These are the full interviews with the candidates who are running for the Student Association Executive Committee. Elections will be conducted digitally from March 26-28. The Student Association features a list of the positions’ responsibilities here. Interviews were conducted by managing editor Malachy Dempsey unless otherwise noted. Interviews were transcribed by news editor Kara Burke, assistant copy editor Rebecca Williamson and managing editor Malachy Dempsey.

Editor’s Note: The print edition of this feature incorrectly listed Kaitlyn Bertleff and Samantha Koch as a psychology major and biology major, respectively. Their correct majors are included below. The candidate for the SA Director of Business Affairs position, Taylor Sicard, has not yet responded to multiple interview requests. Sicard is running unopposed for the position.

SA President candidates

Emily Matura

Why did you want to run for this position?

I want this position because I really want to focus on representing the students and advocating for what the students want and really taking time to get to know and listen to the students' opinions. I have grown up with the values instilled in me of public service. I got started in student government in middle school and I’ve been representing peoples opinions since then. It’s kind of come naturally to me since I started. I really thought that I would be a follower when I was in middle school, I thought I wouldn't have those leadership skills, but then once I got into a position I found that speaking my mind and representing other people’s opinions and what other people were talking to me about came really easily to me. I have somehow continued to do that throughout high school and college. Coming into college, I was very tired out by high school. I was president of my student-faculty administration senate which is kind of a similar position on a high school level…When I came to Geneseo, I didn't know if I wanted to continue, but I did, I joined Hall Council in my residence hall and didn’t really know where it would bring me, but I got involved with the IRC, where I was a representative. I became vice chair the next year and then I became Director of Inter-Residence Affairs this year. My love for Geneseo and the Student Association and the mission and values we have has grown exponentially since I started at Geneseo. I feel like I've learned so much since I started about how to look at Geneseo as this whole big picture. It’s not just right now, not just the four years that I’m here and the four years that everyone else is here for, but all the time that was from before and moving forward, for years to come.

What do you think makes you a good fit for the position?

I definitely think that the ability to see the bigger picture is something that qualifies me for this position and is one of the characteristics that I think someone in this position needs, the ability to look back at previous decisions and understand the history of where we’ve come from as an institution and as a student association and to look ahead at where we want to go and where we want to be in 10 years even. I’m not going to be here in 10 years, hopefully, I won’t even be in New York in 10 years. That long-lasting vision that I want to have for Geneseo is something really important that I think SA president needs to have. Also the ability to talk candidly with people above me and not… feeling the need to agree with people with positions above me just to agree. I’m able to speak my mind, but also take into consideration the students’ opinions as well. Whenever faced with some big decision I have to make I take into consideration what I feel is the right decision but I also look to those around me and those who probably have differing opinions than me, because I know I don’t always have the right answers. I don’t think anyone should be expected to always have the right answers. It’s important to find those who disagree with you and try to find a place to meet in the middle. You can’t make everyone happy, but you can find a place to meet to move things forward.

What would you like to do in the role, if elected?

Something I would like to do is create a strategic plan for the Student Association. We’d start with just talking within the executive committee, then move outwards and reaching out to standing committees to see where they kind of see us in the next 5 or 10 years. In that, we would want to try to find ways to improve how we do things. I’m not saying we do things poorly—I think there’s a lot of things we do really great as a Student Association—but there’s always room for improvement and there’s always room for growth and I think finding those areas of weakness that we have will help us to move forward as an organization and to better represent the student body. I’d also really like to look into having an SA newsletter of some sort that goes out maybe once a month, maybe less than that if we don’t have much to report. That would include small reports, readable reports, so it doesn't take forever to read them, but reports from people on the executive committee and updates that can go out to the student body. So the student body knows that we’re not just sitting there and holding these positions and not really taking actions, but we’re actively doing things every day to better the campus. I think it’s important that people know that, so I would be working very closely with the rest of the directors as well as the PR person, whoever is elected to that position so that we can have better transparency between us and the rest of the campus.

Are there things that SA executive board has done well and other things you’d like to see be focused on more?

I think communication with the students is super important, I’m someone who believes it’s hard to lead people that you don’t know, so a goal of mine would be getting to know as many people on this campus as I can and going to all the different standing committees and creating relationships with the people in those and also going to club events and getting to know people who are in the clubs and who go to the club events and who attend these things and trying to get to know the different groups on campus better. It is very hard to advocate for people who aren't telling you their opinions and what they’re thinking about what's happening on campus and if you just have a few people who you're used to hearing from, that’s what you’re going to think the whole campuses view is on something and that’s not always the case. Creating relationships with more people on campus is something I would personally like to improve on. …In each of the standing committees, we have opportunities or we at least have relationships with those in the standing committees so that they feel comfortable coming to us and talking to us about different issues happening on campus, particularly we have on Student Senate and IRC, we have opportunities for… [students to] speak candidly about any problem that they see on campus. And then we can take that information and bring it to the people who can make those changes on campus.

What do you think the role of SA should be in the life of the average student?

I think SA needs to be the connector between students and administration because students can go to administration when they feel something is wrong or they want change to happen, but, more likely than not, the Student Association, especially the directors and president, have more of an opportunity to meet with administration and professional staff. I meet with professional staff or administration about once a week on average, just in committee meetings or 1 on 1 meeting, and I see them more frequently just as the director of inter residence affairs…. I think the Student Association’s role needs to be finding the issues and advocating on the behalf of the students.

Adam Hansen

Why did you want to run for this position?

As a two-term Student Association vice president, I’ve had a lot of time working with Student Association, working with student concerns, how I can better improve the college, how I can better improve the college community as a whole, and working with students to make their time here valuable. Looking at my experiences, my qualifications, the connections, I thought I could really use [my experience] to benefit the student body and I thought I would be best serving the student body and the Student Association as the president for the next academic year.

What do you think makes you a good fit for the position?

