Despite beginning work on the Student Assembly website last spring after the election, the SA executive department still has not launched an updated, accurate website.
Vice President Mel Alim ’14 initially wanted to launch the website over the summer, before the 2013-14 school year began. However, Chief Technology Officer Matt Sniff ’15 did not work on the website over the summer.
According to Alim, she and SA President Chase Koontz ’14 were worried about the project’s incomplete state and contacted a computer science graduate student to complete the website. However, Alim said that the project the student completed had many glitches.
“There were a lot of glitches. It was visually not very aesthetic or what we wanted,” Alim said.
Alim and Koontz paid the graduate student an initial fee from the off-campus account available to the SA president.
Now, Alim, Sniff and Secretary of Student Life Alyssa Zhu ’14 are working to update the old SA website template.
“I feel really frustrated that it wasn’t what we [imagined] it to be,” Alim said. “It’s already second semester and we’re still working on it. We’re hoping that … even though this website is going to be super late, that the next president and vice-president and the next Student Assembly can use this website for the future.”
McConnell said he is upset that there is still no website.
“[Senators] have a lot of initiatives that are being low found by the fact that we don’t have a website,” McConnell said.
In their campaign last spring, Koontz and Alim used videos and social media to discuss their plans for improving the SA. Those plans included creating a new website.
“I think both of us do feel stress on delivering on [the website] because it was definitely a big part of our platform,” Alim said.
Alim said that she hopes they will launch a website before their term ends in two months.
“We tried really hard to make sure that everyone gets information through social media, flyering or campus wide emails,” Alim said.
Senate to reconvene next week
Due to the cancellation of all activities at the College of William and Mary Tuesday, Jan. 21, the Student Assembly senate did not meet this week.
Senate Chairman Will McConnell ’14 moved the Spring Break Transportation Act and the Department of Transportation Act to committees for discussion this weekend. The senate will vote on a new secretary, and Chairman of the Review Board David Wasserstein ’14 will swear in Chase Jordan ’15 to the vacant Class of 2015 senate seat next Tuesday.
McConnell said the code does not require the senate to meet until after the first full week of classes.
“I’m disappointed that we couldn’t start early … but there were circumstances beyond our control,” McConnell said. “We’re still working by the code and everything that’s been done is not a breach of the code.”
Sen. Yohance Whitaker ’16 tabled the Religious Diversity Act and McConnell tabled the Media Council Contract Act. The senate will vote on both bills next week.
The senate could not meet another night this week because they would not have reached quorum — or two-thirds attendance.
