Chris Oliver is SA's new Treasurer. He is charismatic and so dedicated to his job that he is often told to he takes it too seriously. This can hardly be a negative, however, as Chris has been doing a fantastic job this year managing SA's enormous budget. He has increased club budgets and organized SA's money to allow for a huge budget surplus. Chris is more than an asset to SA, and we are lucky to have him working for us. I sat down with Chris last week to learn more about his life, his feelings about SA, and his recent financial triumphs with SA's budget.

Generation: Tell me about yourself...

Oliver: I was born and raised in Arizona, I moved here when I was approximately twelve years old and then I went to Hamburg High School where I played baseball. I wasn't really involved in Student Government at all. I was the average high school student.

G: What made you want to get involved here at UB?

O: Well, I started because I live off campus, I live in an apartment outside of the heights, so I'm not around the college atmosphere at all. When I got to school, I didn't know anybody, and I didn't live with anyone from UB. I got involved so that I could have some kind of a college life because I wasn't experiencing it in my social life. I started at Generation the second semester of my freshman year. I was at Generation for a year, then between my Freshman and Sophomore summer I got involved in Reach, which is SA's student to student handbook. I then interviewed for the position of Elections and Credentials Chair, which I held for the fall semester.

G: Describe for me your duties as Treasurer.

O: First and foremost I am the bonded officer responsible for making sure that all [SA] funds are allocated and accounted for correctly. Under that premise comes the day to day operations of making sure that clubs use their money appropriately, making sure that our office expenditures are within reason, etc, etc.

G: What is going on with the bungee jump?

O: At the beginning of the summer, the Student Association was approached by the administration regarding an idea to bring bungee jumping to UB the week of homecoming as another effort to increase school spirit among students. We loved the idea! I mean, come on...bungee jumping right here on campus? That would be unbelievable! People would be talking about it for years to come--even the people who just watched. Unfortunately, the initial plan of the administration running the bungee jump, with SA just sponsoring it, fell apart because of certain legalities surrounding insurance. So, the ball fell into our court to figure out a way to make it work. Bungee jumping has kind of become my own pet project around here, and I've spent at least several hours a week dealing with it for the last month or two. It's definitely still a possibility. Right now, we are ironing out the insurance requirements mandated by SUNY, which are numerous and complicated, because a travelling bungee jump program has never been brought to a university in the north-east before, much less New York State. Ultimately, the decision rests in the administration's hands as to whether or not they will allow us to hold it on New York State property. Our job is to provide all of the necessary information regarding the company's perfect track record, insurance information, etc., in order to assure them that this would be a reasonable thing to permit. Over the summer, (Vice President) Nick Baker and I went to Maine to witness the bungee jump company in action. After jumping three time myself--which, by the way was part of the Real World/Road Rules Extreme Challenge--I really hope other students get to experience what I did. It was such a thrill! I really hope we get this here on campus.

G: Have there been any significant budget changes that have been made since you've been in office?

O: The way SA's structure is set up, the budget proposed by the previous treasurer has to be passed by the senate. Being a new officer, I wasn't really aware of how the budget got to be the way it was so, the senate passed it. A couple of weeks after that, I looked in the enrollment figures, and I thought they were inappropriate. I then adjusted the enrollment figures thus increasing our estimated revenues. By enrollment, I mean student enrollment. For example, approximately 13,000 students are here each semester, we multiply that by our $62.25 Mandatory Activity Fees per semester. That's how we generate SA's legendary $1.8 million budget. I readjusted that slightly, and by doing that I increased our budget by $150,000-$200,000. I allocated that money mostly towards clubs. That was a pretty significant change. All club budgets were decreased at the end of last year, and then when I took office I increased budgets by approximately 15%. It also generated the revenue necessary to sponsor John Glen coming to UB.

G: What are your reactions to Fall Fest?

O: Overall, I was pleased with Fall Fest, I believe the turn out was good at the end. I'm just curious to see what the student population would like to see with Fest. If they're happy with the way it is, then I'm content with that. As far as the logistics of Fall Fest, everything went perfectly, there weren't any complications. As far as the turnout for the headliner [The Roots] it was to be expected, we were happy with the turnout. I wasn't too pleased with the timing of Fest, being so early in the semester. Other than that, I thought things went well.

G: How important is the Fall Fest/Spring Fest student poll?

O: As far as affecting the most students, I think it's probably the biggest poll in recent history. The outcome of this will decide Fest for the indefinite future. We've had two Fests for as long I can remember, so if we had one big Fest, or no Fests at all, obviously that's a huge change from the past thirty/forty years of SA. I think it's pretty monumental.

