New SA president, vice president hope to continue making student needs the 1st priority
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As the newly-elected president and executive vice president of Syracuse University’s Student Association, William Treloar and Yasmin Nayrouz hope to expand initiatives and continue making student needs the association’s first priority.
Treloar and Nayrouz defeated presidential and vice presidential candidates Elliot Salas and Brendan Murty with 68.34% of the vote in last week’s SA Spring 2023 election, according to a Saturday email from SA Board of Elections Chair Otto Sutton.
After working to increase voter turnout for this semester’s election through advertising and emphasizing various SA initiatives, this year’s voter turnout of 863 votes was an increase of 1.22% from SA’s fall 2022 election turnout of 4.4%.
Treloar and Nayrouz, both members of the class of 2024, have been involved in SA since their freshman year, most recently serving as speaker of the assembly and vice president of university affairs, respectively. Treloar said he joined SA to get an idea of what student government looks like on a college campus, but that he decided to stay because he saw the impact the group could make on the student body.
“I decided to run for president because I thought that helping direct and helping organize that passion to really get everybody working on the same page, and make sure we can make the biggest positive impact on campus as we can before we leave, was really something that I wanted to guide my college journey,” Treloar said.
Treloar and Nayrouz will be replacing David Bruen — who has served as SA president for the past two years — and SA Executive Vice President Adia Santos. Treloar expressed his excitement about taking over the position, saying he hopes to sustain Bruen’s success in enhancing the student experience.
“We have similar goals, similar intentions, but I really think that we can build upon all of the work that has been done over these past two years to really see enormous change on campus moving forward,” Treloar said.
Treloar said he expects a smooth transition in leadership after working closely with Bruen and Santos for the past three years. He and Nayrouz will begin meetings with members of SU’s administration to discuss their own initiatives and review SA cabinet applications, they both said.
Nayrouz is eager to hear more opinions and voices from the student body as well as to work alongside a diverse group of students, she said. Nayrouz said her success in the position will be shaped by people she will collaborate with in the cabinet positions.
“(My) leadership is only as effective as those who I will work alongside,” Nayrouz said.
Nayrouz hopes to expand upon SA’s current initiatives, including a grocery store trolley transportation program which she spearheaded in January 2022. She also plans to continue pushing for mental health resources on campus and action on SA’s sustainability report following the passage of the 2030 Carbon Referendum in the election.
The referendum, which was affirmed by a vote of 92.80%, aims to show student support for expediting the university’s carbon neutrality goal by 10 years.
Treloar said he wants to stay true to the goals of his campaign by making SA self-sufficient — meaning it’s able to have enough resources to support students without any need for university involvement — and addressing student concerns with direct actions and services that can later become permanent parts of SU.
Treloar also wants to expand SA’s partnership with other on-campus organizations, and ensure that students know SA is a resource working for them. He wants to reach out to students where they are, which is something that he said SA has struggled with in past years.
Treloar and Nayrouz both emphasized that their main priority is to advocate for students. During his presidency, Treloar wants to create initiatives based on student input to directly address students’ concerns.
“Our main focus and everything that we’ve been doing for the past three years and everything that we will be doing for the next year is about student needs,” Treloar said. “Student needs are the heart and soul of what our campaign was, and they will be the heart and soul of all of the work we do going forward.”
Correction: a previous version of this article misstated that the cabinet applications will open in a few weeks. SA cabinet applications open now and close on Friday. The Daily Orange regrets this error
