Records of the Student Senators Council
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Abstract
The Student Senators Council (SSC) is an organization focused upon the interests, rights, and responsibilities of students. The SSC brings student concerns to the attention of the University Senate and appropriate university departments. The collection represents the different administrative aspects of the SSC including committees the SSC ran, events held by the SSC, and student resources. The Records of the Student Senators Council span from approximately 1974 to 2018. The collection contains memorandums, budgets, meeting minutes, correspondence, promotional materials, student handbooks, photographs, agendas, roll call lists, and directories.
Historical Note
The New York University Student Senators Council (SSC) is part of the University Senate alongside the Administrators Management Council, Deans Council, Full-Time Continuing Contract Faculty Senators Council (C-FSC), and the Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty Senators Council (T-FSC); the latter two groups replaced the Faculty Senators Council, which was also originally affiliated with the SSC and University Senate. The SSC's 35 members consist of 23 student senators elected from the different schools at NYU and 12 student senators-at-large who are selected by other student senators. To ensure students always have a representative present at meetings, student senators are assigned an alternate in case of an absence.
The student senators are governed by the Senate Rules of Procedure, which are amended as needed. These rules outline members' responsibilities, meeting information, and committee information. According to the rules, the SSC's main function is to "be the representative body for all students at New York University, shall represent the students of New York University on the University Senate (Senate), and shall protect and promote the interests, rights, and responsibilities of students in all aspects of student life at the University."
The SSC is divided into numerous committees and each senator is required to participate in at least one. Non-SSC students are also invited to participate in the committees. The SSC's most significant committee, the University Committee on Student Life (UCSL), oversees student life on campus and is broken into smaller subcommittees such as the All Square Student Budget Allocation Committee (ASSABC), the Student Affairs Budget Advisory Committee (SABAC), and the Student Activities Board (SAB).
In addition to the governing aspects of the University, the SSC is also involved in event planning, sponsoring events such as the Violet Ball and the All-University Games each year.
Sources: Student Senators Council Website: https://www.nyu.edu/about/leadership-university-administration/university-senate/membership/councils/student-senators-council.html Student Senators Council Rules of Procedure: https://www.nyu.edu/content/dam/nyu/stuSenatorsCouncil/documents/SSC%20Bylaws%205.8.14.pdf
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into ten series and within each series, materials are organized first in chronological order and then in alphabetical order.
Series I: Administrative Files, 1974-2016
Series II: Committees and Boards, 1976-2015
Series III: Agendas and Minutes, 1975-2016
Series IV: Memos and Reports, 1976-2014
Series V: Governance and Policy, 1976-2012
Series VI: Events, 1976-2009
Series VII: Finance, 1978-2014
Series VIII: Membership, 1975-2018
Series IX: Student Resources, 1977-2015
Series X: Board of Trustees, 1981-1990
Scope and Content Note
The Records of the Student Senators Council consists of materials created and collected by the Student Senators Council (SSC) and University Council of Student Life (UCSL) from 1974 to 2018. Series I, III-V, VI, and X contain administrative papers, budgets, bylaws, constitutions, presentation notes, rules of procedures, resolutions, correspondence, memorandums, agendas, minutes, and reports, all of which provide in-depth insight regarding the ways in which the SSC and UCSL upheld the Council's mission to represent, protect, and promote the rights and interests of New York University students.
In order to become a member of the Student Senators Council, students from NYU's various schools were required to apply for a position within the SSC by submitting applications, resumes, personal statements, and in some cases, references. Series VIII: Membership contains materials relating to the recruitment of members such as completed applications, election materials, and advertisements; lists of selected Senators-at-Large and their alternates; committee preference sheets; and guidelines for selecting members.
The SSC oversaw numerous committees and boards, all of which are documented in Series II: Committees & Boards. This series mainly contains correspondence, administrative papers, some budgets, minutes, some audiocassette tapes, and memorandums -- all of which provide explanations about the work and goals of these groups, their roles within the New York University community, as well as their missions and values.
In addition to representing, protecting, and promoting the rights and interests of NYU students, the SSC prioritized the needs and wants of the student body by organizing social events throughout the academic year and providing various types of information guides. Series VI: Events provides details about social gatherings like books fairs, annual dinners and banquets for the student senators, the Violet Ball, and the All University Games through promotional materials, correspondence, photographs, administrative files, and invitations. Series IX: Student Resources contains directories, student handbooks, pamphlets with overviews about student government and SSC, guides to University services, as well as general information abyout NYU in the form of maps and recommendation lists.
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Conditions Governing Access
Administrative records and unpublished reports of New York University are closed for a period of 20 years from the date of their creation. Access to files spanning multiple years will be opened to researchers based on the date of the most recent materials. Board of Trustees records are closed for 35 years from the date of creation. Materials related to personnel, grievances, job and fellowship searches and applications, and all files that fall under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) are permanently restricted. Additional restrictions may apply to other materials in this collection. For questions regarding specific restrictions, please contact the New York University Archives, (212) 998-2646, university-archives@nyu.edu.
Series I: Administrative Files is closed for 20 years from the date of creation, with the exception of some materials housed in Box 159, which are protected under FERPA and are permanently closed.
Series II: Committees and Boards and Series VIII: Membership contain materials protected under FERPA and are permanently closed.
Series X: Board of Trustees, also housed in Box 159, are closed for 35 years from the date of creation.
Use Restrictions
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by the creator are maintained by New York University. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from New York University Archives, (212) 998-2646, university-archives@nyu.edu.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Records of the Student Senators Council; RG.44.0.1; box number; folder number or item identifier; University Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Initial transfer of records from the Student Senators Council office in 2013 with the accession number 13.016. Additional accessions recieved in 2014 and 2019. The accession numbers associated with these gifts are 2016.033 and 2019.022.
Separated Materials
Issues of the "New York University Report," "The Courier: A Voice for Students at NYU," "the University," and "NYU Today" were removed from the Records of the Student Senators Council (RG.44.0.1) and transferred to the New York University Archives Collection of Publications and Ephemera (MC.334).
About this Guide
Processing Information
At the time of accessioning, original order of the materials within this collection was maintained. The materials were taken from their original filing cabinets and placed into boxes. Most of the boxes were grouped together by academic year with some alphabetical order. Any empty folders were removed from the boxes. Any restricted material was noted and multiple copies, exceeding three, were deaccessioned from the collection.
In the fall of 2022, the collection was processed and arranged by an archivist. Materials were arranged both physically and intellectually into approrpriate series; original order was not maintained. Materials were rehoused into archival boxes and folders and original titles were kept when possible. During processing, duplicate materials and invoices were removed from the collection. Additionally, 14 audiocassette tapes were rehoused into new cases, when needed, and assigned unique identifing numbers.
New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of its content. During processing, two 3.5 in floppy disks were imaged using Kryo Flux, but they were later determined to be blank.
Materials relating to the Board of Trustees and protected under FERPA were grouped together and placed in Box 159, which is restricted.