This year, the Student Government Association (SGA) will have one member, selected by the Board of Trustees, who will attend the board’s meetings. SGA’s Vice President Kayla Armbruster, who currently occupies this position, asked the General Assembly members at its Friday meeting to discuss what issues they want to be discussed with the board.
The board makes top administrative decisions, including leading strategic planning initiatives, establishing financial policies, and setting college policies and procedures.
The board unanimously adopted a policy on Institutional Neutrality and Mutual Respect in August, following continued campus unrest from the previous semester. At Friday’s meeting, several SGA general assembly members expressed concern about student engagement with the board in light of these policy changes.
Oliver Katz, SGA executive treasurer, said students may be hesitant to talk to the board.
“It’s okay to feel uncomfortable, but [it’s] not okay to feel unsafe,” Katz said.
Josue Velazquez, SGA’s director of communications, added that the board and students need to find a middle ground when discussing issues of free speech on campus.
“We are extending a path forward that [students] want to be a part of the conversation,” said Nandan Nair, SGA executive president. “If we can’t at least come together and have a civil conversation, what are we here for?”
Following the ongoing discussion of SGA’s involvement with the board, members introduced its first bill to the General Assembly in two years, S.B.1, which would alter attendance protocols at Emerson.
Offered by Karli Wallace, the proposed bill will address two main interests if enacted by SGA’s General Assembly: numeric attendance and accessibility. Class of 2026 Representative Angus Abercrombie said the attendance policy is currently set up to be numeric, meaning that missing classes results in dropping letter grades.
Current thresholds are set by professors, but the bill, if adopted, would allow SGA to “de-link numbers from grades,” and implement requirements for professors to report attendance in their department yearly.
In comparison to larger institutions, Emerson’s student body is “notoriously smaller and active and tangible,” Wallace claimed, noting how Emerson can make changes to their attendance policy feasible.
Nair said that the bill’s purpose is to redefine repercussions for attendance violations to make them more equitable and meaningful. The bill partially adapts its policy proposals from the Access Advocacy Project, an “Action Plan For Disability Equity” created by the Student Disability Union.
At its next general assembly meeting, SGA will continue discussing the bill and vote on it, after which it may later be referred to and amended.
