SA Representatives to spend four hours per day on phone with donors

Vestal, NY. Starting from the end of Fall Break Representatives to the Student Association congress will be required to spend at least four hours every day on the phone with donors, begging them for money and asking for their opinions. As students are mostly not in a financial position to donate to student politicians, most of these calls will be to alumni. Each student legislator will have a quota of around $400 per month to meet. If a legislator fails to meet their quota two months in a row they will be removed from all of their committees.

The SA Congress’s speaker hailed the new policy as a step forward for the organization. “We are committed to functioning just like federal congress. To that end we have run year on year budget deficits, had a fight over closing that deficit, and adopted parliamentary rules that enabled filibusters. Requiring call time from our representatives is the latest move towards that goal.” The Speaker is also the main beneficiary of this system, as the money raised from these calls will be pooled in a Swiss bank account under the Speaker’s control and apportioned based on their discretion. 

The speaker’s enthusiasm for the policy was shared by other leaders. The Chair of the Elections and Judiciary Committee echoed the commitment to realism, but clarified some of the limitations of this system. “It’s a good idea that will make our organization better, but it won’t change that much about how our system runs. Right now candidates are not allowed to spend money on campaigning, and that hasn’t changed. We’re looking to change that in the future because too many of my friends lost reelection this year, but for now this money is for legislative purposes only. ” 

The Chair of the Financial Committee (FinCo) will have a lot of power in the new system. Their committee will write the rules that govern what the speaker and chairs can or can’t do with the money. “It will finally give us something substantive to do outside of budget season that isn’t listen to clubs begging for money to run events,” said the chair when interviewed. The rules will be worked out in greater detail over the course of the remaining semester, but the chair claims the money will be used to expedite the legislative process, and only occasionally used to fund dinners and retreats for congress leadership.

Reactions from the representatives themselves have been mixed. One representative from CIW said to the BUTT criticizing the policy “I think it’s a waste of time. What do alumni have to do with students now? Nothing. We were fine before, we don’t need to spend time on this. By contrast, an OC3 representative said “This makes us more like real congress, and many of us want to be a part of real congress when we grow up. This gives us time to practice and learn the ropes now in a lower stakes environment.” 

Alumni groups reacted with surprise, but broadly positive opinions. One moderator of an alumni Facebook group said “I’m used to getting called by the University for money, that’s just part of being an Alumni. I am happy now to support a student run organization rather than the University administration. I hope the SA uses the money and our advice to better the lives of students. For one thing, I remember how hard it was to get a bus to go party downtown every night, all they have to do is have fewer stops in West Side, no one lives there anyway. I intend to say that the first time an SA rep calls me.

This policy will transform the role of student legislator from a thing you do for a couple hours per week to essentially a part time job. It will give more money and power to the leadership of the SA congress, and give them more power over their members and committees. Whether this is ultimately a good or a bad thing remains to be seen.