SA to host Mayfest open forum
Students will have the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns about this year’s SU Showcase, formally known as MayFest, announced Larry Seivert at Monday night’s Student Association meeting.
On Thursday, Feb. 12 in Maxwell Auditorium, Seivert, SA’s president, will host an open forum for all students to come and discuss MayFest. He said he does not expect any administration to be present, and hopes for the auditorium to reach maximum capacity with students ready to speak out.
‘It’s not too late to get the student voice out on this,’ Seivert said. ‘It’s paramount that we discuss this.’
Seivert admits he has drifted from his campaign promises, and hopes that by giving students the opportunity to speak out, he will help unify the student voice on campus.
‘I think I’ve been missing the boat on things. I have not been providing a strong vision to reach out to all the student voices and that is the platform I ran on,’ he said. ‘Things will be changing, so the first plan of action is to address MayFest, which affects everyone.’
Over the past three years, MayFest has gained the reputation as a day off from school, with parties lining Euclid Avenue. Speculation that this year’s event will take on a different focus started when Corey Driscoll, a community relations associate at Syracuse University, announced that the name would change to SU Showcase.
Seivert said that though his largest concern is the safety of the students, he wants to hear students’ thoughts and concerns before SA takes a stance and finalizes their MayFest resolution.
‘We’re giving students the chance to talk,’ he said.
Monday night’s meeting also included talk of the Schine Student Center renovations that have been approved and are set to be completed by the fall 2009 semester.
The renovations center on creating additional study space in Ludwig Lounge and Jabberwocky Café. Along with extending the building hours from midnight to 2 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday, there will be a new computer cluster, laptop charging stations, wireless printing, updated lounge furniture and maintenance changes.
SA members seemed to share excitement for the project because Schine empties out before evening hours.
‘It’s more about Schine becoming the heart and the pulse beat of the university, revitalizing the student center,’ Helene Kahn, Seivert’s chief of staff, said.
Kahn said that around 22 percent of residence halls lost their study space this year, and she thinks this is the first of many great solutions.
Though there was a lively conversation amidst assembly members about renovations they would like to see accomplished, one assembly member suggested they open up the conversation to the student body.
The project is scheduled to begin in May.
Tori Hornstein, member of Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, who is helping to plan Relay for Life, gave a PowerPoint presentation about this year’s event that will take place on March 28. She said the theme will be ‘Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back.’
Hornstein told SA that last year SU was in the top five universities for raising money, and she hopes that the success will continue this year.
Published on February 9, 2009 at 12:00 pm
