The Student Association (SA) Executive Board held a town hall forum on Sunday, giving students a chance to hear what work the SA has been doing this semester as well as make their own concerns known.

Dillon Schade, SA president and a senior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, said these meetings are very important for communication between the SA and the student body.

“I think these are good ways that we can figure out where students’ concerns really lie,” Schade said. “I think it’s also good to show that the E-board is also students; it puts a name to face.”

Each of the E-board members explained what their office accomplished over the past semester and what their goals are for the spring.

Bernadette Machuca, the vice president for programming (VPP) and a senior majoring in biology, discussed her office’s attempts to gain sponsorship funding for Spring Fling. Zachary Vigliani, the executive vice president (EVP) and a senior majoring in business administration, announced that he was looking to increase the number of student organizations on campus to over 300 next semester.

Ruslan Klafehn, the vice president for multicultural affairs (VPMA) and a sophomore majoring in political science, discussed the creation of four new committees aimed at improving communication between the administration and student body. These committees look at diversity at Binghamton University and how to improve it by increasing the representation of minority groups on campus and the retention rate of those students.

The SA also discussed the launching of an “It’s On Us” campaign on-campus and said they hope to expand next semester. “It’s On Us” is a nationwide campaign, started by President Obama, that aims to stop sexual assault on college campuses.

Among the goals listed for next semester, Schade announced plans for Off Campus College Transport (OCCT) expansion. Last spring, OCCT consisted of a fleet of only 12 buses. By the end of next semester, the fleet will have 21 buses.

The forum was then opened up to the audience and students were allowed to ask the SA specific questions.

Legan Bayombo, a junior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, addressed the new VPMA committees as well as the representation of minority groups. He said that it is important to make sure the SA is aware of what students want.

“It’s important that we have our voices heard and that there’s equal representation of minorities in meetings like this,” Bayombo said.

Victoria Lewis, a senior majoring in psychology, was also active in the discussion. She said that she feels dialogue between the student body and the SA, especially concerning minority groups’ voices, is something that needs to be improved.

“I think that there could be more communication,” Lewis said. “I had a feeling that there would be low representation so I just wanted to make sure that the SA E-board understood what our concerns are at this point.”

Klafehn responded to both Bayombo and Lewis’ comments by referring to the committees he has formed, as he hopes that they will help to settle issues of an overall lack of minority representation at BU.

Schade said it is important to increase dialogue between the students and the SA in order to make sure improvements are accomplished.

“If you want to have actual change on campus, it has to be done by the students,” Schade said. “The administration can change policies, but until it’s a student conversation, nothing’s going to get done.”