Student Association President Jonathan Barnhart presented a five-week checkup on Student Association’s progress this semester at Monday night’s meeting.

Barnhart addressed his initial campaign goals and achievements thus far with regard to each objective. His campaign ambitions during the election season revolved around campus safety, increased interactivity between different groups of students, fiscal responsibilities and education-related issues on campus. Although SA has made some progress during the last five weeks, Barnhart said he knows it can do better.

‘I’m a little bit uncomfortable that the cabinet is larger than the assembly,’ he said. This ratio refers to the number of people with authoritative position in SA versus general members.

SA has not made a lot of progress with safety issues, he said. A few of Barnhart’s campaign goals are to improve lighting around North Campus and South Campus and to establish better collaborations between the Department of Public Safety and the Syracuse Police Department. SA will begin to find new places for lights and has had several meetings with DPS and SPD about improving safety and collaborations with Syracuse University and the community, he said.

Barnhart said he is proud of the progress SA has made on student inclusion across campus. The Non-Traditional Student Commission already held the first of its six planned meetings for the semester on Feb. 4. Non-traditional students include commuter students, part-time students, transfer students and more.

SA is also working together with Students for a Sensible Drug and Alcohol Policy in order to develop a medical amnesty policy that will allow students to call for help in alcohol- and drug-related emergencies without worry about penalties.

As for fiscal responsibility, SA is currently exploring solutions to save student organization money, Barnhart said. Barnhart has initiated talks with SA presidents at other campuses to find out how they are handling tuition issues.

Barnhart also said he wants to get more students involved in University Senate, so he is e-mailing professors to ask which students would make suitable representatives. The student branch of USen is elected by Student Association, and Barnhart wants to see every seat filled by the end of the semester.

He is also working with the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry to increase ESF student involvement in SU organizations, such as SA.

Barnhart’s goals for education on campus focus on the library, SU Showcase and Say Yes to Education. At the library open forum Friday, plans were discussed to create more space and add bookshelves to the first floor by moving the tables down to the basement for students. The Academic Affairs Committee within SA is involved with library issues as well.

SA is also working with the university on SU Showcase, Barnhart said.

Other business included:

-Vincent Cobb and Nathalie Quezadas, alumni of SU’s Class of 2008, presented information about the Say Yes to Education Leadership Summit to be held Feb. 20 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Life Sciences Complex Atrium.

-Orange Aid, Sigma Gamma Rho and Hillel Jewish Student Union all received money through special programming to hold events this semester. The Hindu Students Council requested money for two events and only received money for one. The Student Anti-Genocide Coalition’s funding requests were not granted.

-SA is giving out 150 tickets to students to view the sold-out Villanova-Syracuse basketball game on Feb. 27 in Goldstein Student Center on South Campus.

lgleveil@syr.edu

Published on February 15, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Laurence: lgleveil@syr.edu | @lgleveille