UPDATED: Oct. 8, 8:23 p.m.

After two hours of debate, the Student Association passed an amendment to its proposed constitution, which included changing presidential terms to correspond with the academic year.

The SA president currently serves during a calendar year. The new amendment calls for the president to serve from Aug. 1 to July 31. The changes will only take place if Syracuse University students approve SA’s new constitution in November. But during the meeting, many SA assembly representatives and officers disagreed as to whether the amendment will benefit the organization.

The meeting took place in the Life Sciences Complex and began at 8 p.m. after many assembly members took part in the Remembrance Week candlelight vigil.

One effect the amendment would have is that the upcoming elected president, vice president, comptroller and assembly representatives will serve three semesters from January 2014 to July 2015.

The debate about the amendment began with Kerry Foxx, associate director of student activities, talking to the assembly about the benefits of shifting presidential terms to an academic year.

One point Foxx brought up was how the current system affects SA between the spring and fall semesters.

“You really lose a lot of momentum in the summer, and then you get back in the fall and you elect new people, then you have to transition and orient new people and you’re trying to get initiatives under way,” Foxx said. “So you get trapped in a loop of recruiting and retaining.”

Foxx also noted how the changes would help with continuity in leadership and transitions of power.

In the new system, he said, the summer would allow SA to come back to campus a week early — something he said isn’t necessarily feasible during winter break — and discuss its goals as an organization.

Comptroller Stephen DeSalvo said that the amendment would be beneficial to students and SA members in leadership positions.

“When you’re returning for a new year, you expect student government is transitioning to a new year,” DeSalvo said. “I also think with the new system people will have more maturity and more understanding before they have to take on the role they want to run for, and they can still run for two terms.”

Nia Boles, chair of the Student Engagement Committee, added that with the current system, students sometimes forget who they elected while away on summer break, which she believed wouldn’t be the case with terms more aligned to the academic calendar.

Vice President Duane Ford said by changing the term, the incoming president doesn’t have as many resources before transitioning into office.

President Allie Curtis said the transition period in the current system is much more beneficial. Since people are still on campus, she said, the newly elected president is able to build relationships.

Curtis also said that with the academic calendar term, the new president loses the outgoing president as a resource.

“Since we have that overlap where the president serves the spring of their junior year and the fall of their senior year, it gives the outgoing president a full semester to be there and support the new administration,” Curtis said. “With the new system we wouldn’t have that.”

A section was also added to the amendment, where the president would be permitted to finish the session through July 31 after graduating, to help the transition with the new administration.

The assembly also indefinitely tabled the motion brought up at last week’s meeting to change the organization’s name to Student Government Association.

“It was about setting a precedent about how we govern, and that can all be accomplished without the name change,” Ford said.

Published on October 8, 2013 at 2:06 am

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27