Mario Ferone; Economics/Political Science/Junior/20
1. Out of all the 16,000 students on campus, what makes you the most deserving student to influence the more $3.1 million budget funded by our student activity fee?
– “I’m Kind of a big Deal”. I’m currently a Senator in USG this year, a member of both SSC and Budget committee so I do have experience handling Student Funded money,
2. What experience do you bring to the position you are running for? Why are you qualified?
– As a Senator I co-founded 2 ad-hoc committees to help increase the Senators involvement in communications and to help the current VP of Communications. I’ve sat in on numerous SAB Meetings, and have played a very active role in the Senate. Besides my USG experience I do have the unique distinction of being the youngest candidate in NYS to run for State Assembly as I did in the previous election, so I guess I must be doing something right.
3. Is this your first time getting involved in USG? If so, why are you interested in getting involved? If not, why do you wish to be involved again?-
-I want to continue my involvement in USG because I enjoy making a difference on campus. This past year I have met countless students and club leaders, and have tried to assist them in any way to increase Student Life on Campus.
4. What do you think is the best thing about USG and if elected, how do you plan to continue that?
-The best thing about USG to me is that fact that it gives the students a voice on campus. If elected I promise to fight as hard as I have to ensure we acting in the students best interest, and if that means standing up to the administration, so be it. I’m not here to boost my resume or to network, I’m here to have a SickNasty year, and I will make sure your voice is heard.
5. On a scale of 9-10* (10 being the highest) how successful were the past two semesters for USG?
I would rate USG as a 9. For 2 reasons. Obviously there is always room for improvement, and while we did accomplish some big things this year (Updating the Constitution, New SSC Bylaws, Sab Bylaws, and Finical Bylaws) we haven’t focused on other issues on campus that affect students outside of clubs (such as dining hall prices, academics, living conditions on campus, etc.) So I definitely want to make sure we address the other issues that affect students
6. What are USG’s biggest flaws, and how do you plan to correct those? For those currently in USG, what have you done to try to correct those flaws?
This year I have worked with others to try and tackle some of the flaws in USG. The biggest thing I’ve done is re-writing the Constitution and completely revising the SSC bylaws. For the SSC Bylaws, I assisted Brian McIlvain in a several month process, that including meeting with lawyers, administrators, and researching how other schools operate to make a viewpoint neutral, fair , and consistent document. The reason we overhauled the process was to ensure the process was consistent for every club, which has been a problem in the past.
7. Do you think its right for USG to give SAB the same budget next year despite a surplus of over 100,000 for this year?
One of the things to take into account with the SAB is that they usually over budget events, or budget towards the maximum costs, which is necessary to account for any last minute and unexpected costs. The SAB this year has done a much better job at budgeting money, and has added additional events such as the Lecture Series. The biggest thing I want to change about SAB next year is to get more student involvement in it, through surveys, internships, and publishing the minutes online and on Facebook.
8. Do you think that putting on successful campus events should be prioritized over increasing clubs’ budgets?
Yes and No. I think the problem right now is that these two things, campus events and club budgets are views as mutually exclusive things, but in reality they are not. As VP of communications, I want to not only get the word out about the events but also get the club leaders talking to each other, so hopefully instead of having 10 smaller events each night, there can be fewer but much larger events. So I don’t necessarily think one should be prioritized over the other, but rather, USG should try to ensure all events are as big and well attended as can be.
9. Representing the student body sometimes means taking a firm stance against administration policies. How willing are you to speak up on behalf of the student body, even when it means conflicting with administrators?
I just want to make it very clear. I AM NOT HERE FOR MY RESUME. Not to sound arrogant or anything, but my resume right now is very solid. So unlike some people, I’m not here to make friends with the Administration. I understand it’s important to have a working relationship with them, and I do want to have that, but if there’s ever an issue between what the administration wants, and what the students want, I will fight for the students. This year one of the things I fought for was to have a public Facebook poll to help decide the Roth Regatta theme. Unfortunately the winner of the poll was not selected (apparently it was inappropriate or something) but I did go in to the meeting and fight for it.
*Please note we intentionally asked for a scale of 9-10.
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Dana Angelo/Engineering Science/Junior/21
1. Out of all the 16,000 students on campus, what makes you the most deserving student to influence the more $3.1 million budget funded by our student activity fee?
I am running for Vice President of Communications and Public Relations. Though there are thousands of students, very few actually understand how USG works and that is why even fewer run for USG office. I know that holding an executive position in any organization takes initiative and a lot of hard work. I know what it takes to run successful events. There needs to be clear communication about what the goal of the event is, how many people are expected to attend, what supplies are needed, and what type of space is required in order to develop an appropriate budget. There also needs to be some flexibility when it comes to distributing funds. When I ran a Pre College Day event, which involved bringing 100 high school students to campus, I had an initial budget and then I continued to modify it based on price quotes for supplies and the number of students and volunteers that signed up. This is what the Student Activities Board needs to do when planning events. I also know how critical it is to ensure that there is money for future years of an organization. The budget allowed to be spent on events needs to be based on an amount that ensures that there will be money available for the next year. The goal should be to have more money saved at the end of the year than there was before. If this is not done, there is no guarantee that there will be funding for new clubs that will be created in years to come. Everyone pays the student activity fee and it should be utilized to make this a better campus for students. If a budget for a club is increased or decreased, the reasoning behind that change should be told to all students. All students should understand how money is being spent.
Changes in the budget should be explained to all students, as well as how it might affect clubs and organizations on campus; a smaller total budget, the increase or decrease in the amount of clubs, and spending by clubs should be stated in an end of the semester/ year update which is distributed to all students. My goal is to keep students well informed because merely placing information on the USG website is not adequate enough. First hand experience has shown me that the E-boards and members of various clubs are still confused about or feel uninformed or unhappy with changes in their budgets. I want to reduce the confusion and lack of information pertaining to the budget and its rules.