A major part of being the Student Association president is the combination of being in touch with student concerns on campus, but also having connections with members of the administration to make those concerns known and then to collaborate with them to resolve those concerns as quickly as possible. With my experience as being the VP and chair of the Student Senate, I’ve had a unique opportunity to be constantly in touch with the student body, hearing what the concerns are and then using my connections in College Senate and the CAS board of directors and other organizations that I’m a part of and working with these individuals that makes me most qualified. So the combination of being in touch with the student body, but then having the connections to make high impact changes on campus [is valuable for this position].

What would you like to do in the role, if elected?

I want to make sure students know they have different outlets on campus to voice their concerns, so publicizing Student Senate more, possibly including an open forum during the Student Association general meetings so that students and their clubs have the opportunity to voice concerns directly to the executive board. We want to make it a very easy avenue for them and they know the Student Association has their back. The next thing I want to focus on is working with SUNY. I was one of the voting members that attended the SUNY conference in Albany last fall and I had a chance to speak with some of their members about financial aid and the Excelsior scholarship and making sure our students are financially supported on campus. Education is extremely valuable and we should be making a priority that students don’t have to worry about the money for classes. The last thing is making sure the Student Association is as efficient as possible. We want to reduce the red tape and the bureaucracy and the concerns that a lot of students have about the Student Association. I want to change our [reputation] as being a bureaucratic institution to being a helpful organization that is helping, not hampering student growth.

What do you think SA executive committee currently does well as an organization and what would you like for it to do better?

I think we’ve done an excellent job this year of hearing the student concerns through Student Senate and Geneseo Speaks and then bringing them to the administration. That was primarily through Student Senate which is what I’m primarily in charge of. These concerns ranged from the extended hour study spaces, which is one of the issues I spearheaded, as well as the Brodie water filters. There were particles found in the water that were found in 2016 and nothing was implemented yet. Professors were having their students going across into Welles to get water, which was really concerning to us. We worked with George Stooks and the provost’s office and got that resolved pretty quickly. I think we’ve done a very good job but can absolutely expand upon hearing student concerns and processing them efficiently…Something I think we could definitely revive and make better is transparency. I think a lot of concerns [students] have on campus are concerned about is what exactly the Student Association is doing and what happens behind closed doors. A couple changes we’re planning on making already that I’ve been a part of is revising our website, so that you can see the progress we’re making on an initiative, like with the extended hours in the library. We want to make a more transparent process so students know that their elected officials are putting in the work and taking the time and doing their due diligence.

What do you think the role of SA should be in the life of the average student?

I think every student is a part of the Student Assocation—it’s the students’ association. It’s us coming together, forming an organization to benefit all the club’s on campus. I would hope that the Student Association is an organization that clubs can turn to for funding, for help, for assistance and that its not a burden or a blockade. I think that SA is a phenomenal way to give students the benefits and making sure that the SA doesn’t become too cumbersome or bureaucratic.

SA Director of Inter-Residence Affairs candidates

Bailey Chapin

Why did you want to run for this position?

I got involved in hall council last year where I became very involved with IRC and worked with my hall to put on programs and different events. It allowed me to go to a regional leadership conference at the University of Connecticut and I was able to like attend leadership workshops as well as put one on myself. It really helped me grow as a leader and it led me to be more intrigued and excited about Hall Council and IRC. I became really passionate about it and that passion to lead my hall, and [we won] Hall of the Year and Hall Cup last year. I was awarded the spirit award at the IRC banquet and receiving that award is very uncommon because normally only [IRC] representatives get the awards, so that really interested my passion in IRC. And then I expanded outside of IRC, like I'm an RA in [Onan]daga, I’m on GCAB as a programmer, I am a member of Student Senate. It just really strengthened my leadership roles …I think I can really bring a great leadership role to that position and help to enhance the growth of future leaders on the campus because that's something IRC really does well. It promotes the future student leaders on-campus. Of the people running for SA positions, almost all of them were a part of IRC in some way. So I just want to continue that and allow IRC to grow more.

What do you think makes you a good fit for the position?

Definitely all of the various leadership roles I've had so far and working with student life. It really helps because I already have that liaison between Student Life people and stuff so I can advocate for the students and because that's a big aspect of inter-residence affairs. You're advocating for what's going on inside the residence halls and stuff, so already having that RA thing down adds to that.

What would you like to do in the role, if elected?

Yeah, so one of the big things is, I was talking to [SA Director of Student Affairs & Diversity candidate] Kelly [Li]. And the big thing [I want to focus on] is the diversity on this campus. She just did the Diversity Summit. It was amazing. I went and attended the keynote speaker and stuff and it blew me away. I want to see more increased involvement in multicultural programs and having halls collaborate with multicultural organizations and improve diversity and making sure people feel included. I'm in this one class, it's an inclusion class and there's this one quote, There’s this one quote about how “diversity is being invited to the dance and inclusion is being asked to dance.” I want people to really take that step and get involved. In IRC, there’s a way of allowing that to happen by having these inclusive programs and allowing people to get involved with more.

What do you think SA executive committee currently does well as an organization and what would you like for it to do better?

So I think a big thing with SA Exec is just communication with everyone. One of the biggest downfalls is just everyone knowing what's going on at all times and just transparency in general. I think that's something that, as a board, needs to be worked on right from the beginning. As soon as elections happen, you know who you're going to be with for the whole next year so start it early. Get the ball rolling and build that connection. Another thing I'd like to see is more collaboration with the different organizations like GCAB working with IRC and Student Senate and ACE and having them all work together more so we can like promote SA as a whole, more. I think that would definitely be something really beneficial to SA.

What do you think the role of SA should be in the life of the average student?

I think there's a lot that goes into that question. SA one is an advocate really for the students and the president works with President Battles, so it goes all the way up. It can be like that liaison almost. It also gives students an opportunity to get involved in campus, like with the referendum. You talk about all these clubs and organizations that would be gone without SA and it really puts into perspective how important SA really is Almost everyone on this campus is somehow involved in SA, through clubs or organizations. I don't even know if students necessarily realize that like how important as it is and like what it actually does. … We have the SA logo on all flyers and promotion for events, but really emphasizing the business SA does and how it's everywhere [is important]. It's like everything that we're doing.

