By Graeme Smith
The wall to the right of Angelo DeLuca’s desk is decorated with a checklist of goals for his term as RyeSAC president.
As he assesses the job he has done, he gazed upon this mostly-completed list.
The top items of his 24 goals have checkmarks beside them. RyeSAC held a student referendum, and DeLuca became vice-chair of academic council.
He also found time to run for school board trustee in the municipal elections (he lost), sparking debate he was taking on too many positions.
“They were all for the benefit of student advocacy,” DeLuca said. “Sure, I’m a little tired now, but they were a lot of fun and we got a lot of things done.”
Eight items on DeLuca’s list are missing checkmarks. He wanted to take over the bookstore. There was a failed scheme to give money to guest speakers and the dream of a “Live Ed” concert to raise money to help struggling students.
“These are all regrets,” DeLuca said.
Most obviously lacking a checkmark is DeLuca’s goal of freezing tuition. He said despite RyeSAC’s strong presence on the board of governor’s and academic council, Ryerson’s administration hasn’t gotten the message.
But fights with the administration will have to wait for next year, when it will be the problem of President-elect David Steele.
“[The job of the president] is the toughest job you’ll ever love,” said DeLuca, an administration and information management student.
Up next for him is time off, unless a job offer in public relations or marketing comes up. “This is the first time I’m going to have a summer off.”
But when DeLuca, 25, hands over his office to Steele, it will be with mixed emotions. He still remembers his first time in the RyeSAC’s president’s office. He was in his second year, running for VP administration.
“I smelt this place that was run by students, that could really change things,” said DeLuca. “I said, ‘I want to be a part of this.’”
And that’s one goal on his list he can certainly check off.
Leave a Reply