

Evangelista’s meeting with the Student Success Council was the most discussed topic during his report. One of the purposes of the council is to increase retention rates and success rates at Syracuse University.

“There were a lot of interesting things brought up that I didn’t know leading up to the meeting,” Evangelista said.

Evangelista added that he and the council also discussed standardizing transfer processes for students wishing to move between colleges at SU.

Additionally, SA Vice President Joyce LaLonde is finalizing a Department of Public Safety survey that will be shared with students, she told the assembly during a brief address. She also said she is working to form a mental health reporting group and asked for help from assembly members to report on the topic.

Parliamentarian Obi Afriyie said in his report that he hopes to promote more work among assembly members, and wants to introduce an open forum to allow assembly members the opportunity to voice any ideas or initiatives to cabinet members.

Chair of Academic Affairs James Franco spoke about his committee’s work, most notably by introducing a midterm extension pilot that will be launched this year. The plan is to have E.S. Bird Library open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for a two- to three-week period.

“This is something we’ve been trying to work on the entire year,” Franco said.

Published on January 30, 2017 at 11:08 pm

Contact William: wgmuoio@syr.edu