Senate Minutes
Student Government Association
Northeastern University
{3/16/2015}
I.
Roll Call
Present: 63
Absent: 2
Excused: 7
Quorum: was met.
II.
Call to Order
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:08 pm.
III.
Chair Address
EVP Karolewski: Tonight we will be voting on the Adjunct Faculty Union and the Referenda.
IV.
Executive Addresses
The Senate moved into Executive Addresses
President, Noah Carville:
 This body is the Senate and you become the voices and the votes of your constituents. For the
referendum, our responsibility is to vote on them based on solely three criteria: feasibility,
fairness of wording, and adherence to university policy.
Comptroller, Krista deMello
 This upcoming week and next week we will be hearing presentations from student groups.
 At this time the Finance Board will not be accepting new members because there are only a
couple of meetings left, but my successor will be reviewing your applications over the summer.
Vice President for Academic Affairs, Eric Tyler:
 I am looking for testers for the new co-op system.
Vice President for Student Affairs, Morgan Helfman:
 Yields
Vice President for Student Involvement, Selmon Rafey:
 Yields
Vice President for Student Services, Anahis Kechejian:
 Yields
Chief of Staff, Elliot Horen:
 Yields
Executive Director of Communications, Meghan Murdock
 Yields
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V.
Special Addresses
The Senate moved into Special Addresses.
Parliamentarian, Cameron Eide
 We are only an approval or rejection vote, your opinions on the issues presented in the
referendum are not what will be debated in this Chamber. The only three things we will be
discussing and debating tonight are: feasibility, fairness of wording, and adherence to university
policy.
Elections Committee Chair, Keith Harrigian:
 Yields
VI.
Question Time
The Senate moved into Question Time on the given addresses.
Senator Mani: Could you describe what fairness of wording means?
Parliamentarian Eide: Fairness of wording is a little subjective. Things that are blatantly false can be
considered unfair.
VII.
Unfinished Business
The Senate moved into Unfinished Business.
i.
SS-PS-15-101 (Adjunct Faculty Union)
The Senate moved into Debate on the Sense of the Senate on the Adjunct Faculty Union.
Chief of Staff Horen: A holiday we all recognize, Labor Day, recognizes the most hard-working among
us. Students have historically aligned themselves with labor movements—U of Oregon, George
Washington, U Mass Amherst. Adjunct union at Northeastern is reasonable. Northeastern expects
academic honesty, we should expect them to be honest with their academics.
Senator Driesman motions to call the previous question, Senator Ramirez seconds.
With a placard vote of 44 for, 0 against, and 2 abstaining, the Sense of Senate passes.
VIII.
New Business
The Senate moved into New Business
i.
Direct Election Nominations
Nominations for Student Body President:
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VP Eric Tyler was nominated by Senator Waggoner and seconded by Senator Saltz
VP John Finn was nominated by VP Kechejian and seconded by Senator Ramirez
Nominations for Executive Vice President:
VP Morgan Helfman was nominated by Senator Bantwal and seconded by Senator Driesman
Senator Neel Desai was nominated by Comptroller deMello and seconded by Senator Sharma
Nominations for President and EVP are now closed and election season starts Wednesday.
ii.
$15 Now Referendum
VP Rafey motions to move into recess until the representatives for $15 Now arrives, VP Helfman
seconds.
Presenters presented the $15 Now Northeastern Referendum to the Senate
The Senate moved into Question Time on the presented referendum
Senator Haugen: Do you have any idea what percentage of our University workers who would be
affected by this who are in the $13.25 to $15 range?
Presenter: We were never given access to those statistics
VP Rafey: For those that have implemented the $15 goal, what sort of timeline was in place?
Presenter: Northeastern has the capabilities to pay $15 now so conversations of implementation would
come later with administrators. The reason we don’t address it in the language of our resolution is because
Northeastern has demonstrated they have the ability to pay it. The size of the University plays a large part
in that
President Carville: You said that the question is “Northeastern should insure” rather than “Northeastern
should directly pay campus workers”. Can you elaborate on the difference?
