UPDATED: Nov. 27, 2018 at 8:18 p.m.

The Syracuse University Student Association’s Student Life Committee co-chair introduced a proposal that would allow students to get academic credit for leading registered student organizations on Monday.

Jalen Nash, SA’s Student Life Committee co-chair and a columnist for The Daily Orange, said the university should encourage people to lead RSOs. In his presentation, Nash said that RSOs “allow students to graduate with more knowledge.”

Ryan Golden, SA’s Academic Affairs Committee chair and a columnist for The D.O., said the proposal would have to be approved by the University Senate’s Curriculum Committee.

“There’s a lot of bureaucracy involved in creating a course on campus. It’s not impossible, (but) I think that … there becomes an issue of standardization (and) how they’re going to make sure people are doing their job,” Golden said.

Other assembly members compared the idea to SU’s policy of counting internships as course credit, specifically in the policy studies program in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

“The university seems to be on this trend of promoting or funding outside opportunities for students,” SA recorder John Jankovic said during the meeting.

The proposal, which was largely supported by the assembly, will be further discussed at the Student Life Committee meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Other business

Golden presented last year’s resolution that called on the university to divest from for-profit prisons.

Last year, the Graduate Student Organization, Student Association and USen called on the university to divest from for-profit prisons. Chancellor Kent Syverud said in September that SU won’t make any public declarations to divest from private prisons.

“The only body that hasn‘t supported it is the one that matters,” Golden said during Monday’s meeting.

Golden, who is a member of USen, has long advocated for the resolution. He said that private prisons are equivalent to “slavery of prisoners” at a meeting in 2017. He aimed to inform new SA members about the resolution at Monday night’s meeting.

“The university should not be invested in a morally bankrupt industry,” Golden said.

SA also voted to implement two new logos after more than a month of gauging opinions internally and externally. A main logo and alternative logo were both approved, with the alternative logo meant to be put on clothing.

After more than 30 minutes of debate, SA voted to pick one of the three main logos and approve the alternative logo.

SA then discussed allocating $420 of its $2,500 budget to spend on merchandise that can be worn around campus. The plan is part of an attempt to promote SA to the student body. Some assembly members said $420 was too little to spend on merchandise.

Toward the end of the meeting, SA Vice President Kyle Rosenblum presented a rough bill about new Title IX guidelines on sexual assault.

The bill urged SU to “affirm its continued support for the rights of sexual assault and relationship violence survivors,” as well as urging the university to inform students about the changes being made.

The bill stated that SA “urges SU to reiterate resources available to all students.”

The U.S. Department of Education recently announced proposed changes to Title IX guidelines that would change the definition of sexual harassment to conduct that is “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the recipient’s education program or activity.”

The former definition was “any unwelcome conduct of sexual nature,” according to the bill.

Rosenblum urged assembly members to give feedback on the bill.

“Everything on here is open to being changed,” he told the assembly. “Anything and everything.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Ryan Golden was misquoted. The Daily Orange regrets this error. 

Published on November 26, 2018 at 11:39 pm

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326