G: There are five options on the poll being presented to the students to decide the outcome of Fall Fest/Spring Fest. What would be your personal choice?

O: As a student, I would prefer seeing one large Fest. I would prefer to have two concerts, but I would prefer to see one big name, rather than two mediocre talents.

G: Part of your campaign last year was that you were going to obtain corporate sponsorships for SA. What happened with that?

O: When I ran, that was one of my big campaign promises, but you have to evaluate the situation that you're in. When I got into office, I wasn't anticipating there being as much financial turmoil as there was, and a lot of it was behind the scenes. My summer was dedicated to getting the SA finances to where they should be. Even though I may have been able to raise 100-200 thousand dollars, I felt we were wasting more than that with the way our system was set up. I still plan on going forward with my promise. If not by raising the money, implementing a system that will do it next year.

G: In what ways was the budget so messy when you took office, and why was it that way?

O: It wasn't that the budget was messy because the budget is just a preliminary plan. The problem was more in SA financial policies. Over time, our policies became lax in a lot of clubs. A lot of clubs began breaking a lot of rules, not because they were malicious in intent, but because of ignorance. I don't think they knew what the rules were, I don't think they were ever explained clearly to them. I think the problem was that a lot of the clubs just weren't aware of how SA finances the clubs. We're not a real business, we're a government agency, in many aspects and we have to look at things that way. It's all about perspective. I just tried to make sure that all the clubs have the same perspective.

G: Is there any truth to the rumor that Tom Green is coming to UB?

O: We are vigorously pursuing Tom Green to come. Originally we were forecasting him to come in the fall. However, Alumni Arena is the only venue that we feel would be appropriate to bring Tom Green in, because he's very expensive. In order to get the full value of Tom Green, you would have to fit him in Alumni arena with a capacity of 7,500 people, as opposed to 1,700 at center for the arts. Unfortunately, Alumni Arena is an extremely busy venue, so we were unable to get any space for the fall. We're working with the administration, we're working with athletics, I'm confident that we'll get a date in the spring.

G: What's your reaction to the fact that SA has the financial resources to bring in Tom Green, and there is a gym sitting on the other side of campus, but Tom Green isn't here, both as a student and a student leader?

O: As a student it disappoints me, but as a student leader it's a call to action--so to speak. Things are the way the are, until you change them. I think that's something that SA should work on with athletics to make sure that we can get the venue in the future. My reaction as a student leader is that you have to fight for whatever it is that you want to accomplish. Precedents aren't that easy to come by, but hopefully we'll be able to set this precedent so that it will be easier for future administrations to bring in something for all students to enjoy.

G: Last year, you and Nick Baker, SA Vice President, were running in a different party from Monica Monyo, SA President. How well are the three of you working together this year?

O: That's an interesting question because I don't think that's something that a lot of people consider it. I didn't even think about it until I was put in the position. The three of us are getting along great. We look at some things differently, but we're able to work out all of our differences. The main thing is for all of us to keep in mind what we want to accomplish. That's the same for all three of us, we want to better the lives of students on campus and advocate on their behalf to the best of our ability. Whatever road we have to take to get there is irrelevant, as long as we get where we want to go.

G: This summer there was a period when both Monica and Nick were away for an extensive period of time. What was that like for you?

O: I understood that both Monica and Nick have lives outside of SA. Situations came up, and they weren't able to be here the summer. I was here to begin with, so I didn't have to sacrifice anything beyond what I was already sacrificing to cover the day to day business of SA.

G: You have a reputation with people affiliated with SA as someone who is overenthusiastic about your job. What is your life like outside of SA?

O: I have been told on many occasions not to take my position too seriously. I take that to be a compliment because I work very hard. By the same token, I play very hard. I have a pretty active social life, I have a girlfriend going on three years, I live in my own apartment. I like to go to the casino, and I love sports. Every Sunday you will find me no where else then in front of the TV watching Football, or Golf, or whatever else may be on. I work hard, but when I'm out of SA, I'm out of SA. I don't worry about SA when I'm at home.

G: So, you're a gambler, and you're the SA treasurer?

O: That just shows how different I am. Anybody who knows me in SA knows that I'm pretty conservative and I look out for the best interests of SA under all circumstances. I take calculated risks, but nothing as extreme as putting $100 on black as opposed to red. It just shows that you can be two people in one.

G: You're only a junior now, are you going to run for president, or any office for that matter?

O: I can't think that far in the future. I'm incredibly busy with my five 300 level business courses and my 30-40 hours a week in the SA office. You can ask me in February.