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Darnelle Stinfort, vice president of Syracuse University’s Student Association, believes SA has an image problem.

Most students aren’t aware of what SA does, and those who do don’t care enough to participate, Stinfort said. Stinfort, along with SA President David Bruen, were elected last spring with only 10.2% of the student body voting for them, just 0.2% above the required amount for the election to be valid. 

As in-person meetings start again this school year, Stinfort and Bruen are looking to increase visibility within the student body by emphasizing SA’s role as a student organization. While SA controls funding for clubs and organizations through its comptroller, most people don’t realize it’s also an organization itself, Stinfort said. 

Stinfort hopes that SA can collaborate with other organizations on campus to raise its image profile by expanding its newsletters. But she’s worried students are not going to read them.

Bruen helped the effort to write a new SA constitution, passed in March, which adds two new cabinet positions — an internal affairs member and a student advocate. Those positions will allow him and Stinfort to focus more on engaging with and advocating for students, he said.

“SA is just as much, if not more, of a student advocacy organization than it is a government,” Bruen said. “If we pass something in SA, it doesn’t do a whole lot in the grand scheme of things except make our position very clear for administration.”

Internally, Bruen has also relied on his previous experience as the SA’s speaker of the assembly to reform the SA’s cabinet, a group of policy-minded members who work with the president and vice president. 

While Bruen has served as the speaker, Stinfort is coming into her new role without prior SA experience. It’s a perspective that she said allows her to see the problems in the organization from a new lens.

While Bruen and Stinfort have emphasized SA’s role in advocacy, that has not stopped the duo from making some progress on their broad campaign platform. Last spring, they proposed a 26-point platform, which includes a tuition freeze and implementing what they call the “Green New Deal for Syracuse University.” 

Over the summer, SU implemented free laundry services in residence halls, announced by the university a month after Bruen and Stinfort were elected, checking off a campaign goal. Bruen expected a fight over that issue, he said.

SA has also compromised with SU’s administration to create an online portal for sexual assault survivors to gain easy access to helpful resources. Bruen and Stinfort wanted an in-person office, something they are still hopeful to implement.

While they have seen slow progress towards bigger initiatives like their climate sustainability plan when talking to administrators, Bruen said staff and faculty seem open to making changes to help their cause. He had productive talks with SU food services staff this summer on sourcing more sustainable food, he said.

The best cooperation from SU officials has been from outgoing DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado, Bruen said. SA openly supported #NotAgainSU protesters in fall 2019 and their demands for DPS reform.

Bruen has been pleased with Maldonado’s willingness to speak with SA and believes his promises of reform are genuine. But current reform efforts have not gone far enough, Bruen said.

“The Loretta Lynch report is good at attacking 60% of the issues. There was a lot that it included but was not clear on how to address, like hiring for example,” Bruen said.

Published on August 29, 2021 at 9:47 pm

Contact Nick: nickrobertson@dailyorange.com | @NickRobertsonSU