Upon taking the oath of office on April 1, 2007, I made a pledge to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the Student Association Both you and I have a responsibility as elected officials to answer questions to mobilize and take action so that the interests and needs of our constituents are met. A lot of times we get so caught up in doing things in SA that we forget who we are really here to serve. We must always remember how we got here; who we are responsible to; and for whom we work. My goal as your Vice-President is to never forget how I got there, to whom I am responsible and most importantly, for whom I work for. I have laid out four point plan:

1) First, we must increase involvement within our Student Association Senate. The SA constitution states that the maximum amount of seats we may have is sixty-six (66) and the minimum is thirty-three (33). Right now we have 19 student Senators, with two faculty representatives. My goal is to increase that number to at least 33 by the fall of 2007 and to 40 by April 1, 2008. This goal will not be easy, but I will campaign for this along with colleagues such as Senator Trifunovski and any other colleague who would be willing to tackle this project as well.

2) Second, I plan to start a council of Vice-Presidents, which would include Vice-Presidents in organizations and Hall Council Vice-Presidents to promote unity and allow organizations that would not usually work together, to come and sponsor events with each other and to foster a more direct link between Student Association and Hall Councils.

3) Third, I plan to implement a Senate liaison program, in which each Senator will be assigned to a random club and will act as a liaison for that club. It will allow Senators to be involved with organizations and allow organizations to get things done more rapidly and efficiently.

4) Fourth, I plan to promote Senate in a positive, respectable manner. A few weeks ago some of our constituents came into this room and demanded action. Some may not have appreciated or didn’t understand what was going on. Those constituents were partaking in civic engagement; the most prized of al the tools in a democracy. They came in good faith, and it will be our duty to make sure that their needs are met.

As the voice of the Senate I would like to make it clear that:
We are offering you leadership in the face of a dying candle that needs to be relit!
We are offering you leadership in the face of uncertainty!
We are offering you leadership in the face of wanting a more active government!
We are offering you leadership in the face of great opportunity!

As your Student Association Vice President, I adhere to this premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. That is exactly what the world and more specifically this campus needs of us. That is the mission of which you are to enter and that is what we must put our faith into. We must be apart of that human blueprint to build a bridge that can traverse all facets of our lives: racial, ethnic, religious, sectional, and ideological. We are the new generation of leaders that can create and will create that environment and that “new generation”—one imbued with commitments and a new sense of responsibility. Now let me tell you that my encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats; it is a call to conscience. And though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper fulfillment. We find the fullness of life not only in options, but also in commitments and strangely, we find that commitments set us free.

I would encourage you all to join the Student Association is some way whether it be the Senate, the E-Board, or an organization and make use of what this campus has to offer.