Syracuse University’s Student Association unanimously approved a motion to fund $10,000 worth of Lyft coupon codes for undergraduate students during its first assembly meeting of the 2018-19 academic year in Maxwell Auditorium on Monday night.

SA will distribute $10 Lyft coupons to the first 1,000 SU students who redeem an online code. Funding for the initiative will come from the student advancement fund.

President Ghufran Salih and Vice President Kyle Rosenblum are trying to build a relationship with Lyft, Salih said.

Former President James Franco introduced a similar partnership with Uber in fall 2017. His administration allocated more than $10,000 to partner with the ride-hailing company.

Both Salih and Rosenblum said they plan to send a campus-wide email so students can unlock the Lyft coupon code. The only requirement to redeem the code is that either the start or end point of the trip has to be at SU.

Salih and Rosenblum, who were elected last spring, were officially sworn in as president and vice president at Monday’s meeting. The assembly also confirmed cabinet members.

All potential cabinet members gave speeches and were questioned by the assembly. They were then asked to leave Maxwell Auditorium for open discussion between the assembly members, during which the candidates were confirmed.

To be officially confirmed, each candidate who presented to the assembly was interviewed and selected prior to the meeting by Salih, Rosenblum and a small committee.

The cabinet confirmations included:

• Chief of Staff: Mackenzie Mertikas
• Chair of Academic Affairs: Evan Torrisi
• Chair of Student Life: Noah Cyr
• Co-chair of Public Relations: Peter Choi
• Co-chair of Public Relations: Torre Payton-Jackson
• Co-chair of Community Engagement: Iris Guzman
• Co-chair of Community Engagement: Gregory Mytelka
• Co-chair of Diversity Affairs: Quincy Nolan
• Co-chair of Diversity Affairs: Eden Afework
• Chair of Technology: David Fox

At Monday’s meeting, which lasted about five hours, assembly members called for executive sessions five times. During executive sessions, non-SA members, including members of the press, are required to leave the room. A Daily Orange reporter and photographer were the only non-SA members asked to temporarily leave Monday’s meeting.

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John Jankovic, a former SA presidential candidate who was elected recorder on Monday, said in an interview with The D.O. after the meeting that the organization’s administrative operations committee discussed calling executive sessions during deliberations about cabinet confirmations.

“(The reason for the executive sessions) wasn’t predominantly because I didn’t trust The Daily Orange,” Jankovic said. Discussions during the executive sessions pertained to the election process, he added.

He declined to elaborate on the private assembly discussions.

Published on August 28, 2018 at 2:37 am

Contact Catherine: ccleffer@syr.edu | @ccleffert