Editor’s note: The Daily Orange Editorial Board interviewed the three sets of presidential and vice presidential candidates running for the Student Association’s 63rd session. In an effort to provide transparency in the editorial board’s endorsement decision, The D.O. has published the transcript of each interview. The following interview has been edited for clarity.

The Daily Orange Editorial Board: What do you believe are the biggest issues facing student life at Syracuse University, and how do you plan to address them?

Jalen Nash: I think in my opinion one of the primary issues on this campus affecting student life is a lack of communication. I think that we spend a lot of money on tuition and other fees to attend this school, and the school does invest this money into programs and initiative and events that a lot of students just aren’t aware of. And I think that there’s a difference between passing an initiative or passing a bill or making an event possible and letting people know that it’s possible. And I think the university and its students have to a much better job of communicating what’s available so we can take advantage of the resources that we’re providing with our tuition. Ray?

Raymond Perez: Going off of that, another issue that we see – are you all able to hear me clearly? – going off of that, when you mention resources and accessibility, there’s a lot of, it’s very segregated in terms of, the accessibility isn’t really there. You know, for the Counseling Center it’s all the way in Crouse, for LGBTQ+ Center, they were on Ostrom and now they’re in the fifth floor of Bird Library, Omaha Office is under, underground in Schine, you have the SA office underground in Schine. So, again, one thing that we should work with the administration, is that when they renovate the Schine center, trying to make sure that these resources are in a centralized location where all students in marginalized groups can integrate and see each other face to face because we all use these offices, so that will make it more of a community.

J.N: Kind of off of that, off of the physical spaces, I think it’s also important to have centralized spaces of information. I think The Daily Orange is an amazing publication. You know, I think that you guys are that centralized place of information for campus, but I do think that we need more information on what administration is doing on a week to week basis. We need updates on what SA is doing on a week to week basis, and we don’t have that. And I think that a lot of students, and SA members, get into this paradigm where they’re thinking SA doesn’t do anything, and it’s a large part because we’re not tracking what we do. So I think that if get the opportunity to be SA president, I would also be very focused on improving documentation because I think that documentation is huge for internal and external communication.

R.P: Can I just go off of what Jaden said real quick?

J.N: He has a follow up.

R.P: So, again, documentation, if you are able to document what are you doing, it allows you to do a, which are action reports, and that’s how you can see what’s going good and what’s going bad, and how you can, and what you can do to manage a way to fix an issue or what you can do to keep this going well so that you can keep continuing.

J.N: Yeah, it’s important for assessment.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Yeah, I think you’ve mentioned it a few times – communication and making sure that the campus community better understands what’s available to them. How would you exactly do that?

J.N: I think that one idea that I had in the beginning was to promote some type of Student Association newsletter. I think as a student government, as a student advocate, it’s important that we communicate and we’re transparent with students about what’s going on, like I said before, and I think we don’t really do that. A lot of students don’t even know what SA does. And I think being that the organization was established in 1947, that’s crazy, and people don’t know what SA does. So, that’s my answer to that question: SA newsletter. And, in addition to having students in the org who are really representative of the student body. So I think that, what i’ve realized after being in SA as, not like an outsider, but someone who wasn’t necessarily in the social circles of the people in that group, is that SA, in a large part, is a bubble, and while we have a lot of passionate people in SA who really care about the community and really care about the school, I think that a lot of their initiatives and policies are coming and informed by this bubble that isn’t necessarily the bubble that all students are in. So I think that, to answer your question, in addition to what I said before, increasing the diversity and robustness of the students in the organization I think is really important to increase communication.

The D.O. Editorial Board: What experiences have you both had that would help you in leading SA?

J.N: Ray, you want to go first?

