The Student Association (SA) E-Board hosted a forum Wednesday afternoon to hear questions and feedback from student groups.
Alexander Liu, the SA president; Chris Zamlout, the executive vice president; Tom Sheehan, the vice president for finance; Don Greenberg, the vice president for academic affairs; Nayemai-Isis McIntosh Green, the vice president for multicultural affairs; and Stephanie Zagreda, the vice president for programming, all attended the event in the Old Union Hall in the Old University Union.
The SA members answered pre-submitted questions from students addressing issues and accomplishments from their time in office, many of which centered around the changing size of Binghamton University.
Zamlout, a senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, addressed the need for student groups to grow and adapt as the University expands its undergraduate population.
“We have almost 290 student groups under the Association,” Zamlout said. “We don’t simply want to just amp up that number, we want to make sure that the student groups we are chartering and the student groups that have been chartered stay on campus for years to come.”
With an increase in the population of the student body, Liu, a senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, discussed the need for Off Campus College Transport (OCCT) to adapt and grow to accommodate the demand from those moving Downtown.
“Making sure that we are servicing all students who live in the traditional area is our first priority,” Liu said. “We do want to expand to other areas, such as east of Hawley, but it requires more information on who’s living there and how much of a demand we have to justify the cost. Budgeting to make sure that everything is financially sustainable is a huge challenge.”
In addition to expansion, Liu also said that OCCT will have to increase efficiency and become more user-friendly.
“The blue buses are well known, but we need to make our schedule easier to read and more interactive,” Liu said. “We need to make route changes and delays more accessible for the student population.”
All of the E-Board members said that they want more students to get involved with the SA and to have a greater understanding of how they can make a difference. Greenberg, a senior triple-majoring in computer science, finance and mathematics said that the opportunities for involvement need to be increased.
“The avenues for people who come to the University and want to see a big change are a little bit too thin for my taste,” Greenberg said. “I think that’s definitely something that needs to be worked on going forward so that young people can start making changes.”
McIntosh Green, a senior double-majoring in history and human development, said that the issue goes beyond just numbers. Students of all different backgrounds should look to get involved in positions of power to increase representation.
“I’d say that expansion needs to go beyond freshmen and sophomores, and include gender, religion as well as race and culture,” McIntosh Green said. “I think that there is a noticeable separation between student organizations and executive board and congress. The government side of things, that’s something I would like to see diversified.”