Syracuse University’s campus engagement committees have begun meeting this week, Student Association leaders announced at Monday night’s Assembly meeting.

The housing and residential experience committee, which met Monday, was the first of the nine campus engagement committees to meet, SA Vice President Sameeha Saied said. She added that while over 100 people signed up for the committee, only about 25 people attended the meeting.

A lot of the committees have over 100 people on them, SA President Mackenzie Meritkas said. More than 500 people signed up for the nine committees, which focus on topics such as curriculum, policies and safety and security, she said.

“It’s hard to get 100 people or so in the same room at once, so a lot of (the committees) are having two meetings to see who can go to what meeting,” Mertikas said.

SU administration and the Office of Enrollment and the Student Experience manage the committees, Mertikas said. SA is not in charge of the committee meetings, but Mertikas and Saied are committee members, Mertikas said.

The duo signed up for all nine committees and plan on attending as many meetings as they can, she said. Different campus leaders will lead each of the committees, she said.

The first meeting was an initial gathering to provide context for the committee’s work, Saied said.

“You have to tell the committee what you’re doing before you can actually do it,” Saied said.

Both the university and SA invited students, faculty and staff to apply to the campus engagement committees through emails on Dec. 9. Students who applied before the Jan. 19 deadline received an email notification with their committee’s initial meeting times.

The campus engagement committees will address student concerns raised in response to the series of racist, anti-Semitic and bias-related incidents that have occurred at or near SU since November. At least 26 incidents have been reported at or near SU’s campus since Nov. 7.

“(The committees) were formed as a way to formally get student engagement from across campus rather than the same student leaders or the same people that they usually go to,” Mertikas said.

Other business

The Assembly elected Mo Syed as its director of technology. Syed, a junior in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, hopes to make technology more accessible to students, he said. He plans to launch a social identity campaign in this new role, he said.

Published on February 10, 2020 at 11:12 pm

Contact Mira: mlberenb@syr.edu