Presenter: The reason is because of the nature of subcontracting vendors on Northeastern. Because often
it is vendors that the University contracts and not Northeastern paying the workers directly.
Senator Marwah: What happens if stores like Wollastons can’t pay their workers $15?
Presenter: If a business demonstrates they can’t pay $15, they are subsidized by the government and in
this situation, it could be something that Northeastern can subsidize.
Senator Falkovich: Are you including Student Workers?
Presenter: Most of the student workers are works study and that is Federal so Northeastern can’t alter the
wages.
Chief of Staff Horen motions to extend question time, Senator Abraham seconds.
Senator Low: For student part-time workers that are not work study, will those be affected?
Presenter: The hope is that it would. The intention of the people writing the legislation is that non work
study student workers are included in this.
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Senator Haberli: On a quarterly or yearly basis do you know how much it would cost the school?
Presenter: Based on the fact that we don’t know how many workers are employed by Northeastern, it
would be impossible.
Senator Sharma: Where did the $15 come from and will it change with inflation?
Presenter: The language is tied to inflation isn’t in our exact question.
Comptroller deMello: Do you have the support of campus workers in this movement and to what extent?
Presenter: Yes. It is hard to have direct conversations with workers on campus but nationwide the
movement is supported by workers. Also logically, I don’t imagine the workers to be opposed to this.
Senator Michunovich: Is the average housing costs necessarily relevant to workers at Northeastern?
Presenter: In short yes, they would fall into that category. I don’t think that we should be making
judgment on this legislation by making assumptions that workers in this industry should fall into lower
housing.
President Carville motions to extend Question time by 5 minutes, VP Helfman seconds.
Senator Falkovich: How would you handle the large national companies?
Presenter: I think that it’s difficult to predict. I think that northeastern would play the moral high ground
that we commit to in our mission statement. These types of negotiations aren’t foreign to corporations and
Northeastern has a history of negotiations like these.
Chief of Staff Horen: If Northeastern said $14 is our final offer would you accept that?
Presenter: No, $15 is the number nationally and the goal across the country.
Comptroller DeMello: If Northeastern said we can’t change the wages but we would be willing to include
healthcare or some other benefits would you accept that?
Presenter: I think that it’s difficult to answer that right now. It could be a conversation but that is
certainly not what we are asking for.
VP Tyler motions to move to a speakers list, VP Helfman seconds.
Senator Saltz: How much of the endowment is allowed to be used for $15 Now?
Presenter: Northeastern keeps all of its budgeted information very private and we can’t really pull
percentages out until we get those documents.
VP Helfman: I know you’ve talked with the Union but have you talked with the director of dining to see
what their opinions are?
Presenter: We have not talked with the managers of the dining hall facilities.
The Senate moved into Open Debate on this Referendum
VP Rafey: I think the argument has been fairly made that this adheres to University policies and
missions. I think in terms of fairness of wording they provided useful statistics. For feasibility I think that
is where the most debate can be made
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VP Kechejian: At the end of the day I think there is a lot of support from the student body and I think we
owe it to them and the student body to get this on the ballot so they can get the numbers from the
administration.
Senator Haugen: It seems to me that most of the information they would need to present to the students
are not available. I think it would be better to have a different movement to make the budget more
transparent.
Senator Michunovich: In terms of fairness of wording some students that are work-study might not know
that they are not included and might vote on that because they think they are getting a raise.
VP Rafey yields to Presenters: Unfortunately there are not enough characters to add that in.
President Carville: When this goes to the ballot is it just the question, or is there more
Elections Chair Harrigian: What everyone is going to see is the questions and a link to all this legislation
and an abstract. All voting parties will have to click on the link to see more information.
President Carville: The University puts very brief financial statements online. The endowment is $886.7
million and its cash and cash equivalent $21.5 million.
Senator Hay motions to move to a placard vote for the referendum to be placed on the ballot, Senator
Skelton seconds.
With 34 in favor, 7 opposed, 9 abstentions, the referendum is approved to be placed on the ballot.
iii.
