The Student Association Assembly eliminated the position of chief of staff – which President Ryan Kelly previously held – at Monday night’s meeting.

The position, which was an at-large cabinet member allowed to vote in cabinet meetings at the discretion of the president, was mostly charged with maintaining the SA office.

‘The chief of staff position wasn’t clearly defined,’ Kelly said. ‘The job … is spread among the assembly more.’

The position was eliminated by an amendment to the SA’s operating code. Kelly and Parliamentarian Marko Markov proposed the amendment Monday, but Kelly said the issue was discussed at the end of last semester.

Three other at-large cabinet members, who were voted in to their positions Monday, are more accessible to the students because they aren’t assigned with the office duties of the former chief of staff position, Kelly said.

‘We wanted to make sure the people who vote were external,’ he said. In addition to the at-large cabinet members, three other members can vote.

The new at-large cabinet members are Larry Seivert, now chair of the Committee on University Affairs; Joseph Wieder, now chair of the Committee on Academic Affairs and Katherine Chillscyzn, now chair of the Committee on Student Engagement.

The rest of the SA meeting was spent voting in new assembly members and committee chairs and renaming the Committee on Student Engagement as the Committee of Student Engagement, expanding its community service role to include on- and off-campus initiatives.

As the meeting drew to a close, Crystal Beavers, chair of the Board of Elections, asked assembly members to look for more students to serve on SA. She said SA needed more members, despite Monday’s turnout.

‘Right now, we are not full,’ she said.

The Student Organization Council was also eliminated Monday night. Last semester the SOC did not have any members and there were none so far this semester.

‘We could not get the SOC up and running at the 50th session,’ Kelly said.

SA voted in six students to the assembly: junior Chillscyzn, junior Rebecca Rosa, freshman David Shifrin, freshman Gregory Klotz, freshman Gregory Lessans and freshman Auyon Ghosh.

Rosa is in the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science. Shifrin and Chillscyzn are in the College of Human Services and Health Professions. Klotz is in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. Lessans is in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Ghosh is in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Michael Cox, a junior in Arts and Sciences, was also approved as a member of the Finance Board. He is not a member of SA, but that is not a requirement for board members.

Three others applied to the Finance Board, but were not voted in by the assembly.

Neville Williams, Rosie Garcia and Jorge Rodriguez were also voted into the Administrative Operations Committee.

Jessica Oster, co-director of public relations, asked assembly members to help support the ‘trial-run’ extended hours in the Goldstein Student Center.

‘If it works out well, and people go, then it will hopefully be a permanent change,’ she said.

SA’s next meeting will be held Feb. 5, at 7:30 p.m. at Maxwell Auditorium.

Published on January 29, 2007 at 12:00 pm