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Syracuse University Student Association President German Nolivos proposed a new bylaw to create a Review Board committee in the association’s weekly meeting Monday. The new board would aim to ensure fiscal responsibility and the effective use of semester budgets, following over-allocation in previous semesters.

The proposed Review Board, led by SA Comptroller Alexis Leach, would have the authority to request two reports per semester from high-spending student organizations — University Union, New York Public Interest Research Group, Student Legal Services and the association itself. The committee’s creation is part of a broader initiative to revise SA’s Finance Board, establish accountability and promote fiscal transparency across all activities and initiatives that are funded by the SU student activity fee, Leach said.

“This is where the biggest pool of money is coming from,” Leach said. “These (groups) put on essential events at Syracuse . . . these are the events that everybody talks about.”

The proposed bylaw would require the four major organizations to outline their annual projects and expenditures, efficiently use their funds and report financial status by the end of the academic year. Through this additional budget review, SA aims to establish accountability and financial understanding on campus, Leach said.

The new committee would submit a budget recommendation based on the annual student activity fee estimate. The recommendation would set a funding cap for the Finance Board’s approvals during the advanced allocations process.

As part of the proposed bylaw, the Finance Board would appoint a secretary and up to two associate comptrollers. In addition to Leach and the Finance Board members, the committee would include the Speaker of the Assembly, the Speaker Pro Tempore and the SA Supreme Court Justice as voting members.

Leach said SA and UU presidents would also be required to attend meetings to oversee advisory and budget presentations. NYPIRG and SLS could request a representative at each meeting as well.

The bylaw would also require assembly approval following the Review Board’s recommendation, similar to SA’s current system. Leach said the Finance Board is working toward having a “nice pool of money” for its special programming and the rest of the semesters.

“We are recognizing this in a way where everything’s equitable and fair and we have the money to be able to put on the events that we’ve done in the past, certainly this year,” Leach said.

The association will vote on the proposed bylaw during next Monday’s assembly meeting.

Other business:

• Nolivos said the assembly intends to add a Director of Multicultural Relations position, filled by a SUNY ESF student, to enhance communication with the school’s Mighty Oak Student Association. The position’s implementation will be voted on as part of SA’s constitutional referendum later this year.
• Next week, the assembly will vote on a change to assembly member duties that would require all SA members to attend at least four events and table for four hours over the course of a semester.
• Anna Mirer, SA’s vice president of university affairs, said the Grocery Bus Initiative will be expanded to include a “bus buddy” representative from the association to help students use the service.

Published on February 11, 2025 at 12:57 am