Gender Resource Center Referendum
Presenters presented the Gender Resource Center Referendum to the Senate
The Senate moved into Question Time on the presented referendum
Chief of Staff Horen: What have survivors said about the current process?
Presenter: We have talked to a lot of people about this and how people have had traumatic experiences.
It is also a sensitive subject. Once people get into the VISION network, there are really great resources
but getting to that point is hard.
Senator Kerns: Where are you proposing the space to be?
Presenter: I don’t think that is something we can address right now. At this point it is more important to
promote the idea that we need a tangible space.
Senator Anderson: Would VISION be part of this space?
Presenter: the space would be a part of VISION. What we envision overall for the space is a
collaboration between students and the administration.
Senator Hamp: It seems like a lot of the statements are very vague on the services, can you elaborate?
Presenter: It would be a mix of different services. It would be a meeting space, counseling, workshops,
library, resources, training, etc. The reason it is vague is because we don’t want to leave anyone out.
Senator Abraham: In the legislation you’ve mentioned VISION and the LGBTQ, what are their feelings
on this?
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Presenter: We feel that this is not a competing resource. I think this would fill a lot of gaps and provide
resources that the other groups don’t.
President Carville motions to move to a speakers list, VP Helfman seconds.
VP Helfman: Concerning the safety and confidentiality of students going into this center, how would you
protect these students?
Presenter: I think the reason we aren’t specifically making this a sexual assault center is so that people
don’t’ really know what specifically you are going in for. It will require working with Northeastern to
find a space that allows this.
Senator Sharma: Have you been talking to other student organizations so far?
Presenter: We really want to have the Northeastern community involved so we are definitely reaching
out to other groups to seeing if they want to be involved.
The Senate moved into Open Debate on this Referendum
VP Helfman: Speaking to feasibility there is already another group in process called the Women’s
Empowerment Coalition and we are already in process of getting the space so it’s definitely feasible.
Where we might put it is a question for another day.
Senator Falkovich: This has been a center that has been in the school before so if the center has been here
before I think it’s fair and feasible.
Senator Driesman: I think this would help reinforce University policy.
Chief of Staff Horen: It is the obligation of the University under Title IX to provide the students with
such resources. Voting yes brings the University into compliance with its legal responsibilities.
Senator Low motions to move into a placard vote for the referendum to be placed on the ballot,
Comptroller deMello seconds.
With 54 in favor, 0 opposed, and 0 abstentions, the referendum is approved to be placed on the ballot.
iv.
Gender Neutral Bathrooms Referendum
Presenters presented the Gender Neutral Bathrooms Referendum to the Senate
The Senate moved into Question Time on the presented referendum
VP Rafey: Is what you’re proposing a signage issue?
Presenter: Yes.
Senator Schneider: Do you have any way that you want to change the accessibility issue?
Presenter: That was just used as a point to show how difficult it is to have access to these facilities.
Senator Waggoner: Do you think just changing signage will meet the need?
Presenter: I think that it could go further. It’s definitely a stepping stone to accessibility
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Senator Low: Do you have a number of how many gender neutral bathrooms and single stall bathrooms
are currently on campus?
Presenter: Unfortunately we don’t have an access but on the maps it lists 34. However, some of those
don’t exist and it’s not updated.
Senator Rosa: Right now your main focus is single-stall bathrooms, are you looking to expand to the
bigger bathrooms in the residence halls that have showers?
Presenter: Showers really aren’t the focus of our question.
The Senate moved into Open Debate on this Referendum
VP Rafey: I think this is very feasible. There are no issues of endowment or where do we get the signs. I
think it would be very hard for anyone to argue against it.
Chief of Staff Horen: I agree with the previous speaker.
Senator Driesman motions to return to the previous question, Senator Desai seconds.
With 46 in favor, 0 opposed, 2 abstentions, the referendum is approved to be placed on the ballot.
v.
Divestment for Peace Referendum
President Carville motions to recess for 8 minutes, VP Helfman seconds.
President Carville motions for a Quorum call, Senator Maslow seconds.
