Thorpe’s VPs confirmed in first Senate meeting of the year

Student Association President Lamar Thorpe announced a new age of SA cooperation in his annual State of the SA Address in front of a full house on the fourth floor of the Marvin Center Tuesday night.

Referring to the SA’s image of being plagued by internal strife and student apathy, Thorpe, a senior, said it is one of his goals to change that view.

“The days of political bickering are over,” Thorpe said. “Welcome to the era of collaboration.”

That kind of collaboration seemed evident in the unanimous Senate approval of Thorpe’s cabinet level positions. Junior Elliot Gillerman and sophomore Christopher Wimbush were appointed vice presidents of Academic Affairs and Judicial and Legislative Affairs respectively, and his acting vice president junior Nick D’Addario was confirmed for Undergraduate Student Policy.

Furthermore, all 14 of Thorpe’s appointments to the Joint Committee of Faculty and Students and the Faculty Senate were approved unanimously.

At the end of the spring semester, the Senate-elect did not confirm three of Thorpe’s nominees for vice president, including D’Addario. He did not garner the two-thirds majority necessary to pass the senate. The SA executive affirmed that the failed nominees would be appointed as acting vice presidents for the summer and would be brought forth for reconsideration by the SA Rules Committee in the fall.

Over the summer and early fall, two of interim-vice presidents withdrew their names for confirmation, at which time Thorpe appointed Gillerman and Wimbush as the interim vice presidents.

At the first meeting of the Senate this academic year, D’Addario was the only acting VP who failed to be confirmed last academic year and was brought forth for reconsideration. Several senators including rules committee chair Chris Rotella (CCAS-U), a junior, and rules committee vice-chair Kevin Kozlowski (ESIA-U) originally voted against D’Addario in the spring. D’Addario passed unanimously Tuesday night.

“This change in opinion is due to the fact that he demonstrated an abundance of knowledge and understanding of the position of vice president of Undergraduate Student Policy, something which was not evident when we first considered his nomination in the spring of 2006,” said Kozlowski, a sophomore.

“Additionally, Nick showed the committee that he has been heavily involved over the summer in planning and executing a great number of initiatives.”