Members of Syracuse University’s Student Association pushed for strong campus representation at Monday night’s meeting, causing a heated discussion regarding competition for positions in the general assembly.

A total of 10 SU students applied to represent their individual colleges as members of the general assembly, but only seven were approved. The new members came from various colleges, as well as the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Candidates were uncontested in all seats except for those in L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science. John Huang, a freshman mechanical engineering major, ran against Stephen Thomas, a sophomore aerospace engineering major, for the last representative position in L.C. Smith. Thomas won the election after several SA members questioned Huang’s qualifications for the position.

Jennifer Bacolores, chair of the Board of Elections and Membership, said she has been able to make the election process more concise and efficient this year by interviewing candidates beforehand to determine if they would be strong assets to SA.

“The important things I took away from their interview was if I thought they were feasible, if I thought they had a lot of success, if they had potential and were very enthusiastic and wanted to channel over their leadership attributes,” Bacolores said.

Those denied positions in the general assembly included students from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Later in the meeting, Student Life Committee chair PJ Alampi brought up the possibility of making campus bus services more useful to students.

“We are dealing with all types of busing issues, and safety is also going to come into play,” Alampi said. “We are looking at combining East and West Campus buses and providing more buses for students as they go further off campus.”

Alampi also said free buses to Wegmans and Target will return this semester, but the committee is still working on the details.

Student transportation remained a key topic at the meeting after President Dylan Lustig discussed plans for a website that would allow students to post travel plans and “hitch” rides from people. Lustig has begun negotiations with a service called Zimride.

“You go online, you find someone who is traveling to a destination that is close to you or along the way to your location. Maybe for Thanksgiving or Christmas break,” Lustig said.

Comptroller Stephen DeSalvo sought to make the process of requesting funding easier for student organizations. He proposed offering the half-hour training session given to SA members to student organizations as well.

“My goal here is that after (SA members) receive this training, (they) will be a little bit better able to assist those coming into the SA office,” DeSalvo said.

Student organizations are required to participate in a budget training session held by SA in order to apply for funding. Many applications from student organizations are denied because of simple errors. Organizations are not allowed to submit a budget that includes student travel and food, among other things, DeSalvo said.

DeSalvo said he hopes to make the budget process run more smoothly and plans to continue the tier system, which determines how much funding certain student organizations can apply for.

Published on September 11, 2012 at 1:35 am

Contact Anna: aegiles@syr.edu