The Syracuse University Student Affairs Advisory Board has met three times since its establishment last month, and has discussed sexual assault services, alcohol on campus and more in that time.

The board talks about aspects of student life and conveys information and concerns to the administration through Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz, senior vice president and dean of Student Affairs. The group meets every other week.

The advisory board is made up of 32 students, both graduate and undergraduate, said Shannon Andre, communications manager for the Division of Student Affairs, in an email. It consists of students of a variety of backgrounds, student groups and leadership positions. So far the group has met on Jan. 14, Jan. 23 and Feb. 6, Andre said.

Patrick Neary, president of SU’s Graduate Student Organization, said planning for the advisory board began back in October 2014. He said he, Kantrowitz and Boris Gresely, the Student Association president, were all involved in establishing the board.

The group can meet for special sessions depending on the issue being discussed, Andre said. For example, the Jan. 14 meeting was a special session where the board met with Populous, the firm researching options for the future of the Carrier Dome’s roof.

At its first official meeting on Jan. 23, the board discussed communication among students and the administration, Andre said.

Neary, who is a member of the board, said the first meeting included debate over whether email, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram was the most efficient and effective method of communication. The question of “how do students want the university to communicate with them” was brought up, he said.

Neary added that the first meeting also incorporated several other topics. The group talked about the closing of the Advocacy Center last year as well as recommendations that Chancellor Kent Syverud’s Workgroup on Sexual Violence Prevention, Education and Advocacy made.

Gresely said the group suggested implementing new infographics for reporting incidents of sexual assault. Gresely, who is also a member of the student advisory board, said Title IX was also a topic of interest. He said that there is a section which some members expressed desire to change the wording of. This extends to campus resources as well.

Bridget Rogers, a member of the board and a fifth-year art photography major, said names such as “sexual violence,” “relationship violence” and the former “R.A.P.E. Center,” which became the Advocacy Center, are intimidating for victims. She said students entering a center with such a harsh name might feel turned off to the help they need. With the Counseling Center, she said, students may be entering for stress, not just sexual violence.

Another point that was brought up at the first few meetings was alcohol on campus. Neary said the group raised questions about the effectiveness and consequences, intended and unintended, of the university’s policies regarding alcohol.

Rogers said she and other board members have observed a “very large spike in binge drinking.” Since her first year here, she said she has noticed more injuries and more hospitalizations due to alcohol. To counter that, changes will be taking place throughout the next year, Rogers said.

The board is currently a closed group, Rogers added, but she said that the group welcomes suggestions from students across campus. The group’s primary purpose is to “bridge the gap” between students and the administration in terms of communicating, she said.

“We only hear so much. Nothing gets done unless someone says something,” she said. “Everyone’s opinion matters, whether it be faculty, staff, students, or the chancellor.”

Gresely, the SA president, described the group not as a board of action, but one that advises Kantrowitz on actions that students generally want to see implemented.

“In the past, the administration had a really hard time trying to really gauge what was going around the university,” he said. “This enables student leaders to feel that they have a voice.”

Published on February 18, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Danny: dmantoot@syr.edu