The final Student Association meeting of the 51st session included President Ryan Kelly’s farewell address – part of the traditional ‘Senior Members’ Goodbyes’ where the outgoing leader thanked and commended the members who had assisted him throughout his tenure.

‘What really makes SA so great are the people who are in it,’ Kelly said during a heartfelt and intimate speech addressed to his friends and peers.

The meeting also featured a review of SA’s allocation of funds for the next semester and a vote to amend the Operation Codes.

SA’s commitment to provide funding to all types of university organizations was highly supported as Comptroller Michael Rizzolo announced the final allocation of SA’s special programming budget.

‘After we allocated money to organizations that appealed for funding, we have $18.34 left in our budget. It’s great that we spent all of our special programming budget,’ Rizzolo said.

Organizations that received funding through the appeals process include The Black Voice and Zipped magazine, whereas groups including La Lucha and the Performance and the Debate Team did not receive SA funding.

Following the budget discussion, Parliamentarian Marko Markov facilitated a debate concerning an amendment to the Operation Codes.

The bill was passed in a 14-6 vote of the Assembly, eliminating the parliamentary procedure right of a Cabinet member who is not on Assembly to respond with a pro or con statement in official debates. Cabinet members not on the Assembly are allowed to speak in debate with a ‘point of interest’ comment.

As a result of this amendment, there is a loophole where Cabinet members are permitted to add a pro or con comment to debate, but only after an Assembly member yields an exact amount of speaking time to that Cabinet member.

Prior to the bill being passed, controversy arose on the process of an Assembly member yielding speaking time to a Cabinet member. Another Assembly member must second the motion before the speaking time is allotted.

Critics of the bill argued that debate will be stifled by the technicalities of constantly motioning to allow Cabinet members to speak. It was also reasoned that it might be difficult for Assembly members to know how much speaking time to yield to specific Cabinet members at any given point during the debate.

After the passage of the bill into the Operation Codes, Kelly gave his last President’s Report to the Student Association. He praised an upcoming SA-hosted program planned for Jan. 30.

‘This year, SA is hosting the Student Leaders Summit, which will give SA a basis on where to start dealing with university issues,’ Kelly said.

The summit is an opportunity for many student leaders on campus to come together and discuss their issues, conflicts and success, he said. The organization hopes it will help SA plan its endeavors for the upcoming semester.

Larry Seivert, chair of the Committee on University Affairs and the defeated write-in presidential candidate in last month’s elections, also contributed several announcements.

‘We have unofficial numbers for the Thanksgiving shuttle service, and we serviced over 500 students, which was a great success,’ Seivert said. ‘Also, SA is pleased to support Cartridges for a Cure. All boxes are out in the residence halls, and we will be periodically revisiting ways to market to students.’

The meeting closed on a more somber note as departing SA leaders said farewell to the audience. Kelly, Rizzolo and senior associate to the president Jessie Fish took time to thank friends, mentors, counterparts and advisers.

Kelly closed the meeting with his last official words as SA President.

‘I look at all the wonderful people in this organization, and I feel really blessed to be here. Show your leadership through your actions, and that is how people will know SA.’

Published on December 3, 2007 at 12:00 pm