SA candidates focus on DPS protocol, student unionization efforts in debate
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Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated voting will take place on MySlice. Voting will take place on the Student Association website. The Daily Orange regrets this error.
Ahead of its upcoming election, Syracuse University’s Student Association hosted its 2023 executive debate at the National Veterans Resource Center’s K.G. Tan Auditorium Thursday night.
Candidates for the positions of president, executive vice president and comptroller presented their campaign platforms and discussed campus issues like over-enrollment, graduate workers’ ongoing campaign to unionize and the Department of Public Safety’s bias reporting protocol in the wake of anti-LGBTQ bias incidents in February in Watson Hall.
The winners of the 2023 SA executive election will replace two-time SA President David Bruen, one-time SA Executive Vice President Adia Santos and two-time SA Comptroller Nyah Jones.
William Treloar, who currently serves as SA’s Speaker of the Assembly, is running for president alongside Yasmin Nayrouz, who is currently SA’s vice president of university affairs. Elliot Salas, a member of SA since his freshman year, is also running for the presidency alongside running mate Brendan Murty.
The Treloar-Nayrouz campaign put focus on the pair’s successful initiatives over the course of their time as SA members. Treloar pointed to his co-signing of a bill with the Undergraduate Labor Organization to voluntarily recognize Syracuse Graduate Employees United’s unionization effort, and Nayrouz recounted that she presented a bill to extend SA’s grocery trolley initiative, which provides transportation for students to local food stores. In his opening address, Treloar promised to continue pursuing constant conversations with SU students to hear their needs and demands.
“We have been passionate about helping students since our first semester at SU. I know tonight, Yasmin and I will prove that we have the dedication, experience and passion that is needed to get the job done,” Treloar said.
Salas highlighted his on-campus experience with SA and as president of the Food Recovery Network, a group of SU and SUNY ESF students who transport leftover food from SU dining halls to low-income communities across Syracuse.
Aside from presenting their campaigns and platforms, candidates discussed their positions and plans regarding a number of happenings and issues currently pressing SU’s campus.
Student workers and unionization
Both executive tickets expressed intentions to maintain SA’s support for graduate students amid their effort to establish a union, which SGEU will vote to certify in an election on April 3 and April 4 at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Salas emphasized ensuring that the university serves as a home for graduate students, and Murty added that he hopes to get more input from graduate students on their concerns.
“The fact that they’re union rallying is an issue in itself, because that shouldn’t be happening in the first place. If there’s a way for their voices to be heard immediately, and they can share that their action, whatever it is that they need, can be taken care of at a fast pace, we will be there and make sure to be there by their side,” Salas said.
Treloar and Nayrouz pledged to continue SA’s advocacy for the union, and to welcome graduate students into assembly meetings to work collaboratively toward solutions.
Neither campaign made a direct commitment to support an undergraduate student labor union, but each expressed support to assist undergraduate students with concerns they bring up.
DPS Bias Report Policy
Nayrouz called for more transparency and said DPS should’ve acted quicker in response to two anti-LGBTQ bias incidents in Watson Hall. DPS added the report for the Watson Hall Feb. 24 bias related incidents to the website on March 2, six days after the incident was reported.
SU’s bias incident reporting policy outlines that DPS uploads a report of a bias incident within 48 hours of receipt, unless the public report jeopardizes an active investigation.
Murty contended that DPS’ inadequate response time stemmed from university officers not receiving enough support from the student body and advocated that SA show DPS greater support.
Salas said SA’s current approach is not working to create trust with DPS, but argued that DPS hasn’t served the university community satisfactorily, especially with persistent reported crimes on SU’s South Campus. While he called for SA to look to potentially implement another security system, he didn’t address bias reporting.
The Treloar-Nayrouz campaign called for greater accountability for members of the university community who commit acts of bias, including stricter punishment as a means of changing the campus culture.
“We want to continue working with the administration to make policies that work for all students so that no one feels unsafe,” Treloar said.
Resources and accommodations
Both campaigns promised to pursue bringing use of meal swipes back to the Schine Student Center. SU students petitioned for the university to return meal swipes when they were taken away in the fall 2021 semester after being available for during the 2020-21 academic year.
Salas said meal swipes in Schine were critical for students, especially those coming from lower-income backgrounds. Treloar said he has co-authored a bill that would bring meal swipes back to Schine as part of an SA commitment to work toward the reinstatement with SU’s administration. He said having meal swipes in Schine could address ongoing issues with staffing shortages and early closures at dining halls.
Nayrouz said that in a meeting with new SU Chief Operations Officer John Papazoglou, she discussed concerns surrounding Schine meal swipes and brought attention to issues with SU’s over enrollment for the class of 2026 for the 2022-23 academic year. Approximately 200 SU students were removed from their housing assignment in Dellplain Hall and made to relocate in order to provide students from the over-enrolled first-year class with on-campus housing.
In their concluding remarks, Salas and Murty emphasized progressing on campus improvement initiatives, while Treloar and Nayrouz committed to providing concrete solutions to student concerns.
“Student input has been the foundation of all of our initiatives. Students want to see action, but they aren’t always offered an equal opportunity to have their voices heard,” Treloar said.
Students can vote here beginning at midnight on Monday, March 27. Voting is open between Monday, March 27 and Friday, March 31.