Samantha Koch

Why did you want to run for this position?

Oh gosh, I love it. That's just to say it simply, but I guess to go more in depth I have been involved with the Inter-Residence Council since my first day on campus. As a freshman, I was the Inter-Residence Council representative for my hall, which was Niagara and then I was put onto the executive board as the NACURH communications coordinator. So basically, I sat on the executive board and loved it. I re-ran for my position and the vice chair position and sadly didn't get it, but I did come back as a general assembly member this year and I've loved every second of it because I just love IRC so much. I really want to run for this position and get this position mainly because just think I'd be a very good fit. I know Bailey, who's running against me, he is amazing and I wish him all the best of luck. We both really like it, we've both been involved with it since for about two years now. So I mean, may the best man or woman win.

What do you think makes you a good fit for the position?

I believe that, since I did sit on the executive board, having that experience in how they work as a unit was very beneficial. I don't know if I would feel confident in running for this position if I didn't have that previous experience. It's definitely just like a little group of people that work well together, but having that insight of what the different positions do and how they interact with the residence halls and Hall Councils is just knowledge that I don't know if I would have ever found out as in-depth if I was not on the executive board. Other than that, [I’m] organized. I love starting things on time. 8:00 PM on Mondays, I always have that blocked out [for IRC]. I always will have that time booked out. It's in the Hunt Room if anyone wants to come. I love programming. That's a lot of what IRC does. I guess what people most know about IRC is the fact that they're a very big programming organization and Hall Councils can come to us and get funding. And that's kind of what I love about it. I love programming. I'm pretty good at it. I would love to say. I've done a couple very large-scale events when I was a rep and sadly I am the only rep. for my Hall Council right now. … I'm very personable. I, I believe. I know the parliamentary procedure, they follow Robert's rules of order, so I'm fairly aware of how that runs. I have experienced that just sitting in on the IRC meetings for the last two years and I'm also a Student Senator and chair one of the four committees, the Student Life Committee. So the student Senate is set up in a very similar way with the parliamentary procedure with Robert's rules of orders. So we follow a very similar structured to IRC.

What would you like to do in the role, if elected?

Geez, I don't know. I would have to look into it. I wouldn't know anything off the top of my head or until a situation arises where I would feel like the policy should be changed. That's definitely something that you talk to with not only with the IRC executive board, but also with the Student Association Executive Board, just to get everyone's possible insight on what that policy change might be. But little things that I would love to change are, as being NCC, I took a delegation to different conferences to present programs and to increase their networking skills and presentation skills, public speaking, all of that. It was great except, sadly, my delegation team got snowed in. That was the weekend where it was like two feet of snow, so we couldn't go. So I had everyone present their programs after IRC and to still try and get that experience. Something that I really want to bring back to IRC is having those different programs be presented so, not only do the kids that go to conference get extra experience, but also people that may have not have applied or may not know what I'm going to conference means get that experience, get to see what sort of programs get presented there and all of that stuff. That's just one thing. Another thing I would love to see is an increase in collaboration between Hall Councils and multicultural groups on campus. I think having different cultures and heritage is, is just the coolest thing ever. From someone who came from an area where I did not experience a lot of it, coming to Geneseo was definitely a larger culture shock. I know that it might not be to other people, but for me it is and I just want to learn as much as I can when I'm in my Hall Council and I think that other people would like to do the same. So I would really love to see an increased collaboration and some of those different multicultural groups, whether it's different dance groups or just learning about the different heritages and cultures and all of that stuff. I know I go to the lovely like dinners. KASA’s is coming up, so you’ll see me there and I know I went to JCC’s, I went to theirs. It was, it was just magnificent and it was so cool. I just want to see a little bit of that brought into the halls so it's a little more diverse. We got pockets of diversity on campus and what I would love to see is to have it spread out a little more so everyone can get a little taste of it because it's something that you want to see everywhere. That's what I would love to see, just more collaboration.

What do you think the SA executive committee currently does well as an organization and what would you like for it to do better?

I think that the current executive board is doing a great job. Some things that I know I've helped at least with Student Senate and the current SA vice president Adam Hansen, I've been on his executive committee working to help get athletic trainers to club sports teams, and the 24-hour study space in Milne. It's not a 24 hours study space, but we did get it extended by two hours and that's a really, really big accomplishment. If it's utilized to the maximum potential, maybe we'll get a 24 hours study space. Some of the other things I've been looking into is increased Vegan food options for students on campus. If you're a vegan, you really don't get to have that much of a wide array of food choices. SA advocates for students already and I just want to continue that to the maximum potential. I think that being a voice for students is the biggest thing that I can do with my time here and just trying to help others figure out how they can make their college experience the best it possibly can be. So that would be something that I would love to bring and continue on into the SA executive committee if I'm elected.

What do you think the role of SA should be in the life of the average student?

My friend group, I am not sure if they would be aware of what the Student Association really does if I was not with them and talking to them about it. I believe that they are aware that it exists, I just don't know if people are truly aware of how much they do for students what it entails. What I think SA means to me is just advocating for students and trying to be the best that they can be with what they are given and what sorts of resources that they are given to accomplish the task that students want them to. The people that I have interacted with in SA are very caring, they’re very considerate and it's an organization that likes to foster inclusivity and it's just great. … They just like to foster inclusivity and make sure that every student feels welcome in anything that they do, that's it.”

SA Director of Public Relations candidates

Syed Aliahsan

Why did you want to run for this position?

