The first Student Association meeting of the 60th Legislative Session concluded Monday with President Eric Evangelista and Vice President Joyce LaLonde being sworn into office, as well as the confirmation of their cabinet.

Alec Williams, senior economics and political science dual major, was appointed chief of staff. This is Williams’ first time working in SA, but he comes well regarded with prior experience, including an internship at the White House this summer. Williams was visibly excited when hearing about the initiatives that SA are trying to incorporate.

“I have taken note of the mental health campaign that you guys have worked to achieve,” Williams said.

Ashley Summers, a senior public relations major, said she could not wait to get started with the mental health campaign. This is an issue that LaLonde has been very persistent to promote around campus.

For the 60th Session, there are co-chairs for community engagement. Kelsey Fowler, a senior geography and political science dual major, and Kelsey May, a senior policy studies and geography dual major, will work together to improve the engagement with the Syracuse city community. Fowler will handle most of the communication and interactions with the greater Syracuse community, while May will compile and analyze data that will show where the engagement can be improved.

Evangelista and LaLonde noticed the chair of community engagement had become more community service-oriented, however, that was not its original intentions. Therefore, they said they believed the addition of co-chairs would be beneficial so both components were represented.

Summers and Teyra Anderson, both senior public relations majors, will be co-chairs for public relations. Additionally, Keelan Erhard, a senior retail management and entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises dual major, and Anjani Ladhar, a senior chemical engineering major, will be co-chairs of student life.

This session also saw the inclusion of a new position: director of diversity affairs. Diasia Robinson, a sophomore international relations major, has been appointed to this post. Robinson said she is very much looking forward to this new position and is extremely involved already on campus, which Evangelista and LaLonde saw as an important way to have connections between SA and campus groups.

James Franco, a junior history and political science dual major, was appointed chair of academic affairs. Franco spoke about how he will work to accomplish short-term, tangible goals such as extending library hours, to more long-term goals like adding on additional majors and minors that would better correspond with specific classes available to Syracuse University students.

Megi Shehi, a sophomore computer science major, was appointed as director of technology.

Despite the appointment and confirmation of the cabinet positions taking up the majority of the meeting, Evangelista and LaLonde spent part of the time updating SA on their progress with certain initiatives they have been working on over the summer.

For Evangelista, he announced that Chancellor Kent Syverud would attend the next SA meeting, Sept. 12 at 7:30 pm in Maxwell Auditorium.

LaLonde said there has been progress with the bike share program and confirmed that representatives from Elect Her, a program from the American Association of University Women, would be coming to SU on Oct. 15. This program is designed to encourage women to become more involved in jobs within student government. The last time this program was on campus was in April 2014.

Summary of positions:

• Eric Evanglista, President
• Joyce LaLonde, Vice President
• Alec Williams, Chief of Staff
• James Franco, Chair of Academic Affairs
• Kelsey Fowler and Kelsey May, Co-Chairs of Community Engagement
• Ashley Summers and Teyra Anderson, Co-Chairs of Public Relations
• Keelan Erhard and Anjani Ladhar, Co-Chairs of Student Life
• Diasia Robinson, Director of Diversity Affairs
• Megi Shehi, Director of Technology

Published on August 30, 2016 at 12:54 am

Contact William: wgmuoio@syr.edu