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The Student Association appointed its first Director of Indigenous student affairs, Katsitsatekanoniahkwa Destiny Lazore Whitebean, in May as part of its work toward promoting inclusivity and fair representation on Syracuse University’s campus.

Yasmin Nayrouz, SA’s executive vice president, said Whitebean will facilitate a direct relationship between SA and SU’s Indigenous student population, as well as help Indigenous students grow their presence in SA.

“Filling that role for the first time is going to have a positive effect on our campus we hope, and (so is) responding to Indigenous students on campus and helping them,” Nayrouz said.

SA leaders said their work in diversity and inclusion on campus will remain a focal point, especially following the United States Supreme Court’s June decision that banned colleges and universities from considering race as a factor in the admissions process. Other plans for the fall semester include continuing efforts with environmental sustainability on campus and partnerships with Micron.

Hours after the SCOTUS decision in June, Nayrouz and William Treloar, SA’s president, sent an email to the SU student body reassuring students that SA would continue to advocate for minorities and work with the university to ensure inclusivity.

Treloar said SA is looking to work with more multicultural organizations and promote cultural events throughout the academic year in response to the ruling.

“We want to ensure that students still feel welcomed,” Nayrouz said.

Last week, SU administrators announced the university is examining its policies on legacy admissions — a strategy within admissions historically benefiting mostly white, wealthy applicants — and plans to release a decision shortly.

Treloar and Nayrouz called on the university in the email to make the university’s test-optional application policy permanent, as well as admit students based on non-racial factors, like socioeconomic diversity and first-generation status.

SA Chief of Staff Reed Granger also emphasized the importance of new members feeling welcome within SA itself, further reinforcing the overall goal of inclusivity.

“A lot of my initial goals here are not only to help the student body but to help the internal operations of the student government,” Granger said.

After SA announced new sustainability goals with SU in April, Treloar said SA members have joined the Sustainability Oversight Council to work alongside Chancellor Kent Syverud and other university officials to ensure student voices are heard moving forward.

SA also established a similar Student Advisory Council for university relations with Micron, where members have discussed expanding access to STEM education programs for marginalized communities. Treloar said the council is also discussing career opportunities for SU graduates.

Student mental health and disability inclusion will be other working priorities this semester, Nayrouz said, and SA members plan to work directly with the Barnes Center at The Arch. Nayrouz and Treloar advocated for more mental healthcare resources and opportunities when they campaigned in the spring semester.

Nayrouz also worked on a bill that created two wellness days for a Fall Break, which will begin this semester.

As SA moves into the fall semester with these goals for diversity, inclusion and mental healthcare in mind, members hope to also improve communication with other students after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted campus dynamics.

“Campus after COVID-19 is going to be hopefully a pretty big institutional change, but we’re hoping to work through that in the many layers of it this year,” Treloar said.

SA leadership will allocate their projects for the semester to different councils within the association, Treloar said. He said each council will focus on its own projects with an overall goal of improving campus experience.

“Each of these projects kind of comes towards this bigger goal, and that is to create an inclusive space, inclusive campus and also to amplify student voices in university decision-making processes,” Treloar said.

Published on August 28, 2023 at 11:58 pm

Contact Roxanne: rmboychu@syr.edu