The Student Association of Syracuse University elected its assembly representatives for six SU colleges at Monday night’s meeting in Maxwell Auditorium.

SA President Aysha Seedat also discussed a proposal to change the way SU students buy season tickets for football and men’s basketball during the meeting.

Current SA members elected 12 total representatives for the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and SU’s College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Visual and Performing Arts, School of Architecture, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

The candidates first discussed their ideas for initiatives and fielded questions from current SA members. The candidates then left the auditorium and the current members conducted two rounds of voting to determine who would be elected.

Only two colleges — the College of Arts and Sciences and Whitman — had contested elections.

For the College of Arts and Sciences, 11 candidates competed for five open positions. The assembly elected Roma Amernath, a freshman on a pre-med track; Peter Choi, a freshman political science major; Madeleine Fitzgerald, a freshman political science major; Lawrence Lin, a freshman international relations major; and Evanna Ojeda, a freshman international relations and political science dual major.

For Whitman, two candidates vied for one open position. The assembly elected Shanice Smith-Banks, a junior marketing major.

The assembly also elected Valerie Corona, a freshman communication and rhetorical studies major, and Natasha Walker, a sophomore CRS major, to represent the College of Visual and Performing Arts; Michelle Guo, a sophomore architecture major, to represent the School of Architecture; Drew Jacobson, a freshman computer science major, to represent the College of Engineering and Computer Science; Brooke Lutsky, a senior broadcast and digital journalism major, to represent Newhouse; and Katie Oran, a sophomore environmental studies major, to represent SUNY-ESF.

Before the elections, Seedat told the assembly that she will be meeting soon with SU Director of Athletics Mark Coyle to discuss changing how students get season tickets for football and men’s basketball games in the Carrier Dome.

Under Seedat’s proposal, students would be charged a $100 student athletic fee, which would cover season ticket costs for both sports. Currently, students must buy season tickets separately through the Carrier Dome Box Office. A football and men’s basketball combo package costs $219.

Seedat said she had a conference call Monday with student government officials at other schools that are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which Syracuse’s football and men’s basketball teams compete in. A number of those universities have something similar to the student activity fee Seedat is proposing, she said.

The idea was originally suggested in the spring by then-President Boris Gresely, but Gresely was unable to move forward with the proposal since SU was searching for a new athletic director following Daryl Gross’ resignation. But with that search over and Coyle at the head of the athletics department, Seedat said she will push for the student athletic fee.

“This is something that could really be happening,” she said.

Published on September 28, 2015 at 11:46 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu