By Erik M. Emanuelson
Wednesday afternoon’s Student Government Association meeting focused on a wide range of agendas from campus safety to money allocation; senators found much to be debated.
Chief Jason Powell of the CCSU Police Department gave the senate updates on campus safety and protocols. In the wake of recent Clery alerts, Chief Powell and the department wanted to assure students that student safety is the main priority, but also stressed that public safety is everyone’s responsibility.
“We (the police) take a holistic approach with the last line of defense being the police,” said Powell. “The police are there to put a stop to a horrific event becoming worse, but, you already have a horrific event to begin with. So we like to advocate for prevention. You still want to call 911 but, if there is no crime the police play no role. There are departments on campus who can help identify a person who may be going down the wrong path and needs help”.
The emergency alert system was also put into question. According to the senate, the consistency has been an issue with the system which is run and operated by the CCSU police. Flaws such as some students receiving text message alerts while others are not was put to rest.
According to Powell, the main problem is that the operating system has to filter through thousands of student telephone numbers, and if the alert is solved the system shuts down, resulting in some students not receiving an alert.
Amendments to the SGA by-laws were a hot topic for Wednesday’s agenda. At the top of the list was the ability of the Executive Board (President Bergenn, Vice President Braun and Treasurer Alaimo) to allocate monies without the senate’s approval. Although the decision can be overturned with 2/3 vote from the senate, some senators, such as Jamie Germaine, felt that kind of power should be decided through majority vote.
“They (Executive Board) allocate any amount of money and then pass it in senate. We just think and know everyone does ‘shady’ things and we don’t want them to have that power,” said Germaine.
The movement to amend Section 1-9-e, changing “2/3” to by “majority vote,” passed with a resounding 18 yes-votes to nine no-votes.
Future tuition increases have been a large focus of the SGA in recent weeks. Outraged students have had an outpouring of resentment towards these very possible increases, and the Executive Board and senators have taken notice.
A petition against the possible financial restructuring has been circulating campus. Additionally, President Bergenn proposed the motion to allocate no more than $1,800 to provide transport on March 21 to 61 Woodland St. in Hartford for the Board of Regents’ vote on tuition increases.
The motion passed with a consensus vote. The allocation provides up to three busses for CCSU students and faculty to attend, free of charge.