With 55 present, 12 absent, 10 excused, quorum was met.
Presenters presented the Gender Neutral Bathrooms Referendum to the Senate
The Senate moved into Question Time on the presented referendum
Senator Ramirez: When I was speaking with my constituents, they were concerned with the fairness of
wording regarding the companies. Are the companies directly responsible?
Presenters: Caterpillar sells the bulldozers, HP provides the software while Motorola designs the camera.
Raytheon designs their weapons to hold illegal missiles.
Chief of Staff Horen: What specific statute of international law are the corporations themselves
violating?
Presenters: We are asking to divest from companies who are profiting off of human rights violations.
Senator Erram: Has there been any research into other companies and countries engaging in human
rights violations in Palestine? Why these specific countries.
Presenters: Yes
Senator Erram: Why did you pick these companies?
Presenters: We felt that these were the four that were the biggest deals to talk about with huge contracts
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Senator Low: Why don’t you include the other companies?
Presenters: This is our focus now but it has the possibility to be expanded.
Senator Driesman: Have any other universities divested from companies
Presenters: Yes, Hampshire College.
Senator Maslow: Who operates the technology in the machines?
Presenters: The Israeli government
Senator Falkovich: There have been schools where this has created a hostile environment between two
specific parties. How would your group deal with this?
Presenters: We would immediately condemn it. We hope that through this process our organization
would help to fight these types of issues.
President Carville motions to move to a speakers list, Senator Skeleton seconds.
Senator Brodsky: You said that your goal was to engage Northeastern in dialogue. Why have you made
the question not really a question and a pretty definitive statement?
Presenters: This is the best way we thought to phrase the question.
The Senate moved into Open Debate on this Referendum
Senator Turner: With regard to quoting Josh Rubner, the author of a quote has no bearing on the quotes
accuracy.
Senator Abraham moves to suspend the rules on debate, Senator Bison seconds.
Senator Abraham motions to limit debate to feasibility, Senator Becker seconds.
Feasibility:
Senator Bison: I think the answer is yes because we have done it in the past.
Senator Michunovich: In regards to this divestment, I think it is feasible
Senator Anderson: Feasible because of past examples and other socially responsible options. Also
divestment and boycotting are two different things.
Senator Becker yields to Chief of Staff Horen:
Horen: Feasibility means plausibility, not possibility. No universities that have passed divestment
resolutions have divested. 2013 academic boycott proves this point at Northeastern. Northeastern won’t
risk relationships with co-op partners.
Senator Handler: The first reason that divestment is unfeasible is because of hedge funds and for
Northeastern to divest, Northeastern would have to move this $160,000 from hedge funds. The second
problem is because Northeastern wouldn’t want to hurt its relationships with these donors. For better or
for worse, it is unlikely that Northeastern would push these donors away because of donations, and coops.
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Senator Driesman: We are not arguing that Northeastern should not adopt this referendum, but that
Northeastern will not adopt this referendum because of relationships with donors and sponsors. The
reality is that Northeastern University will not alienate any portion of their donors.
Senator Bison yields his time to Presenters: If we look at the example of divestment in South Africa,
Northeastern divested its money. Most of the money comes from tuition not donors. Our education is a
good. It is possible to be pro-Israel and support this divestment legislation. In terms of hedge funds,
Northeastern changed hedge funds for South Africa. In order to sell their hedge funds as a commodity,
they will change.
Senator Abraham: Speaking towards feasibility, there is an important distinction between divestment
from Israel and divestment in South Africa. Compared to divestment in South Africa, divestment was
from the particular company but this focuses on these companies.
Senator Turner: In the case of South Africa, it was even broader, they divested from any companies who
invested in South Africa. South Africa didn’t get destroyed by these divestments, apartheid did
Senator Anderson: There is some concern that feasibility is whether the University will do something.
My understanding of the word is that it could happen. I don’t think we should be trying to read people’s
minds.
Senator Chung: I feel like there is two definitions of feasibility: is it possible, will the University do it?