So I want to run for this position because for the moment I work under the current SA [Director of Public Relations] Rohan Bhuchar, I’m on the SA PR Committee, I’m the visual communications coordinator… and I feel, since Rohan is graduating, I want to be able to be in a space where I could transition [using] a lot of the things that I’ve learned under Rohan, but also I want to be able to expand upon the role itself. I think the position in previous years hasn’t been to the best state that it could have been. Obviously Rohan’s been trying to make it a lot better, a lot more accommodating and I want to continue the outcome. I wanna get the torch and move it forward. Like I said, I work under him, so I have a nice understanding of what it takes to be SA PR as well as what it entails, but I also want to be open to learning new things. I've known Rohan for quite some time and so after he graduates, I’ll still have contact with him and I'll make sure to have any ideas that he wants to express incorporated. Obviously if I don't agree with something, we can talk it out, but I'm always open to compromise in general. In general, when you're on a committee, you always have to be open to compromise. I learned that throughout my years in high school throughout my years, throughout my years last semester and even now on the PR committee. I just want to do the best I could do to make sure the job gets done right and make sure it's done.
What do you think makes you a good fit for this position?

I work under the current PR person and on the PR committee, but also on some of the projects and everything. I've worked on many graphics for SA and I want to continue to, if I’m put in a position and given the opportunity to be SA PR, I want to make sure that a lot of [clubs] have this access to kind of promotion. But also if they have a really good event and they need a little bit of a boost, I want to be able to provide that. And it all comes full circle throughout SA, through ACE and everything like that. We're all trying to have this common vision of just trying to get the community together and everything. I think what that SA PR and with the whole SA committee that's our ultimate goal to serve the students and to really serve them. Additionally…I've been also working on the referendum project regarding the SA referendum video. That was a huge project. I wanted to incorporate a lot more clubs, tight deadlines. We had editing errors here and there, crashing programs, losing things and starting from scratch, but I always get the job done. That's that's another thing that I feel is to my benefit. I'm hard working, I guess I'm ambitious when it comes to it, but I also the ability to compromise when need be. If, if an obstacle comes my way, I don't just quit, I don't cheat my way out, I don't try to go around; I'll try to climb it correctly and I'll always try to do my best to sort of see if I could learn. I remember as an example, for the SA referendum video, there's a lot of things that people wanted me to do with it and [they wanted me to] try to incorporate different styles and editing styles and I didn't really know how to do it, so I reached out to other people. So that's one of the good [qualities] I have. If I don't know how to do something, I'll reach out and properly learn how to do it correctly. But also if I'm put in a position where I don't know something, I have the ambition and [ability to work hard] to sort of try to overcome the obstacle and make sure to get the job done. The end result for me is always to try to make sure I do things right and always try to do my best at it.
What would you like to do in the role, if elected?

So there's a couple of initiatives...I've been thinking about SA PR for a while. I've been working under Rohan and I've always have different ideas we could do to kind of expand upon the role in everything. So for one, I want to be able to have a platform where students could vocalize or just communicate to really have a lot of their issues communicated properly to SA. When I was trying to get signatures from when I was running for candidacy, I asked people “what would you want?” just as a simple question, And people kind of brought up one of these points about how to communicate with SA is almost very hard because you have to be very professional. It's very intimidating and I don't want that. I want to be able to talk freely to clubs and organizations or to visit them. Be a door, don't be a fence... I don't want to be a fence or a gate, I want to be an open door, an open policy—transparency. So I want to really do that. And I think one of the questions that I was asked at an SA event where I was speaking upon my candidacy was about how would I be more transparent. Obviously building a platform to really talk to students more effectively [could help], but just talking to students in general, if I see them, I want to be able to just communicate with them. I want to be able to just visit clubs and maybe [choose] certain times where I could just visit, like maybe ACE meetings, SA meetings, but also in more casual settings and stuff as well. I want to accommodate as many problems and issues as I can. I know one issue that was brought up to me, it was about how transfer students during winter and spring breaks and just any breaks don’t really have access to foods and they have to really stock up beforehand. Honestly, that blew my mind. It doesn’t affect me and it doesn’t impact a lot of people that usually go home, as many do. But for international and transfer students that don't really have somewhere to go, it really does impact them and it's crazy. They're kind of restricted to their food and I want to be able to fix that. Whether it be, obviously we can't open CAS forever… but having a system, a proper system in place for them would be good. Like what if we could establish a proper bus system where it runs to Rochester to go pick up your groceries, at least that’s something. I think as long as there's some sort of solution, even if it's bad at first, you can always try to build upon it and improve it over time and test the waters. That first kind of initial response is very important and I feel like a lot of issues don't even have the first initial responses.
What do you think the SA Executive Committee currently does well as an organization and what would you like for it to do better?

So I want to give respect where respect is due. I think the [Executive] Committee as a whole is doing pretty good this year. I haven't had a lot of experience beforehand, but I've seen in general whenever I have an issue I'd always be in a position where I’d question, “does it really work to even reach out?” and stuff like that. I don't want students to be in a position like that where they ever feel like their representatives that they've elected aren't serving them or doing the job that they've advocated for and kind of being lazy about it. I'm not a lazy person by any means…I like to commend myself on balancing a lot of classes, but also balancing a lot of extra-curriculars but also just personal ambitions and things of that nature….I really want to expand upon [the SA Director of Public Relations] position more because I do think Rohan has done a lot to transition things in a better direction and I want to continue that legacy for sure. As for what I could do to maybe improve upon the SA’s general structure, if I'm put onto that board, I definitely, as I said before, am very open to compromise and everything like that. I think compromise is very important for getting certain tasks done as well as certain issues passed as well as having a consensus on starting action. If I don't really act upon anything, if I don't raise my voice, if I don't vocalize issues then nothing's going to really happen. I've been in positions before on other e-boards where I kind of felt like I was doing almost all the jobs and when I tried to reach out and tried to ask people [for their opinion or for help]. And I get no response. I really feel that that can't happen. Because they didn't really compromise with me, they didn't really want to work with me, it really left things in a very sad sense and a very unproductive sense. I'm happy to say that regarding productivity and everything, uh, [SA is] definitely efficient in a lot more ways than one, but there's always room for improvement and I plan to improve as much as I can. If it's not broken, don't fix it. But if there's improvement, there shall be improvement.
What do you think the role of SA should be in the life of the average student?

