Ari Saati, Managing Editor
Following a campus-wide vote, recieving overwhelming approval, the Student Association (SA) is set to absorb the College Union Activities Council (CUAC) for the next academic year. CUAC will disband beginning this fall, giving birth to the Student Association Activities Council (SAAC), a standing committee of the SA.
“It was something the executive board and myself have talked about in the past, as a way of increasing SA’s presence on campus while strengthening what CUAC is and can be,” said Director of Campus Activities and CUAC Advisor Bill Harcleroad.
Under the new structure of the SAAC, the autonomy of CUAC will be preserved, allowing them to run operations almost entirely as they have in the past, with one major stipulation: the committee’s president, SA’s Vice President of Activites, will now be elected by the larger student body. “There’s a chance for some of the voices that haven’t felt connected to CUAC to be able to get out there and run,” said Harcleroad.
“Now the students have an opportunity to elect, essentially what was the president of CUAC,” said Student Association President, Evan Englander.
The decision to restructure CUAC under the umbrella of the SA wasn’t initially met with open arms, however. “I first brought it to the CUAC e-board to get their stamp of approval, and they were hesitant at first, because CUAC is something they love,” said Englander.
After dialogue was opened between CUAC members and Englander, mainly focused on mandating that the head of SAAC attend a college events planning conference and two-thirds of all SA meetings, an agreement was finally met. “The big thing for CUAC was making sure that the [Vice President of Activities] was not someone who knows nothing about programming,” said Harcleroad. “They wanted it to be someone who was either currently on the activities council or at least someone who is willing to attend a programming conference with us.”
The changes to the SA constitution, spelling out these provisions, was brought to Senate’s meeting last week, and was met with unanimous approval. “We basically took the CUAC constitution, condensed it slightly, and made it part of the SA constitution,” said Englander.
As Director of Campus Activities, Harcleroad is optimistic, looking forward to an activities committee that will more effectively work for the student body. “In many ways it just streamlines what the activities council and CUAC does, making it easier and better for everybody,” said Harcleroad.
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