The Student Association passed a resolution Monday night that urged students studying at Syracuse University on academic and competitive scholarships to maintain a minimum requirement of a 2.75 grade point average within three semesters.

As it stands now, students at SU with these scholarships are required to maintain a minimum of a 2.5 GPA in order to keep the scholarship. This requirement has been in effect for at least the past 26 years, said Assembly Representative Joseph Wieder, who proposed the resolution.

The recommendation will take effect in the fall of 2007 and also advises the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarship to transfer money from academic and competitive scholarships that were not renewed to a need-based appeal fund that could help students who experience sudden financial need or who struggle financially.

‘I really feel this is a step in the right direction,’ said SA Chief-of-Staff Ryan Kelly. ‘2.75 is generous.’

In the future, Wieder said there may be a movement to raise the requirement to 3.0. After researching standards at universities comparable to SU, he found many of them have similar standards.

‘It does need to be a gradual process,’ he said.

The Assembly also passed two amendments to the financial code, both proposed by Comptroller Michael Brannen. One will allow student organizations to keep designated funds from the Student Activity Fee for the semester for which they were allotted.

After that semester, all designated funding remaining in the organization’s account will be transferred to the operating and programming funds. After the fiscal year, all funds remaining in an organization’s account will roll over to SA’s special programming and contingency funds.

The second amendment removed the SU Outing Club from the list of student organizations that receive annual funding from the Student Activity Fee, since the Outing Club has become a part of the club sports division of SU Recreation Services.

In other SA news, Parliamentarian Ryan Doyle reported only one submission has been made for membership on the Ad Hoc Committee on Reform, which was created for the purpose of reviewing SA’s codes and constitution and proposing reforms to the association. He encouraged more people to sign up for the 10-member committee, including students from outside SA.

‘We are running out of time,’ he said.

At this point, Assembly Representative Patrick Tomeny, who co-chairs the Ad Hoc Committee on Reform along with Doyle, stood up and spoke fervently about the importance of the committee.

‘This is kind of a really big deal,’ he said. ‘What happens in this committee will shape the future of SA.’

During his report, President Wayne Horton announced SA will be working more closely with the University Senate, in order to introduce SA bills into the senate and make the association’s voice better heard.

‘We passed bills (in the past) that reflect our feelings, but not many of them were concrete,’ Horton said.

The last two positions to the Finance Board were filled at the meeting. Sophomore biochemistry and psychology major Jasmine Jackson and sophomore accounting and finance major Michael Dye were both accepted by a two-thirds vote.

Published on March 26, 2006 at 12:00 pm