Student Association, to me, is a liaison to not only the administration, but to students. I kind of don't want to just be in the core middle of that. Like I said before, I have this kind of idea or concept that students are intimidated don’t feel in the right to speak to someone because of a certain, over-professionalistic view that [SA] kind of takes up and adheres by. You're not going to get a lot of results from the student end with that system. It's like you're trying to put a lot of information through one side, but it's not going through the other side. You need both sides to work and a lot of people like have this kind of connotation that being in the middle of both sides is really what works. But you have to understand that I think, on the student end, they have a lot more barriers that kind of restrict them from kind of connecting properly. So maybe if I move a little closer, be more casual, move closer to the community, be more closer to the students. It would help kind of open, open things up a lot more, open the conversation and then be able to work with administration. I feel like with the administration, they're trained to do this. They're really well spoken and obviously they're easier to talk to and stuff. But I feel like with the students, that's the major thing... It's not just about being the mighty putty that connects both sides. It's about properly elevating both sides and making sure both sides are heard and communicated. And sometimes communication, you need to be an adaptable liaison, not just a singular and stationary one.

Kristin Clases

Why did you want to run for this position?

So I'm a communications major and I really want to add not only to my resume but to my experience with how to run something or how to run a program too, because that's what being in SA is. You're running something for people and to help them out. So I spoke to Rohan who is in charge of PR right now and just to see or grab a feel of how everything is and just to understand the position more. I heard him talk about it and how he's organizing the website to be more updated and how he tries to find better deals for students on certain things and like helps to run the school in a better way. I just thought that this would be so in line with what I want to do in my future
What do you think makes you a good fit for this position?

I find myself very approachable. Honestly, you can be anyone and I’ll be like, yeah, of course, I’ll help you all do this. I’ll do that. I could go on and on about any topic and that goes with the approachability. Just come up to me and I could have a conversation with you, I can hold it. I also hold myself very accountable when working. If I have a topic or a task that I need to do. If someone were to tell me, “oh I need a six page paper done by tomorrow.” I will make sure that paper is done, revised in time for [the deadline].

What would you like to do in the role, if elected?

I definitely want to make the website more inviting. I want to make it more fun, really show what Geneseo's values are like. Yeah, we do focus very hard on competition and very hard on academics, but we're also a very fun school and very fun in the diverse activities that we have here. So just to be able to incorporate that and just being able to work with different people on on campus and just really see what do you want to see changed. How do you view the school and how can I portray that for everybody else?

What do you think the SA Executive Committee currently does well as an organization and what would you like for it to do better?

I think SA has been doing a very good job on focusing on diversity within the school. They're very much trying to portray every single culture that is on this campus and showing the importance of each one. For example, the cultural dinners we have every year with each club or the big one where everyone has a showcase. It's just inspiring to see how connected they're really trying to bring everybody, especially with how each position they have their own separate things that they like to do on campus to help promote that as well.
What do you think the role of SA should be in the life of the average student?

It’s really funny because going around, when I was asking for signatures, a lot of people were like, “what is SA?” I guess you don’t really understand it until you’re running for a position that’s dedicated to it. I really want to show students that SA is there to help and we’re students as well. So whatever you see, we want to see and put out to everybody because Geneseo is such a fun place to be. It’s small, but not too small and you get to meet someone new every day SA is a whole organization that is able to, unlike the faculty, show and explore those students’ perspectives through a very enlightening and fun vibe.

Mary-Margaret Dwyer

Why did you want to run for this position?

I was taken aside by Julia Sisti, who is the chair of GCAB, back in December. She told me that she had talked to a bunch of people and they all thought that I would work really well in the position because I do hold two positions in public relations on campus. For The Lamron, I am the public relations manager and for GCABs I am the off-campus publicity coordinator. The Lamron does more of the social media side of PR while GCAB does more of the press releases and advertising side of PR. I’ve kind of gotten already, even though I am a sophomore, I’ve gotten a well-rounded experience of public relations. I think that this position will broaden my skills and allow me to become even better at what I have already began doing. I really think that Student Association does need help with publicizing things whether it’s just the board itself or all of the organizations that fall underneath it. There are so many different standing committees underneath the board and so many different clubs and organizations that are funded by SA. I feel that with the right publicity and with the right public relations you can really bring everyone together and promote everyone as one. I think right now everyone is really individualized and separate and no one really knows about each other. The people that do know each other are because the members of their organizations are in other things. Being the director of PR on SA, I would do my best to make sure that all of the organizations and clubs on campus knew about each other and supported each other.

What do you think makes you qualified—either from your experiences or personal qualities—to be the next SA Director of Public Relations?

One qualification is that I already have so much experience within public relations even as a sophomore. Last year, I was assistant public relations manager for The Lamron. This year I have my two bigger leadership positions. I have gained so much experience by doing menial tasks within those jobs. So, like running all the social media on The Lamron. I planned The Lamron barbeque in the fall. I’ve gotten to know planning events. With GCAB, I’m very familiar with that kind of stuff also. I’ve coordinated ads with The Livingston County News. I’ve written press releases for the The Livingston County News. I’ve kind of gained a bunch of skills just by doing it. I feel like the best way to become good at public relations is to do it. Besides my job related qualifications, I’m a people person as many people like to say. I know a lot of people on campus. I know a lot of people in different organizations and I think that would help with the position because I feel like with the position right now no one really knows about it and not many people know about SA unless you’re an SA rep or if you’re on an e-board. I feel that my position on campus just knowing a lot of people and having a lot of acquaintances that I can say hi to is good. I’m really passionate about this field. This is what I want to do for my future career. I think that anything I am passionate about I always put 100 percent into it like with The Lamron. I love it so much. I will do anything I can to get people to read it. With SA, I would do whatever I could to promote it and let the student body know everything that it does for the campus because it does so many things that people aren’t even aware of. Like I did not know that Student Association has a lawyer they pay for. I believe students can use this lawyer mainly for traffic tickets and stuff like that, but they do have a lawyer that student mandatory activity fees pay for. These activities fees pay for so many different things like trips off campus like upstate escapes or sports games and all the concerts. So many things on campus are supported by Student Association but people just don’t realize that’s what’s funding it because it’s in the background. I don’t want it to be in the background anymore. I want people to know this is who is doing it.

