When Neal Casey first began his campaign to become president of Student Association, he came with big ideas.

They were as varied as making SA a more results-based organization to revamping MayFest. As his term comes to a close, SA cabinet members agree that, though Casey came in with big ideas, they were ones he was able to accomplish.

‘I’ve known Neal since freshman year, and he’s not a guy who likes to leave things unfinished,’ said Jeff Rickert, SA comptroller. ‘One thing that I would say from working with him over the past year is that I think he set many goals that were ambitious but attainable, which is something that a lot of SA presidents haven’t done because it’s easy to get starry-eyed and set lofty goals.’

Some of Casey’s biggest accomplishments include reaching 100 percent student representation in the general assembly, revamping MayFest and turning SA into an organization that measures itself based on results. But Casey came up short on the smoke-free campus initiative, which he spoke to SA about in March 2010.

Casey said one of his accomplishments is the MayFest overhaul. In previous years, MayFest was a much smaller event that often caused tension between SU students, university administration and residents, as it functioned as more of a disorganized weekend of partying, said Jessica Cunnington, SA vice president.

When he served as chair of the Student Life Committee, Casey made MayFest his personal project. He said one of his goals was to get the event to a point where they could pass it to University Union, as SA does not technically function as a programming body.

‘We’ve seen enormous success in the first two years of this program,’ Casey said. ‘We’ve seen a great relationship built between the Student Association and University Union in creating that day. We’ve really strengthened a lot of relationships with administration on it and with the city of Syracuse.’

Others in SA felt Casey’s greatest achievement was reaching 100 percent student representation in the general assembly.

‘I didn’t think that we would actually be able to get 100 percent representation within SA,’ said PJ Alampi, Board of Elections and Membership chair.

SA Chief of Staff Amy Snider said Casey presented the idea to members by asking each of them to help bring in new members.

‘It became a very informal competition among some SA members, and it just blossomed into this incredible recruitment effort that led to us having full representation,’ Snider said.

One of Casey’s overarching goals was making SA a more results-based organization. With increased voter turnout and representation in the general assembly, SA has proof in the numbers.

‘We are leaving this assembly at 100 percent capacity, and we filled every single assembly representative seat, which is the first time that’s been done in, we don’t even know how long,’ Casey said. ‘We also set a record for voter turnout in the last 10 years. We really made student involvement a focus of ours, so we’re very proud to show the metrics behind that.’

Though Casey accomplished many initiatives, one goal he did not quite reach was the smoke-free campus initiative.

Alampi said it was an issue that was greatly discussed among members who did all they could do and then passed it to the administration. He said both SA and the administration were unsure of the steps to take.

Casey’s cabinet members agreed he kept promises he made, delivering on the majority of the issues for which he campaigned.

Looking back, Casey said the biggest piece of advice he could offer to SA President-elect Dylan Lustig is that he must remember that he is a student, too.

‘It’s very easy to forget that when you’re privy to a lot of different information, but it’s important to remember who you represent and that you actually are one of those students,’ Casey said.

Casey, who has been involved with SA since his freshman year, said he will be happy to have some of his free time back, but the end of his term is bittersweet.

He said, ‘I think it’ll be a sad day when it comes to an end, but I’m looking forward to taking a backseat and watching Dylan take over the helm and see SA continue to grow.’

cffabris@syr.edu

Published on November 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Casey: cffabris@syr.edu | @caseyfabris