A special meeting of the SUNY Buffalo State College Senate was held Friday and featured a variety of presentations on the image and future of the college.

Student Senator Trivet Jarmond addressed several negatives students perceive about Buffalo State, urging the senate to work with students to make Buffalo State better, referring to the college as “a home.”

“A home in any form is worth protecting,” Jarmond said. “And I ask you to take my input as a student not only seriously, but critically.”

Jarmond first looked at campus dining citing student frustration with pricing and waiting in long lines.

While addressing parking, a perennial hot-button issue with students, Jarmond asked for separate parking passes for residents and commuters and designated areas in parking lots from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to allow commuters a chance to get the closer spots.

Interim President Howard Cohen announced that Margolis Healy, the consultant firm who will be accessing the campus policing model, will come to Buffalo State this week and that two open-forum meetings will be held April 16. One forum for students will be at 9 a.m. and another for faculty and staff will be held at 10:30 a.m.

Anyone who is unable to attend these forums but still wish to provide comments to the consultants is urged to email them at [email protected].

Cohen also addressed a constituent question regarding the use of the SAT exam when admitting new students.

While students are currently required to submit scores from the SAT, if their GPA is an 85 or higher, they are virtually guaranteed acceptance to the college.

“For students below an 85 we also require it [SAT scores],” Cohen said. “But judgments are made holistically base on grade-point-average, SAT, and other submitted materials.”

Senate Chair David Carson and Senator Bill White closed out the meeting with a unique presentation that allowed senators to vote in real-time on nine questions regarding the current perception of Buffalo State and its future.

Senators were evenly split on the current image of Buffalo State as a community, with 39 percent of senators voting “somewhat positive” and 39 percent voting “somewhat negative.” In order for Buffalo State to become the college of choice for students, 47 percent of senators said the college should focus on a few programs and make them the best they can be. For Buffalo State to retain students for their entire college career and possibly into graduate school, 20 percent of senators said the college needed “better academic support”- narrowly beating out the 19 percent of senators who voted for smaller classes. The results of the final question put to the senate garnered the most feedback and chatter from the room. Senators were asked vote true or false to the statement: “Buffalo State is on the right path to the future.” Senators were split evenly, 50-50.

In other senate news:

Sue McCartney, director of the Small Business Development Center, announced that Buffalo State was one of 13 schools admitted to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Start-Up NY initiative to allow small businesses in SUNY campus communities to operate 100 percent tax-free for 10 years. McCartney said the focus of the partnership is to create jobs and provide students with paid academic internship opportunities.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MikeVProvenzano