Silence a complaint for USG

Due to low attendance at their weekly meetings, the Undergraduate Student Government Academic Assembly will be the subject of investigation by the Senate Appointments and Review Board of the USG Senate.

SARB will be looking into the assembly and will provide advice to improve attendance at the meetings, according to the legislation which was passed last night. Since the beginning of the 1996-97 session, the assembly has not had quorum, the minimum amount of members needed to take action at a meeting.

"It's not working properly," said town Senator Brian Heller, who sponsored the legislation. "They have just as much as power as the senate and they're not using it properly."

The assembly and the senate comprise the legislative branch of USG, but each can only take action on resolutions and bills if they have quorum. The legislation was not intended to be accusatory or the beginning of any impeachment efforts, Heller emphasized.

"I hope to get a solution to the problem -- how to make Academic Assembly work," he said.

Before the senate meeting, Heller and USG Senate President Mark Sosnowsky went to the Academic Assembly meeting to inform the assembly of the legislation. The assembly began to take action to improve attendance itself, said Administrative Contact Committee chair Caroline Casagrande, who is the senate liaison to the assembly.

"(The legislation) was more of a wake-up call. It really attacked the problem of attendance for the first time," she said.

Academic Assembly president Justin Sobota could not be reached for comment. But the assembly is planning to have the members who are present be responsible for the absent members so they can achieve quorum at the next meeting, Casagrande said.

The assembly members include the vice presidents of each of the college councils and a faculty senator from each college.

"While no one likes to have someone looking over their shoulder, I think they appreciate the help," she said.

SARB will be looking for a long-term solution by examining the bylaws of the assembly and the individual college councils, said SARB Chair Kendra Ciesla. The college council bylaws do not include mandatory attendance of the assembly.

Ciesla said she will also investigate the efforts made by the executive members of the assembly to boost attendance. She will also look into how the money allocated to the assembly by the senate for course selector guides was spent, she said.

If the assembly does not make an effort to improve, SARB or the assembly can file a complaint with the USG Supreme Court to remove any of the college councils' charters.