A Student Government General Assembly was originally not going to be held on Oct. 16, but was scheduled in light of the GA on Oct. 9. In the previous GA, an amendment was passed by the GA to the Rules and Procedures of the Student Government stating, “The Board of Appeals must have a Rules and Procedures document approved by two-thirds of the General Assembly before they can have any constitutionally binding decisions.”

However, after the GA, the Executive Board decided that another vote was required to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest. Members of the Executive Board felt that since a current case involved an Executive Board member, a move that could delay this case could be perceived as a conflict of interest. This necessitated another vote on Oct. 16 in order to affirm or rescind the previous vote. The GA ultimately voted to keep the amendment.

Although Sophomore Class Representative Jacob Chagnon supported the aim of the amendment, he pointed out some shortcomings in its voting process, particularly how not all Executive Board members were present, how two of the three Board of Appeals members were not present, how some cultural Student Interest Group representatives that came to the GA for a different discussion also voted and how the amendment was supported by Assistant Director for Student Activities Vic Lindsay, the liaison between the Student Government and the NYU Abu Dhabi administration.

Another argument was that if the GA does rescind this amendment, the student body could perceive that as the Executive Board trying to override the student body’s voice.

Chief Member of the Board of Appeals Vladislav Maksimov suggested that before approving the BoA’s rules and procedures, all students should read previous decisions by the BoA, which defined students’ rights in relation to the BoA.

The majority of the GA voted to keep the amendment, which meant that the BoA will have to publish a Rules and Procedures document, which will then be approved or rejected by the GA before issuing any further decisions.

Some other issues were discussed in this GA. One was about the poorly functioning Wi-Fi on campus. Global Vice President Patrick Sheldon Wee confirmed with the Chief Information Officer of IT that they will improve connectivity as soon as they find suppliers that can add more routers.

Wee also mentioned that the Global Fair, a session for students to learn more about NYU Global Network University sites, is in the works.

Two new topics were brought up in the New Business section of the GA. One topic was whether or not Student Government should create a position that will represent graduate students. Some supported this while others were unsure how active such a role would be. Another topic was concern with how grading standards vary within NYUAD and in comparison with other universities. The GA discussed how this is not just an administrative problem, but is also a problem for students, particularly for those whose grades will be seen by employers and graduate schools.