Student Association leaders confirm SU will not restore unlimited Google Drive storage

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Amid its ongoing meetings with Syracuse University administrators regarding the decrease in Google Workspace storage, Student Association confirmed during its Monday meeting that the university does not plan to restore the unlimited plan.

SA Diversity and Inclusion Chair Tim Wong said he discussed student concerns with administrators from the S.I. Newhouse School Of Public Communications, including Dean Mark Lodato and Executive Director of Instructional Technology Edecio Martinez, in the week following their Feb. 19 assembly meeting.

“They were very clear. The unlimited Google Drive storage is not coming back,” Wong said. “It’s a university mandate that came all the way down from Google itself.”

In July 2022, Google announced a new policy that impacted Google Workspace for Education users, according to its storage guide. The new policy placed a maximum quota of “pooled storage,” the total amount of storage used across a given organization. The university did not specify whether it made these changes in response to Google’s new protocols in a Jan. 3 post on SU’s Information Technology Services Answers website explaining the decrease in Workspace storage.

While SU is not considering the reintroduction of an unlimited plan, Lodato and Martinez are looking into alternative methods, such as utilizing other file storage and sharing services like the Frame.io platform or supplying external hard drives to students, Wong said.

The university is also testing a system that would allow students who exceeded their storage limits to request a temporary restoration of their unlimited Drive storage to be able to transfer the files to another platform, he said. Wong added that he will speak about the student Google Drive storage concerns at the next University Senate meeting on March 20.

SA President William Treloar said several SA leaders have met with SU administrators throughout the week to discuss its goals to accommodate student feedback. Treloar and SA Comptroller Dylan France will meet with Pete Sala, SU’s vice president and chief facilities officer, within the week.

Treloar also presented a bill outlining revisions to its internal constitution. SA developed these changes using feedback collected by its newly-instated Constitutional Referendum Ad Hoc Committee — a group of six SA executive branch leaders who facilitated public student forums surrounding the proposed changes.

Some of the changes incorporated in the constitutional revisions bill would reallocate responsibilities among certain roles, alter internal impeachment proceedings, increase outreach efforts to diverse student groups and add several new appointed positions — such as a SUNY ESF Mighty Oak Student Assembly liaison, Treloar said.

Under the revised constitution, the association would also change its name to the “Student Government Association,” or SGA.

If SA passes the revisions bill next week, the updated constitution will be featured on the ballot for its spring 2024 general elections, which will open in April. To pass the changes, 10% of the student body will need to vote in favor of them, Treloar said.

“Passing this on Monday is not going to make these changes to the Constitution. It allows it to get on the ballot so that we can start working to make sure that we get them through,” Treloar said. “There is plenty of work to be done.”

Amid the ongoing election process, SA will also continue to hold several student engagement and advocacy initiatives. During Monday’s meeting, SA leaders presented spending bills for its annual formal as well as an Arab Heritage Month Paint Night on April 12 in collaboration with SU’s Muslim Students’ Association.

SA will also continue to promote student engagement with the association through SA on Tour, SA Chief of Staff Reed Granger said. As of now, representatives from SA are slated to visit around 15 to 20 registered student organizations but the association plans to reach out to more, Granger said.

​​“We want to see the (SA on Tour) list grow, so we can have more people, more involvement and better campaign the message and intentions of Student Association,” Granger said.

Other business:

• SA has appointed sophomore Alani Henderson to serve as its new director of mental health advocacy, SA Vice President Yasmin Nayrouz said. Henderson and Nayrouz will meet with Cory Wallack, SU’s associate vice president of student health and wellness, to discuss student concerns surrounding the university’s Barnes Center at The Arch, Nayrouz said.
• SA will stop accepting petitions for its spring general elections next week, Otto Sutton, SA’s Board of Elections chair, said. Its final information session, which people interested in running are required to attend, will occur on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Huntington Beard Crouse Gifford auditorium, according to SA’s Instagram.
• SA and SU’s Black History Month Committee are co-sponsoring the closing ceremony to its Black History Month events. The event, titled the “Daring to Dream Gala,” will invite students to celebrate Black culture over dinner and live music on Sunday in Schine Student Center’s Goldstein Auditorium. The gala will feature a “special performer,” France said.