Student leaders should refuse to humor the Syracuse University’s Board of Trustees until proper student representation is offered. Of all of the 45 voters on the board, there are no students, as students are not allowed to be voting members on the board. 

Not one board member lives on campus. Not one board member goes to class every week. Not one board member interacts with the Department of Public Safety the same way students do. And none of that is not going to change.

Last May, as I was on my way out of being the Student Association vice president, I was informed that the board had rejected a proposal written by myself and other student leaders that called for a student vote on the board. 

The board assured us that it took serious time to consider the proposal — a claim no student or author of the proposal could verify as we weren’t allowed to be part of the discussion. We weren’t even allowed to present the proposal to them ourselves. In the board’s infinite wisdom, it decided that the best way to showcase that it valued student voices was to shut them out of the conversation entirely.

Through the research completed for the proposal, we knew the common arguments against allowing students to vote, and we believed we would have the opportunity to rebut these claims upon an invitation by the board to present our proposal. No deliberative body is worthy of admiration when it regularly makes decisions in a fashion which excludes the voices of those it may disagree with. 

The board showed why a student should be on the board through the decision-making process it applied to this proposal. The board showed it has no interest in a general student voice — it is only interested in the voices of students it agrees with. For this reason, student leaders at SU should refuse to send non-voting representatives to the board.

The board has made it clear that it isn’t interested in giving students actual influence over the governing process on campus and doesn’t want students to be able to improve the campus they live on without first appeasing the board. Students shouldn’t have total control, but they should have meaningful representation in our governing process. 

Until that day comes, the Student Association, Student Bar Association and the Graduate Student Organization should refuse to play ball with the board’s theatrics. The board has demonstrated that it’ll only listen to students when the members agree with the students, rather than considering the student point of view to be equally valid — whether they agree or not — and is deserving of adequate representation when considering school policy.

Refusing to send non-voting student representatives will send a clear message that students want, need and deserve a real voice, and it’ll show students are only interested in spending time and resources on meaningful and worthwhile opportunities rather than serving as window dressing for the board.

Student representation should not depend on the attitude of administrators or board members. The board doesn’t get to decide when it’s important to involve students, especially when it is only ever interested when its opinions align with the students’.  

If students want to be taken seriously, then it’s important that student leadership proves that students deserve to be taken seriously. The board members and administration need to realize this campus belongs to students first, not them.

Jeremy Golden 21’

Former Student Association vice president

Published on September 5, 2021 at 10:13 pm