Syracuse University’s Student Association at its Monday meeting introduced legislation to start the new Assembly and swear in the president, vice president and comptroller at the end of the spring semester, rather than waiting until the fall.

Last year, despite being elected into their positions in April, SA President Ghufran Salih and Vice President Kyle Rosenblum did not officially begin their respective positions until the first meeting of the fall semester, Rosenblum said.

If passed, the legislation would prevent possible restrictions on leaders to work over the summer in preparation for the school year, Rosenblum said. He said he returned to SU’s campus before the beginning of the school year to start working with university officials, but he was not yet technically operating as SA’s vice president.

“It seems like a small change, but it’s actually really important, both symbolically and literally,” Rosenblum said.

SA Representative Lily Datz also presented a project that will add 18 student feedback boxes around residence halls and student centers. The boxes will improve SA’s visibility and have more direct access to student concerns, Datz said.

Currently SA only has one feedback box in Schine Student Center that is rarely used, she said. Feedback from the new boxes regarding residence life will be forwarded to the Residence Hall Association to address issues not regularly handled by SA, Datz added.

“It’s just a way to show our visibility and show students that we care, that’s the main goal of it,” Datz said.

Other business

• Rosenblum said Salih and he are keeping an eye on SU’s Madrid Center, where students and professors said the N-word four times in a classroom setting. He said the university responded quickly to the incident, but some students said they did not feel that it was handled properly.

• In a floor vote, SA elected Roma Amernath, a student in SU’s College of Arts and Sciences, as its new reporter for the remainder of the spring semester. The former reporter, Arts and Sciences student Liliana Umana, had to resign from the position because she was not able to attend weekly cabinet meetings, according to the meeting’s agenda.

• Salih, Rosenblum and representatives introduced legislation to allow part-time University College students to hold seats in SA’s cabinet, which is currently barred by the organization’s constitution.

Published on March 18, 2019 at 11:11 pm

Contact Hannah: hagraf@syr.edu