Despite a cry for drastic action, members of the Student Government Association (SGA) firmly stood behind one of their own at its weekly Senate meeting last Thursday.

Led by SGA President Rogan O’Handley, the senate expressed its support for Vice President for Student Services Susan Dye after Dean of Campus Life Marina Iannalfo told the Senate the university’s decision to move 13 student groups from the second floor of the Curry Student Center was initially approved by Dye.

Dye later said when initially approached, she was confused about the rooms involved in the swap, and the confusion resulted in a misunderstanding.

O’Handley thanked Dye for the hard work she put into the association in trying to remedy the move.

“Vice President Dye, in my knowledge and opinion, has done a tremendous job in dealing with the situation,” he said. “I’ve witnessed her spend all her spare time addressing the issue. She fought to delay the shuffle and was successful. She organized open forums for student groups to address the administration face to face and has completely amazed me.”

SGA Vice President for Administration and Public Relations Krystal Beaulieu also expressed support for Dye’s efforts to resolve the issue.

“It’s important to acknowledge that Susan knows she made a mistake and now she’s working to reverse it, and SGA stands behind her,” Beaulieu said after the meeting.

After three rounds of applause from nearly the entire student senate, Dye responded to O’Handley’s remarks as well as the recent report in The News, in which former SGA President Michael Benson called for the association to “evaluate [Dye’s] continuation in office.”

Of that prospect, Dye said: “After the reaction today, I don’t see it as threat. I’ve been doing my job well.”

Dye, along with her assistant vice president Chris Borne, then presented a Sense of the Senate – used to express the general opinion of the Senate on specific policies – that proposed the university allow the 13 student groups to remain in room 232 of the student center in agreement with the annual space-allocation process as set by the Student Center Governing Board.

The document, which passed by a majority vote, seeks a complete reevaluation of existing space within the student center as “it is not currently used to its full potential.”

Beaulieu said she was pleased the Sense of the Senate passed, but was uncertain of what the future holds for it.

“I think that the administration is really set in its ways and wants [the office relocation] to go through,” Beaulieu said. “[The sense] may not halt the plan as we hope, but it gives us a strong opinion.”