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Around 9.9% of Syracuse University’s student body voted in the spring 2022 Student Association election, Board of Elections Chair Richard Kaufman IV announced in SA’s meeting Monday.

According to Kaufman, there were 1,573 total votes in the election. Of the voters, 30.4% were freshmen, 28.1% were sophomores, 24.8% were juniors, and around 15.6% were seniors.

Cabinet positions have also been open for assembly members and will be chosen on Wednesday, April 13. All positions will be open, with two new positions – the director of sexual assault and relationship violence advocacy and awareness, along with the director of transportation – being up for application.

The Student Association also went over the semester budget allocation for registered student organizations, which would provide around $1.9 million in funding for organizations in fall 2022.

Recently reelected Comptroller Nyah Jones went over each of the financial board’s recommendations for the funding. Of the $2.1 million amount requested by RSOs, the financial board advised the approval of around $1.9 million in funding.

“It’s your right to ask questions, approve or deny decisions, and call out any bias — this is a lot of money so don’t be afraid to speak out,” Jones said regarding the financial board’s advice.

Members of RSOs attended the meeting, with the president of University Union, Beck Patrone, coming in to explain the $600,000 requested for the upcoming Block Party event taking place on April 29.

Each RSO has to go through a process designated by SA’s Financial Codes. Jones said the codes were “outdated.”

SA also approved a bill written by Jones that would establish an ad-hoc committee to revise the Financial Codes. The committee and its report will only be concerned with reforming Chapter 4 Title II section 1.1-1.13 of the Financial Codes, which details the RSO allocation process.

SA packaged each of the RSO budget requests together except for one by the Interfraternity Council for its Bid Day event. Members said that they had concerns about the event’s inclusivity after hearing testimonials from other students.

SA passed tablecloth legislation, which allows the association to make purchases for itself: for election reimbursement, stress balls for the final exam stress buster initiative and an official SA gavel during the session.

SA also approved a bill establishing an FYS 101 student advisory board, which would work with the administration to reform the required first-year seminar class. The board would be established next year with the members being approved by SA.

Speaker of the Assembly William Treloar clarified before the voting that while actual curriculum changes would have to be made through University Senate, the board could provide an open forum for students outside the organization to provide their input.

When discussing upcoming events, Treloar announced that SA would not hold any of the anticipated multicultural week events due to miscommunication among members.

“Usually this is a permanent initiative that happens every year,” Treloar said. “It only happens if we all work together. If you are having trouble with things, meeting goals, just let us know.”

Other events that will be taking place are the New York Public Interest Research Group food drive, which will start on April 23. SA is also planning to table in the Schine Student Center on Wednesday from 1-4 p.m. to raise awareness against sexual assault and relationship violence in partnership with peer mentors from the Barnes Center at The Arch.

“What made SA so successful this year was everyone stepping up,” said Malique Lewis, vice president of diversity and inclusion at SA. “We would have loved to have seen more ideas (about multicultural week) because I can’t make this all come to fruition by myself. We have to be better, take this as a learning lesson to stand up.”

Published on April 12, 2022 at 1:09 am

Contact Grace: gdkatz@syr.edu