A tumultuous Syracuse University Student Association election night has created a divide between SA and the Syracuse University community. Among the grievances are allegations of election rigging and bias.

Students have been leaving comments of concern on the organization’s Instagram page, and rightfully so. SA has failed to effectively communicate with the student body. Its leaders need to be more transparent in responding to student criticism and addressing internal controversies.

“The end game for public figures and institutions is trust, or credibility,” said Anthony D’Angelo, a professor of public relations at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. “Scandals destroy trust and damage the relationship between a person or institution and the publics they depend on.”

Students began to question SA’s integrity after an Instagram post announcing comptroller candidate Eduardo Gomez’s campaign suspension was deleted.

Torre Payton-Jackson, co-chair of SA’s Public Relations Committee who posted the announcement of Gomez’s suspension on SA’s Instagram account, has since explained that she took the statement off of SA’s Instagram when she found out Stacy Omosa, the other comptroller candidate, had won by 99 votes.

A subsequent SA report showed that SA’s Board of Elections and Membership Committee found Gomez’s campaign in violation of bylaws after an individual associated with the campaign spread false information to influence the election.

Even with this report, SA has provided little explanation about its internal processes and even less about the role students play in its operations. It’s understandable that there are policies in place meant to protect those involved in investigations, but SA still hasn’t been vocal about how the community is included in those processes.

 

 

We continue to ask questions, and we continue to be ignored. SA’s leaders need to do a better job communicating with students, and they need to demonstrate that our voices, opinions and votes all have an influence.

“Transparency generates trust,” said D’Angelo. “If an organization demonstrates openness to examination and a willingness to enter into dialogue with others for the purpose of honest give-and-take, it is far more likely to be understood and respected even if there are disagreements.”

A great way to start redeveloping that trust and credibility would be to have an open, honest conversation about the events of election night. Being open with students will help build rapport — something we desperately need with our student government.

Students deserve to know what happened on election night and how the investigations that followed were conducted, in full detail. They deserve transparency from their student representatives.

Jennifer Bancamper is a sophomore double major in English and textual studies and writing and rhetoric. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at jbancamp@syr.edu. 

Published on April 29, 2019 at 12:06 am