Jon Barnhart, the Student Association Student Engagement Committee chair, officially announced his candidacy for SA president Tuesday afternoon in the Schine Student Center Atrium.

Barnhart is expected to run against Hari Iyer, a junior finance, economics and policy studies major, who has not announced his candidacy yet in the SA elections, which take place on Nov. 9.

The theme of Barnhart’s campaign will be ‘Own Your University,’ which he said is meant to encourage students to work with SA to make the university their own. Standing at a podium in the Schine Atrium, Barnhart delivered a three-minute speech announcing six initiatives he plans to pursue.

Barnhart said that campus safety is an area of focus in his campaign.

‘The recent amount of robberies and violent crimes are starting to really come down hard on the Syracuse University community,’ Barnhart said.

To curb the crimes, he said he feels the Department of Public Safety needs to increase off-campus and South Campus patrols. He said he feels that the university needs to improve its image within the Syracuse community.

Barnhart also spoke about the Amethyst Initiative, a national initiative SU Chancellor Nancy Cantor signed July 2008 in support of re-assessing the current legal drinking age.

‘Since this initiative was signed, Syracuse has not taken steps to engage students about the commitment,’ Barnhart said. ‘I feel it is the responsibility of the Student Association and myself to have this conversation with students,’

The next issue Barnhart addressed was MayFest. He said that the entire day should focus on the student body as a whole, whether students are involved in the SU Showcase or engage in parties on Euclid Avenue.

‘We’re always hoping to keep MayFest the most inclusive day on campus,’ Barnhart said. ‘Regardless of your organization, your race, your color, you can always be a part of the MayFest celebration.’

Barnhart said he wants to address campus financial concerns during his campaign. These include tuition increases and funding recognized student organizations. He said the university should tell students exactly how much it expects tuition to increase during their time at the university so as to avoid any surprises that would affect a student’s ability to return to SU.

‘The university is planning five years in advance at this point as far as their finances go, so I don’t know why they can’t plan five years for how student finances will go,’ he said after his speech. ‘If they’re budgeting for 2012 right now, then why can’t they tell us how much tuition is going to increase? They must know at this point, or they must have an arbitrary number in mind.’

Barnhart also said he would like to get more funds to recognized student organizations. He said after his speech he would like to give organizations consistent budgets as opposed to only funding certain events, as SA currently does.

Barnhart ended his speech by saying he would like to help educate students about campaigns the university is undertaking, specifically in regards to carbon neutrality.

‘If we are supposed to be a carbon neutral campus by 2040, why aren’t students doing their part yet?’ he said. ‘I believe it is the role of the Student Association to make sure students are involved with this initiative and further initiatives like that.’

Iyer, Barnhart’s potential opponent, said he is approximately 100 signatures away from becoming an official candidate for the SA presidency. Iyer said he hopes to officially announce his candidacy either Wednesday or Thursday afternoon in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

Iyer said he will run on the platform of more transparency in university finances, and will provide more details when he officially announces his candidacy.

rhkheel@syr.edu

Published on October 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm