SA Executive Board Candidates
by Lauren Sarkissian and Charles Wiff
Experience seems to be the defining feature of the E-Board candidates for the Redefine Party. Yet, Christopher Mendoza, Shuja Hussain, and Andrew DeShong stress the fact that they will bring new experience to the table. The trio, running for president, vice president, and treasurer, respectively, understands that the phrase “new experience” may be a bit of an oxymoron. “Experience means that you’ve done the job before, you know what has to be done, and you’re going to do it again,” said Mendoza, a fourth-year management and philosophy major. In being a current SUNY SA Delegate, Mendoza has worked with UB, Stony Brook, and Binghamton. “I have the knowledge and experience of dealing with three different SA presidents, three different SA structures, which to me is valuable knowledge,” said Mendoza. “New experience means that you’ve seen the job done three, four different ways.”
And UB Redefine feels that the way the job is being done here at UB could use some work. “I was blessed enough to view things from the outside, inside,” said Mendoza, who is also current president of PODER (Puetro Rican Organization for Dignity, Elevation, and Responsibility). “I was on the inside, but I was still on the outside. We got to see what was going on, we didn’t like it.” He continued to emphasize that the rift between last year’s Progress and UB Advocates parties meant that goals were not met when a mixed E-Board was elected. “I don’t want anything to do with Progress [or] Advocates,” said Mendoza. “You have to redefine everything, and get SA out of the standstill that it’s at.”
All three candidates had concerns with what they say was the ineffectiveness of the current SA administration. DeShong stated, “This year, I didn’t see innovation…I haven’t seen any type of expansion. I feel that SA has come to a point where they say, ‘We’re comfortable.’” As a business major, DeShong says he knows that an organization should “never get comfortable.”
UB Redefine is putting forward a lengthy set of measures to awaken SA from its slumber. Their solutions include monthly press conferences, a departure from argumentative politics with colleagues (a big problem in this year’s administration, according to Redefine), and a smarter method of planning community service ventures. The press conferences are what Mendoza coined as, “a simple idea with big results.”
In regards to Fall and Spring Fests, the party is thinking about ways to get South Campus more involved. They proposed a day-long carnival on South Campus before the main concert on North Campus, a plan that bears similarity to last year’s UB Advocates’ Fest platform.
A Redefine issue ripped from this year’s headlines is the NFTA pass. The party believes there is a definite possibility of getting the ball rolling once again on the comprehensive bus passes for UB students, an element they believe to be vital to the UB2020 plan. “President Simpson [and his staff] must renegotiate with the NFTA because it is impossible to accomplish their plans without it,” said Mendoza. “In order for them to renegotiate with NFTA, they have to get the student input. For them to get the student input, they have to go through student government. Last year, SA went at it by itself…Now, we have the backing of this whole UB2020 plan.”
Next year’s SA representatives will almost certainly have to deal with the decades-old $1 million FSA/Sub Board I contract, which expires in 2008. On this topic, DeShong’s current post as Sub Board treasurer leant him unparalleled knowledge of the issue.
On the topic of club involvement, all candidates stated they would like to see the clubs participate in more meaningful community service by bringing events that local charity groups might struggle to find venues for to UB. As SA vice president, Hussain feels he would be able to offer the clubs more than the standard fare. “I want to unite all the clubs,” he said. “Have a distinguished speaker series for each council.” Mendoza elaborated on the plan: “There are six councils in SA…every council has their different needs and different wants…You’re going to get a diverse speaker series, and it’s a guaranteed crowd, I believe.”
The party cited their cohesiveness and, as Hussain puts it, “common man” mentality as the factors that will enable them to achieve
SA Delegate Candidates
by Lauren Sarkissian and Peter Scheck
The delegates running on the UB Redefine ticket are riding a platform of this year’s successes. In two corners stand Melody Mercedes and Eliot Sherman, delegates Generation did not endorse for their positions last year, who were able to attain high positions in SUNY SA: Mercedes as secretary and Sherman as representative of upstate university centers.
The two, along with Redefine presidential candidate Chris Mendoza and Greater Tomorrow presidential candidate Rob Mercurio, credit themselves with preventing a campus-wide smoking ban, as well as hosting a SUNY conference in Buffalo for the first time in seven years. Experienced in the issues that have been tackled by the SUNY Delegate Assembly in the past year, the candidates have constructed a strong image for UB and now say that other schools look to them for advice and strategy. Sophomore management and international studies major Melody Mercedes discussed achievements her party has accomplished, including an upstanding reputation in the SUNY Assembly and increased communication with fellow SUNY schools.
Eliot Sherman, a junior environmental policy major, has been involved with SUNY SA for three years already, and credits this year’s delegates for changing UB’s image in the SUNY system. UB’s image reversal has partly been thanks to late night networking sessions with other delegates from schools around the state. “We networked the hell out of that conference,” Mercedes said about the delegates on the night before the SUNY Assembly elections.
Sherman also made note of the fact tuition did not go up this year, going on to explain that as members of the SUNY SA E-Board he and Mercedes were able to work with the trustees and Chancellor John Ryan, who is “basically a direct line to [Governor] Spitzer,” who ultimately controls tuition levels. “He [Spitzer] very much knows how the Assembly feels,” said Sherman. Of course, the success in this area depended heavily on Pataki’s exit from the Governor’s office.
Mollie McCabe, vice president of the Asian-American Student Association and a junior linguistics major, spoke about her goal of a unified voting block among Western New York schools.“I want to bring Western New York schools together, I think we face a lot of similar issues,” she said. When asked about those issues, McCabe said that she was referring mainly to issues of the smoking ban and tuition increases. “We become a voting block, so instead of just being five out of 112 we have more of a sway.” McCabe was unable to stay for more than a few minutes with Generation before leaving to perform in a club event.
Sophomore exercise science major Jovan Ramirez, vice president of the UB NAACP and SA Senator, explained his intent to bring student involvement back into SA. He said “I think it’s my job to bring SUNY to the students,” stating the importance of the press and student awareness of what the delegates are doing. “Next year when these elections come up, I want them to know what delegates do.” He spoke about the possibility of delegates appearing at SA Senate meetings, as well as meetings being covered on SATV. “Why can’t we have a busload of kids going to conferences?” he asked.
As a whole, the party emphasized the need to keep CADS, the Center for Academic Development Services, programs alive and financially sound. “Academically speaking, socially speaking, when it comes to the student body…if you were to subtract EOP or the CADS Program, your graduation rate will decrease, and even the Union wouldn’t look the same. CADS goes in and reaches into neighborhoods that people can’t even locate,” Mercedes said.
The Redefine delegate candidates represent a diverse student body and an experienced party, and they say they have already tasted success in the SUNY system. If elected, the party feels that it’s their responsibility to retain a voice as a powerful SUNY school and communicate more readily with the students they represent.