What would you like to do in the role, if elected?

I have a few things that I would like to do. On the social media side, Student Association is definitely lacking. They only have around 200 followers on Instagram while compared to The Lamron that has 950. So, clearly there’s something wrong there especially having over 5,000 students on campus with the majority having an Instagram. I feel like the Facebook doesn’t get updated as much. I had an idea that we could have a big calendar with every organization under SA and their meeting times because as of right now there is no really big calendar. There are scattered calendars all over the place, but I just feel like it’d be best to have one big place where people can go to like ‘oh this is when this meeting is’ and make it more accessible to people. I really think that Student Association can inform people more about hat they’re doing and what’s going on. I also think it would be a really good idea to collaborate with all of the organizations whether it be the standing committees or the clubs underneath those standing committees and talk to their public relations representative to see what’s going on with them. Just have everyone talk to each other because I feel like there is not a lot of communication between anyone. If you get the public relations talking within those smaller organizations everything is going to run more smoothly and more people are going to know about events. It’s all a social network. That’s pretty much what it is. It’s like a social network within people and word of mouth is the best way for things to be found out about. If people are talking with each other and really know when things are happening like say for example MTC has a performance and they let someone else know. Programming club has a meeting. What if someone in MTC wants to go to the programming club event? I feel like it’s hard, especially with the email servers down, to tell people about things especially when there are so many platforms to tell people about things.

What do you think the role of SA should be in the life of the average student?

I’m almost positive in that SA affects almost every student daily whether they like it or not. All fee-paying students do pay mandatory student activities fees. So, they pay to have student association. So many different things are funded by Student Association that students don’t even know about. I really think that Student Association should be more present within the life of an everyday student. I think it should be a name that people should know. You should be able to say SA without people questioning what you mean. I think that more people should be informed about what they do. I just think they should be more accessible to the everyday student because I know as a freshman, I had no idea what SA was. I think I saw the board in the Student Life hallways and that was the extent of my knowledge of SA. Once I got on GCAB, they are a SA standing committee, so I know more about SA and I met the people on SA. Especially with freshman, Student Association needs to introduce themselves more early on in the students’ lives right away. When you introduce it early on, the more inclined people are to know who you are and keep your name in the back of their minds even if they don’t realize it. Say at freshman orientation they have students follow the Student Association Instagram account. Even something as small as that I think would make a bigger impact on the image of Student Association.

What do you think SA executive committee currently does well as an organization and what would you like for it to do better?

I think that currently SA is really good at being accessible to the clubs themselves and the people in the clubs who know about them like SA reps. I think that they are very informative when you ask them questions like ‘how do I funding for this?’ ‘what are the steps?’ and they’ll direct you to the right place. The people on the board are very welcoming and they’re not going to ignore you if you ask them a question. I think they do well in that sense that they’re for the people who do know about them and interact with them a lot. They’re definitely very helpful. I think that Student Association is also very good at providing diverse things to do on campus with the funding they have. We have GCAB, Geneseo campus Activities Board, that puts on a variety of different events all year long whether it be busing people to concerts or bringing concerts here or doing special events like siblings’ weekend. They also bring with upstate escapes. They bring people off campus to do ski trips and go to sports events They are definitely doing a great job with the funding that they have distributing it well and giving clubs and organizations the funding they need when they ask for it. Things SA kind of needs to do better, as I said before, are they need to be more present in the students’ lives and people need to know more about them. I think their information needs to be more accessible and more transparent and easily understood. It’s hard when you’re trying to dig around. If you’re sending a really dense email, not everyone is going to read it and not everyone is going to understand it. I think the clearer and the more transparent you are trying to be it will benefit everyone. I really think there are public relations problems that need to be fixed and I’m willing to try and fix them.

Mary-Margaret is a member of The Lamron editorial board. A non-board member, assistant copy editor Rebecca Williamson, conducted and transcribed the interview. Mary-Margaret had no part in the editorial process..

SA Vice President candidate

Kaitlyn Bertleff

Why did you want to run for this position?

So over the past couple of years, I've maintained a lot of involvement with the Student Association. I'm been involved in two standing committees currently—the inter-residence council as well as the undergraduate Student Senate—both of which I hold executive board positions for. So I've kind of gotten a really good grasp as to how Student Association works, the functionings behind it and all of that stuff. So within the student Senate, the vice president is responsible for chairing those meetings. And that's something that I've been very actively involved this past year. The Student Senate basically functions as a legislative body that passes proposals for student concerns on campus. So for instance, this past year I've personally worked on things having to do with student academic freedom is, which is basically like expression of opinions and freedom of voice in the classroom for students, which I think is really important. Things that we've passed include midterm evaluations for professors, which are similar to SOFIs, as well as Brodie water fountain filters which have been put in there. So that's exciting. [Student Senate has also worked on] accessibility services for disabled students. So we're trying to get specific machines that'll help academic accessibility for students who may be blind or visually impaired or have hearing impairments, machines that allow them to get Braille for their notes and stuff like that. So basically, I guess my active involvement has really inspired me to really want to grow within the position and grow with Vice President position as a whole.

What do you think makes you a good fit for the position?

I guess I would circle back in terms of my active involvement, the things that I've worked on this past year, I think they're very important legislations to be passed. And I think that Geneseo has more things that are important that haven't been touched on. For instance, if I do get the position next year, we currently don't have a legislative process for grade appeals. So if a student feels that they got a grade that they didn't deserve or that was too low because they just didn't agree on something that professor thought, there's no way for them to get it appealed or even checked for it to happen. So that's something that I would want to move forward on and try to look into. So I think that my work on the stuff that I've done this year has really inspired me to get creative and start coming up with other things to work on next year, which I think would be very unique with me being in the vice president position.

What would you like to do in the role, if elected?

An overwhelmingly important thing for VP is that I would be kind of be acting as the voice of student concerns and trying to be the student voice within a room full of administrators. So I think that maintaining transparency about what happens in those meetings and carrying it so that students know what the college is currently working on. I feel like transparency is an overwhelmingly important thing and I want to try and increase it, whether we have more meetings where administrators come to standing committee meetings open for students. I think those are really effective. Increasing that transparency as well as increasing collaboration between students and administrators [is important] so that we can pass proposals that are agreeable on both sides so that we can easily move into something that everyone agrees with and is comfortable with. So that Genesee can continue to grow to be a better campus as a whole.

What do you think the role of SA should be in the life of the average student?

So the student association serves a million different functions. We got a lot going on. So each executive board position really has their own specialties. So with President, that's kind of the administrative liaison between students and administration, Vice President is kind of the student concern aspect and so on. So each person kind of serves their own functions. I would say that SA is super important in terms of student life on-campus, in terms of programming. Like we have GCAB, we have the Inter-Residence Council ... So it's a lot of different functions. SA just [helps maintaining] a positive atmosphere for students to really get the most out of the Geneseo experience while they're here.

What do you think SA executive committee currently does well as an organization and what would you like for it to do better?

I would say that SA, over the past few years, they have started to want to maintain that transparency between administrators and students. I keep saying transparency, but it's a thing that we're really working toward and I want to keep that momentum. So like if I were elected into the position, I would want to try and keep that momentum going so that students are well aware of these things. Another thing I've been pressing is collaboration, but that's also a thing that I've noticed that people are trying to work on because the SA exec board, we all have our respective committees. So it's very easy for everyone to become separated. I think that it's important for us as an executive board to be very clear about what's going on with our other standing committees. I think that if I were elected, I would really try to enforce that communication, constant communication, constant transparency. We should really be pressing that so that everyone's on the same page all the time.

SA Director of Academic Affairs candidate

Sandra Kralik

Why did you want to run for this position?

I want to run for this position because I really enjoy making a change on campus. It's something that I've done since freshmen year, since I first came in. I ran for Hall Council for two separate positions, got them both, made as much change as I could. I really enjoyed taking a position and making it my own, because I feel like everyone's going to run a position in a different way, not only going by the rules, but also seeing what else I can do to benefit students more that I don't necessarily have to do, but I just want to do. So I like being able to making myself grow as well as growing a position. It's something that I'm really excited to do, if I do get elected.

What do you think makes you a good fit for the position?

This entire year, I've been the communications director on the academic affairs committee and one of the duties of our director of academic affairs is to chair that committee. So I have seen the current director of academic affairs, Emily Carozzi. I've watched her run the meetings and I've seen what she does behind the scenes. I think I would be very qualified in that aspect because I know how she does things and I know how they're supposed to be done, Robert's rules [of order] wise and just in general. I'm also on student Senate, I'm the chair of the Academic Affairs Committee. So I've had people raise issues and concerns regarding academics to me and I went to different administrators to talk about them, whether it's extending the Geneseo emails past graduation or doing midterm evaluations, anything like that. So I have already received academic concerns and already acted upon them. I feel I could do that more in the position of director of academic affairs.
What would you like to do in the role, if elected?
One thing that I really want to do is something IRC and Student Senate already do. They have Candid Convos and open forums where any student can come in and raise a concern. AAC is one of the standing committees that doesn't do that. So I would want to do that in an academic sort of sense so that I could know what I want to talk to administrators about and not just have meetings with the administrators because I have to have meetings, but have meetings and actually get things done. [I also want to do] more programming, getting the Academic Affairs Committee name out there because the committee's not very well known. The Inter-Residence Council is super well known, Student Senate is getting on their feet with more events and I feel like the Academic Affairs Committee needs to do that more. So that would mean having more events and going to different meetings for the different academic clubs that we have and getting the name out there, getting students to say, “I want to be an academic affairs rep” and not just “AAC is something that funds our clubs.”
What do you think SA executive committee currently does well as an organization and what would you like for it to do better?
I feel like one thing SA has done some super well the last few years is getting the study spaces to open up for longer. We got Milne to open up until 3:00 a.m. now and the next step is to make it a 24-hour study space. So I think that that's been going well and they went about it super well, listening to students concerns, getting the data, talking to the administrators while being respectful and not just saying this is what we want, but really understanding why administrators are hesitant about this and what other things can happen. Not all students necessarily want everything, but making sure that every student has their voice and every decision that is made, is something SA has done really well. Trying to accommodate every student, trying to make sure that every student voice is heard, even if someone is extremely upset, just saying “okay, we'll see what we can do, this is what can happen” is important. I think SA does really well with that and I want to make sure that that continues over the years.
What do you think the role of SA should be in the life of the average student?
It should mean that they have people that they can go to that are like them. We are students and [even though] we have a leadership position I’m also a student just like every rep in [AAC]. So if they come to me with anything, whether it’s a personal issue or an issue with AAC, we are there to help them because that’s what we want to do and that's why we have these leadership positions. I feel like if I’m on SA executive board, I would want to make sure that students feel comfortable coming to me, whether it's academic affairs, whether it's just their personal life, whether it's it has to do with [a different committee]. Then I could go to whoever is the director of [the committee]. That's something that I also do as an RA. I want to make sure that my residents know that I'm there for them and I want to extend that to SA to make sure that all students know that if they have an issue they can email me and I will be there for them.

SA Director of Student Affairs & Diversity candidate

Kelly Li

Why did you want to run for this position?

I grew up in Brooklyn, so coming to Geneseo was kind of a culture shock to me. Obviously it’s not as diverse, but I grew up around diverse people and cultures, so when I came here it was very different than what I used to. It was welcoming, but I found it was hard for people to understand my culture and my values. So what I wanted to do was make a more welcoming environment for all the underrepresented people in SUNY Geneseo, which is one of the reasons I’m diversity chair right now, to make that happen.

What do you think makes you a good fit for the position?

I feel like I have the experience as a diversity chair. One of the things I do is create proposals and legislature to help student concerns regarding diversity. For example, right now, we’re working on a proposal to open Brodie’s dance studio to cultural groups, because there are a whole bunch of cultural nights going on during both semesters and it kind of overlaps when they have practices. Oftentimes, they practice in places with no mirrors and that would really decrease the quality of their productions. That’s one thing I’m working on. The big thing I worked on this year was the diversity summit with the President's Commission with community and diversity. That was really exciting and it really brought the conversation into Geneseo. Our theme this year was “Unspoken Narratives,” which my committee and I came up with. In addition to that, I had a hand in reviewing the logistics, the proposals. I had meetings every week with the co-chairs of the president's commission, [Chief Diversity Officer] robbie routenberg and [Associate Director of Student Life] Sarah Frank. … I can say that I’m comfortable with speaking to higher administration

What would you like to do in the role, if elected?

As director of student affairs and diversity one of the things I have to do is chair ACE, so what I wanted to do was create a more natural environment for people to attend and educate themselves on other clubs and going to the events, not feeling forced, but wanting that more natural community-building aspect of it. Also the inter-cultural dinner is something I would be organizing, so I’m excited, if I get elected, to do that. There is also no cultural event that happens during the spring semester, so I was hoping I could create a spring festival for the cultural groups to work together. That way, we could work on the community-building skills and also get to showcase each and every culture on our campus.

What do you think SA executive committee currently does well as an organization and what would you like for it to do better?

One of the things I think they’ve done well is create Student Senate…Being able to listen to

student concerns and like addressing those things really gives students a say but also seeing it acted upon is really important for students. A lot of the time, we tell administration things and they don't work on it or we feel like nothing's being done about it. But students can see something's being done about it [now]. The humanities used to be two courses, now it's one; with the 24 hour studying spaces, we really tried to get it. So now we're having that pilot season at the library, which is officially up until 3:00 a.m. right now. I think that creating that platform and giving students that voice is really important and I think that's what SA does really well. It’s not just Student Senate, Academic Affairs has representatives from all of the academic clubs. They have ACE reps come and they talk about their cultural events, cultural nights and what they're doing. I think those are really important aspects.
What do you think the role of SA should be in the life of the average student?

I think as a platform for students. It's not just about SA Executive Committee, it's really about the students themselves—It's what the students want to see done. That's what SA is for. It's impacting upon what the students want.

SA Director of Student Programming candidate

Leah Sherman

Why did you want to run for this position?

I started at GCAB, entering as a general member in my freshman year. I had a couple of friends who were on the board already and I've always wanted to be an event planner. Once I joined, I went to a couple meetings, a couple events and I fell in love with the people, what they did. I really enjoyed the event and really wanted to be a part of making that happen. So that spring, I applied to be on the programming board and was elected into the content coordinator position. In that position, I was tasked with creating the new off-campus concerts model. It was definitely a challenge, but it's working out. I really enjoyed that process and wanted to do more. Last spring, I was elected into the Limelight & Accents coordinator position and I've been working on that with Jane Batanello for the past three semesters, working with agents and going to conferences and really getting experience with that performing arts aspect. Throughout my experience working with different people on the board, it's been a really unique experience to see different types of events go on and I just, I want to do more and I want to work with programmers and help them.

What do you think makes you a good fit for the position?
I was never really involved in leadership in high school. Once I got to Geneseo, it's such an easy environment to get involved. Along with GCAB, I was also the Inter-Residence Council representative for Onondaga Hall my my freshman year. So I got into that and was the programming coordinator my sophomore year on the executive board. I was also captain of my volleyball team, I'm an RA on campus, so I have a lot of leadership roles. I feel like I have a well-rounded experience with campus. I think that that can really speak volumes to my knowledge of my connections with campus and how I can help the general community.
What would you like to do in the role, if elected?
I have a really good connection currently with Julia Sisti, the current chair, and I've worked with her on … trying to get [clubs and organizations] more experience in event planning so they can be more comfortable putting on bigger, larger scale events. One [idea] that I picked up at a recent conference was revamping our general member program. It's kind of died off and we only have a couple. I'd really like to see more general members at our meetings and have more of an active role instead of just watching us program. So that's one of my biggest things is to start that program and to just keep coming up with new ideas and new things to make Geneseo exciting.
What do you think SA executive committee currently does well as an organization and what would you like for it to do better?

I am pretty close with some of the current exec members and some of the candidates for next year. I think something that we did this year was get all of the standing committees together and I really think it would be fun to do that more often and just get that collaboration going. Because GCAB does have that potential to help people. A lot of the boards do put on programs, but that's all we do with GCAB and I think that we can give them experience or we can learn from them with the different skills they have. .
What do you think the role of SA should be in the life of the average student?

I wish the Student Association was more well-known on campus. I think that people know it if they're involved in clubs that are funded by SA or if they're on standing committees. But other than that, I don't think that they're well known. I think definitely next year working with the board to promote SA more often [is a good idea]. Hold more events with the committee members, like we did a couple weeks ago for the referendum. Just make it more well-known and help students that don't really have a voice on campus have a voice. As an RA this year, I've definitely noticed that it seems like people know what to get involved, but really deep inside, some don't. Some don't know how to get involved, don't know what to get involved in. So reaching out to those students and finding those ... resources for them.

SA President candidates

Emily Matura

Adam Hansen

SA Director of Inter-Residence Affairs candidates

Bailey Chapin

Samantha Koch

Why did you want to run for this position?

SA Director of Public Relations candidates

Syed Aliahsan

Kristin Clases

Why did you want to run for this position?

Mary-Margaret Dwyer

SA Vice President candidate

Kaitlyn Bertleff

SA Director of Academic Affairs candidate

Sandra Kralik

SA Director of Student Affairs & Diversity candidate

Kelly Li

SA Director of Student Programming candidate

Leah Sherman

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