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Syracuse University’s Student Association passed a bill during its meeting last week to support the Graduate Student Organization’s ability to vote for its own representatives on SU’s Board of Trustees.

SA members said the motion recognized a campus-wide problem of student underrepresentation. SA Executive Vice President Yasmin Nayrouz said passing the bill emphasized SA’s commitment to supporting all students’ right to have their voices heard.

“It’s important to show that this is not just a graduate student issue. This is an all-campus student issue, and that students are here to support other students regardless of what status you are,” Nayrouz said.

Last spring, SA President William Treloar said the Board of Trustees voted to remove GSO’s ability to elect its own Board of Trustee representatives. Trealor added that the power to pick representatives for the board was given to the Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Provost for Graduate Studies, Peter Vanable.

Nayrouz said SA wants to work for all student voices to be accounted for.

“We need to ensure that nothing like this happens again in the future to prevent such action from being taken and to ensure and maintain that students have decisions or students have more say in their elections and in their representation,” Nayrouz said.

With more student representation, students will have more input in the university decision-making process, Treloar said.

“If the administration is able to pick who represents students, then they’re able to kind of shape what student voices are being heard … so it’s really important to get that power back into the hands of students themselves,” Treloar said.

SA Board of Elections Chair Otto Sutton said that as a student organization itself, SA understands the “plight” of having a limited voice in a significant decision-making body of the university.

Sutton said SA would also feel “aggrieved” in a similar situation, and that SA wants to show it cares about GSO and other student groups’ representation.

“Us doing this — showing solidarity — also shows that we care about this (and) allows us to bring it up in the right spaces, and it just kind of goes to our goal of supporting student voices and helping create an unsurpassed student experience on the student level,” Sutton said.

SA is also working on other upcoming student initiatives, including the week-long Fall into Action volunteer event and celebrations for Native American Heritage Month, Nayrouz said. SA and the Native Student Program will host a painting workshop on Nov. 15 at the NSP building, 113 Euclid Ave.

Published on October 29, 2023 at 9:43 pm