When Ashish Abraham took office as UB's new Student Association vice-president, the first thing he wanted to do was overhaul SA's "corrupt," wasteful and social elitist image.
Starting with a fresh foundation and backed by a great supporting team, Abraham and his fellow elects sought to make this year's SA more caring and open to the students' needs on a club and academic level.
"This year SA will and should be held accountable for the promises and goals that were set up in the beginning of the year," Abraham said.
As vice president, Abraham is first responsible for coordinating over 120 clubs and organizations, making sure that they follow all of the SA guidelines, including the required community-service projects that are mandatory for all SA clubs.
According to Abraham, his responsibility also includes holding events that will engage a wide variety of students.
"It's important to me to create events that will engage not only the mainstream, but those who feel SA events aren't normally geared towards them," Abraham said. "For example, holding free intramurals in Alumni on Thursday and Friday nights for those who don't want to go out and party."
Abraham said that new events like the commuter breakfast that is going to be held every Wednesday in the commuter lounge were started this year with the intention of helping students who don't live on campus feel more welcome and at home at UB. Abraham and his team also started a potluck dinner for clubs to give different organizations a chance to get to know each other.
"Pete, John and I want to have strong ties with every aspect of student life," Abraham said. "We want to be focused on entertainment, but also provide outlets for academics."
Making sure that students are comfortable coming to SA with academic problems or a request is another large part of what Abraham is hoping to accomplish during the upcoming year.
Among his major goals to improve academic life are: keeping more libraries open 24 hours, creating a tutoring center with the student mandatory activity fee, and keeping the lines of communication open between SA and the students.
"We want to make sure that our campus grows academically, and part of making sure that happens is using the student mandatory activity fee properly and in the best interest of the students," Abraham said.
Finally, Abraham, along with the other members of the new student government, wants to make sure that students are recognizing the technological advancements that UB has at its fingertips. First and foremost on SA's agenda is SA Television.
According to Abraham, SATV is light years ahead in terms of most campus television stations. In order to get students more interested in the television station, SA is trying to partner with Fox TV in order to bring syndicated shows like Saved by the Bell and The Simpsons to the network.
"We are really excited about this year. We have a great staff backing us up, and we want to follow through with all of our goals," Abraham said. "We don't want students to be afraid to approach us with any concerns they have. We want to know their opinions whether they're good or bad."
E-mail: spectrum-features@buffalo.edu
Year and Major: Senior, chemistry.
Relationship Status: According to Abraham, a girl named Jenny already stole his heart.
Astrological Sign: Capricorn
Nick Name: "Brown Bear, because I'm Indian, I have brown skin, and I'm a little hairy," Abraham said.
>Hobbies: Fishing, cooking
Favorite food: Jenny's lasagna
Hometown: "I was born in India and lived there until I was three," said Abraham, who now lives with his family on Long Island.
Favorite Class: Spanish 104. "I look forward to that class every day," Abraham said. "It's just so much fun and I like to speak Spanish."
