The Student Association gave students another chance to speak out on the new scheduling paradigm Monday, holding an open forum in Maxwell Auditorium prior to its general assembly meeting.

About 16 students, in addition to SA members, attended the forum, one of the best turnouts for any SA open forum so far, said SA President Andrew Thomson, a senior information management and political science major.

‘I was glad to see we had a dialogue going and some constructive criticism with respect to the paradigm,’ Thomson said.

Thomson also urged students to sign a petition supporting the SA’s alternate scheduling proposal. The SA is hoping to collect 5,000 signatures on the petition sheets, each of which contains information on both of the new scheduling alternatives. The SA petition differs from the one being conducted by the Undergraduates for a Better Education, which endorses enforcement of the current paradigm and does not inform students about SA’s proposal, Thomson said.

In other SA news:

Thomson outlined the timeline for SA elections this fall. Petitions for all positions are due by Oct. 24 and are available on the SA website and in the SA office at the Schine Student Center. A debate between the candidates for president and comptroller will be held Oct. 28. Voting will take place Nov. 3 through Nov. 6 using the SA’s online voting system, and could be extended until Nov. 7 if 10 percent of the student body has not voted by Nov. 6, Thomson said. The inauguration banquet for new members will be held Dec. 2.

Dominick Chillemi, a senior management and policy studies major, reported to the assembly on his appearance before the Board of Trustees’ executive committee Oct. 3. Chillemi said he presented students’ concerns regarding the scheduling paradigm, the upgrade to peace officer status for the Department of Public Safety and the problems with computing on campus. The board also discussed the expansion of next year’s freshman class by 33 students and the decreased number of students transferring to SU due to the weak economy, Chillemi said.

Sean Vormwald, New York State Public Interest Research Group project coordinator for SU and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, updated the assembly on the results of NYPIRG’s voter registration initiative. Vormwald said the drive registered more than 1,000 students on campus. Since the deadline to register for the 2004 election has already passed, NYPIRG will shift its focus to educating voters about the candidates running for each office, Vormwald said.

Published on October 13, 2003 at 12:00 pm