Possible cut to controversial senate office

10/17/08 - The controversial post of Chief Operations Officer (COO) for the University of Rhode Island Student Senate is up for dissolution again, as announced at Wednesday's meeting.The Student Senate will vote next week on a bill calling for amendments to the Senate bylaws. Under the proposed amendments, the COO position would be eliminated and some of the position's responsibilities transferred to the vice president, currently David Bedard.

A bill was proposed last year seeking to dissolve the post. Following a lengthy debate, the senate voted at that session to refer the bill to the Bylaws Committee, according to a Cigar article dated April 10, 2008.

The current bill is the result of that committee's efforts.

According to the text of the new bill, "The office of the Chief Operations Officer has not been utilized to any degree of effectiveness for its entire period of existence," and "duplicates either on paper or in practice the duties of many other offices."

As such, the bill states that the COO position is an unnecessary drain on senate finances. The office brings with it a total yearly stipend of $2,000.

The COO serves as a voting member of the Executive Committee, acts as liaison between the Senate and the Senate President and has the power to appoint or remove members of senate committees except chairpersons and members of the Executive or Rules and Ethics Committees, according to the Senate bylaws.

Other duties of the COO include maintaining a degree of oversight over senate committees, and organizing senate orientation, recruitment and social events with the help of the vice president.

If the bill passes, current COO Josh Feinberg will continue to serve out his term, but the position will not be filled again next year, said Chairman of the Bylaws Committee Allen Petit.

Senate president Tom Ahrens, who opposed the original bill to cut the post, said after the meeting he did not wish to comment on the issue.

In other business:

-Four new senators elected in recent campus elections were sworn in. The majority of new senators were sworn in last week, but freshman representatives Jon Aronoff, Jason Almeida and Josh Einhorn, and College of Business representative Rich Infusino were not present at the last meeting.

Senators nominated six students as candidates in next week's internal elections to fill vacant senate positions. The open seats are one at large representative, one College of Human Sciences and Services, one College of Arts and Sciences, one on-campus and one off-campus representative.

-Saiphin Inthisone and Yvens Faustin were nominated for the at-large seat, Gianna Prata and Divana Boukari were nominated for the empty on-campus seat, and Anthony Sinapi and Brandon Brown were nominated for the College of Arts and Sciences position.

-The senate voted unanimously to approve a contingency funding request in the amount of $2,500 for the College Democrats. The money will go to fund a visit from comedian Jeff Kreisler and his "Comedy Against Evil" political comedy tour.

-The senate and Cultural Italian American Organization (C.I.A.O.) voted to co-sponsor a book signing and talk with author Antonia Arslan to be held on Oct. 20.

-In a unanimous vote, the senate authorized a strongly worded resolution opposing proposed cuts to the Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority (RIPTA) bus routes. The proposed cuts to the Newport and Providence lines would likely affect commuters.