The African American Student Organization, Caribbean Student Organization, Pan-African Student Organization and the Student Political Society were all re-recognized by the United Students Government Senate this past meeting, giving each organization the ability to hold events on campus and receive their share of the budget from USG.

AASO was met with resounding applause as their entire cabinet showed up to give their presentation to the Senate. The organization, founded in 1967, has steady roots in the SUNY Buffalo State community following the motto of “Remembering our past and embracing our future.”

AASO’s many events are attended by numerous students on campus with their Apollo Night being held this Thursday and their annual fashion show which will be hosted on Friday night. Tickets for these events are $5 and are sold in the Student Union.

“I think AASO is one of our most active orgs on campus, they are always in the business offices and have a high membership, which is what we ask from our organizations and at the end of the day they serve their purpose and do their jobs,” USG Executive Vice President Emily Leminger said

CSO got a boost for their presentation, as they had former members elected to the Senate. Senator Malika Cuffie was the former entertainment chair of CSO, and expressed how much she felt that they still kept her involved.

“When they say they don’t forget about you it’s true, it’s a real family at CSO which is why I was on them so hard to get this presentation right,” Cuffie said.

SPS was also re-recognized during this meeting, and with the elections coming up, made a strong case for their presence on campus. An endorsement by Senator Roberto Williams during their presentation helped as well.

“I think its really important that we have this organization because people need to understand what’s going on in their system, government plays a huge part in our lives,” Williams said.

PASO had the most difficult time as Congress called them for re-recognition without a question capacity, whereas usual standards are just three questions. PASO was represented by an entirely new board and focused on the future, as the past regime went through troubles. Attendance for their events were down and PASO had their budget pulled last year.

The Senate came to a close vote with ten senators choosing to abstain; which means they chose not to vote for or against them. In the end, Secretary Crystal Tomlinson stated how significant it was that the new board members from PASO have already made improvements.

“I appreciate what PASO does and I think they are a great organization…. We have a lot of Africans on campus and they may not fit in these other organizations so we need PASO on campus,” Tomlinson said. “The fact that they all showed up here today is showing that they are trying do better than before and I think that’s great.”

The last order of business was the final senate appointment of the year. Freshman biology major Edwin Dzakpaso was selected to the position of senator, which means USG is officially at full capacity.

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