By Rafal Rogoza –
The Student Government Organization (SGO) passed a new motion during the March 19 student council meeting, financially reimbursing students that have attended the India study abroad trip to help them cover additional costs.
The new motion –$3,500 reimbursement to be split up among the 17 students who attended the trip and a $3,500 allocation for future study abroad trips –passed with 15 votes for the motion and 8 against it. The new motion was introduced after the previous motion during the February council meeting was voted down.
During the February meeting, council and audience members that attended the trip were told to leave because of perceived conflict of interest concerns, skewing the vote. After The Gothic Times uncovered that removing students from the meeting may have been a violation of their civil rights, SGO decided to have another vote in accordance with the law.
“I thought it was a good idea and a good compromise,” said Bernard Lipat, 21, math club president from Jersey City. Lipat introduced the new motion to the council.
According to Lipat, he introduced the motion because it would set a good precedent about SGO helping students study abroad.
Lipat was satisfied with the motion passing but was surprised about the vote results.
“I thought it was going to be voted down but with a slimmer margin,” said Lipat.
When asked if his vote was influenced by the students who attended the trip and were allowed to speak at the meeting Lipat answered no.
“I think people who went should have abstained from voting,” said Lipat.
Senior class president Jane Sepulveda attended the India trip and said, “I was surprised, I didn’t expect it to pass.”
Sepulveda thought the motion would fail because of all the negative feedback from the February meeting.
“I think the modification of the motion is what did it,” said Sepulveda who was glad the motion passed because the extra money will help students pay for the shots and malaria medication that was required for the trip.
Giselle Ojagir, SGO Executive Vice President, also attended the India trip. Asked if the vote was impacted by the six members who were told to leave in the previous February meeting Ojagir said, “Us (students who went to India) being able to share what was done made the vote different.”
Ojagir stressed that the trip was not a vacation and that the schedule was rigorous.
“I think so…we had to wake up at six..we had long agendas,” said Ojagir.
Brian Flores, 21, treasurer of the model UN club, found the conflict of interest concerns legitimate and after finding out that council members who attended the trip were allowed to vote Flores tried to get council members that were against the motion to leave the meeting.
“SGO clearly is not a transparent organization because the President, Vice President, and other members of council knew before hand that the original amount was going to be refunded,” said Flores referring to the original $500 refund each attending student was suppose to receive after returning from the trip, the same amount they were required to pay in order to attend.
“And its not fair to other students who didn’t bother to apply because they were deterred by the initial amount,” said Flores.
“I’m so glad this issue is over. We’ve finally put this issue to the funeral home. I think everybody is happy about that,” said Jan Aguilos, 24, SGO VP of public information.
