&uotMarlene Goldenberg used her first meeting as SA president to instill a sense of duty for the elected members of the 52nd session.

‘We all signed up to do this job,’ she said. ‘A lot of people think SA is a group of kids getting together to pad their resumes. But we all know there would be much easier ways to do that. Our hearts are in this job.;

Goldenberg was officially sworn in as Student Association president last night and in a speech emphasizing her goals as president, she urged assembly members to exert passion and devotion in their positions. She went on to stress her dedication to her new office and outlined plans for her term which will last until December 2008.

Goldenberg listed initiatives and projects that were themes during her fall campaign – when she defeated write-in candidate Larry Seivert by 183 votes, which she hopes to see accomplished during her tenure. Among these were:

* assembly members tabling at the ‘hot spots’ or popular hang outs of their home colleges

* avoiding unnecessary debates on bills and legislation

* creating a service-based learning community

* setting up academic resources on South Campus

* making the class registration process easier

* fixing off-campus parking problems

* revising SA’s election codes

‘I want us to tackle these issues from all angles,’ Goldenberg said.

No bills or legislation went before the assembly in a meeting that was more of a meet-and-greet for new members and members in new positions. The meeting, SA’s first of the semester, was full of introductions and elections.

As expected, Goldenberg named Sommer Smith, an iSchool junior, her vice president for the 52nd session.

Smith promised to work to bring SA members closer together and admitted she herself is still new to SA, but assured her inexperience would not be a factor in how she does her job.

‘I don’t know half of your names,’ Smith said. ‘But I’m Southern, so we’ll go eat. I like friends. I want to become your friend as well as your vice president.’

Two new assembly members, three at-large cabinet members and the chair of the committee of student engagement were all nominated and unanimously voted on by the assembly.

Senior architecture major Danton Spina and junior Alejandro Fernandez from the College of Visual and Performing Arts both joined the assembly. Each identified SA’s invisibility on campus as the reason that drove them to join.

‘I didn’t know anything about SA,’ Spina said. ‘I wanted to know, and I think others should know more.’

After his election into the assembly, Spina was appointed chair of the Committee on Student Engagement, a position which has been stripped of its cabinet vote.

Fernandez was appointed to the off-campus cabinet position. Fernandez cited his involvement in New York Public Interest and Research Group (NYPIRG) and time-management skills as qualifications for the position.

‘I want to get things done,’ he said. ‘When things aren’t working well, I’ll make sure things start going well and things run smoothly.’

The other cabinet positions were awarded to junior management major Greg Klotz (on campus) and junior Bill Markt (academic affairs) from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Natalie Clay, a sophomore public communications student, was also named SA’s Parliamentarian.