R.P: So currently I’m the president of Lambda. And my experiences within this organization where our philanthropy is the PATH initiative which is Providing Access To Higher Education. So throughout my experiences, we’ve been very involved in working as a community with the Syracuse community and outside of Syracuse community which is also very important because there’s this elitist mindset, again, with the school where, you know, we have to benefit also the outside Syracuse community. So a lot of what I do, so on campus, I team up, I go, I attend a lot of events that are a part of NPAC,  ASU, all of these smaller organizations, Caribbean Student Association, all these smaller organization, because, typically, I feel like when you ask those students about SA, sometimes they, and I myself identify as, so I have no prior experience with SA before this. So, again, I myself, as a freshman, had no idea what SA was. Sophomore year I kind of started understanding a little bit what SA does, but again, it’s still very vague. And the thing that I feel would be best, in terms of me having a role in SA, is that I have a perspective of most student within my community, and I can be that voice to let them know this is what SA does and we need more of you all involved with it. So, in terms of, I’m the president of Lambda. I also work with the women’s basketball team. I’m the manager for the women’s basketball teams. And, again, we talk about diversity, inclusion, and I feel like our women’s programs and sporting events have little to no student support. And it’s very upsetting because, you know, the girls, the women wake up every morning really early, 6:30, 7, and I myself wake up with them during the season, and we practice, you know, and it’s that hard work that you put in, and then at the games, the games are free too, so it’s like, there’s really no excuse. Support is free. And when we talk about diversity, inclusion, I feel like they should be included in this conversation as well. And then, in terms of outside, my involvement with the outside community, I work at the Westcott Community Center as a tutor. So I help individuals who weren’t able to excel in high school and unfortunately, due to circumstances, they dropped out of high school, however, now they pursue their GED, their high school equivalency degree. I work with them and tutor them on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 9 at the Westcott Community Center. I also work with Hendricks Chapel Food Pantry. This summer I received so much help from Syeisha Byrd, and so, it was my obligation, the person I am, to help her bring more awareness to the food pantry because there’s a lot of things that student struggle with and food is one of them. And I myself can speak on that behalf, especially students that live off campus. So, again, I feel like, because I have a lot of involvement within this community and I’m very passionate, and I offer a different perspective, this is what can help me lead a way. And with my enthusiasm, my work ethic and dedication, I can definitely make an impact in the city.

J.N: Yeah, similar to Ray, I think that I’ve also had a lot of inside and outside of campus experience. I think that the first two years I was at SU – I’m a political science major so I love the community, I love the idea of helping people and making the world better. So, my freshman year, I interned for mayor Stephanie Miner, who was the mayor of Syracuse. It was a great experience just to understand more about the city. I think that, coming in freshman year, my parents were both legacy students, so I kind of knew about Syracuse, but coming into the University, it was important to me to really know where I was. So I interned with Stephanie Miner. I also was a Literacy Core tutor which was amazing. I think I tutored my freshman year at Hillside Academy which is an after school program for high school kids. They go after school and you tutor thm. Is that what I did my freshman year? Yeah, probably. Sophomore year, I did a lot of campaign work. So, over the summer I campaigned in Queens for the city council, his name was Richard David. So I knocked door to door and spoke to a lot of constituents about their concerns about what’s going on in the 3rd District. I thought, for me that was very enlightening just because it allowed me to step out of my comfort zone. In high school, I was a very shy kid, kind of. And having to knock on doors, you can’t really be shy. So I think that was an amazing experience, and I think I look back on it as one of the most fulfilling experiences I’ve ever had. Sophomore year, I continued with Literacy Core. I began interning for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand which was interesting. It wasn’t as intimate as the campaigns. It was in an office and we did phone calls instead of real interaction. But it was interesting to see how an organization works, how government works, and how complex and how much delegation is involved in making something successful for a lot of people. So I think that was very impactful for me. There’s probably other things I can’t remember. Inside of school, I have been involved in the Student advisory Committee for two years. That’s basically the committee that meets every other Friday to talk to administration. From that committee, I’ve been able to have several meetings with administration to talk about issues. And I think that the reason I have good relations among administration is that committee. What else have I done? I work for the DO. I started a music column last year. Haley helped me a lot. I think it was amazing because it allowed me to learn how to communicate. I think that’s where I started to understand that there’s a difference between what’s in my head and what other people read, and kind of filling that gap is important because not everyone is going to understand a bill just because I pass it. Now, I’m co-chair of student life for Student Association. Erin and I, my co-chair Erin Mooney, we got appointed mid-semester last year. So we were the last cabinet position to get filled, so it was a hard transition. But, she is amazing. She really helped keep the organization and me focused so we could get a lot of initiatives done. As SA co-chair, we were involved with getting buses to the polls on Election Day. We hosted that after party. Theresa May came, if you know who that is. We did the menstrual products. We should’ve fulfilled more, and next semester, student life committee definitely has to do a better job with that. We helped organize the Ackerman assault forum which was amazing. There was a lot of collaboration on that, and I think that planning that event, for me, was a transformative experience just because, like I said with the Senator Gillibrand internship, I learned how many people have to go into making something successful, and how important it is to empower people to have their own creativity within fields and not say, hey presenter at the forum, this is exactly what you have to say, saying I’m going to put you in this position and say how you feel. I think that’s, yeah. Sorry if I was really long.

