Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Syracuse University’s Student Association presented a bill Monday night to address “student safety concerns” on campus, which it will vote on at next week’s meeting.

The bill, if passed, would encourage the university to work with SA to increase “feelings of safety” on campus, SA President William Treloar said. Several SA leaders also highlighted its collaborations with university administration to address other student concerns, including transparency in course information before registration and the decrease in Google Drive storage.

The association introduced the bill in response to recent crime reports, including incidents of break-ins and cases of swatting, he said. Over the past two days, SU’s Department of Public Safety announced it received two “false active shooter” reports at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, which DPS confirmed were cases of “swatting calls” in a campus-wide email Monday night.

“You may see numbers that say crime is going down, (but) students’ feelings of safety aren’t going up,” Treloar said. “Student safety is paramount to a great student experience.”

The new suggestions will encourage the university to implement increased lighting on certain student walking paths and DPS presence in areas with high student populations, such as off-campus student apartment complexes, Treloar said.

Treloar said he believes these suggestions may not “control crime” on campus, but they may help mitigate students’ safety and security concerns.

SA is also actively working with SU administration to address student concerns surrounding the decreased Google Workspace storage, SA Chair of Diversity and Inclusion Tim Wong said. He said he plans to meet with Mark Lodato, dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, to discuss student feedback and concerns regarding students’ Google Drive storage.

Treloar said SA leaders met with Chancellor Kent Syverud and Vice President of Student Transition, Access and Inclusion Dawn Singleton last week to discuss the changes to student storage. They also addressed SA’s goals to increase menstrual product funding and promote early syllabi access. He said administrators’ responses to these issues have been “great.”

Tanner Boshart, SA’s vice president of academic affairs, introduced a bill advocating for the disclosure of course information — such as syllabi, list of required textbooks and other relevant course information — prior to registration. He said these changes will help students be more aware of the “affordability” of their courses when signing up.

“It’s a large task, but students (knowing) about the classes they’re going to register, and that includes these costs, can be a huge decision-making factor,” Boshart said.

The bill would also encourage professors to pursue “low-cost” course materials like open-source textbooks. SA will vote on the course information bill at next week’s meeting.

SA also presented a bill proposing the establishment of a Constitutional Referendum Ad Hoc Committee, which it will vote on tomorrow morning due to not hitting quorum during Monday’s meeting, Treloar said.

Treloar said the committee would consist of six SA executive branch leaders. The committee would oversee the collection of student feedback surrounding the constitution through holding at least two meetings open to the entire student body.

Treloar hopes the changes, which may include a revision to the association’s name, would help to decrease “organizational friction” and make SA more responsive to student concerns.

“(We have) other parts of the constitution that were written into there but do not apply to what Syracuse needs … because they were written by someone who did not work in every aspect of the organization or university,” Treloar said. “We’re trying to make the constitution more dynamic.”

Other business:

• SA leaders introduced several funding bills for its upcoming Spring into Action initiatives — one being a hygiene kit-building event with InterFaith Works, which it tentatively plans to host on March 7 in the Schine Student Center, SA Vice President Yasmin Nayrouz said. Nayrouz said the association plans to source “reusable” and “eco-friendly” products with the kit, in adherence to its new Green Purchasing Guide.
• SA is working to establish a Green Innovation Competition — an initiative it pitched in its Dec. 2022 Sustainability Report, Olivia Curreri, SA’s vice president of university affairs, said. She also said the competition would award winners with grants, which they would then use to apply their proposals to the department of their choice.
• Nayrouz said SA would like to collaborate with SU’s Muslim Students’ Association for an Arab American Heritage Month art event in April. The initiative would feature a workshop with a Middle Eastern artist.
• Otto Sutton, SA’s Board of Elections chair, said the association will be tabling in the Schine Student Center Tuesday and Thursday to promote recruitment for its spring general elections.

Published on February 13, 2024 at 1:13 am

Contact Julia: jmboehni@syr.edu