Student Association elections, held from Monday March 31 until Wednesday April 2, saw more contested positions than in recent years. SA is Geneseo’s student government; however, the association serves multiple other functions, providing services such as legal counseling, funding for Geneseo Late Knight events and Upstate Escapes trips and providing a budget for on-campus organizations. Due to its breadth of responsibilities, SA has a vast presence on campus. In spite of this, elections have not been heavily contested in past years.
“I think we’ve done a pretty good job this year about publicizing the work that SA does and trying to get people interested in it,” current Student Association President senior Katie Becker said in regards to increased competition in elections this year. “If you look at our [executive] board this year as well, we come from a wide variety of different backgrounds, so each of us brings in a skill set and a group of people we know that are different from everyone else.”
SA has also been busy the past year with constitutional changes and shifts in leadership, working with the mandatory student activity fee and pushing medical amnesty legislation.
Becker noted that she sees a lot of promise in the candidates running for the new SA e-board of the 2014-2015 school year.
“I’m excited to see what kind of ideas they’re bringing in – how they want to build off the momentum that we have from this year and pull it forward into next year,” she said. “Every e-board is different; they face different challenges and everything, and I’m really interested in seeing what their take is on some of the conditions they face in Geneseo.”
Last year there were a lot of uncontested positions, according to Becker, whereas this year the only positions left without competition are the vice president, the director of academic affairs and the director of student programming. This leaves the SA president, the director of business affairs, the director of the IRC, the director of student affairs and the director of public relations positions with direct competition.
Becker said she feels that many candidates in previous years missed out on their dose of competition.
“I know last year there were a lot of positions that were uncontested, and we all felt that we kind of missed out in the running process,” she said.
All of the positions work not only as a cohesive group but also as chairs of their designated committees.
“I’m really excited to see that there are so many contestants. It shows that people are invested in what SA does, which is awesome,” Becker said.
Becker said that each student’s mandatory student activity fee of $100 per semester is compiled into an over $1.3 million budget that SA controls. She urged current Geneseo students to take advantage of all the SA-funded activities on campus.
“Everyone pays that $100 fee per semester, so economically make the most of your money,” she said. “You pay into this system – you should reap the benefits from it. That’s really the best part about being on campus.”
“I think involvement in campus activities is the best way to enjoy your experience at Geneseo,” Becker said. “I’m really happy to be a part of students getting involved in activities on campus.”υ