Hello everyone! My name is Stefen R. Short, and I am humbled to serve as your Student Association Vice President for the 2009-2010 term. I am a Junior Political Science major, and a Philosophy and African-American Studies minor. I hail from Centerport, which is a small town on the North Shore of Long Island. I sought this office because I feel that the Students of SUNY-Oswego deserve leaders who will fight on their behalf with every fiber of their being; I am one of those leaders. During my three years as a student here at Oswego State, I have always fought for student cause with candor, honesty and humility. As a Project Leader with NYPIRG, I worked hard to expose students to several of the challenges that the state and federal governments levied upon them, and I worked to register as many students to vote as possible. As an at-large senator and Senate President Pro Tempore, I authored major revisions to all of our Student Association policies, fought racial intolerance and injustice, and assisted our organizations in countless ways. While I am proud of my achievements, as well as the achievements of the Senate, I know that we have a long way to go. We face profound challenges that will affect more than just the quality of our education. These challenges, from tuition increases to a lack of efficacy, will affect our Oswego experience, and the political capital of our association. The mishandling several of the crises we have faced as a Student body by past executives and past Student Association members has left our association in disrepair. However, if we embrace the sheer exigency of this moment, and we foster our will and our intelligence, we can turn this moment of peril into a moment of opportunity. If we tap into our fiercely determined and vibrant student body, and we fight the challenges with all of the fortitude we can muster, we can turn Oswego into a better place. This is our calling. The time for action is now, and action is what you all shall receive.

I have noticed several of the flaws in our Association over the past three years, but I have also noticed the promise. This promise is what has led me to firmly believe in our capability for success. I will utilize this sense of promise as I tackle the following issues during my term. I know that with the assistance of a fantastic senate, a determined executive board, and an unyielding judicial branch, we will be able to meet our hurdles head on, and clear them:

I: Involvement
On the campaign trail, President Ballesteros and I made a habit of talking about involvement extensively. This is because student involvement is the measure of a successful college experience. I will assist President Ballesteros, as well as the rest of the Student Association, in increasing our level of involvement. I firmly believe that we can achieve this through adequate outreach, both verbal and otherwise. I will venture out to hall councils, club meetings and events. I will speak to hall directors and RA’s. We will disseminate the message that student association is a powerful liaison from the students to the administration, and that SA can address student issues adequately. As of right now, the student body does not know what the Student Association stands for. Most of the students believe the Student Association is just a bank for our organizations. Over the last 45 years, SA has developed an excellent rapport with our college officials. This has allowed for the swift handling of student concern. We will continue to swiftly handle student concern, with the involvement of committed students.

Furthermore, my involvement initiative focuses on the Senate. As the Vice President of SA, I am the President of the Senate. Senate, as the only representative body on campus, is the beacon of student involvement. However, in order to truly represent student concern, we must fill as many of our available seats as possible. As of right now, we have 22 of 45 available seats filled. In fact, there are some residence halls which are not represented by a senator. I will work to increase our number of filled seats to 35 by the end of my term. This is doubtlessly a daunting task, but I know that through my aforementioned forms of outreach, we can achieve it.

II: Service
I am looking forward to implementing a senate monthly community service program. This program will allow the senate to work with our community services organizations to participate in one community service project a month, as a group. It is important for all of us to understand that as college students, we are community role models. As role models, we must give back to our communities through several forms of outreach and volunteerism. This initiative will allow us to achieve these obligations while bolstering OSU’s relationship with the community. Secondly, I will work to bolster our Miss-A-Meal program. Due to unfortunate circumstances, we did not hold a Miss-A-Meal program last semester. This semester we will hold a program, and next semester we will hold an even stronger program through excellent planning and outreach to potential beneficiaries.

III: Fiscal Responsibility
I strongly feel that an improperly allocated Student Activity fee is a slap in the face of our students. This is why the Student Association must strive to cut out excessive spending in areas that are not needed, and to allocate enough resources to our thriving organizations. Inflated executive pay and nutritional compensation must end. Furthermore, we must work hard to fight the tuition increase we are facing, and the mishandling of our tuition dollars. It is not acceptable that 80% of our tuition money is being allocated to the state general fund. Our involvement committee will work with students to protest the tuition increases, and mobilize students against this systematic theft.

IV: Diversity
By the numbers, Oswego is a very diverse campus. However, over the past three years, we have experienced virulent incidents of racial discrimination both on and off campus. I look forward to working with our campus administrators to combat our racial discrimination and profiling here on campus. Curing racial injustices and prejudices will involve education. President Ballesteros has focused on this through CODE: Unity, which will be SA’s diversity campaign. I will work with Associate Provost Cathy Santos, and other members of the campus community, to create a Diversity Board of Directors and a Student Diversity advisory board to tackle these issues intergovernmentally.

As we face our profound challenges, remember that the power is still on our side. As the student body, we still have the ability to positively affect our college experience. The Student Association will allow us to push for change more effectively, through goal oriented means.

Let’s write our generational story. Let’s combat the challenges that we face. President Ballesteros and I plan to change the status quo, and we plan to work incredibly hard to help the student body exercise the voice that we so desperately yearn to exercise. I know that every Student Association member is ready to work hard, develop lofty goals, and execute them. I am certain that we are ready to commit their time and energy to restoring this great association, and I have unyielding faith that there are prodigious times ahead of us.