“The SUNY SA is dysfunctional,” said Bill Miller, a 19-year-old sophomore political science major. “Nothing ever gets done at the conferences.” Miller, who is a current member of the SA Senate and a former member of the SA Assembly, believes the key to solving the stagnation problem is coordinating ‘with other schools prior to the bi-annual conferences in Albany. “With a coalition of Western New York schools, we could push the process along,” Miller said. To that end, Miller proposes holding mini-conferences here at UB before each major conference in Albany. As of this time only the representatives from Buffalo State College are on board with the coalition plan, but the Advocates expect more cooperative relationships to develop after the election.

Christopher Mendoza, 20, is a junior business and philosophy double major, wants to see UB’s presence in the Assembly expanded. “Last year, there was only one UB delegate holding a SUNY SA cabinet position,” noted Mendoza, a current SA Senator. “That’s bullshit. UB has more seats in the Assembly than anyone else. Even New Paltz, which is a small school, had two delegates in the cabinet.”

“We want to change the role played by SA delegates,” said Melody Mercedes, a 19-year-old freshman business major, pointing out that, in the past, delegates haven’t had much of a presence on campus. “We plan on expanding communication with students and bringing their real concerns to the conferences.”

“We need better communication with the students,” agreed Eliot Sherman. Sherman, 20, is a sophomore biotechnology major and currently serves on the SA Senate. “I’d like to use on-campus periodicals to keep students informed about what’s going on with SUNY SA. It’s easier for them to tell us what they want when they know what issues are being discussed.”

The big issue being discussed is, of course, as always, tuition. The SUNY SA Assembly votes on tuition increase proposals every year; next year will be no exception. “Tuition is the biggest problem,” Sherman said. “It doesn’t make sense that the governor wants to increase tuition while decreasing EOP (Equal Opportunity Program) funding, TAP (Tuition Assistance Program) funding, and other kinds of aid programs.”

Mercedes agreed strongly. “Some of the changes may only work out to a few hundred dollars,” she said, “but that can mean the difference between sending a student to college or not for some poorer families.” Mercedes plans to make EOP programs a central focus of her term as delegate if elected.

How do the candidates plan on enacting these plans? Mendoza has a personal wish list. “We should be having mandatory meetings with the governor,” he said. “Usually they just send proposals and letters. Screw the letters, we have to be real about the situation. We should be taking the delegates down to DC and going door-to-door to lawmakers and making our case. But we have to start somewhere, and getting elected is a start. These are long range plans.”

“There is power,” Mendoza says, “in presence. If we get there, we’ll get it done.”