President: The president is the head of the Student Association, whose chief duty is to act as the official representative of the student body. First, the president serves on the various major University committees in order to bring the student body’s concerns and issues to the administration, and represents the student body at various campus events and services. As Florina Getman, the SA’s director of communications, said, ‘The SA president is the face of the student body and appears at important campus events, such as the 9/11 memorial, student group events and showcases and encourages student involvement right from the time that they enter BU by giving speeches at each orientation.’
Besides their own representative duties, the president also appoints representatives to committees such as the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, the Committee on University Environment and the Alcohol and other Drug Task Force Committee. They also appoint the Senior Class Council and the Judicial Board. Finally, the president negotiates contracts on behalf of the SA and also serves as the head of the OCCT (Off-Campus College Transport) Board.
Executive vice president: The executive vice president has two main duties. The first, and most obvious, is serving as the vice president of the Student Association. Together with the president, the vice president serves on various major committees and helps to initiate the plans the SA creates. The EVP is also the coordinator of the over 160 student organizations (and the chair of the newly created Student Group Council), including the community governments. This massive job entails making sure the groups’ paperwork is up to date, resolving scheduling issues and, in general, dealing with any other issues that may arise from the student organizations.
Academic vice president: The AVP is the representative of the student body when it comes to issues involving academic policy. They take students’ concerns or complaints about academic policy and present them directly to the administration and faculty on the students’ behalf. The AVP also serves as vice chair of the Harpur College Council and undergraduate representative to the Faculty Senate. In regards to the Harpur College Council, the academic vice president is responsible for creating a strong student delegation for the HCC and all academic committees out of HCC and the Faculty Senate. The academic vice president also organizes the campus-wide College Bowl Tournament and any other major academic or educational programs, such as the graduate school fair.
Financial vice president: The FVP manages the finances of the Student Association, including all student groups. They watch over all sources of income and allocate the money for the SA and campus groups accordingly. Other duties include reviewing performance contracts with attorneys, meeting with the University designee to check if spending coincides with state and SA guidelines, monitoring groups’ spending, attending Campus Life Fee meetings and attending Student Excellence Fee meetings and several other financial meetings with campus administrators.
Vice president for University programming: The VPUP is more or less in charge of all activities and programming sponsored by the Student Association. The vice president actually oversees five different committees: the concert committee, the festival committee, Binghamton Underground Music Presents (BUMP), the college community programming board and the cultural education committee. These committees, in turn, make up the University Programming Board, which the VPUP chairs. The University Programming Board is responsible for planning and executing all of the campus’ concerts, festivals, music performances, cultural and educational lectures as well as inter-residential programming. Because the vice president of University programming oversees the Programming Board, he or she directly affects what type of entertainment comes to campus. The current vice president, Sandi Dube, for example, was responsible for getting the bands Dashboard Confessional and Brand New to play for the school in the fall semester and for getting Reel Big Fish to come this semester. If you care about what entertainment comes to Binghamton, then you should care who your vice president for University programming is.
Vice president for multicultural affairs: The VPMA’s main duty is to promote diversity by working with the various cultural organizations throughout campus. Working with these groups, the vice president of multicultural affairs organizes events and programs designed to increase diversity and awareness at BU. He or she also has to ensure that the Student Association acts in accordance with all of New York State’s affirmative action guidelines. Starting next year, the vice president of multicultural affairs will also be responsible for chairing the Intercultural Awareness Committee. The Intercultural Awareness Committee brings together representatives from campus’ largest student cultural organizations to meet with the VPMA to talk about both issues involving the groups and cultural issues affecting campus.