SA establishes its recognition of grad student union, requests SU’s neutrality
By Roxanne Boychuk, writer for The Daily Orange | Published on February 7, 2023
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Syracuse University’s Student Association unanimously passed a bill at Monday night’s meeting to establish its recognition and support for Syracuse Graduate Employees United’s unionization campaign.
The bill, which the Undergraduate Labor Organization presented to the assembly at last week’s meeting, requests neutrality from the SU administration to protect current graduate student workers who decide to join the union.
SA Chief of Staff Malique Lewis commended SGEU’s intentions with the bill, saying it makes history at SU and works to benefit not only current, but all future graduate student workers at the university.
“They’re fighting for your future, and they’re fighting for something much bigger than ourselves in this way,” Lewis said. “It doesn’t just stop at four years here, people have a lot of dreams and goals and you can’t reach it if you cannot provide for yourself and your education.”
In addition to promoting resolutions for support like Monday’s bill, SGEU is currently using petitions and signed cards to spread awareness and gain support for its campaign. The union passed a similar bill within the Graduate Student Organization at last week’s GSO Senate meeting.
Also at the meeting, Vice President of University Affairs Yasmin Nayrouz announced measures the Barnes Center at The Arch is taking to improve counseling availability for students. She said the Barnes Center hopes to reduce waiting times for appointments from several weeks to three to five days.
The Barnes Center also hired two new therapists and established premium access to Headspace – a health app designed for guided meditation and mindfulness – which Nayrouz said around 800 students have already signed up for.
Santos and David Bruen, SA’s president, are also working with Chancellor Kent Syverud and the University Senate to expand the grounds for excused absences, they said. Santos said the changes aim to influence language that faculty use to allow for more circumstances to be covered by excused absences.
Santos said at a November meeting that she hopes to include mental health, racial fatigue, imposter syndrome and first-year student adjustments in the expansion of the excused absence policy.
The assembly also discussed SA members’ recent trip to Washington D.C. for a meeting with members of Congress from New York. Members of the executive board who attended, including Bruen, Santos and Chair Otto Sutton, discussed key issues in sustainability and mental health, Bruen said.
“It was really well received, everything we went there to advocate for,” Santos said. “I’m personally excited because some of the offices that we met with were really excited about continuing conversations and potentially supporting some of the initiatives that we have.”
Other business:
SA will be sponsoring two events in February including the Celebrating Black Excellence Gala on Feb. 25th and Breaking Stigma – Mental Health Matters on Feb. 28th.
SUNY ESF seats in SA are full for the first time in years, Bruen announced at the meeting. Two representatives from ESF were elected to the assembly at last week’s meeting.
Satisfaction surveys, which allow a patient to report back to providers on the quality of their appointment, will launch this week for students to complete after counseling appointments in the Barnes Center.
The assembly passed the nomination of SU first-year student German Nolivos as a University Senator.