2. What experience do you bring to the position you are running for? Why are you qualified?
I am currently the President of the Stony Brook Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SB-SHPE). There are 22 executive board members and it is my job to make sure that everyone is on the same page and has what they need to fulfill their roles and responsibilities in a timely manner. SB-SHPE has a group email, facebook page, website, and a LinkedIn group to inform members of what events are taking place; as well as what resources are available to them for academic, professional, and leadership development. I make sure that all of these have up-to-date and accurate information. I also hold weekly meetings for the executive board, and ones that involve planning collaborative events. As Vice President of Communications, I would be acting as secretary for the Student Activities Board. My position has allowed me to take minutes and follow up effectively.
I have a good understanding of what clubs and organizations on this campus need. As President of SB-SHPE, I have collaborated with many different types of clubs such as sororities and fraternities, community service based organizations, and engineering societies. I have also partnered with non-student groups like the Career Center and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. These collaborations provided diverse events that range from academics and socials, to professional and leadership workshops. They required me to have good and constant communication within my own society and with our partners, organizational skills, time management, and accountability. The events involved getting professional speakers, working with the Student Activities office, managing a budget, and advertising which catered to students with specific career goals and majors or benefitted students of all majors.
3. Is this your first time getting involved in USG? If so, why are you interested in getting involved? If not, why do you wish to be involved again?
I have been very involved in the engineering community and now I want to contribute to the University on an even larger scale. There is a lot of potential for USG to do even more for students and I want to help bring clearer communication between the two. I have spoken to a variety of student leaders on campus about what they would want to be improved, and how USG could help make them to run their organizations more effectively. The main problem is that many students are unaware of what USG actually does and do not realize how much help is out there. As Vice President of Communications, I would address these concerns by using my expertise to reach out to students and provide constructive feedback at Senate meetings. I want students to have a good experience when dealing with USG so that they are more likely to get and stay involved.
4. What do you think is the best thing about USG and if elected, how do you plan to continue that?
I think that the best thing is the mission of USG which is to represent all students and help facilitate event coordination and improve student life by offering services. As an engineering student, I would be representing a big part of the campus community that has only been represented in the USG by 2 College of Engineering and Applied Sciences senators. Making USG truly represent the student body and be welcoming to all majors will encourage more people to get involved.
5. On a scale of 9-10* (10 being the highest) how successful were the past two semesters for USG?
At this time, I do not have enough information to determine how successful USG has been.
6. What are USG’s biggest flaws, and how do you plan to correct those? For those currently in USG, what have you done to try to correct those flaws?
I think one of the biggest flaws is that there is a big divide between those who have been involved with USG and the rest of the student body. People who have already been a part of USG or have close friends involved with USG know about how it functions, but most people are not aware of basic information such as where the USG suite is or when Senate meetings are. As Vice President of Communications, I would make sure that there is more communication between USG and the student body. Having information on the USG website is insufficient because many students do not even know about the website or how to access it. I want to better advertise the website and make sure everyone has access to its link through email and other forms of social media. There is a lot of important information about how to contact USG and what USG does as well as all the relevant information for clubs, for example, the USG constitution, bylaws, and meeting minutes. All of these documents could make the difference for clubs to have successful functioning and events. I also want to make sure the website is updated to have accurate times and locations for all USG affiliated events.
I also want to improve USG’s visibility on campus. As a USG official, I will hold office hours in the USG suite, but I will also go around campus to meet e-boards and talk to students in person about what they need and what they want to see happen on campus. I will take a more pro-active approach to office hours so that students will actually come into the office with questions and suggestions.
7. Do you think it’s right for USG to give SAB the same budget next year despite a surplus of over 100,000 for this year?
It is something that needs to be discussed. If the Student Activities Board is utilizing funds to plan and execute events that have good turnouts and receive positive feedback, I do not see a problem with allocating the same amount. SAB has to host a wide range of events because the goal is to be as appealing to as many students as possible and this can be difficult since Stony Brook is such a diverse community.
8. Do you think that putting on successful campus events should be prioritized over increasing clubs’ budgets?
Those are one in the same in my opinion. If you are giving money to clubs, it is so they can out together successful campus events. However, each club and organization has a unique mission and purpose. The benefit of having USG and SAB put on events is that they focus on catering to the needs/interests of more students in order to please a larger audience. Ensuring that there will be enough money to run successful events and provide funding to clubs and organizations should be the priority. It is not feasible to continually increase clubs’ budgets. Clubs must also ensure that they are using the funds given to them in order to benefit the Stony Brook community. As a student leader myself, part of the experience is running great events with the budget you have. It forces you to be more thoughtful about what you are spending money on and you end up finding more creative solutions and prioritizing better.
9. Representing the student body sometimes means taking a firm stance against administration policies. How willing are you to speak up on behalf of the student body, even when it means conflicting with administrators?
I have a lot of experience dealing with advisers whether it is with the Student Activities Office, College of Engineering, or the Career Center. Whenever I or a member has a problem /concern, I set up a meeting to discuss the issue. I do not wait until there is a conflict to step in and say something. If there is something I do not agree with or if I feel that administrators are not handling things in the best, I will say something. You can ask anyone who knows me, I am not afraid to stand up for myself or others. If there is an issue that students are concerned about, I will make sure that we address it with all relevant parties. USG has to communicate with administrators in order to know what we can do because there are University policies we must follow as well as USG ones. If there is something that needs to be changed by administrators, I will help to work with them to improve the situation and solve the problem as best I can.
*Please note we intentionally asked for a scale of 9-10.
The Press hasn’t received any survey responses from Joseph Savelli.
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