The Student Association launched a series of "SA Days," weekly club events and question and answer sessions with SA officials, from the Student Union last Wednesday. The series is part of a larger campaign to increase student participation in SA clubs and organizations and respond to student concerns regarding SA.
Wednesday's SA Day featured an SA clubs and Greek organizations fair with informational tables and a barbeque outside the Student Union.
"This is part of our plan to get out to students in a physical manner and make ourselves visible," said SA President Christian Oliver.
Each week, SA Day will be held at a different on-campus location. The events will be held on South Campus as well to accommodate its residents and encourage North Campus residents to visit.
Among other activities, SA plans to hold a sports-themed event featuring basketball tournaments, food and clothing drives, school-spirit activities and a Halloween costume party. A different club or Greek fair will accompany each SA Day.
"This is a great way to help clubs get members and let students know what clubs are available," said Oliver.
Jake Clancy, a junior computer arts major and member of the men's rugby team, spent Wednesday promoting his team. Clancy said he was pleased with the large number of students who turned out for SA Day, many of whom expressed interest in the team.
"It's been great this year ... the best in a long time," said Clancy. "I hope they stick with [the team] once they see it's actual work."
Members of SA will be in the Student Union wearing bright yellow shirts with the new SA logo and the slogan "Got Questions? The Student Association Has Answers." Frisbees, pens and fliers bearing the logo are also being distributed.
The student government's Web site, criticized during last year's SA elections for being outdated and uninformative, is now completely revamped and contains the latest SA activities and events. This year, four additional staff members are working on the Web site and are responsible for updating it on only a daily basis.
The Web site will feature a student online book exchange which will be "up and running in plenty of time to sell back books," said Oliver. It is not currently operating.
UB's administration recently approved SA's plan to place boxes throughout the academic spine containing 100 to 200 copies of its publications, Visions and REACH, as well as two slots for question/comment cards and SA promotional stickers.
Oliver characterized the approval as "a major victory."
In addition, SA will provide students with incentives to attend SA Day events in the form of giveaways, such as DVD and MP3 players. They are currently working on purchasing a car to raffle off to students at an upcoming SA Day event.
The car, which Oliver hopes to be "sporty, red or black, automatic" and "look hot" is tentatively scheduled for raffle at UB's Homecoming football game.
Half of the raffle ticket proceeds will be donated to the Child Advocacy Center and Roswell Park Center and the other half will be given to the club who sold the winning ticket. In the event that an executive board member of SA sells the winning ticket, all the raffle funds will be given to the Child Advocacy and Roswell Park centers.
