Student Association is bringing back two initiatives for a second year to prepare for the upcoming Thanksgiving break.

SA’s Student Life Committee is partnering with the Center for International Services to provide weeklong activities for students staying on campus during break. Also, the Community Engagement Committee is partnering with Hendricks Chapel for its annual “Thankful for Syracuse” food drive.

The Student Life Committee and the center will offer movie nights to students at 7 p.m. on Nov. 25 and 26. SA and the center will also provide board games and spaces for students to relax and socialize throughout the week. They will also host an ice skating trip for students the evening of Nov. 29.

“We really want to make sure we are there for students because we recognize that not everyone is able to go home or get off campus for Thanksgiving,” said Amber Grant, co-chair of the Student Life Committee. “This way people will have a place to go and things to do if they are staying here.”

While campus will function normally on Nov. 25, 26 and 29, many campus facilities will be closed on Nov. 27 and 28.

The Student Life Committee is compiling a list of restaurants in downtown Syracuse that will be open on Thanksgiving. The Center for International Services will circulate that list the week before Thanksgiving break to give students a place to go even when campus facilities are closed, Grant said.

“By providing them with options and different fun activities, we really just want students to know that they have a home on campus, especially on breaks like this,” said John Jankovic, Student Life Committee co-chair.

Students can also participate in the “Thankful for Syracuse” food drive by placing cans and nonperishables in boxes that SA will place in buildings around campus.

Last year’s donations to “Thankful for Syracuse” were split between the Food Bank of Central New York and the Hendricks Chapel Food Pantry. SA will bring the majority of the food to Hendricks this year because the chapel is currently running extremely low on donations, said Sofia Rossi, SA’s Community Engagement Committee co-chair.

Boxes will be placed in residence halls, dining halls and other buildings around campus starting later this week and will be brought to Hendricks every Friday until Nov. 22.

“We’ve noticed that both Hendricks food bank and food security on campus in general hasn’t really been getting a lot of attention this year,” said Brianna Ward, SA’s Community Engagement Committee co-chair. “We really want to shed light on that and make sure we can get as many students as we can involved during the holiday season.”

Other business:

• SA voted and approved the spring 2020 semester budget allocations and will update student organizations on their funding status Tuesday morning.
• SA voted and approved a new bill that will release voting records and specific details of new legislation from each Monday evening meeting.
• The SA Diversity Affairs Committee recently had its proposal for a racial bias forum approved and will begin planning the event in the coming week.
• SA President Mackenzie Mertikas and Vice President Sameeha Saied met with officials from SU’s Housing, Meal Plan and I.D. Card Services last week to discuss the new 24-hour security protocol set to begin in the spring 2020 semester.

Published on November 4, 2019 at 11:29 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss