Neal Casey, chair of Student Association’s Student Life Committee, asked assembly members for feedback regarding this year’s MayFest at SA’s final meeting of the semester Monday night.
“I think it can only improve,” said Bridget Schultz, a representative of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. “But it was great as it was.”
In addition to discussing MayFest, cabinet members addressed plans for the fall that they hope to begin over the summer. Senior awards were also given to senior members of SA.
With regard to MayFest, members suggested ideas ranging from new activities to allowing students to bring backpacks into the event.
“Maybe in future years we can look at things we can do around Walnut Park and places for students to sit when they eat,” suggested Caleb Brewer, a representative of the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science who commented on the number of people moving around with little to do.
Casey also suggested the university create guest passes for the event so students can bring friends who do not attend the university.
MayFest on Walnut Park could be the beginning of a new Syracuse University tradition, Casey said.
David Woody, chair of the Student Engagement Committee, said he has initiatives to move forward during the summer for the fall semester. Among these plans is a Warehouse transportation service to make sure students find a safe and reliable way to get home from The Warehouse at hours of the night when buses no longer run.
“The (Centro) buses stop running from The Warehouse at around 2 a.m., and the next bus doesn’t arrive again until 8 a.m.,” Woody said. “And we know all architecture students spend all hours of the week in the studio.”
The committee recently sent out a survey, in both paper and online format, to get student input to see if this is an urgent need, he said. The short-term goal is to see if Shuttle-U-Home, a transportation service for students and faculty that runs between 11:15 p.m. and 3 a.m., could be used to bring students home from The Warehouse.
The Student Engagement Committee is also looking into supermarket buses that would run for five to six hours on Saturdays or Sundays from College Place to Target and Wegmans. Woody said he hopes to implement this plan by the fall.
“We have every reason to believe that this will be very successful and something that we’re really excited about,” he said.
SA will be working with Greg Victory, director of the Office of First-Year and Transfer Programs, to create a match-up program among students and organizations. The program will include a series of questions for students to match them up with organizations that suit their interests, curriculum and area of study, Woody said.
“We’re going to make this a double-edged sword where we not only give them a list of organizations we think they’d like, but also provide those lists to the organizations,” he said.
This will give students the opportunity to learn about organizations they would not have heard of otherwise and allow organizations to contact students who could be interested, he said.
The meeting ended with senior award presentations for all seniors who were involved in SA for the last four years. Alec Sim, who officially resigned as chair of the Board of Elections and Memberships, said the final words with a speech to the assembly members.
“My last word of advice: This is SA, not ‘Let’s-Have-No-Fun Association,’” Sim said. “I see that everyone is getting so much work done this semester now that we’re all having fun.”
Other topics of discussion included:
-SA will showcase its support of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s initiative to close the Gun Show Loophole in a press conference in the Panasci Lounge in Schine Student Center at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Representatives from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Dan Maffei’s offices will attend. The Gun Show Loophole allows criminals to buy guns at gun shows nationwide without having to undergo a background check. SA has spoken out against the loophole and has joined Bloomberg’s efforts to close the loophole.
-Matt Salminen, a junior biochemistry and economics major, was elected as a senate member for University Senate.
-Andrea Rosko was elected as the new Board of Elections and Membership chair.
Published on May 3, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Contact Laurence: lgleveil@syr.edu | @lgleveille
