By Fruma Landa, News Editor
On Monday, March 30, Chief Justice of the Beren Constitutional Council, Shoshana Adler, announced the addition of a new amendment to the Beren Constitution via the Berenevents email listserv. President of SYMSSC-Beren, Miriam Schloss, proposed an amendment to establish two new SYMSSC Vice President positions on the Beren Campus in place of the singular previous one which, “…was voted on by all members of SGA, with the majority of the members voting for the amendment,” in accordance with Article XV; Section II of the Beren Constitution.
Schloss expressed to the YU Observer that, “[a]mong other things, being on student council taught me about running functional teams. […] One of the strengths of SCWSC and TAC [Torah Activities Council] is that the different VP positions attract individuals that contribute different skill sets to the team. […] In contrast, SYMSSC on the Beren Campus has traditionally had one Vice President position to support the President in all of the functions of a student council.”
The amendment, which will take effect on 4/12/20, replaces the position of Vice President of SYMSSC with Vice President of Clubs and Vice President of Public Relations. “Having more positions on the council will ensure that more of the core skill sets needed to be successful will be covered,” continued Schloss.
As outlined in the amendment to Article IX, the SYMSSC Vice President of Clubs will be expected to perform some of the duties previously performed by the Vice President of SYMSSC, defined in the previous constitution. Such as: the VP of Clubs is the designated successor of the office of SYMSSC President if the SYMSSC President leaves office, and is expected to “[p]erform the duties of the SYMSSC President, upon written communication from the SYMSSC President,” along with making sure the SYMSSC event request form is up to date and checked often. Other duties of the Vice President of Clubs include the organization of “at least one yearly event for all SYMSSC club presidents,” organizing mandatory information sessions with the SCWSC Vice President of Clubs for the SGA (Student Government Association) club presidents and overseeing the SYMSSC clubs and events.
Meanwhile, the Vice President of Public Relations will have the responsibility “of the official public relations director of the SYMSSC” and “[a]ct[ing] as a public relations resource for SYMSSC student groups.” Additionally, the duties of managing SYMSSC social media accounts, marketing SYMSSC events, and emailing the Beren Campus undergraduate student body weekly about SYMSSC events will fall to the Vice President of Public Relations.
“I am incredibly proud of the work that Shaiel Soleimani [Vice President of SYMSSC-Beren] and I have done this year. We have focused on bringing more Syms students into campus-wide programming committees and establishing tabling programming in the 215 Lex building throughout the year, enabling the students we represent to be actively included in campus programming that had previously been reserved to the 245 Lex lobby,” shared Schloss. “Because of the changes to the council structure, next year’s SYMSSC will have an even greater impact on the Beren Campus.”
Any questions regarding the amendment can be sent to Chief Justice Adler at sadler2@mail.yu.edu. Students should be sure to use the updated constitution when referencing the Beren Constitution.