GSO votes to support United Syracuse’s Parking Petition

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Syracuse University’s Graduate Student Organization senate voted to pass a resolution in support of United Syracuse’s parking petition at its Wednesday meeting.

The petition calls on SU Chancellor Kent Syverud and Parking Director Joseph Carfi to rescind the 2023-24 staff and faculty parking fees, create a new committee to address campus-wide parking issues and increase shuttle services on campus. The GSO Senate voted at the meeting to add a request for increased accessible parking spaces in their support of the petition.

“Graduate students disproportionately bear the burden of increased parking fees and inadequate shuttle services which hinder their ability to conduct research and fulfill their responsibilities to the university,” GSO’s Vice President of Internal Affairs CJ Arnell said while reading from the resolution.

Members of Syracuse Graduate Employees United’s Bargaining Committee reported at the meeting that they are currently bargaining for better livable wages, workforce protection, parental support, comprehensive healthcare, support for international graduate students and protection against harassment for graduate students in their meetings with university administration.

The Senate also elected Becca Vinciquerra as the new vice president of external affairs following the resignation of the former vice president Alex Scrivner. Vinciquerra, formerly a University Senator, was unanimously appointed by the GSO’s Executive Board for the position on Oct. 30. Her position was solidified at Wednesday’s meeting after a two-thirds majority vote from the Senate.

Vinciquerra will be responsible for organizing GSO events, increasing visibility of the GSO in the campus community and informing graduate students about the GSO.

Scrivner, who resigned for “personal and professional reasons,” will now serve as a senator-at-large after being nominated by GSO President Daniel Kimmel and earning over a two-thirds majority vote from the Senate.

Kimmel informed the Senate that a Student Health Advisory Committee will be formed in collaboration with the Barnes Center at The Arch in spring 2024. The committee was a result of GSO’s advocacy to prioritize graduate student health and wellness and will allow students to provide feedback on health and wellness initiatives and services at SU, they said.

Melissa Alvisi, GSO’s Comptroller, proposed that the graduate student activity fee — which is currently $100 — be raised to provide further funding towards Professional, Academic and Creative Work grants and GSO programming.
She warned that without raising the fee, the PAC grant will change to have a yearly limit which will restrict graduate students looking to defray the costs of attending academic and professional conferences.

Vice Chancellor and Provost Gretchen Ritter has invited Kimmel to address the Board of Trustees Academic Affairs Committee Thursday where they plan to discuss the importance of shared governance and call for the further integration of graduate students, whom Kimmel feels are often overlooked, into university programming.

“Often graduate students are the last in line when it comes to university-wide programming initiatives,” Kimmel said. “Hopefully this will be an opportunity to make some headway.”

A special funding request of $1,750 by the Biology Graduate Student Organization was awarded following a Senate vote. Start-up funding of $300 was also awarded to both Delta Delta Epsilon Forensic Science Honor Society and the Emerging Museum Professionals Network at Syracuse. The recognized student organizations hope to use the money to fund travel and outreach.

In his executive report, Arnell announced there are now 54 academic program senators, 10 university senators and nine at-large senators. There are 4,511 full-time main campus graduate students, with 3,132 students currently represented in the GSO, he said.

Upcoming GSO events include a Diwali celebration giveaway event between Nov. 12 and Nov. 15, a graduate student karaoke night at the Inn Complete on Nov. 17 and a graduate student art night. The GSO will also host a campus-wide food drive with its Climate Action Committee in February.

Other business:

• GSO’s Parliamentarian Luke VanderSchaaff announced he will be holding parliamentarian office hours every Thursday at 10 a.m. on Zoom and in the GSO’s office.
• Alvisi presented a trimester update on GSO’s expenses, which have totaled $128,873 this academic year from July 1 to Sept. 30. The remaining balance of the budget for the 2023 fiscal year is $237,949 as of Oct. 29. The PAC grant only has $5,361 remaining.