SA Senate Hosts Director of Parking, Debate over Rules Committee Leadership

By Lucienne Burns | October 13, 2025 

The Student Association Senate at their Oct. 8 meeting last Wednesday. 

Photo Credit: Lucienne Burns | The ASP

The Student Association (SA) Senate meeting last Wednesday (10/8) hosted the director of Mass Parking and Transit Services to discuss parking-related concerns, in addition to a long debate over appointing leadership to the Rules and Administration committee. 

Jason Jones, the director of Mass Parking and Transit Services, spoke with Senators regarding concerns about a need for accessible parking compliance and the possibility of an additional lot. 

Jones identified that there is an illegal accessible parking issue on campus, stating that there have been several hundred parking citations for this reason. 

“We’ve been issuing several citations related to accessible parking for those that just come in and park, run to the Campus Center and grab a sandwich, just use their parents or their grandparents' accessible placard,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of that, so we are actually trying to minimize that. Unfortunately, right now, part of that is enforcement and compliance.” 

Jones also addressed a senator’s proposition for a split Indigenous Quad lot between students and faculty to provide more space for commuter students, denying its plausibility as citations have reduced for one of the applicable categories. 

The Indigenous Quad parking lot was recently changed from a commuter lot to a faculty lot, a concern previously brought to the Senate.  

“When we were doing our analysis, 80% of our citations were for two things: no permit or parking in a faculty staff lot,” Jones said. “When a lot of those changes were made, those reductions were significant.” 

Several senators voiced concerns of the availability of parking, particularly for commuter students who have to walk to class from the lots. Jones announced that there has been brief conversation about an additional parking lot on the eastern side of campus. 

“We have a lot of parking occupancy, or we have a lot of available spaces on campus… it’s a walk in a lot of instances,” Jones said, also mentioning that after 4 p.m., students can also park in any general faculty, staff, or student lot. 

At Parking and Mass Transit Services, Jones explained, regular analyses are performed as members of staff count the number of parking spaces by hand. Jones highlighted that there is always parking availability based on numbers, just not always in a desired spot for students. 

In addition to the discussion of parking, the appointees for leadership for the Rules and Administration Committee were debated, with concerns raised about the lack of experience among the members, specifically the chair. 

Senate Chair Troy Serao’s picks for leadership included Senator Jaden Burke as chair, Senator Carter Schum as senior ranking member, and Senator Ayomide Ewumi as junior ranking member. 

Serao expressed that for his picks, he prioritized changes from last year’s committee. 

“There was a lot of legislation that passed the Rules Committee that ended up on the full Senate floor and failed, wasting Student Association time,” Serao said. “Additionally, this year, as I’ve alluded to, we are doing a whole government document revamp, and I really think that this is a time to bring in some new blood.” 

Serao also added that he has worked with Burke extensively, Burke being a part of a working group over the summer to revitalize SA governing documents. 

The working committee for revamping the bylaws was not an opportunity offered to all senators on purpose: Serao reached out to specific senators with a lack of  knowledge of the Rules and Administration Committee last year, to gain outside intel into how the bylaws are initially interpreted. 

The overhaul of governing documents will not affect SA operations: its purpose is to make SA more compliant with New York State nonprofit corporation law as it is a 501(c) organization. This decision follows SA having to pay a $500,000 settlement last year, according to Serao. 

Ewumi was the chair of this committee last year, and expressed that the leadership selection process lacked transparency. 

“What I dislike was the lack of transparency, as well as respect, providing me a fair chance to place my interest in said position,” Ewumi said, speaking about the selection process. 

On the proposed bill, Ewumi would still maintain a leadership position within the committee, but as the junior ranking member. 

Some senators expressed concerns of the leadership picks, stressing the importance of procedural knowledge and prior roles within committees.

“I think that it is irresponsible to have the most powerful committee be made up of majority first-time senators who have not had the full extent of experience within the chamber,” said Senator Grace Augenstern. “I am really concerned that if we do not have a committee that fully understands our bylaws and the way we function at Senate, that is not going to be helpful for us moving forward.” 

The debate highlighted a need for balance between new perspectives and considering leadership positions in committee roles to be given to those who have prior experience on that respective committee.  

Senator Burke defended her qualifications, citing her work over the summer with governing documents and prior legislative experience with the State Assembly. She stressed that her experience over the summer clarifying the bylaws will ensure that newer senators can develop a better understanding. 

“It is no secret that there are several ambiguous clauses in our governing documents,” Burke said. “As a first-year senator tasked with understanding these bylaws, I wanted to ensure that our policies are both legally sound and operationally clear.”

The bill confirming the committee appointments and leadership failed as a two-thirds majority was not reached. 

Serao proposed separating the leadership section into emergency legislation, which passed. 

The Senate then voted on approving the leadership selections, the final vote passing with 22 in favor, eight against and eight abstentions. The meeting concluded with the approval of leadership positions for the Rules and Administration committee.