UPDATED: Sept. 2, 2013 at 7:05 p.m.

Student Association President Allie Curtis has announced the appointment of three people to cabinet positions — which if the student assembly confirms them on Tuesday, will fill most of the high-level seats vacated during the summer.

Cabinet also confirmed another person to chair the Board of Elections and Membership, who the assembly will vote to elect on Tuesday as well.

Curtis appointed: Patricia D’Amore to chair of the Student Life Committee; Taylor Bold to chair of the Academic Affairs Committee; and Nia Boles to chair of the Student Engagement Committee — all positions left open because of resignations during the summer. Cabinet confirmed Dan Hernandez as chair of the Board of Elections and Membership, which was vacated when the former chair left at the end of her term.

“All of them are really high energy, very enthusiastic individuals,” President Allie Curtis said. “I’m thrilled. I know other members are thrilled as well.”

She said it’s nice to have people come into cabinet with a different perspective, and that she knows cabinet is moving in the right direction.

Specifically, Curtis described D’Amore as “very passionate” and as someone who had talked about being a member of cabinet before —but she was abroad during the spring.

Curtis said Bold is fantastic, and is someone who knows how to work on getting through the red tape that goes along with Academic Affairs Committee initiatives — including one he’s working on the create a minor in Arabic.

And she said Boles went “above and beyond” as an assembly representative, and people would often stop by the SA office specifically to talk to her.

“It was very apparent she was someone who would excel in cabinet,” Curtis said.

D’Amore said in an interview she is looking to continue working on the committee’s relationship with the Department of Public Safety, as well as the Food Advisory Board. Safety is “one of the biggest things on this campus,” she said.

Students can join both the Food Advisory and DPS Advisory boards even if they’re not in SA, she added.

Boles said in an interview she thinks the position of Student Engagement Committee is a perfect fit for her, because she loves talking with students about their issues as well as ideas they have.

“This is something that I was very interested in as soon as the spot had opened up,” Boles said.

She said she’s looking to work on Impact Week — the organization’s signature community service event — which is looking like it could be in October.

Resolving diversity issues on campus is another project Boles said she’s looking to work on.

Diversity doesn’t just include race, she said, but socioeconomics and the connection between Syracuse University and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students, too.

Boles said she’s looking to create intergroup dialogue sessions for freshmen students, and is hoping this could be done by next fall.

Creating a minor in Arabic and improving academic advising are two projects Bold said he’s going to work on during the semester.

He said he was inspired to join SA because he was taking Arabic classes and saw there wasn’t a minor.  He added he’s passionate about talking to students about how they feel about issues on campus.

Bold said he’s hoping to have the minor created by the end of the semester.

Academic advising — besides tuition — is probably the most pressing issue with academics, he said. Bold said this is an issue all across campus, where students don’t know who their adviser is, or don’t stay in contact with them. He said he’s also seen this with his constituents in the College of Arts and Sciences.

When the student group Undergraduates for a Better Education releases the results of its survey, Bold said, he will use the data to see how to move forward with improving advising.

Hernandez said in an interview if elected, he wants to continue improving the SA office, new member orientation, as well as streamlining the overall SA interview process.

Making sure new representatives know what they have to do in their positions will help make sure they don’t get overwhelmed and drop out of the organization, he said.

The reason he wanted to be chair, Hernandez said, is because it’s the culmination of the work he’s done in SA, including a new member PowerPoint presentation and “SA 101” slideshow. He served on the board under PJ Alampi and Jenn Bacolores.

He also said he wants to make sure presidential and vice presidential candidates know what’s allowed when campaigning. If violations do arise, he said, candidates will have been warned before, and will know what the penalties are for them.

Original cabinet members appeared to have differing views on the appointments.

Comptroller Stephen DeSalvo said he thinks Hernandez, who cabinet confirmed, will do a good job as chair of the Board of Elections and Membership.

But he said there’s pros and cons to all of the appointments.

In two of the cases, he said, the vice chairs of the committee were not selected.  But this could be because their vision didn’t line up with the former chair’s or Curtis’, DeSalvo said.

The student assembly will be able to ask questions and will have to confirm the appointments, though this largely has been a formality, he said.

Curtis has had to make these same kind of decisions before, he said. DeSalvo said all he can hope for is she made the best choice based on interviews, resumes and vision — and not which people she preferred.

“I think in the end we’re going to have to work with the choices that were made, and hopefully the cabinet will be productive in terms of getting things done,” DeSalvo said, adding he’s hoping the new officers voice their opinion, as long as they’re open-minded.

Parliamentarian Ben Jones said the appointments are exciting, especially because he’s seen all of the people who were selected grow in the organization.

Jones said other involvement of other officers is good, but this didn’t present an issue. “It is, after all, Allie Curtis’ cabinet,” he said.

On Saturday, he said it was his understanding that Curtis had the three people who were appointed come in and see how to run a committee meeting and see what initiatives members of each committee were working on.

He said he wasn’t there, but thought this showed strategy and planning on Curtis’ part.

Vice President Duane Ford said he was with Curtis during all of the interviews, and is very happy about the choices.

Being a part of cabinet can be stressful and time consuming, Ford said, and he sees the appointments as reinvigorating for the organization.

Cara Johnson, co-chair of the Public Relations Committee, didn’t immediately return an email requesting an interview. Chief of Staff Sean Dinan provided an emailed response, but did not immediately return a request seeking an interview.

Still open in cabinet is a second co-chair of the Public Relations Committee and chair of the Judicial Review Board. The director of technology position is also open.

Published on August 31, 2013 at 2:14 pm

Contact Dylan: dmsegelb@syr.edu | @dylan_segelbaum