In a time of rapid change at Syracuse University, Student Association President Boris Gresely said Monday that he wants to take advantage of this moment and propel SA initiatives forward to the administration.

SA kicked off the school year with its first meeting Monday evening in Maxwell Auditorium.  Gresely briefly discussed how SA can contribute ideas for Chancellor Kent Syverud’s campus master plan.

“It’s once in a lifetime,” said Gresely, stressing the importance of getting involved with SU’s master plan to the assembly.  “Because we’re not going to be here in the next 10 years — I hope not — as a student.”

Students interested in joining SA looked on as elections were held for speaker of the assembly and Gresely’s nominations for Cabinet were confirmed.

Three candidates for speaker of the assembly nominated.  Sophomore Evan Ronen and seniors Nia Boles and Dan Hernandez had similar ideas about maintaining transparency within SA and giving other SU students a chance to get their voices heard in the association.  The candidates all felt they had a responsibility to connect SU students with SA, especially because, according to Boles, many SU students are unsure of what SA does outside of budget season.

“The direction that I want to take as speaker of the assembly is to not only focus on the assembly but outside of the assembly,” said Boles, explaining her concern that SU students are too disconnected from SA.  “I look around this room and there’s about 30 students representing thousands of other students.”

Hernandez, a former chairperson of the Board of Elections and Membership, was elected as speaker of the assembly.  Hernandez was passionate about getting assembly members to ask questions and be “fired up” about the nominees’ ideas because speaker holds an essential role in the assembly.  Hernandez said his priorities as speakers will be to conduct meetings efficiently and effectively and ensure “everyone has a voice.”

The assembly unanimously confirmed Gresely’s three nominations for cabinet positions as well. The nominations are as follows:

• Jared Rosen, senior advertising and marketing major, as chief of staff
• Austin Galovski, junior public relations major, as director of public relations
• Brittany Moore, senior television, radio, and film and information management and technology major, as director of student engagement

Rosen, a former columnist for “The Daily Orange,” is eager to conduct effective communication with Gresely as his chief of staff and to help new ideas “come to fruition.”

Galovski’s goals as director of public relations span from increasing SA’s social media presence to creating new recruitment options for SA such as sponsoring a benefit concert or a writing convention.  Galovski also tackled difficult questions from assembly members concerning how he would handle a potential SA public relations crisis.

Moore, a multiyear resident assistant and member of the Lutheran Campus Ministry, discussed her extensive charity work and her experience being in a workgroup with the Advocacy Center.  Her goals include “creating a dialogue with students” and encouraging assembly members to “fight, change, protest, and engage administrators.”

Amy Freid, a sophomore information management and technology, also introduced herself as the director of technology.  Freid, who will be in charge of updating SA’s website, expressed an interest in bringing “IT’s concerns outside of the iSchool.”

Published on August 26, 2014 at 12:11 pm

Contact Alexa: atorrens@syr.edu