As the Student Association’s new president, DuJuan Smith has plans for new and extended programs to benefit the student body.

Smith, a senior applied sociology and psychology double major, said his biggest goal with the SA is to make it more proactive. He said a lot of students do not know what the SA is, and they don’t really see how they are connected. Students also do not have a clear, concise understanding of where student activity fees are allocated in terms of what student organizations and services specifically get, he said.

Starting with the SA in 2001, Smith was appointed as a senator for two years. He then became the director of organizational development and served this year as the treasurer.

“From all levels, I know what’s good about each position in the SA, and I know what doesn’t work,” Smith said. “Now, I’ve just been keeping a notebook of different things that can help to make the Student Association as strong as it possibly can be for the student body.”

To promote the SA, Smith plans to initiate “SA Tuesdays.” Every Tuesday or every other Tuesday, at least one representative from the SA will be situated within each of the residence halls, Smith said. The program is scheduled to begin by the end of the school year or in the fall semester.

Senate members will also be asked to participate in SA Tuesdays, Smith said.

Holly Creamer, an SA senator and freshman political science major, said she thinks SA Tuesdays are a good idea because many students do not know about the SA.

“This will be a good opportunity for students to communicate to elected officials so they can get their needs better met,” Creamer said.

Another program Smith has been working on is the ‘Get Out of Debt Office,’ which will begin in the fall. It will be located in the Students’ Legal Assistance Office, and grad assistants from the Students’ Legal Assistance Office will advise students about ways to get out of debt, Smith said. He is working on this project with Don Henderson, director of the Students’ Legal Assistance Office, JR Perez, director of mass transit, and Jarquetta Egeston, director of student life.

He said many students who were in debt really liked the idea as well as students who were not in debt.

“For the most part, we just think it’s something that can benefit a lot of students, not just now, but students in the future,” Smith said.

This is a project they’ve been working on for a year and a half, and was a goal of last year’s SA executive officers. This program was not introduced to students this year because of “how much stuff needed to be done in terms of working it out,” Smith said. While the project has been completed for some time, the decision was made to begin the program during fall orientation.

The SA also plans to cover the costs of security for organizational social events on campus, Smith said. For example, he said to hold a social event in the Regency Room, it would cost $1,500 in security.

“This will provide more social events on campus and hopefully will make the overall campus a lot better,” Smith said.

The Huskie Late Night Ride Service is another area the SA plans to expand, Smith said. Currently, he said it is a 45-minute to a one-hour wait. Working together with the University Police, the SA plans to get additional vehicles because it is a service many students utilize, Smith said.

Another program to be re-evaluated is the Book Exchange. Smith said the Book Exchange will be discontinued next year, but another effective program like the Book Exchange will be looked into.

“We’ve already been working to act on the issues that we brought up in the course of the campaign, which brought us ultimately to office,” said Andrew Nelms, current SA speaker and next year’s student trustee. “Obviously, the results of the election were a sign that we were able to communicate our message well to the students and that students believed in our message.”

“I look forward to being the SA president next school year,” Smith said. “It’s definitely been a blessing, and I’m confident that it will be a blessing. I’m excited that I’ll be able to be a voice for a lot of students on campus that traditionally don’t have a voice. I’m also looking forward to trying to get many other people involved.”