Student Association Executive Board elections take place via email this Friday. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Use this handy guide to get informed on each candidate’s platform before casting your vote.
Max Bartell, President
Junior double-majoring in political science and philosophy, politics and law
Bartell is a member of the financial committee and has been a part of the student advocate program. He said that if elected, he wants to help the SA “grow within its means.” He said his platform prioritizes continuity, pragmatism and a sense of reality. His immediate goals are to implement cultural competency training at the University and create an e-petition system that enables the student body to voice complaints and create change. Under his presidency, conduct hearings would be more focused in residential communities.
Dillon Schade, President
Junior majoring in industrial and systems engineering
Schade is a chair of the student philanthropy committee and assistant to the current executive vice president. If elected, Schade said he will focus on improving alumni relations and increasing alumni donations. Funding from alumni, he said, is directly correlated to the University’s national ranking. He said his other priorities are to continue the expansion of Off Campus College Transport (OCCT) and Harpur’s Ferry and to increase the outreach work that student groups do in the local area by offering monetary incentives for community service.
James Sereno, Executive Vice President
Junior double-majoring in history and political science
He is currently the president of the Hillside Community Council, and has been the SA representative for College-in-the-Woods and a member of the Internal Affairs Committee of the Student Congress. If elected, Sereno said he wants student groups to use B-Engaged more by creating a mobile app that synchronizes B-Line, the events calendar and OCCT bus times. He also said he aims to require student groups to admit any and all students who wish to join, and find non-performance roles for audition-based groups.
Jared Skwiersky, Executive Vice President
Junior majoring in economics
Skwiersky was the founding vice president of the Binghamton American Parliamentary Debate Association and is an Off Campus College Council (OC3) representative. If elected, Skwiersky said he wants to hold weekly focus groups with student organizations to facilitate collaboration between the SA and the student body, and address any issues that groups may be facing. He also said he plans to expand the marketing and publications department within the SA, and update B-Engaged by adding a forum and grievances system, among other functions.
Zachary Vigliani, Executive Vice President
Junior majoring in management
Vigliani is currently an assistant to the SA president and on the nominations committee. If elected, Vigliani said he wants to implement coalitions in student group management by appointing committees to oversee student organizations and encouraging larger groups to work with and mentor smaller groups. He also said he wants to increase transparency and diversity within the SA by formalizing the hiring process for SA businesses like the Food Co-Op and SA Ink.
Nicholas Ferrara, Executive Vice President
Sophomore majoring in economics
Ferrara is a member of Student Congress and a co-creator of Bearcat Exchange, a BU textbook buying and selling website. Ferrara said he wants to revamp the SA’s technology, making it more accessible to students and student groups, and make the chartering process easier to understand. He said he will reach out to club leaders to improve collaboration between clubs, as he said many students are not aware of overlap between many groups, which may hinder their growth.
Kate Tashman, Vice President for Finance
Sophomore double-majoring in biomedical engineering and mathematics
Tashman is an assistant to the current vice president for finance and the only on-campus representative on the OCCT board of directors. She said if elected, she wants to create an open office policy to create transparency between the vice president for finance office and the University, and include student groups in the budgeting process. She also plans to put the rollover process online. Tashman also said she plans to focus on OCCT expansion.
Michael Sabony, Vice President for Finance
Junior majoring in accounting
Sabony has previous experience as the vice president of finance for Hillel. He said he plans to focus on short-term goals that are easy to implement during a yearlong term that will increase efficiency and accessibility. Sabony also said he wants to implement training sessions for students to educate groups on the budgeting process, and put the Treasurers’ exam online during the summer.
Amanda Baker, Vice President for Academic Affairs
Junior double-majoring in mathematics and history
Baker is a member of the Mountainview College Council (MCC) E-Board and a Financial Committee representative. She said she will improve the ESL program by creating more tutoring services — she has already begun work on this. She also said she will focus on increasing accessibility on campus to create equal access inside and outside the classroom for students with all disabilities. Baker also said that there needs to be more undergraduate TAs in the classroom, so that students taking a course can have more resources to reach out to, and to increase opportunities for students to get involved.
Steven Lazickas, Vice President for Academic Affairs
Sophomore double-majoring in history and political science
Lazickas is a vice chair of Student Office Space Allocation Committee and a chair of the student life and academics committee as well as former vice chair for the SA’s election committee. He said he wants to work with the VPMA to encourage more cultural events on campus, as well as expand the peer mentoring program. He said he wants to increase student awareness of the goings-on of the SA, which he said would foster more communication between the student body and the SA. He also said he will work to create walk-in hours for the Student Advocates program so students can be more aware of their privacy and conduct rights.
Robert Pim, Vice President for Academic Affairs
Sophomore double-majoring in finance and mathematics
Pim is currently an assistant to the vice president for academic affairs. He said he wants to implement initiatives focusing on programs that advocate for students, which includes requiring cultural competency training and creating a Student Bill of Rights in the code of conduct that would make privacy and conduct rights clearer. He also plans to expand mentoring programs within the undergraduate community and push for the creation of a create-your-own-minor program to diversify students’ academic interests.
Epiphany Munoz, Vice President for Multicultural Affairs
Junior double-majoring in Africana studies and sociology
Munoz said her platform focuses on diversifying the University’s hiring process to include more faculty of color, and exploring the legal processes to make this happen. She said she wants to be a resource to multicultural groups on campus and encourage different cultural groups to collaborate more. She wants to “be of service to multicultural organizations.”
Bernadette Machuca, Vice President for Programming
Junior majoring in biology
Machuca has worked on every committee within the Student Association Programming Board (SAPB). She said that as vice president for programming, she would have the Programming Board work with student groups closely to host and sponsor events. She also wants to restructure the SAPB E-Board to facilitate better budgeting, requiring strict accountability for all expenses to maintain the budget and reduce the debt the SAPB has accumulated. She also said she plans on better utilizing the SAPB’s social media pages, which would better broadcast upcoming events to the school and outlying community than the webpage.
James Kuo, Vice President for Programming
Sophomore majoring in management
Having been the social vice president for MCC and assistant to the SA president, Kuo said he wants to increase alumni donations and corporate sponsorships to fund events on campus and eliminate the SAPB’s debt. He said he will better advertise events to increase student attendance and participation, possibly by creating incentives. He also said he plans to have photobooths and cameras at every event to both show sponsors the types of events being hosted and to have students remember their experiences.