Chief of Staff Horen: We must assume feasible to mean more than possible because otherwise we can
ask the trustees for any number of implausible things.
Senator Michunovich: We can’t look at what the board of trustees might do. If we don’t try it, it might
never happen.
Senator Turner moves to extend number of speeches to five. Motion fails.
VP Rafey moves to extend number of speeches to three. With 32 for, and 15 against motion passes.
Senator Handler: Right now there hasn’t been any feasible choices to divest from these companies. The
only other option was a more socially responsible investment which would still be investing in three out
of four of these companies.
Senator Sharma: Under clause 6, as the authors of this referendum have previously stated, there are more
companies who fall under this category.
Senator Bison: This referendum is just about these four companies.
Senator Brodsky: If the only suggestion presented was to take our investments out of this hedge fund and
put it in another hedge fund that still invests in three out of the four companies then I think this is useless.
Senator Anderson: Hedge funds want to provide a product to their investors and if their investors want to
achieve a goal, they will meet their needs. Also this referendum does not have a set time frame.
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Senator Chung: We have no crystal ball and we can’t predict what is going to happen in the future.
Senator Low motions to end this debate, Senator Falkovich seconds.
Fairness of wording:
Chief of Staff Horen: Referendum looks neutral due to focus on corporations, but that hides true focus on
Israeli government policies. Doesn’t present a fair choice to students—a vote yes endorses companies that
they’re told have committed violations.
Senator Bison yields his time to Presenter: That is strictly your position and in terms of engagement, it is
a multistep process which includes selling, shipping, there are so many ways to be engaged in human
rights violations and they are engaging and profiting off of these human rights violations.
Senator Turner: If the content is true, then it should be fair.
VP Rafey: I can get a feeling that there is disagreement on the wording of engaged in human rights
violations. I think that can easily be interpreted as committing in human rights violations.
Senator Abraham: In looking at the UN humanitarian law being referenced, it is condemning the actions
of the nation state of Israel. It comes down to can we say we want to divest from their companies because
of their actual business practices. I think we should be focusing on the actual actions of these companies
which is conducting their business.
VP Kechejian: I think that there are a lot of grey areas and it is unfair to ask students to pick yes or no.
Senator Michunovich: I just would like to mention there are some benefits to a grey area, it leads to
discussion and education on the topic.
Chief of Staff Horen: The Senate is responsible to ensure that the students are presented with something
that is fair. Those against this aren’t pointing a finger at a specific word. The resolution is about Israel but
students are not being presented with this topic.
Senator Anderson: It is about divesting from the four companies.
Senator Jason: I think that Israel needs to be part of this conversation
Senator Abraham: We brought up that it might be confusing and I think that is enough not to take it to
the student body. I think that if this is voted down today I don’t think that this is the end of discussion
about this. I think that is unfair to ask this question but would be fair to have some other vehicle to
stimulate this discussion.
Senator Saltz: In terms of fairness of wording if very capable students are having difficulty
comprehending this referendum I think raising it to the attention of 15,000 students would be detrimental.
Senator Hamp: If we are actually members of the Senate I don’t think that we can expect the whole
student body to do their own research.
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Senator Bison yields his time to Presenters: We haven’t even begun our campaign yet and the idea
behind having a referendum will open this conversation and by voting no you’re impeding this
conversation.
Senator Haugen: When you have a referendum that is so one-sided and you came into it without
information it is relevant that we take into account the need for more information.
Senator Falkovich: I agree that the Senators in this room are representative of the Student Body. I am
completely for dialogue on this question but a yes or no question will not be beneficial.
Senator Hay yields to Presenters: You will have three more weeks to decide if this is feasible.
Senator Sharbatian: We have had an entire week to research this proposal. In terms of fairness of
wording and promoting discussion, I think this is so one sided that this doesn’t allow room for discussion.
Senator Ramirez: When I asked this question to many of my constituents, they were confused by the
wording and how will saying no to this close all dialogue on this topic?
Senator Bison: I’ve heard a lot about how this is a one sided perspective, but that is what a referendum is,
it’s taking a stand on an issue. Of course it takes a stand. I don’t think it’s fair that these standards weren’t
applied to the other referendum.
