It wasn’t just the harmonies of Otto Tunes members that caused a roar of excitement in the Schine Student Center on Tuesday.

It was also the wording on the a capella singers’ shirts: “Vote for Duane. #SpeakUp.”

Duane Ford, a junior policy studies major, announced his candidacy for Student Association president during a speech at the Schine Atrium.

As a freshman, Ford served as an assembly representative, then vice chair of the Student Life Committee during his sophomore year. For the past two semesters, he has been serving as the vice president.

Now Ford said he’s ready to take the next step and run for SA president. He’ll be running with Nia Boles, who is the current chair of the student engagement committee. Ford said Boles is extremely passionate and puts in the necessary time and effort. Ford is the third candidate to announce he’s running for SA president.

He believes serving as vice president has prepared him for the role of president.

“I know the organization inside and out,” Ford said. When the assembly voted to take away current president Allie Curtis’ power to preside during SA meetings, Ford stepped in and ran those meetings last semester.

The slogan of “Speak Up ” refers to the fact that many students see problems on campus, but say or do nothing about it, he said.

Ford’s campaign platform has three parts: tuition, academic advising and diversity on campus. Ford said each part of his platform includes objectives he  has already working on in SA.

Ford said that tuition has increased 11 percent in the last four years, burdening students financially. He said he wants to work with the Office of Financial Aid on how to make college affordable to students.

Another area he hopes to improve, Ford said, is the academic advising process. One way he wants to do that is by creating a work-study position for juniors and seniors to be academic advisers, he said.

“It would take the burden off the administration because you have professors that teach classes and have to oversee 50 students,” Ford said. “And it gives students a better academic adviser because it would be their job to keep up with students and actually have a relationship with them.”

Ford said he also wants to reformat the way freshmen forum courses work. If those classes were more experience-based instead of being held in another classroom setting, it would help students bond with each other, he said.

“It’s easy to get into your comfort zone when you get here, and it makes it tougher to branch out later,” Ford said. “It’s important to build those relationships early on so you don’t get stuck in cliques.”

The third aspect of his platform focuses on diversity issues. Ford said he has already started one initiative to combat that problem — the registered student organization leadership summit.

The summit brings leaders from different RSOs together so they connect with SA and each other, he said.

If elected, Ford said he would take the lead on those three issues, but spread out the work among his cabinet.

Ford said he would explicitly outline the responsibilities of cabinet positions before filling his cabinet, so that cabinet members know what’s expected of them.

Accountability, Ford said, would be important in SA if he were elected.

“If you’re not doing your job, I know a lot of people who are willing and able to do it,” Ford said. “Part of the role of president is keeping your cabinet accountable.”

He said he would also stress the separation of cabinet members and assembly members. If cabinet members hold assembly seats, he said, they could affect the organization in different ways.

Ford said he wants cabinet members to focus on interacting with the administration.

—News Editor Meredith Newman contributed reporting to this article

Published on October 8, 2013 at 12:08 pm

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27