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The candidates for Student Association president, vice president and comptroller addressed students’ questions at a town hall Thursday.

David Bruen and Darnelle Stinfort are running unopposed for SA president and vice president, respectively. This is the first time an SA presidential ticket has gone unopposed since 2015.

Bruen and Stinfort discussed their policy plans at the town hall, which SA hosted with CitrusTV. The pair also answered questions regarding their stances on transparency from the Department of Public Safety and when to lift COVID-19 restrictions on campus.

Chancellor Kent Syverud said at a University Senate meeting Wednesday that SU expects to be able to relax certain restrictions as public health conditions improve and vaccines are more widely distributed. Nearly two-thirds of SU students are now fully vaccinated, Syverud said.

“It is important that we continue to have safety precautions even though the vaccine has been distributed throughout the students,” Stinfort said.

Bruen and Stinfort believe that, if Onondaga County were to lift the mask mandate, the university should lift similar restrictions if case numbers among students indicate it is safe to do so.

The candidates said they would favor lifting restrictions slowly and possibly allowing students to visit other residence halls if public health guidelines permitted.

“Our position has and always will be to follow the science,” Bruen said. “We, as student leaders, have to follow the science and implement the policy that’s best for public health.”

The university’s requirement that students submit a negative test prior to their return to campus is one of SU’s successes in handling the pandemic, Stinfort said. But the university has fallen short in terms of disciplinary action for students who break COVID-19 protocol, Bruen and Stinfort said.

“We do wish the university had equally applied some of the guidelines we’ve seen in this campus community,” Bruen said. “Going forward, we will be calling on the university to ensure that is the case.”

SU athletes hosted a party with over 50 people, none found wearing masks, in February. The university said the athletes would face disciplinary action. The party was held a day after SU announced its chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity was placed on interim suspension for violating public health directives.

Bruen also referenced the gathering of more than 100 freshmen on the Quad at the beginning of the fall semester. SU placed 23 students on interim suspension in August for violating public health guidelines, and some of the students participated in the gathering on the Quad.

The university did not adequately discipline the students involved in the Quad gathering, Bruen said.

“As a university, you’re supposed to treat students as equals. We haven’t really seen that,” Stinfort said.

The candidates are also calling for the significant reform of DPS, including recommendations mentioned in former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s report.

“We’re talking about significant overhaul because we have seen a long history at this university of violence and danger against students of color,” Bruen said.

Stinfort mentioned possibly not only having bias training for DPS officers but making that training publicly available, so students can see what kind of training each officer has received.

“Biases don’t disappear one time. We need to continually drill this in people’s heads because we all subconsciously have biases, and the point is to destroy that,” Stinfort said.

Bruen and Stinfort are already working with DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado, who will be retiring in August, and they plan on working with the incoming DPS chief on reforming the department.

A recent campus climate survey from Damon Williams found that a “surprising number” of students don’t trust the university. Bruen said he understands this distrust.

“Can we always trust them? No. Would we like to? Yes. That’s why we’re calling for transparency,” Bruen said.

Both Bruen and Stintfort said they support the #NotAgainSU movement. While the movement has said it will no longer attempt to work with the administration, the candidates said they must do so as student leaders to implement real change.

“To get any substantial policy change, people need to go about it through multiple paths. As student leaders, we’ve committed to work with the university,” Bruen said.

The candidates agree with #NotAgainSU that the university has not made enough progress on addressing the movement’s demands.

Bruen and Stinfort also announced on social media Thursday their proposal of a Green New Deal, which would include having SU go completely carbon neutral by 2026. This move is critical to combating climate change, the candidates said.

While New York state recently legalized the use of recreational marijuana, the university said it would continue to follow the federal law prohibiting marijuana usage on college campuses.

The university is right to say that it will comply with federal law because it receives a significant amount of money from the federal government, Bruen said. But he said he “sees no reason” why SU should not push for marijuana legalization on the federal level.

Nyah Jones, the candidate for SA’s comptroller, also discussed her campaign and answered questions at the town hall.

As the sole candidate for comptroller, Jones plans to make the SA Finance Board more accessible to students. She hopes to use social media to increase transparency from the board for students.

Jones also wants to implement an “open door policy” allowing students to meet with her and provide her with feedback.

Although Bruen and Stinfort are running unopposed, they’ll still need to receive votes from at least 10% of the student population, or about 1,650 votes, to win the race. Voting will open Monday on MySlice.

“There is so much to do. What it takes to get it done is bold action, bold leadership,” Bruen said.

Published on April 23, 2021 at 11:49 am

Contact Sarah: scalessa@syr.edu | @sarahalessan