Student Association

Whitman representative gives first home college report

Allen Chiu | Staff Photographer

Parliamentarian Ben Jones speaks at the Student Association meeting Monday night. Jones introduced a bill that would allow excused absences to go unpunished for up to three weeks in a row.

By Debbie TruongStaff Writer

Last semester, student representatives in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management helped integrate Microsoft Excel into the school’s management curriculum and headed an effort to refurnish the study space in the school’s main lobby.

This information was relayed to assembly representatives in a report by Jen Bacolores, a junior finance major, who kicked off a series of home college committee reports to be presented at upcoming Student Association meetings during Monday’s meeting in Maxwell Auditorium.

Incorporating Excel into the management curriculum stemmed from the marketability of the skill, as Excel certification is a sought-after business ability, Bacolores said. Incorporating Excel lessons into the curriculum makes the skill available to students who wouldn’t otherwise consider being certified or educated in Excel.

“There are workshops and there are Excel certification courses that are offered through Whitman, but a lot of students don’t necessarily take the initiative,” said Bacolores, who previously served as SA’s Board of Elections and Membership chair.

In addition, the Whitman committee replaced rickety tables in the school’s David and Ilene Flaum Grand Hall, a central study space for students, and approved a policy for Whitman team rooms that grants priority to students working in multiple-member teams, as opposed to those working individually.



Refurnishing the Flaum space and implementing the team room policy developed in response to student complaints, Bacolores said.

“We definitely think our students deserve a comfortable space to relax, to study or to even work in groups,” she said.

Accessibility and outreach to students will be among the Whitman committee’s focuses as the semester progresses. Advertisements for vacant Whitman representative seats in SA will be projected on plasma screens in Whitman, and a monthly meet-and-greet is in the works, Bacolores said.

In continuing a semester-long effort to overhaul SA codes, Parliamentarian Ben Jones introduced a lengthy bill that would officially modify the organization’s demerit system. The demerit system reprimands assembly representatives for missed meetings. Representatives that receive 12 demerits are subject to a hearing with SA’s Judicial Review Board.

The bill, titled the Omnibus Demerit Reform Act of 2013, would allow excused absences to go unpunished for up to three weeks in a row. Currently, SA’s codes are written so that each excused absence is counted as two demerits. If approved, the bill would allow assembly members to request a meeting absence be waived due to extenuating circumstances, such as a family emergency or illness. A third provision permits committee heads to assign representatives demerits based on poor performance.

Said Jones: “I went through and found all the problems we have with demerits and this is my attempt to fix them.”

Other business discussed:

  • The assembly approved approximately $9,766 in programming funding for eight separate student organizations. About $135,012 in special programming money remains for spring 2013.
  • A bill presented by Jones at last Monday’s SA meeting, which makes representatives’ attendance mandatory at any secondary board on which they belong, was approved by the general assembly.
  • State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry Undergraduate Student President Aislinn Brackman described the functions of ESF’s student governing body to SA.
  • Assembly representatives and some cabinet members, excluding President Allie Curtis and Comptroller Stephen DeSalvo, among others, went into an approximately 25-minute-long executive session following the meeting. The executive session was not open to the public.
  • Daniel Hernandez, a sophomore in the School of Education, was approved to the Board of Administrative Operations.
  • The Academic Affairs Committee is meeting with Information Technology and Services to discuss concerns from students. The committee is also working on coordinating panels for the incoming freshman class on academic integrity.





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