SGA discusses retail dining additions, new funding bill in weekly meeting
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Syracuse University’s Student Government Association looks to increase student voices regarding a variety of on-campus issues, as well as boost outreach efforts to SUNY-ESF during its 70th session, SGA said during its regular Monday meeting.
The association welcomed representatives from multiple areas of on-campus dining who fielded questions from assembly members about the varying quality and availability of food across dining halls, especially with the upcoming developments of the “Waverly complex,” which will feature a new dining hall and expand the retail dining options.
Members of SU’s Office of the Chief Operations Officer presented during the public comment section of the meeting. SU’s new Director of Campus Dining, Jim Holdren, said he’s bringing his mantra of “student-centric” business into his new role.
Holdren said he hopes to increase the quality of the SU dining experience by “making sure we have the right people in the right places,” especially when it comes to the positive presentation of on-campus dining options.
These additions to retail dining options are aimed at increasing retail dining options for students who are located on the “perimeter of campus,” in Shaw Hall, Ernie Davis Hall and other residence buildings that lack proximity to the current retail dining options. Holdren said campus dining aims specifically to increase spending appeal for students who may not want to make a late-night trek to the Schine Student Center, which he said is where most retail dining spending currently occurs.
The assembly is working within its budgetary constraints to provide funding to registered student organizations on a first come first serve basis.
On Sept. 24, SGA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office will host a town hall to amplify student voices and educate about available resources related to “immigration, student rights and campus safety,” it said in a statement to The Daily Orange. The town hall will feature representatives from La L.U.C.H.A., Art Warehouse and Department of Public Safety Chief Michael Bunker.
In the same statement, SGA President Emily Castillo-Melean and Vice President Max Lachut highlighted the importance of the featured partnerships taking place for this event.
“These guests bring different perspectives from community advocacy, civic engagement, and campus safety, helping create a more informed and balanced discussion,” Castillo-Melean and Lachut said.
Speaker Pro Tempore Alexa De los Santos also touched on the town hall meeting during her weekly rules, operations, oversight and finance report. She highlighted its importance after the meeting as a way to “get those voices heard” and better understand what students want help with.
Three new bills were also introduced during Monday’s meeting, two concerning funding and one nominating Robert D’Orso, speaker of the assembly, as the SU Alumni Representative for the Class of 2028, a position formerly held by Castillo-Melean.
The first bill, which was set aside to be voted on during next week’s meeting, included a funding request for “Cafe Con Leche,” a joint event being put on by La L.U.C.H.A. and the SGA DEI office on Sept. 29 at the Barner-McDuffie house.
D’Orso’s nomination was the second bill brought to the floor. He was appointed as alumni representative, but not without concerns being raised during discussion about SGA members holding multiple titled positions.
One assembly member questioned whether SGA truly represents the interests of SU and ESF, a conversation that has been present in past meetings. This was brought up even with efforts from SGA to increase outreach to the ESF student body.
The final bill brought to the floor detailed several “special programming allocations” to a variety of RSO’s. After review from the finance board, there was a mix of fully approved, partially approved and denied allocation requests.
Many of the denied allocation requests fell into two categories. The first being that the event did not fall within the two week notice for in-semester funding opportunities required by SGA, and the second being that requests exceeded the newly imposed 25% catering cap.
The goal of the catering cap is to incentivize RSO’s to include “actual programming” in their events. This bill was passed by the assembly.
SGA will reconvene Sept. 28 with ambitions that assembly numbers will “double in size,” following elections for a variety of open assembly seats. Voting is currently open and will remain open until Sept. 26.
Other Business:
- SU’s University Senate will convene for the first time this semester on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Dineen Hall.
- The grocery trolley served a record number of 800 participants on Sept. 20, and SGA is continuing to troubleshoot technical issues as the semester goes on.