The D.O. Editorial Board: What are some areas that need to be improved in Student Association and how would you like to adjust them?

J.N: So I think that, personally, one of the areas that needs to be improved is one, I think corporate culture – I’ve been reading a lot of books on corporate culture – and even though it’s not a corporation, I think that the internal culture and environment of an organization is very important. And I think that it’s been a problem for a few years now, based on who I’ve spoken to. In SA there’s, not between all people, but sometimes there’s a contentious culture. And, I don’t think that’s necessarily bad, but I think it is bad when it becomes disrespectful. So, as someone who went to these assembly meetings and cabinet meetings every week, there were times when people would speak out of term or say disrespectful things to a president or vice president. And I don’t think that that’s acceptable or that should be tolerated in the organization. So I think one thing for me that’s huge is just respect in the organization, respect for the organization. I think that all the student in SA do care, but we have to do a much better job of recognizing that we’re all in this together, we’re not clashing with each other, we’re all one university. Yeah, and communication, like I brought up before. Ray?

R.P: Yeah, just to go off of that as well. I’ve always, because the FAFSA office is within the same area as the SA office, you know, constantly going to Greek meetings, I had to pass the SA office. However, I’ve always been interested and wanted to be involved, but it’s sort of intimidation type of, what will I be able to have an impact or will, will I be accepted? And I was nervous, just because before I was a very timid, not timid, just questionable person. I wasn’t very confident. So I used to be scared to enter those environments, where now, especially in sophomore and junior year, I definitely developed this confidence where I do know that my ideas and my perspective is so unique and I have so much to offer. So, just in terms of, there’s so many students that have so much, a very unique perspective. We should be able to have a welcoming environment within SA so that students feel welcome enough to allow their perspective.

J.N: And, kind of, just really quickly, 30 seconds off of that. I think that Raymond just spoke about how he was empowered as a student, how he came from not confident to confident and was able to have his own voice. I think that as president and vice president of SA, if we get the opportunity, I think it’s really important that we empower within SA to advocate and become the best leaders they can be.

The D.O Editorial Board: So, this semester, only three members of SA — President Ghufran Salih, Vice President Kyle Rosenblum and Comptroller Ambrose Gonzalez — they approved $242,000 in funding for the Cuse Can! event through rollover funds. Do you agree with how that was carried, and why or why not?

J.N: I don’t agree with how it was carried out. I think that the people in those positions definitely should’ve consulted more people within in Student Association, within University Union, and within Panhellenic Council. To my knowledge, a lot of people involved in those orgs weren’t necessarily consulted with the creation of this event. So I think that, again, it goes to the internal communication that I talked about before. There’s no way you should be planning events of that magnitude without any consultation from Student Association. I also think that the point of inclusion in the discussion when we’re planning these events is important. I think that a lot of organizations weren’t included in this event, and I think that Student Association should do a much better job of making sure that when they say this is a community event or this is a student event, that we’re not talking about two orgs because UU, SA, and PHC do not represent the entire student body. So those are my major critiques. But I do want to say that I don’t think Kyle, Ghufran or Ambrose did any of that deliciously or did any of that to try to hurt the student body or to try to not represent any groups, and I think it’s sad that there’s a rhetoric and people saying that that was the idea.

