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After a week-long voting period, Syracuse University students have approved the Student Association’s new constitution.

The updated constitution passed with 1,653 votes, 98.3% of all votes cast. About 10.2% of students voted on the initiative, just above the required 10% threshold to validate the change. 

“There’s clearly an issue with how SA engages the student body and also how the student body engages with SA,” said SA Parliamentarian Josh Shub-Seltzer. “Whether students care or not, this does affect them, and this does affect their experience.”

Less than three hours before the election ended, SA reported a 9.7% turnout — 43 votes shy of meeting the 10% threshold. But the remaining votes came in on time in order for the election to be validated.

The voting period, which was originally planned to end Friday, was extended by one day so that SA could meet the 10% turnout threshold.

Shub-Seltzer and other SA members reached out to several student organizations and spoke in classes to help get out the vote. SA members also tabled in the Schine Student Center throughout the week. COVID-19 regulations made it especially challenging to connect with students because of the lack of in-person activities, Shub-Seltzer said.

Many students didn’t understand the changes to the constitution and what they might mean for students, he said. 

“Students didn’t really get what this was about,” Shub-Seltzer said. “I was disappointed by the lack of a reaction from the people reached out to.” 

SA members spread the word of the proposed constitution on Instagram and Twitter accounts, Shub-Seltzer said. Josh Black, a Syracuse Football player, also endorsed the constitution. 

“We want to make sure that there’s at least a substantial group of students that are making decisions on behalf of the entire student body,” Shub-Seltzer said. “It would be unrealistic to say we need 50% of the student body to vote because we would never have any valid elections.”

Shub-Seltzer said that the new constitution, which he and other SA members have been working on for over a year, is the first step in a larger review of the organization. Next steps include approving new bylaws, updating codes and drafting a report of the changes.

The new constitution redefines several of SA’s processes and increases representation beyond academic schools and colleges, he said. 

“It’s no secret that there’s ways that SA could work better,” he said. “A lot of the time it was unclear how we could even go about doing things.”

The organization has operated under the same constitution since its establishment in 1957, which makes several of the processes outdated, Shub-Seltzer said. Adopting a new constitution can better help the organization communicate with SU’s administration.

“It started off with us reflecting on the growing divide between (students and) the university,” he said. “SA’s failure to reach its potential might bear some of the responsibility because we have not been able to bridge that divide.”

Shub-Seltzer said he is hopeful for the future of the organization after passing the constitution.

“I’m very hopeful for the future of SA and the student body at large going forward,” he said.

Published on March 22, 2021 at 12:46 am

Contact Mira: mlberenb@syr.edu