The SUNY Student Assembly held their biannual conference bringing together student delegates from all 64 campuses across the state. The delegates are elected members of the student body who vote on important issues affecting SUNY students today. The Assembly passed a resolution calling for SUNY to allow all veterans in-state tuition prices regardless of residency status.  This would bring tuition and fees in line with the benefits of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, providing a truly accessible bachelors degree in the field of choice for the veteran.

Ryan Rosa, Director of Veterans Affairs, advocated for his committee’s resolution by highlighting some of the key issues in need of address. “SUNY needs to reprioritize its initiatives for vets coming home and enable these young men and women to use their benefits, including out-of-state veterans who want to become SUNY Students.  SUNY is the largest university system in the US with 64 campuses and some 7000 academic programs.  We have the unique potential to attract thousands of hardworking, dedicated, and skilled veterans returning home.  Veterans deserve an education; they fought for it.  They’ve already paid their dues, and the Student Assembly’s passage of this resolution would be a step towards ensuring them one.”

The SUNY Student Assembly discussed the resolution specifically calling for measures to allow veterans to pay in-state tuition rates, a drastic price difference of $9,250 per year. The resolution was passed unanimously among the representatives of all 64 campuses.

“Now that we have a resolution passed by the student assembly in support of veterans we need SUNY and the NYS legislature to take action,” said Director Rosa. “We will put pressure on the SUNY administration from within and through the grass root action of students.” Rosa has met with several government officials, to discuss the actions that need to be taken in order to help veterans seeking higher education.

“While we understand this looks like an initial financial loss to SUNY, attracting additional veterans will provide substantial incremental revenue.  We know how important veterans are to the fabric of our state; it is time we took care of them,” said Kevin Rea, President of the SUNY Student Assembly and voting member of the SUNY board of trustees.  “We need to make it easier for veterans returning from duty overseas to succeed in transitioning back into civilian life and to receive a great SUNY education. It shouldn’t be hard for veterans who want to use GI Bill benefits at SUNY.  It’s important we are there for them; they can only increase our innovation, work ethic, and dedication to our state.”

The SUNY Student Assembly is coordinating with state and university officials to provide solutions for the upcoming 2013 – 2014 school year.

Contact: Ryan Rosa – Director of Veteran Affairs for the Student Assembly of the State University of New York – rrosa@studentassembly.org

With SUNY SA’s Spring Conference being over for just about two weeks now. Its time to wrap-up on the business (and the fun) that happened in Albany, NY this year!!

All of the bylaw changes and passed resolutions were updated shortly after the conference and can be found on the conferences page of this website.

We are pleased to announce the results of the elections for the Executive Board:

President: Tremayne Price (our current Chief of Staff)
Vice-President: Samantha Kloeckener (our current Secretary)
Treasurer: Robert Drumm (a current Community College Representative)
Secretary: Ashley Tyree (our current Director of Academic Affairs)

They all officially take office June 1, 2013. The results of the caucuses will be posted when everyone has been confirmed according to SUNY policy.

The Executive Cabinet Application for 2013-2014 has been published and all information pertaining to the positions including how to apply can be found at the Executive Cabinet 2013-2014 page.

Lastly, the June 2013 Executive Committee meeting has been scheduled (also known as Transitional). It will be held June 21-23 2013 at University at Albany’s Student Association’s Camp Dippikill in Warrensburg, NY. More details on that will be posted as they become available.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of us directly!

Very Respectfully,
Josh Altemoos
IT Director

Our Spring Conference (April 12-14) is quickly approaching, and I wanted to update you on a few things.

1) Our conference packet can be found here: http://www.studentassembly.org/wp-content/uploads/Conference-Packet-Spring2013.pdf

2) If you have not done so already, please reserve your rooms ASAP. The hotel deadline has passed, and it is now first come first serve to anyone who wants a room, conference attendee or not.

3) If you still need to register your delegates, the regular registration fee deadline is April 11th. You must be registered online and have your payment received by SUNY before the end of business, or you will be charged the late fee. This is done because of our contractual obligation to provide the hotel with meal numbers, so please make sure to register sooner rather than later.

4) If you would like to have anything brought to the floor during the meeting, please remember as per our bylaws that resolutions must be submitted to Bryant Barksdale, Director of Rules (bbarksdale@studentassembly.org) by Friday, March 22nd at 5 PM. This is designed to give the rules committee adequate time to review and make any suggestions to the author before it is placed on the agenda. In addition, I will have the agenda and content sent out and placed on our website by close of business Friday, March 29th.

5) We have many important and dynamic conversations to have in addition to elections, so our agenda will be filled as it is. Therefore, please make sure that we have the information beforehand, as I will be as stringent regarding walk on resolutions as at Fall Conference. Items brought to the assembly at conference should be vetted by the campuses prior to coming to conference and walk-on resolutions do not provide for that. If a time sensitive issue occurs, they will be granted an exemption from this, however other resolutions will be subject to the requirements found in our bylaws.

6) If you are planning on nominating someone for an Executive Committee position, the form is due to system by Friday, March 22nd. To nominate someone, you must be a registered voting delegate. If there are any questions regarding job descriptions/job qualifications, please refer to our bylaws, found here. If you nominate someone beforehand, their qualifications will be checked in advance and guarantee them a spot on the ballot, making this much easier than running from the floor.

7) Continue to check out our website, www.studentassembly.org for updates and other information regarding conference.

Thank you all for your hard work this year, and I will see you in a few weeks!

Thanks!

