The discussion started with a simple question: What pisses you off?

During the next 15 minutes, members of the Student Association filled an entire blackboard in a classroom in Crouse-Hinds Hall with things about Syracuse University that bother them, upset them and make them angry.

Speaker Ben Jones started the discussion, challenging the assembly to start thinking on a bigger scale.  Too often, Jones said, SA is reluctant to tackle the big issues because they seem “very structural” and hard to solve.

“We need to stop being afraid of these things,” Jones said. “We need to stop being afraid of going up to the university and going, ‘You know what? This sucks. We need better services.’”

The discussion took up most of SA’s weekly meeting, which was moved from Maxwell Auditorium to Crouse-Hinds because of midterm examinations. During the 40-minute discussion, assembly members brought up a wide range of issues including advising, undergraduate research, segregation among colleges, dining hall hours, housing, club sports and SU’s ranking.

At the end of the discussion, Jones said he hopes the assembly can form committees and task forces to look into many of these issues. SA needs to start thinking beyond just sending out a few emails to administrators and looking into funding sources, he said.

“I want us to start thinking about this and how it all comes together and what we can do about it,” Jones said, pointing to the blackboard. “We need to shift the paradigm.”

Other business discussed:

President’s Report

SA President Boris Gresely was not at Monday’s meeting because he was attending a conference. Vice President Daniela Lopez gave the president’s report instead.

Lopez said she and Gresely met with Chancellor Kent Syverud and discussed several issues. Syverud told them that the College of Arts and Sciences Dean Search Committee will include both an undergraduate and a graduate representative. The university asked SA to suggest some students, and the selection of the student representatives will be done by March, Lopez said.

Syverud also told Lopez and Gresely that he is very motivated to increase SU’s ranking and asked for their feedback on how this could be achieved.

The chancellor also said that tuition will increase next year by between three and 3.6 percent, but he wasn’t sure of the exact amount. He asked Gresely and Lopez how he should convey his news to students and how students would respond. Lopez said they told Syverud that students would react badly to the tuition increase.

Comptroller’s Report

Comptroller Patrick Douglas said there was $3,900 left in the special programming budget this week and that $25,000 was requested. Out of that $25,000, only $400 was granted. Many of the requests were rejected because of insufficient funds in the special programming account.

Douglas said he is closing special programming requests because there isn’t enough time to approve the requests once everyone returns from Spring Break.

The finance board has received a lot of requests from groups wanting to go to Destiny USA for events. Because of this, Douglas came up with a plan to limit Destiny USA events to five per semester so that SA doesn’t end up spending most of the special programming money on trips to the mall.

Published on March 4, 2014 at 1:45 am

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta