To the sound of a violinist and cellist, Allie Curtis announced her intention to run for Student Association president at the Schine Atrium on Thursday morning.

The announcement happened at about 11:20 a.m., after the two musicians had spent about a half hour playing popular songs such as “DJ Got Us Falling in Love Again” and “Moves Like Jagger,” drawing a crowd of about 75 people. Following the music, Angelo Coker, a former SA vice president, introduced Curtis from a podium set up in the atrium. Curtis then gave a speech.

“It has been my dream ever since I set foot at this wonderful university to someday represent all of you,” she said.

Curtis, current SA vice president, is the second student to declare her candidacy after PJ Alampi, current chair of the Student Life Committee, announced his run for SA president in Schine last week.

Curtis has been involved with SA for three years and said her decision to run for president is no surprise.

“It’s natural for me to want to move up to the president position because I’ve worked closely with Dylan Lustig. With him not running again, it only seemed natural that I would step up,” Curtis said.

Curtis said that, if elected, she plans to increase SA engagement with students as well as improve the definition of SA codes and regulations. Curtis said that she doesn’t want SA members to be thought of as “student politicians” but as people who will listen to students and address their needs.

“You will see me drag a desk from a classroom to do office hours on the quad,” she said. “I want people to come up and ask what’s going on.”

Curtis said she wants SA to be better than it was when she started. She described the organization as “falling apart” when she joined, but said it’s come along way since then.

“I live and die by SA,” Curtis said. “I think the power it has to really change this campus and help students is immense.”

Her latest initiative is organizing Impact Week, a weeklong community service event that will be sponsored by SA in November. The event was a collaborative effort with current President Dylan Lustig, whom she says she has a great working relationship with.

“We think similarly. We have a lot of the same goals and we are very people oriented,” Curtis said.

She said she would have clearer initiatives to present during her campaign in the coming weeks, but one thing she does plan to pursue if elected president is more student representation in the General Assembly. Current representation is currently just over 70 percent, but Curtis wants to see every seat filled.

“If we don’t have students representatives, it’s very hard to reach out and touch every corner of this campus,” Curtis said.

In the past Curtis has made efforts to reach out to commonly underrepresented colleges, such as The College of Visual and Performing Arts, by traveling to the Warehouse where many VPA students work on projects and physically handing out general assembly petitions.

SA members recently increased the amount of money that can be spent on presidential campaigns, but Curtis plans to take advantage of social media sites like Twitter. She says her three years of dedication to SA will pay off during the election.

“If it’s not Dylan, it’s going to be me up there,” Curtis said.

– Asst. News Editor Jessica Iannetta contributed reporting to this article.

Published on October 11, 2012 at 11:38 am

Contact Anna: aegiles@syr.edu