Student Assembly

Dear President Skorton,

I would like to formally communicate to you Resolutions 79 and 80. These two resolutions are the changes to the United Student Body framework, which is a variation of the Toward New Destinations framework adapted for student organizations. The resolutions are summarized below.

R.79: Updating United Student Body - A number of changes were made to the original USB document. All of the changes were based on the feedback that we received from the organizations that participated in the first round of initiatives, as well as from the members of the Student Assembly Committee on Inclusion & Diversity Initiatives, which was responsible for administering the process this year.

One of the most notable changes is that the submission of a DIP is now required in order to become eligible for byline-funding or to become a performance tier organization within the SAFC. Consistent with the last round of USB, all other groups that do not submit their DIPs will no longer be eligible for additional funds from the SA or SAFC, whether it be special grants, special projects funding, or other such funding opportunities.

As far as process is concerned, many organizations expressed that they desired more interaction with SACIDI during the DIP review process. For this reason, groups will now meet with the task force charged with reviewing DIPs. This allows for direct feedback and the opportunity for the task force and the organization to ask questions and make changes to the DIPs.

Evaluation of the organizations’ progress on implementing their DIPs will occur during the Spring semester. Instead of auditing all organizations, a random sample of each of the tiers will be reviewed. Measurement and evaluation methods will be determined by the task force, in close collaboration with the University Diversity Officers, and based on some methods used in the TND framework.

R.80: Changing SAFC Guidelines to Reflect USB Changes - This resolution simply changes the SAFC Guidelines regarding performance tier organizations to reflect the new eligibility requirement that is outlined in USB.

The resolutions and supporting documents are attached for your reference. Additionally, if you are interested in seeing the initiatives submitted by student organizations participating in USB this first year, you can find them listed on the United Student Body website. Finally, thanks to Vice President Murphy, we have been given $5,000 to further enhance USB and the initiatives that participating organizations create. We announced the grant formally at the USB reception on May 6th. Grant guidelines will mirror those of the TND grant and will be formally announced in the fall.

Regards,

Ulysses