Graduate Student Organization votes to create advisory council for Executive Board

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Syracuse University’s Graduate Student Organization Senate voted to create a new Executive Advisory Board Council at its Wednesday night meeting, and discussed former GSO President Yousr Dhaouadi’s recent resignation after senators filed articles of impeachment against her in February.

The resolution to create the committee, originally brought to the Senate in December and later addressed at the Feb. 1 meeting, aims to enable more direct communication between senators and the executive board.

CJ Arnell, the GSO senator who proposed the resolution, said the committee is charged with holding one meeting exactly two weeks after every monthly Wednesday meeting. Its minutes will be distributed to the entire senate one week before the next GSO meeting, he said.

“Everyone would have the information about what’s happening in the committees and what advice is being given to the executive board from these committees, so that everyone knows what’s happening within the GSO in general,” Arnell said.

Daniel Kimmel, Acting Interim President and Vice President of Internal Affairs, also addressed the Executive Board Vacancy Appointment arising from Dhaouadi’s resignation on Feb. 18.

Kimmel will assume the role of Acting Interim President for the remainder of the spring semester while also continuing to fulfill their responsibilities as Vice President of Internal Affairs, the executive board stated in the report.

The vacancy appointment comes after at least 10 GSO Senators filed articles of impeachment against former president Yousr Dhaouadi on Feb. 8, a week after the senate’s Feb. 1 meeting, citing Dhaouadi’s “repeated resistance” to establish more transparency and to advocate for graduate students amid calls for improved working conditions, pay, benefits and resources.

Dhaouadi stepped down 10 days after the articles were filed and four days after she circulated the document in an email to GSO, once impeachment proceedings had already been set in motion. Per the GSO Constitution, she was offered 48 hours to resign following receipt of the articles before the senate would proceed with an impeachment.

With Kimmel filling more than one executive board role, the vacancy appointment states that the GSO Executive Board will continue to assist with presidential responsibilities. The president’s stipend will also be transferred to another budget.

Other Business:

• A group of organizations were granted funding requests for future GSO events, including The Sigma Upsilon chapter of Chi Sigma Iota International Honor Society for Counseling Students and Professionals; School of Education Graduate Student Council; Committee for Diversity and Inclusion by Psychology Doctoral Students at SU; History Graduate Student Organization; and the Geology Student Organization.
• Vice President of External Affairs Michael Ammoury put to a vote the potential discontinuation of GSO’s annual spring picnic. The picnic normally targets between 900 and 1,000 members, Ammoury said, and can run high in cost for expenses like renting tables, tents and food. A final decision will be made closer to the event.