By Vince Gasparini | February 12, 2025
A bill sponsored by Senator Trevor Pettit and co-sponsored by eight other Senators calling for the resignation of President Jalen Rose and Vice President Amelia Crawford has passed through the Committee on Constituent Relations by a vote of 4-0-1.
The bill, titled “The Before Everything-Else, Accountability Resolution,” was co-sponsored by Senators Troy Serao, Nazar Yevko, Peter Cataldo, Meredith Rosenbaum, Joseph Bontemps, Ethan Gish, Ryan Glodstein, and Ryan Szepek.
A screenshot of the bill sourced from the Student Association OneDrive.
Photo Credit: Vince Gasparini / The ASP
Among the reasons for the call include the fact that both Rose and Crawford are not physically present in Albany due to their internships in Washington D.C., along with the ongoing temporary closure of Camp Dippikill.
“Both the President and Vice President cannot fulfill their duties of being the official spokesperson and advocate for student issues without physically being in New York, and… it is absolutely essential to be present in Albany to complete the aforementioned responsibilities,” the bill reads.
It goes on to state that the Senate “has heard the concern of Student Activity Fee paying students and has lost confidence,” in the President and Vice President.
The bill makes its way through the legislative process as a petition also filed by Pettit alleging an “abuse of power” by Rose in his decision to hold virtual office hours is considered by the Subcommittee on Government Operations after being sent there by the Supreme Court last week.
Pettit said his primary motivations for drafting the bill came from conversations he’d had with constituents where they expressed concern over issues such as Dippikill and model constitution reform, along with anonymous polls performed over the pseudonymous social media platform Yik Yak that garnered support for the resignation of the President and Vice President.
These reasons, he said, make him worried for the upcoming SA general election, where there will be a referendum held on the student activity fee, which is where SA primarily gets their funding from.
“I genuinely fear that if we do not get our act together and get ourselves straight, the student activity fee will get voted down,” he said. “Organizations like Five Quad, Middle Earth, Club Sports, SA; all clubs are going to be in serious danger.”
Rose did not respond to a request for comment from the ASP on the resolution, which will be considered at Wednesday night’s weekly Senate meeting in the Campus Center Boardroom.
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