Student leaders hope to ‘continue momentum’

Student Government President Ed Wolf, left, has been elected to serve another term. Wolf and his new vice president, Matt Danna, have set an ambitious agenda for the 2008-2009 school year. A. Sue Weisler | photographer

Student Government President Ed Wolf will return next academic year for another term—this time, with a new vice president, second-year information technology major Matt Danna. Their goal is to sustain Student Government’s current momentum.

“There is still work to be done,” says Wolf, a fourth-year computer engineering major. “We have a lot of great initiatives in progress that we want to see through.”

Wolf cites three major achievements from the past year:

• An earlier release of final exam schedules: Student Government worked with RIT administration to have final exam schedules released upon registration, instead of having to wait until later in the quarter. Wolf says this enables students to make travel plans earlier, which often makes travel more affordable.
• Collaborating on the Student Alumni Union renovation plans: Student Government pushed for more club space and conference rooms for student-related activities in the renovation plans for the Student Alumni Union. Ground will be broken on the project in the coming weeks.
• Expanding Student Government’s representation: Student Government has expanded to open senator positions to the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and, effective next academic year, the graduate student body.

Danna served as a cabinet member representative at-large this past year, and collaborated with Wolf on a number of projects. When Wolf approached Danna about running together, Danna didn’t hesitate.

“It was the logical next step,” Danna says. “We both want to make changes on campus and make sure student voices are heard. We have a lot of new ideas.”

Wolf and Danna want to push for more sustainable practices on campus, and pledge to set an example for doing so. Student Government will coordinate with the Student Environmental Action League to develop a set of sustainable best practices. They also hope to change the student debit policy in order to allow debit dollars to roll over between quarters in the same academic year.

Other initiatives include pushing for an earlier residence hall move-in date following breaks and creating more events that offer safe and responsible consumption of alcohol for those students who are over the legal drinking age.