Student Association

SA president’s budget procedure violation was committed by previous president

Chase Guttman | Staff Photographer

Aysha Seedat, president of SA’s 59th legislative session during the 2015-16 academic year, acknowledged she failed get the SA assembly’s approval of her operating budget proposal before submitting the proposal to the Finance Board in 2016. Seedat apologized to the current SA members this week.

Student Association President Eric Evangelista’s failure to have SA’s budget approved by the assembly and cabinet before submitting it to the Finance Board wasn’t an uncommon misstep.

The procedure – which violated SA’s constitution – was also committed by Aysha Seedat, president of SA’s 59th legislative session during the 2015-16 academic year, she said in a text message this week.

Seedat failed to get the SA assembly’s approval of her operating budget proposal before submitting the proposal to the Finance Board in 2016, a violation of article 4.2.3 of the SA constitution.

Seedat apologized to the current SA members this week for what she said was an unintentional violation.

“I take full responsibility for this. It was my fault and no one else’s that I did not have (the budget) approved by assembly before submitting it to Finance Board,” Seedat said in a text message.



The assembly must approve the president’s operating budget proposal before it is submitted to the Finance Board, according to the SA constitution. Although the assembly approved Seedat’s final budget, the assembly did not pass the assembly before she gave it to the Finance Board.

It is unclear if Seedat also violated SA bylaws because SA previously did not keep a record of past versions of the bylaws. The bylaws were last amended on March 3.

Evangelista said at SA’s March 20 assembly meeting that his budget proposal was sent to the Finance Board without cabinet and assembly approval. Evangelista said he followed the precedent set by past presidents who did not inform him that the budget needed to be passed through the cabinet and assembly.

Seedat initially claimed she followed the correct procedure outlined in SA’s governing documents, but later said she remembered incorrectly and apologized for the error.

Phil Kramer, who was SA’s comptroller during Seedat’s term, said in an email that the SA budget typically contains the same appropriations from year to year, including bus funding, stipends and office supplies.

Although bypassing assembly approval of the budget is a technical violation, it isn’t “earth-shattering” if the budget wasn’t formally approved beforehand, Kramer said.

Evangelista said his budget proposal was “virtually the same” as budgets passed in previous years. His new budget included an additional night at the fall cabinet retreat, he said.

Evangelista said in an interview that he would spend the last weeks of the academic year making sure the next president is prepared to handle the intricacies of the position. Last year, a JRB investigation into Evangelista’s campaign shortened the transition period between administrations, he said.

However, Evangelista said that wasn’t Seedat’s fault.

“I don’t fault her for anything,” he said. “I think she did a great job and I respect and admire her very much.”





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