Leaders promise tangible success from group of fresh faces
In their first month of completion, the newly elected Student Government cabinet has begun to put ideas into action, but has yet to yield palpable results.
During its final meeting for the spring semester Wednesday night, the Senate provided a detailed budget of allocated funds for the upcoming 2011-12 fiscal year given to them by the university. A projected $124,669.57 is asked by the senate, with $41,786 of it going toward staff positions and $1,250 for the end of the year banquet.
As far as strengths for this semester, SG Vice-President Katie Thompson said they have “opened the lines of communications so much more” and have seen an increase in applicants with the help of their “Glee”-dership campaign and “friendlier atmosphere.” Because of this, SG has filled all 50 seats in senate, a feat not seen in years past.
“Filling the Senate seats is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Thompson said. “The Senate has seen great progress so far and I’m so excited to see what more we can do.”
Thompson also said negotiations over a potential program, the Student Services Neighborhood, are in the works. The program could potentially lower housing costs and will be finalized this summer.
Former vice-president Taylor Cain said people do not realize the difficulty in attempting to try “tackle big issues” in under a year.
“With Carolina Cab we got lucky, but with CarolinaCard, [former SG President] Ebbie Yazdani has funded so much of the CarolinaCard process and has really laid as much of the foundation for it,” Cain said. “Now they can build off what we have worked on, and put their own spin on it.”
Unlike past cabinets, Cain said the current one has seen an influx of new faces which has a significant impact on their progress.
“I’m excited to see the new ideas they have,” Cain said. “I see a lot of similarities between Yazdani and [current SG President] Joe Wright, but I think we definitely have a new breed of students in general.”
Though Senate has ended for the semester, summer sessions will also be in progress, something Thompson said she will be participating in.
“This has been an incredible experience so far, quite a whirlwind. This is definitely a new era of Senate and I am lucky to be a part of it.”