Kevin J. Rea
President
SUNY Student Assembly

Kevin Rea, President of the Student Assembly and the Student Trustee on the SUNY Board of Trustees, said, “While I am encouraged to see that Congress took steps to protect students and promote higher education with this latest deal, it is important that we remember the real fight for students will become the debate over the sequester.”

As a part of the resolution, the controversial sequestration cuts will now be delayed two months. The sequestration was created as an act of Congress to reduce the U.S. budget with both cuts to defense and domestic spending. President Rea would go on to say, “The two month delay of sequestration will give legislators an opportunity to prevent having students shoulder so much of the budget cuts. We are confident there is a way to resolve our nation’s budgetary issues without taking an OMB projected 5.9% away from the Department of Education and from the programs that help students all across New York State.”

The Journal News:  SUNY Student Leaders Adopt Legislative Agenda

Moments of great debate serve as catalysts for future progress. However, it is very common for the needs and concerns of students to be neglected in conversations about educational reform. Yet who better to speak to the merits — or demerits — of the educational system than the ones who are representations of the system’s success or failure?

Students know best what tools they require to learn effectively. It is the students who can best address the hardships that many of them face due to the growing necessity for higher education and the huge price tag that comes along with it; it is the students who can best address how the shutting down and reopening of so-called “turnaround” schools affects their lives; and it is the students who can best address what motivates them to remain in school or end to their education by dropping out.

Why is student input not regularly sought out? Educators and lawmakers generally lack trust in students’ maturity and ability to understand exactly what is best for them when it comes to their own education. Our knowledge of topics related to education policy is also often questioned. However, there is still no excuse for discussion regarding change in any system of education to not include input directly from students. In addition, there are many examples of successful student involvement.

In several school districts, there are now non-voting spots for students on their boards of education. At community colleges, students serve on the boards of trustees. Thanks to our predecessors in the Student Assembly of the State University of New York in the 1970s, students have a voting member of the State University board of trustees, the only voting member not appointed by the governor.

Strides have certainly been made, but there is still far more to be done. The recent establishment of New York’s Education Reform Commission without a student member is a prime example of how policymakers are going about evaluating ways to improve our education system without engaging the central stakeholders. While progress has been made to allow students to speak with members of the commission, this is a second-rate alternative to allowing students a seat at the table.

What educators and lawmakers often fail to recognize is that students do have a lot to share, however, we hardly ever have the luxury of expressing our opinions the way that policy makers do. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently said, “Students know what’s working and not working in schools before anyone else.” It is great that he understands that, but it he would better if he and other policymakers would act upon this understanding.

Students are the primary stakeholders in education — something too often forgotten today — and we must emphasize the significance of getting their voices heard. Diane Ravitch, an education historian, says it best: “When the student voice awakens, the national conversation will change.” Students will have a major impact on their education if only given the opportunity to do so.

Kevin Rea is president of the SUNY Student Assembly and a graduate student at Maritime College. Zak Malamed will be attending the University of Maryland, College Park, and is organizer of the #StuVoice Twitter chats and StuVoice.org, which focus on uniting student voices.

New York – SUNY Student Assembly President Kevin Rea today called on Congress to reevaluate provisions in their deal to delay rate increases for federally subsidized student loans which, according to Rea, amounts to “moving money from one student aid program to another.”

“The recent deal reached by Congress to delay student interest rates from increasing for a year is good news, but still leaves this critical issue with no long term solution and in fact goes further to make the situation worse for graduate students,” said Rea. “This new law sets a dangerous precedent that we can solve financial aid problems by simply creating others.”

As part of a deal to fund lower interest rates for undergraduate student loans, beginning in June 2013, graduate students will no longer be eligible for subsidized Stafford loans. Subsidized loans allow for those with demonstrated financial need to accrue interest on their loans beginning at graduation.

With these changes, graduate students will begin to accrue interest from the moment they take out the loan, as opposed to interest deferment while still in school. Undergraduates also take a hit, now being forced to pay immediately upon graduation, rather than the previous 6-month delay that was in place to allow them to get settled in the workforce.

“These changes come at a time when many Americans are already struggling financially. We may live in a political world, but access to higher education should be a nonpartisan priority. College and university students are training to be the next generation of thinkers and doers that ensure America can compete in the 21st century economy. The hefty debt they are saddled with after graduation, and now in many cases while they are enrolled, make their success even more difficult. Congress must help ease this burden.”

Contact: Tremayne T. Price | tprice@studentassembly.org | 518-320-7377

While we are in the process of overhauling our website we ask that you please forgive any bugs you may experience while visiting the site. Creating a website that can serve as a medium between SUNY students and the Student Assembly is an extremely important initiative of this administration, and we’re working day and night to make that happen.

While this site will contain information about the history of the Student Assembly and the structure, as well as upcoming events, the main purpose of this site will be twofold. First, it will serve as a way for the Executive Committee to share important information like conference dates, press releases, and other updates with students and the public. Second, it will allow students to let us know what issues are most important to them, or what issues their colleges and universities are facing.

As technology improves, so does the ability to become involved. Involvement is an extremely important element of student government, and the Student Assembly is constantly looking for new ways to foster involvement amongst SUNY students. We’ll be implementing a number of new ways that will allow students to voice their opinions and concerns to the Student Assembly so we can strive to make this organization fairly represent the hundreds of thousands of SUNY students across New York State.

While this website has been long in the making, we hope that you find it accessible and informative. If you have any questions, suggestions, or issues with the website please email me at nbutler@studentassembly.org.

Thank you,

Nick Butler
IT Director
SUNY Student Assembly
nbutler@studentassembly.org