By Vince Gasparini | September 2, 2024
The University at Albany Student Association Senate is no stranger to internal conflict.
Dating back to the Fall 2021 semester, the Senate has gone through multiple periods of animosity and dysfunction. The 2023-24 academic year saw it go through a slew of tumultuous happenings, including outbursts during meetings, personal conflicts between Senators and multiple resignations.
However, in their first meeting of the new school year on Wednesday, Aug. 28, several student leaders proclaimed their vision of a hopeful future for SA, promising better leadership, effective legislation and improved outreach.
Newly-elected Senate Chair Ethan Madappatt stands at the podium during Wednesday’s Senate meeting.
Photo Credit: Vince Gasparini / The ASP
In his first address as newly-elected Senate Chair, Ethan Madappatt said he looked forward to a “fruitful and productive year,” highlighting his three years of experience in SA, along with his summer internship at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, as proof of his ability to effectively lead in his new position.
“I really do hope that we bond closer,” Madappatt said. “We are going to have a lot more collaboration, conventions and such, to really pull us together and unite us a little more than the past.”
“I really urge you all to use the privilege and the honor of being in the Student Association Senate and being in the Student Association, and really use your positions to the fullest capacity and the fullest ability that you guys can,” he concluded in his address to the Senators.
Madappatt’s address was met with applause and table knocks of approval from those in attendance.
During Executive Reports, President Jalen Rose announced that by October, the university will have a free vending machine for emergency contraceptives, a plan tried, and failed, by previous administrations that has been in the works for at least four years.
“Starting in October, we’re going to have it,” Rose told the ASP. “The vending machine is bought, we’re figuring out our vendor. We’re making the accounts right now, so it is happening and it will be there.”
Rose also noted during his report that all constitutions submitted to SA by campus organizations had to be scrapped, except for Middle Earth, because none of them were in line with SA’s. He said he has been working with the Supreme Court to devise a new model constitution where organizations will make their own amendments at the bottom.
Director of Programming and Marketing Caleb Sapp, in an exuberant address to the Senate, spoke on the progress SA has made on social media and on their website since he took his position.
“The historic performance of the Instagram page has reached over 49,000 people since I took over its management, surpassing the previous administration by 36 percent,” he said. “Our content interactions are also skyrocketing, with over 21,000 interactions in the same time period, which means that the content is not only just being seen, but it is resonating with our audience.”
Sapp also boasted the updates he made to the UAlbany Student Association Wikipedia page, which he called his “magnum opus and one of the greatest achievements of my directorship.”
Despite the optimism displayed, the Senate is currently facing issues regarding filling positions on several boards; according to Vice President Amelia Crawford, the Board of Finance, Elections Commission, University Auxiliary Services, Parking and Mass Transit and Dippikill committees are still looking for people to fill positions.
“These are really important, and we have nobody showing interest right now, so we have nobody to appoint,” she said.
However, in an attempt to garner more candidates for the upcoming SA Fall General Elections, the Senate passed emergency legislation to push the timeline forward, with the self-nomination period now ending on Wednesday, Sept. 4.
In the original timeline, the self-nomination period ended on Tuesday, Sept. 3, but Senators agreed that pushing the timeline back by even one day will give students more time to decide if they want to run; several noted that it could also give students who learn about SA elections at Block Party on Monday, Sept. 2, more time to consider running.
The timeline for the Fall 2024 General Elections timeline is as follows:
Self Nomination Period: Tuesday, Aug. 27, 12:00 p.m. - Wednesday, Sept. 4, 12:00 p.m.
Candidate Meeting: Friday, Sept. 6, 5:00 p.m.
Campaigning: Friday, Sept. 6, 11:59 p.m. - Friday, Sept. 13, 12:00 p.m.
Polling: Monday, Sept. 9, 12:00 p.m. - Friday, Sept. 13, 12:00 p.m.
Preliminary Results Announced: Friday, Sept. 13, 5:00 p.m.
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