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Syracuse University’s Student Association approved 25 new members to their assembly after the midterm elections this past week. 

SA conducted its first post-election meeting on Monday. The meeting featured the new members, many of whom are first-year students. Fall elections typically do not happen in SA, but this year they held midterm elections to fill seats in their assembly. 

During the meeting, members expressed frustration with the recent election, citing problems related to the pandemic, the new MySlice update and the atypical fall election. SA did not meet the 15% voter turnout they were hoping for. David Bruen, president of SA, previously promised that if voter turnout reached 15%, he would be “pied in the face.”

Bruen said he was excited with the newly elected freshman members of the assembly.

“A breath of fresh air and new blood has been injected into this organization which will make our meetings much more lively, much more active, much more proactive,” Bruen said. 

One of the new additions, first-year student Oji Anderson, said she hopes to focus on mental health by providing resources to students. She said that these past few years have been especially tough for many students and hopes that she and SA can make proactive changes to address students’ mental health. 

During the meeting, SA only passed one of three proposed bills, which provides funding for an order of mental health awareness T-shirts. 

Kennedy Williams, another first-year member of SA, said that she is very excited to be a member of SA. She hopes her role creates a positive impact on student life at SU. 

“I looked into this program when I was applying to college. I was really impressed with how involved and passionate the members are,” Williams said. “In high school, (student government) it’s more of a popularity contest. But here it seems everyone is actually trying to make a difference.” 

Williams said that she has long-term goals for the association. 

“The long-term vision for the Student Association is to get every student on campus to care about the community within this school and without,” Williams said. “Everyone should care about what’s going on around them.” 

SA said it’s currently working on the Board of Trustees report, which includes concerns that students have.

Amaar Asif, the undergraduate representative for the Board of Trustees, is working with SA to build their report for the board meeting in November.

Many members within SA listed concerns with the university’s COVID-19 testing policy. 

Members described experiences of having to wait a long time to get a COVID-19 test or to see a doctor for their illnesses. They also said that testing hours at the Carrier Dome were very inconvenient because they typically align with class times. 

Additionally, members said they were frustrated with some professors who are not understanding of COVID-19 related absences. 

In addition to the bill about mental health awareness T-shirts, SA also proposed a new bill condemning the treatment of Haitian refugees at the U.S. southern border. The bill seeks to call on President Biden, a SU College of Law alumnus, to stop further ill treatment of Haitian refugees by the U.S. Border Patrol. 

The bill encountered debate as some members felt that the SA had little power to change the situation, and the vote was postponed for a later voting date in order to allow for amendments. 

SA also delayed a bill to purchase a new table cloth until next week.

Linh Le, the vice president of academic affairs, said that she wants to further expand the roles of undergraduate teaching assistants, saying these roles represent a great learning and resume-building opportunity for undergraduates.

Bruen said SA is laying a foundation this year, and he hopes to make more progress in the future. 

“We are flying a plane while also building it at the same time,” Bruen said. “We have a new constitution and new laws. There is a lot of progress we need to make. We need to make sure our committees are more active, make sure more bills are coming in each week, and that there is a higher level of competency among our members.”

DISCLAIMER: Linh Le previously wrote at The Daily Orange. She is no longer involved with The Daily Orange and does not influence the editorial content of the News section.

Published on October 5, 2021 at 1:03 am

Contact Danis: dwcammet@syr.edu