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Syracuse University Student Association President David Bruen and Speaker of the Assembly Will Treloar expressed their support for Syracuse Graduate Employees United and its intention to unionize at SA’s first meeting of the spring semester.

Katie Mott, a Ph.D. student and graduate assistant in SU’s sociology department, along with Chris Holowczak, a worker from the Undergraduate Labor Organization, gave public comment with a presentation of SGEU’s mission and goals. They also shared a link to the organization’s petition for voluntary recognition of the union, directed toward Chancellor Kent Syverud and SU Administration.

Mott’s main motivation for joining SGEU was her support of comprehensive health coverage. After suffering a concussion in 2019 and managing continued struggles with medical debt, she said she fears that if something else happens, she may be forced to drop out of graduate school.

“I believe that, no matter your physical (or) mental ability, if you want to go to grad school, you should be able to. You shouldn’t have to bow out and do something that you don’t really want to do in life because it’s financially inaccessible for you,” Mott said.

Treloar said that both he and Bruen signed the petition and encouraged other members of the assembly to do the same. Bruen added that SA will be exploring other ways to support SGEU’s unionization efforts.

Bruen also discussed a collaboration with leaders from other universities to write a letter to the Supreme Court relating to the case Haaland v. Brackeen, which calls into question the Indian Child Welfare Act. In 1978, the Indian Child Welfare Act prevented the federal government from removing Native American children from their homes and families.

“There’s essentially a letter that’s being developed, basically making some arguments to the Supreme Court,” Bruen said. “And we will be signing on to that.”

Also at the meeting, Vice President of University Affairs Yasmin Nayrouz announced that SA will be continuing its Grocery Trolley in the spring semester. The trolleys will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Sunday from College Place to locations including Target, Walmart and Wegmans.

Nayrouz added that in response to issues with students waiting at College Place without a way to track the trolley’s location and return time, SA representatives will ride the trolley and respond to students with the trolley’s live location via Instagram direct messages.

Bruen also addressed SA’s Sustainability Report, which it released on Dec. 15 in a campus-wide email which included a petition to support SA’s sustainability recommendations. Bruen said that as of Monday, the petition currently has 162 student signatures.

“If you even just take a glance at it, I think you can tell it’s such a really ambitious vision for the university,” Bruen said.

Bruen discussed the report’s recommendations, which include an advanced carbon-neutral goal from 2040 to 2030, 100% renewable energy by 2040, a Gold STARS report by 2027 and a Platinum STARS report by 2032.

“This can be one of the most significant things the student government has done in conjunction with the university anywhere, not just this student government,” Bruen said.

Other Business:

• SA’s Government Affairs Committee will host Spring to Action, a week-long community service event that will include collaborations with other university organizations.
• Treloar said SA will be expanding the Stress Buster event after its immense success last semester. SA saw high attendance after providing free food for students in the Schine Student Center during finals week. They hope to continue providing free food to students throughout the spring.

Published on January 23, 2023 at 11:57 pm

Contact Kendall: kaluther@syr.edu