With one semester down and one to go, SA President Dela Yador, Vice President Sonia Kang and Treasurer Mazin Kased think they have accomplished a lot, and they'd probably be right. With the best-attended Fall Fest in three years, the start of the online syllabus program and a second Alumni Arena concert for the price of a Baird Hall show, SA has done some good things. SUNY Student Assembly delegates even pushed onto that organization's executive committee, getting UB long-needed state representation.
That does not mean they've been completely successful. Bureaucracy nearly cost that newly won seat and a promised health center never materialized, but SA officials say they have a lot left to accomplish in the next few months.
Here's a look:
Student health center
If there is one goal unifying the entire SA executive board, it's getting a North Campus student health center back on track.
Kang said her biggest frustration from the fall semester was not only another delay in creating a student health center, but the runaround administration officials were giving her and other SA members regarding the center, which was initially expected to open in the fall semester.
"They raised the health fee $8, which was supposed to help fund a temporary health center on North Campus," she said. "The fee was raised, but no health center."
She said students should be upset that there is no center, not only because easily-accessed healthcare has been a long-time need on North Campus, but because they and SA had given up money and space to the project only to see nothing happen.
"We gave up the club resource center to peer counseling, and then Generation had to move their offices," she said. "Students are paying a fee and not getting anything out of it."
Kang said her goal was to have SA spearhead planning for a center and lock administration in a concrete agreement to commit to building it. "My major problem is getting them to commit to a letter of guarantee," she said.
Yador and SA Senate Chair Viqar Hussain both said they were committed to pushing a center as well.
"The health center is numero uno," Yador said. "I truly believe it will happen. Supposedly the money is sitting in the budget, doing nothing. We're going to make it happen."
Hussain said that along with pushing for extended hours at Alumni Arena and at the Undergraduate Library, the Senate would do whatever necessary to encourage a new health center.
"I don't think any student or administrator could say there isn't a need for a center on North Campus," he said.
Kang said it was a matter of forcing administration officials to take student needs seriously.
"We've been pushing for this since Anthony (Burgio, former SA president) pushed for it last year," she said. "It's hard to get a straight answer from anyone, and students have been left out of the whole planning process. They have to take us more seriously. After all, we are paying their salaries."
SUNY Student Assembly
Last semester, Peter Rizzo, SUNY SA delegate, tried to resign from his executive post due to his frustration with the incompetence he witnessed at the SUNY SA conference. After long consideration he agreed to stay at his position if the necessary changes were made.
"This semester the Student Assembly will be revamped in order to make it more efficient," he said. "There are going to be a lot of things changing."
One of the most recent changes made this semester was to the composition of the Assembly. The president of SUNY SA, Josh Hyman, recently resigned due to personal reasons, according to Rizzo. Brian Fessler is scheduled to take over as the new president and sole student member on the SUNY Board of Trustees.
Rizzo has proposed the idea to reduce the number of people in the Student Assembly to make it more effective.
"We need to look at reducing the number of delegates. There are way too many," he said. "We need to focus on a smaller group so everyone can relate to the issues at hand. We should then change the name of the Student Assembly to the Student Senate, which sounds more significant and should be more productive."
Rizzo said that with the beginning of the new semester, the main focus of the executive board is to establish good communication.
"We have established weekly communication-every Sunday we meet and discuss what is going on," he said.
SA Finances and Entertainment
With two major hip-hop concerts during the fall semester, a student could rightly wonder if there is anything left in the SA budget to pay for Spring Fest. Fortunately, a Fall Fest featuring Kanye West and a reduced cost Caution Tour offered SA a lot of bang for the buck.
"Well, of course Kanye West was a great success," Kased said. "But the Caution Tour was great because we didn't have to pay for talent fees. All we had to pay for were the production costs."
With talent fees ranging from $50,000 to $75,000, SA saved approximately $100,000 on the show.
"We basically paid the price of a small concert for a big one," Kased said.
At this point, SA has roughly half its entertainment budget remaining for the spring semester. SA has already committed to a two-date comedy series featuring comedians Pablo Francisco and Dave Attell, on Feb. 4 and Feb. 10, respectively. Kang said SA expected to have at least one DJ event similar to past DJ series, while Yador said Spring Fest talent had yet to be established. SA is also a major sponsor of the Distinguished Speaker Series, sponsoring Tavis Smiley and Conan O'Brien later this semester.
With the money being spent on entertainment, Kased said SA has actually improved in funding its clubs.
"If clubs need money, I'll give it to them," he said.
Kased said his biggest accomplishment is in expediting the process for getting clubs money and that they are ready for April budgetary hearings.
"My main thing is to make sure all the clubs are on track with their budgets and so that they can get what they want with raises for next year," he said.
Kased spent this past weekend meeting with almost every SA club and reviewing both their current budget and what they need to accomplish to be prepared for their budget hearings.
"We review their paperwork and make sure they have met all the community service requirements they need," Kased said.
Several club representatives said they appreciated the meetings, though they declined comment.
