United Students’ Government Chief Justice Yaniris Ramos sat in on last week’s USG meeting, announcing some changes to her proposal. After speaking with her council and advisor, they have decided to exclude the option to open the gallery to comment during hearing.

“We’re doing this as form of practice,” Ramos said. “So we imitate the Supreme Court and they do not let the gallery speak at hearing, so we felt as though we should remove that proposal.”

The rugby case last spring set precedent for this proposal, as a neighbor to the house where the incident took place, who was not a student nor associated with Buffalo State, was allowed to speak and stake their claim on why they thought the rugby team should receive punishment.

This was the first time the Judicial Council allowed this to happen, however it had “no influence in determining the outcome,” Ramos said.

USG decided to table Ramos’ proposal until Oct. 20 to allow the Rules and Regulations Board time to review the changes before it is presented back to the Senate for vote in two weeks time.

Senators were also asked to “get their act together,” as attendance and dress code became overwhelming themes of last week’s meeting.

Consistency within the ranks of USG has been brought up before, but was a topic that Speaker Pro Tempore Tahnee Marcus-White wanted to address personally.

“A lot of you senators are lacking in attendance at events and your meetings, and we are all are noticing it,” Marcus-White said.

The lack of cohesion can be a problem in the long run, as President Derek Jorden acknowledged.

“It’s not easy for me when I hear back from organizations that my senators are not doing this or that.” Jorden said. “It’s hard for me to hold them accountable for deadline dates or paperwork when my own senators are not doing the same thing.”

Dress code was another problem as some senators “look like they just got up from a nap and plan on continuing one,” to quote Jorden.

Many senators stood firm that USG should be treated with respect and some senators are not doing so.

“You need to wake up in the morning, even if it’s for that one day and know I have USG,” Senator Malika Cuffie said. “I need to put on my business casual attire because if I have to do it, then you have to do it. Don’t show up like you’re going to the gym.”

Rules and Regulations Chair Iddris Abass made a note of dress code for the second week in a row, making a point not to call out any specific senator.

An executive session was called by Marcus-White to address a “personnel issue,” bearing warning to senators that “there are plenty of applications of people more than capable to be a part of USG.”

email: [email protected]