The final Syracuse University Student Association meeting of the semester, held Monday night, gave the officers of the 49th session their last opportunity to speak their mind.
SA President Travis Mason began by speaking about the state of campus media and publications and then on the state of campus governance.
"It bothers me that we miss a very important concept in a lot of things we do, and that is student responsibility," Mason said.
Mason repeated the statistic, said in a previous meeting, the recent campus climate survey, 75 percent of respondents rated The Daily Orange as a five or less in their adequacy of coverage on racial or ethnic issues. The scale for the question was from one to 10, one meaning that the student was in strong disagreement and 10 meaning that the student was in strong agreement.
Mason's suggestions for The D.O. began with a university-wide assessment of itself to see what the students think, however, Mason said The D.O. should not expect anything.
Next, Mason told the Assembly that at one point, The D.O. employed a multicultural editor.
"The newspaper didn't have as much of a problem back then," Mason said.
Judicial charges do not apply to The D.O., Mason said, and he believes the publication should be held to the same standards as student groups.
"I suggest that the next administration look into The Daily Orange's special privileges clause and redo that," Mason said.
Mason then went on to include other campus media and publications in his suggestions.
"I think that all campus media and publication groups need to get together and discuss inclusion, cultural competency and just general competency," Mason said.
He also said the next comptroller should help these groups look into other avenues of funding, because they are continually funded and, in some cases, little progress is seen, Mason said.
At this point, Mason moved the topic of his speech to campus governance.
"Student organizations on this campus think the government is weak not because leadership has not cultivated the campus to get students involved," Mason said.
Mason commended the Assembly for its work done with campus administration, stating that much of his cabinet is known in many offices across campus.
"The organization is becoming significant and legitimate," Mason said.
SA, however, is too worried about financing and marketing, Mason said, and is neglecting its duty to advocate.
One way of doing so is through the Student Organizations Council, Mason said. Along with the many student organizations funded through SA, those not funded in this way, such as religious organizations and club sports, need to participate in the SOC, Mason said.
"The SOC's job does not stop at finances," Mason said.
Another way to advocate is through service, and Mason said that SA needs to continue offering services.
As of now, the services Mason said he considers praiseworthy include The Big Event and Orange Seeds.
He also mentioned the Empowering Minds Conference and the student Web site as great avenues the next session can go down.
Finally, Mason discussed the financial side of SA.
"We are so inconsistent in giving out money," Mason said. "The reasonings that some budgets were chosen out of others sometimes seem homophobic, racist, basically a lot of 'ists.'"
After Mason spoke for the last time as SA president, Vice President Eric Crites took the lectern.
Crites thanked many fellow members, including Mason, for his "creative brilliance," that was at times hindered due to obstacles and biased news articles.
Crites then thanked those who doubted the 49th session, for they succeeded anyways, Crites said.
He left the lectern with advice for SA. He told the Assembly members to never allow themselves to be puppets of the loudest person in the gallery. He provided advice for the next administration by using the president-elect Wayne Horton's campaign slogan.
"Make sure A-C-T-I-O-N also means R-E-S-U-L-T-S," Crites said.
Harris Sokoloff, Chief-of-Staff, spoke briefly, thanking his fellow members and wishing luck to all.
Finally, Vincent E. Cobb II, SA Recorder, spoke of the upcoming Empowering Minds Conference and his future in SA. Cobb said he would not participate in SA next semester, but would return in the fall 2006 semester.
Prior to the final farewells, SA passed all of the bills pertaining to the appeals from the 2006 budget allocations.
SA had around $50,000 available for appeals, SA Comptroller Andrew Urankar said. However, he was excited to say that, as of this semester, all money allocated for an event that was not spent is no longer the organization's money. This means that there is more money available for next semester if organizations wish to request funding from special programming.
"The only exception is if the organization planned an event and something fell through," Urankar said. "For example, University Union books Ben Folds for the fall 2004, but due to tour changes, he was scheduled for spring 2005. In a case like this, we would allow the funds to roll over."
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