The Student Services Finance Committee met Monday night to finalize amendments to their bylaws, get closer to finishing their own recommendations and discuss upcoming position changes.
The SSFC focused on finalizing amendments to the bylaws in prior meetings. Representatives in Monday’s meeting were given the opportunity to voice their own concerns regarding the group’s bylaws and operations in an open discussion.
Committee Representative Kevin Jacobson raised concerns regarding the deadlines imposed on the SSFC to pass policies and make decisions. According to Jacobson, the deadlines serve no real purpose, recommending the deadlines be omitted altogether.
“The dates are just arbitrary and not necessary,” Jacobson said.
The committee came to a consensus regarding this decision and swiftly included it into a list of recommendations they would submit to ASM for approval.
Representatives also looked to standardize the period in which other ASM branches can submit appeals to decisions — considering five days, five school dates and calendar dates as appeals deadlines.
Some representatives, including Aerin Leigh Lammers, stood in favor of longer periods.
“I’m pro ten days and not five,” Lammers said. “We’re students, and things get busy for us. Emails can become bogged down easily.”
The committee concurred with this sentiment and agreed that ten days, including weekends, would be fair for many situations.
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Following the discussion regarding the group’s bylaws, SSFC discussed the appointment of SSFC Vice Chair Rianna Mukherjee to the university’s Student Transportation Board, acknowledging the position is time intensive.
Given the time commitment of this position, SSFC Secretary Steven Shi suggested this be a compensated position. Though the committee did not make a decision regarding compensation, they decided the Vice Chair should be allowed to abstain from holding a position on the Student Transportation Board due to the time commitment required.
Finally, with a deadlock between Student Council and the SSFC in agreeing upon the Integral Budget proposal, it is standard procedure to put together a ‘Conference Committee.’ To go about this process, the chairs of both SSFC and ASM would each select three members of this committee.
Lammers said she sees this as an opportunity for SSFC and ASM chairs’ personal agendas to undermine the over-arching decision-making process. SSFC reached the consensus to suggest a plurality vote to replace this form of direct appointment by potentially opposing opinions.
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SSFC Chair Maxwell Laubenstein then said the committee must finalize these suggestions by next Friday, April 8, and their upcoming meetings will focus on meeting that deadline.
The SSFC will meet next Thursday, March 31.