VP Helfman: Last year after the referendum, there was a lot of talk about why there wasn’t a presentation
about the other side.
Senator Espinoza: I feel that even if we were to present this out there I think that in a way we are giving
the student body an idea that has not been fully explained.
Senator Low motions to move to the next debate, Senator Abraham seconds. With a 2/3 majority, the
motion passes.
Adherence to University Policy:
Senator Hamp: If even one student feels there is a hostile environment, then we have broken University
policy.
Chief of Staff Horen: There are certain policies that we hold to be self-evident. That students have a right
to be on a campus free from harassment and hostility. Divestment at other schools has violated the
promise students make to each other—Stanford, Cornell, UCLA, UC Davis. We encourage constructive
discourse about the issue, but a yes/no ballot question isn’t the way to do it.
Senator Turner: With regard to whether this is conducive to learning, this is clearly the best debate we’ve
had and I don’t know why we wouldn’t want students to have this conversation. These are not matters of
faith, but matters of politics.
Senator Anderson yields to presenters: All of these accusations are based on grave assumptions. This
draws up a lot of emotion but it is the highest form of free speech.
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Senator Driesman: It’s been stating before that voting against this you are giving up free speech. But by
voting no on this referendum, we are not prohibiting free speech. The Student Government has a certain
set of rules at this private institution and are not violating anyone’s right to free speech by not placing this
referendum on the ballot.
Senator Anderson: As for Northeastern being a private institution does not have specific mentions of free
speech, there is a policy protecting political ideas.
Senator Sharma: There is a clear difference between feeling harassment and feeling uncomfortable and
the examples prove that there is harassment.
VP Rafey yields to presenters: Divestments resolutions do not make someone anti-Semitic and in
regards to Palestinian students on campus, no one here has mentioned them, that’s harassment to me.
Senator Driesman: This referendum clearly does not comply with Northeastern policy. Putting it on the
ballot would make specific groups uncomfortable. It’s already been discussed that this could turn into a
political issues and can polarize groups on campus.
Senator Bison: The NU mission statement emphasizes that any political speech is protected.
Senator Brodsky: I’m not saying that SJP is trying to promote these anti-Semitic feelings but I think it
will happen.
VP Rafey: In terms of policy I think the concern is the way this referendum is proposed will lead to one
side arguing and everyone else having to defend themselves against that. A referendum process is more
like a campaign, not necessarily a conversation.
VP Helfman: This form of harassment can happen from any extremist group and this issue is political
and religious and we have seen examples from other universities.
Senator Driesman motions to move to a speakers list with each speaker having a limit of one minute.
Senator Ramirez: There is nothing in this referendum that says it will promote anti-Semitism, but it does
not adhere to University policy.
Senator Saltz: The mission of the University is to educate students for a life of fulfillment and
accomplishment. If there are so many assumptions and we open it to 15,000 students, then we aren’t
providing the right education for this topic.
Senator Turner: The actions of an unknown group cannot limit the actions of a group that they were not
a part of.
Senator Beroff: We have seen it quickly cross the line of anti-Semitism.
Senator Handler: We have to make an assumption either way, either that Jewish students will be
harassed or they won’t be
Senator Bonfiglioli yields to Presenters: There are a lot of marginalized students that are not represented
and these things are never addressed.
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Senator Rafey yields to Presenters: We open our meetings to all students.
Chief of Staff Horen moves to call the previous question, Senator Caudle seconds.
With 9 in favor, 25 against, 13 abstaining this referendum will not be placed on the ballot.
IX.
Open Discussion
The Senate moved into Open Discussion
Senator Erram: Have there been any discussions about student groups volunteering at the Boston
Marathon in terms of classes?
VP Tyler: It is at the professor’s digression if they want to hold class or not.
VP Helfman: Friday is relay for life!
X.
Adjournment
Senate adjourned at 11:44pm.
Respectfully Submitted to the Senate by Noah Carville and Rebecca Abraham.
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