With the current semester coming to a close, Student Association President Eric Evangelista and Vice President Joyce LaLonde said they take pride in the work that was accomplished this semester.

With initiatives being launched such as the bikes being available for undergraduate students, Remote Access for students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and coordinating Mental Health Awareness Week, Evangelista praised the work that has gone on.

“We have done a lot of what we set out to do,” Evangelista said.

Evangelista praised LaLonde for being productive during the first month and a half of the semester, including through being a proponent of the Bike Share Program that will be re-launched in March as CycleShare.

SA officially launched the Bike Share Program on Sept. 27, and each of the eight bikes available were rented on the first day. The program was several years in the making, as LaLonde picked up where former SA Vice President Jane Hong left off in implementing it.

“LaLonde has done a lot of ground work, which is great,” Evangelista said.

The work that was accomplished has been from the entirety of SA, LaLonde said as she credited assembly members and cabinet members for their work. A lot of the initiatives were ideas from assembly members, LaLonde said.

The assembly members are parts of the committees, where they meet weekly to discuss what they can do to make it work better for the students.

“There is an empowered assembly to work for something they’re passionate about,” LaLonde said. “The work in committees have been fueled and inspired by assembly reps.”

One initiative that stood out to both Evangelista and LaLonde was contacting SU’s University Bookstore regarding reusable bags. This has been worked on often by Caitlin Smith, a sophomore and SA assembly member. This initiative is scheduled to launch in fall 2017, LaLonde said.

Within the cabinet, both Evangelista and LaLonde praised the development and update of the SA website, the variety of student life initiatives that have been pursued and the increase of social media posts through the public relations chairs.

Among those initiatives included one that gives remote access to computers for students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Launched Nov. 4, up to 30 students at a time can access a Link Hall desktop from their personal computers.

Remote access is available for students living in off-campus housing to allow students to work from their home or apartments.

“We have fantastic committees that have worked to accomplish what they want,” LaLonde said.

The charge over semester break is for every student to think of one initiative that they would like to present during a future meeting. This involvement is something that Evangelista and LaLonde said they believe will improve the relationship between assembly members and cabinet members.

Ahead of the end of the semester, students should be aware of how the world is changing around them, and what they can do to better the university, LaLonde said.

“(We will) continue to stay engaged and passionate about Syracuse University,” LaLonde said.

Published on December 6, 2016 at 11:12 pm

Contact William: wgmuoio@syr.edu