Armed with ideas and initiatives, student body President Maxon Victor and Vice President Sameer Ahmed are geared up for the 2005-06 school year, following a busy summer.

One change they have planned concerns the Senate. In the coming year, each senator will be required to attend a certain number of student organization meetings in an attempt to force the Senate reach out to more on-campus student groups. They will have to be groups the senators are not members of.

“Being that Student Government is making improvements, and with tying in the University’s 50th anniversary and moving into the Big East, I think we’re really going to become that University that Tampa and the rest of the state is going to recognize this year,” Victor said.

“We’ve got the wheels,” Ahmed said about the work they have been doing over the summer.

“The summer has been very, very busy because the summer is where we do the planning, the coordination and the preparation for the initiatives that we have in mind for the coming year,” Victor said.

Some of those things include – but are not limited to – internal changes to SG, a massive service project planned for January and building a better relationship with the Board of Trustees.

One of the most substantive changes they are looking forward to is getting the Greek community to be more involved and more visible around campus.

“They are the most united and organized group on campus,” Victor said. “Our objective is to constantly incorporate the Greeks in all the plans that go on, not just in Student Government, but campus-wide activities. That’s the group of students who needs to lead the herd of Bulls.”

Victor and Ahmed came out on top in last spring’s perennially controversial Student Government elections. They are the third presidential ticket in a row to be disqualified, reinstated and win the office.

They officially won after defeating then-Vice President Andrew Aubery and running mate Jessica Asuncion in a runoff, with the final tally being 2,473 votes to 1,625 votes.

Both Victor and Ahmed were SG senators prior to making the move to the executive branch, so there should be little of the animosity that has plagued administrations in the past. This should hold especially true since Senate President Frank Harrison ran their campaign in the spring.

Victor served as the Senate Liaison to the Florida Student Association (FSA) last year. The FSA has been the major lobbying organization for the state universities in Florida, but according to Victor this coming year it will start to be much more.

“The FSA is going to be working with each Student Government and also work with improving the relationships that the universities have,” Victor said. “We’re restructuring the mission of FSA to not just be lobbying, but really building a strong network.”

Victor is optimistic about the leadership in SG this year.

“We have just a wonderful group of leaders and involved leaders,” Victor said.