During this week’s elections, Syracuse University and SUNY College of Environmental and Science and Forestry students should vote yes for the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) chapter on campus. At the end of the ballot, students can vote in the referendum to vote yes or no to continuing to support the chapter as part of the student activity fee. This one important vote will create prosperity for the student body to further the mission of empowering young people over the next few years.

NYPIRG is an incredibly important service to both the SU/ESF student body and also to the greater community. Every year — even during lockdown — the NYPIRG chapter organizes at least one community food and menstrual product drive to help those in need in central New York, bringing in hundreds of food and hygiene products for donation. These efforts have brought positive contributions into the wider Syracuse community through increasing accessibility to everyday necessities.

NYPIRG also regularly conducts wide scale non-partisan voter registration services across SU and ESF’s campuses to make sure students know how to register to vote and are aware of upcoming deadlines. Since the chapter’s start in 1973, NYPIRG has registered thousands of students to vote at SU and ESF. NYPIRG has also been the pioneer for helping pass important legislative bills like the first mandatory statewide seat belt law passed in New York state, which was possible through voting efforts towards elected officials.

NYPIRG students also fiercely advocate for college affordability. By routinely meeting with legislators, holding petition drives, holding letter writing campaigns and calling elected leaders’ offices, NYPIRG amplifies the student voice to fight for a more affordable and accessible system of higher education in New York state. NYPIRG knows that with expanded opportunity programs like HEOP and EOP, better financial aid like TAP and Bundy Aid and improved mental health resources on campus students can thrive and have a better college experience.

Just this March, NYPIRG organized a statewide student empowerment conference open for free to all SU and ESF students to hear from advocates and higher education leaders on the issue of mental health on campus. Participating in these events allowed me to understand how organizations like NYPIRG are shaping opportunities for students to attend college, especially when many of us want a home away from home and rely on financial aid. I personally understand those struggles and am advocating for decreasing waitlists and increasing diversity amongst mental health professionals on college campuses.

SU and ESF students intern with NYPIRG for credit every semester. Working alongside the full-time project coordinator, a team of volunteers and student leaders, the NYPIRG chapter consistently proves that building non-partisan student power can enact real changes for a better, more equitable New York state. As a former intern myself, I enjoyed challenging myself to work with other bright students in improving the livelihoods of the communities around us. No day was the same in taking those initiatives to enact change. I felt a vision to uphold those values of accountability, proactivity and service to uplift the public interests of our society. Knowing that I educated someone else on clean energy or registered a person to vote are small steps towards celebrating the goal of democracy and diversity.

The campus community would suffer without NYPIRG’s non-partisan voter registration, higher education advocacy, environmental protection actions and events, consumer justice services and community food and product drives. That’s exactly why students should vote yes for NYPIRG SU and ESF this week to continue building student power on campus, across central New York, and the entire state. My experience with NYPIRG throughout the past three years has been nothing short of extraordinary and I hope that other students can play a major part in this dynamic organization.

Together, we can continue the legacy of ensuring that our campus community has a platform for solving issues that most matter to us. Go Orange!

Bryan Reynoso, Class of 2023

Published on April 6, 2022 at 11:21 pm