When the three potential new Student Association members stood before the Assembly on Monday night, I was shocked at what I heard: actual questions and actual answers.

I have been covering SA meetings for The Daily Orange off and on for more than a year, and I have never witnessed the Assembly ask new members questions such as, ‘Describe yourself in three words, and how will that help you in SA?’ or, ‘What does diversity mean to you?’ I was pleasantly surprised to see such progress.

If we were to rewind to a year (or even more) ago, those three candidates would have stood in front of the Assembly, stated their names and majors, answered a few standard questions and have been voted into SA with little to no debate.

SA is at a critical juncture right now. It’s at the point where it can either repeat the mistakes of past administrations or turn the organization around and actually (gasp!) defend the students.

But last week, SA did repeat a mistake from the last administration: postponing a meeting for a day because of a basketball game. And guess what? They couldn’t meet quorum the next day, which meant they couldn’t vote on a resolution to question the Syracuse University administration about its policies concerning Facebook. They couldn’t vote for special request funding for University Union Cinemas to bring such movies as ‘King Kong’ and ‘Capote’ to campus.

Instead of a bill, the new budget proposals were presented to the Assembly on Monday night in a Microsoft Word document. When Assembly member Patrick Tomeny asked why, Comptroller Michael Brannen simply replied, ‘Because we didn’t meet quorum last week.’ Really, now …

Now SA is facing examination by the Judicial Review Board for its actions, and rightfully so. The SA constitution states that meetings are to be held on Mondays, not Tuesdays in the event of a basketball game. The constitution also has a demerit policy for Assembly members who miss meetings or office hours (a rule that has not been enforced properly for about a year).

SA Chief of Staff Ryan Kelly sent an e-mail to the Assembly last weekend that stated the demerit policy would be enforced again. Several members protested. Why complain? All Assembly members take the same oath to follow SA’s constitution, so if you can’t handle it, leave and let someone more qualified take your spot. Kelly probably put it best Monday night.

‘We want people who will go to meetings and start their own initiative,’ he said. ‘Not people who want to put this on their resume.’

I sat on The D.O. editorial board last semester during the SA elections. Wayne Horton told the board in an endorsement meeting that he would not let his duties as SA president and an SU cheerleader conflict. He said he would do his best to keep his schedule balanced. That obviously didn’t happen last week.

SA seems to be doing so many things right this administration. Let’s hope a setback like this doesn’t happen again. The budgeting process for next semester will begin just a few weeks after spring break. Now is not the time to be putting off meetings to cheer on Gerry McNamara and company.