CLARIFICATION: In a previous version of this article, Vice President Duane Ford’s role in selecting candidates for the position was unclear. Ford performed the interviews, but gave his notes to President Allie Curtis, who made the recommendation.

After spending nearly an hour in executive session, Student Association representatives voted against President Allie Curtis’ appointment for public relations director.

On Monday night in Life Sciences Complex, the assembly voted against Anthony Greco being the organization’s director of public relations. Representatives were concerned that the appointment might have occurred due to a conflict of interest. Curtis originally appointed Greco, a junior public relations major, to the position after the previous director, Cara Johnson, stepped down earlier this semester. The director of public relations is part of cabinet.

“Anthony is the most qualified person I can imagine to fill this position, and it’s unfortunate he’s not able to offer his skills to the organization,” Curtis said. “Unfortunately people’s personal backgrounds came into play. You hope people can make decisions from a professional stand point and the fact that they’re here to do work first and foremost.”

Curtis said she was unable to conduct interviews with candidates for the position because she busy with Remembrance Week obligations. As a result, Vice President Duane Ford performed the interviews and gave his notes to Curtis, who then made the official recommendation of Greco to the assembly.

An assembly member brought up that Ford and Greco are a part of the same fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, and whether or not that affected his recommendation. In response, Curtis said regardless of affiliation, Greco was still appointed because of his skills.

She said it was the first time the assembly had fought one of her appointments. However, she said it was good to see the assembly taking the decision seriously and remaining unified.

“It really shows the power of the assembly to make a decision either which way,” Curtis said. “It’s great we have an assembly that’s so active and asks the right questions.”

Moving forward, Curtis said it will be difficult to find someone to fill the position quickly, but she said time is of the essence.

“It’s unfortunate personal decisions can cause divisions, but what’s important at this point is that our team is supportive of each other and we need to keep that going and that needs to never be lost,” she said.

At the very end of the meeting, Dan Hernandez, chair of the Board of Elections and Membership, told the assembly he was planning to make a motion next week to rescind the proposed session timing change the assembly had passed last week.

The proposed change would have the president, vice president and comptroller serve a session aligned with the academic year, instead of the current system, which is aligned with the calendar year. The timing change is part of the new constitution, which Syracuse University students will vote on during November elections.

Hernandez said he wasn’t at the meeting last week when the amendment was proposed, so he wasn’t able to voice the concerns he had.

Said Hernandez: “I refute a lot of the claims about momentum and the ease the process will bring if we go by the school year instead of the calendar year. Basically I don’t think the pros of the system we changed outweigh the pros of what we had before.”

Published on October 15, 2013 at 2:41 am

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27