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On Monday, Syracuse University’s Student Association discussed the new Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility draft plan recently released by the university. 

During the last meeting, SA established a committee to look over the university’s draft of its new DEIA plan. During their discussion Monday, SA members said they were disappointed and upset with the plan. 

Members said they believe the plan lacks specifics on how SU will achieve the goals indicated in the plan. SA members emphasized the plan should do more to address issues like financial aid, test-optional policies, diversity of faculty and the university’s relationship with Indigenous groups, as well as how each of these affects the university’s diversity. 

Adia Santos, an SA assembly member, said she believes the university has to be more transparent with its plans. She said the plan doesn’t give specifics on how the university plans to increase DEIA at SU and only gives a general outline of a plan. 

“When (the plan) talks about financial aid, they don’t give us specifics. They don’t give us numbers. They don’t give us ways they see implementing recruitment and retention of faculty of color or students of color,” Santos said. “I need them to be as open and vulnerable as possible.” 

While Santos doesn’t expect them to have everything thought out yet, she needs something more, she said.

“Be more open. Tell us exactly what you are thinking,” Santos said. “We don’t expect them to have answers to all the questions that we have right now, but we need something to build off of that. We need to know that they are going to the right people.” 

Malique Lewis, the vice president of diversity and inclusion of SA, said he plans on being completely transparent, and he expects the university to do the same. 

“A lot of students are concerned about this plan, and a lot of students want their voices heard. I know students want to see change,” Lewis said. “They are realizing that this plan doesn’t seem too concrete. They want more clarity and more transparency.”

Lewis said SA is looking over the current draft of the DEIA plan and will offer recommendations to the university about what students want to see in the plan. 

“We’ve seen the plan that’s (53 pages long). Within this plan, we believe there is some fluff that needs to be addressed,” Lewis said. 

In addition to the discussion about the DEIA plan, SA President David Bruen revealed that the association will be allocating $56,925 to implement free and universal menstrual hygiene products for students. This initiative will be fully implemented in the spring 2022 semester, Bruen said.

Bruen said he, Vice President Darnelle Stinfort and Comptroller Nyah Jones are committed to stocking free dispensers across campus for an entire year with the funds.

“There are a few exceptions that cannot have the machines installed for various reasons, and so we are also still committed to fulfilling those machines ourselves through baskets that we’ve been doing for a few years now,” Bruen said. 

SA passed a bill that contributed $5,000 dollars to the Barnes Center at The Arch’s STI testing initiative, “Get Yourself Tested.” 

SA will hold a town hall on Wednesday focusing on sexual violence on campus and possible solutions for it. The town hall is open to all SU community members. 

On Sept. 27, following protests on campus in front of multiple IFC fraternities, SA passed bills encouraging SU to implement sexual assault prevention services. On Oct. 26, Stand With Survivors SU, a student-led organization that aims to fight sexual misconduct and rape culture at the university, released a letter of demands, calling on SU and Greek life organizations to implement housing policy, preventative and specific action changes. 

On Saturday night, SWSSU protested outside of SU’s chapter of Phi Kappa Psi, alleging multiple members of the fraternity committed sexual assault. 

Roger Hailstork, director of SU Campus Store, spoke to SA about the affordability of textbooks in the Campus Store. Hailstork said the Campus Store has been working with a textbook company to allocate certain percentages off its textbooks for SU students, hoping for the prices of these textbooks to match Chegg and Amazon. 

The company will also give $20,000 per year in textbook scholarships for the Campus Store to use at its discretion. Hailstork wants SA to be in charge of and implement the scholarships, he said. In previous years, SA worked with SU Libraries to make textbooks more affordable to students.

During the meeting, Bruen gave a quick recap of last week’s Board of Trustees meeting. Bruen said the meeting was successful and that the board was concerned about student complaints about the high cost of meal plans at SU.

 

Published on November 9, 2021 at 12:46 am

Contact Danis: dwcammet@syr.edu