The D.O. Editorial Board: What would you do with the rollover funds next year?

J.N: What would I do with the rollover fund? I think I definitely need to learn more and study up more on exactly what rollover entails, what my duties as president and VP, our control over that rollover fund. In addition, I know Stacy had a lot of, Stacy Omosa, she’s one of our comptrollers, in addition to Eddy Gomez, they have a lot of ideas on that, so I think I’d definitely want to speak to them and consult more before I can say.

The D.O. Editorial Board: If elected, how would you approach your relationship with SU administrators to advocate on behalf of students?

J.N: Alright.

R.P: If elected the way we want to approach our relationship with SU administration is by being both professional, establishing professionalism I feel is very important. We have to keep a level of professionalism when wanting change because I feel that if we allow for our, it’s not, okay, let’s try to negotiate, and making change, we’re about change, we must be able to explain what actually the issue is and not getting distracted and off track with your personal relationships to the issues. So again, I feel like, as a leader, I have no problem with trying to hold in my emotions so I can see results. And that’s what I want to see. We have these forums and we have a lot of things that are going on for students to express their emotions, but we need to be able to get results to those forums so that administration can make things happen because, again, we want results. We don’t, we constantly have these conversations but we need these results so we can have a proactive not reactive, and so that these situation keep recurring.

J.N: Kind of off of that, I think that, to the emotion point, I think that, oftentimes, especially in this campaign, there’s been an argument of leadership versus emotion, and I don’t think that they should be separated at all. I think that emotion is important to inform leadership, and that people are emotional so to take emotions out of your leadership is ridiculous. But I do think that, as leaders, we have to approach the organization and approach administration with a level of foresight that strictly moving off emotion doesn’t provide you. So I worry sometimes that if, just in general, if you have leaders that are very quote un-quote emotional or very, how do I explain this? There’s politicians that like to rally up people based on rhetoric, right? And they’re very, if an issue comes, they’ll say oh I care about this issue, oh I care about this issue, oh I care about this issue. And I think that’s wrong because it can’t build any stability and sustainability over time. So something that I’d be really focused on as SA president would be building a sustainable infrastructure that yes, allows emotion to guide, but also is grounded in, this is a very professional environment where we, our obligation is to lead the student body and actually create tangible changes. Hopefully I said that the right way.

The D.O. Editorial Board: What do you mean by sustainable infrastructure?

R.P: And just going off of what Jalen –

J.N: Let me just answer her question real quick. I think, in terms of sustainable infrastructure, I mean things like the SA newsletter, I mean things like expanding the committee structure. So I was involved in the SAC committee, the Student Advisory Committee. I had great conversations with administration where a lot of student didn’t have that. So as SA president I definitely want to expand the capacity and the girth of those administrations. I know they just had a Students of Color Advisory Committee for DPS that they just announced. I want to help support that. I want to help support other committees across the school, so that’s another sustainable infrastructure, so those are just two that I can think of in addition to internal culture. I think that’s something sustainable.

R.P: So, just going off of that, again, when you’re in a position to make results, and to have results, right, you must know that some, with leadership comes allyship. And you have to know when you’re fitting to represent a group and when you have to allow those individuals who have firsthand experience with the situation talk upon it. So really what SA leaders should advocate for is for spaces like forums to occur so that, and force administration, not have administration send one representative but have most of the administration there, so that they can see the emotion firsthand. Let the students express their emotions and feelings with these situations and what’s going on with the school. And then as leaders, you know, because first hand experience will have greater emotion than any other people so you can’t really always advocate for certain groups because that can suppress their voice and sometimes you can’t fully represent them. And I learned that through the Recognize Us movement because some individuals felt that the way some members were going about it in terms of taking over. And you can’t do that because while you’re doing that and trying to advocate for so many groups, you can’t really identify with all groups so you must allow those groups to express their feelings and their emotions and be supportive and empathetic. And that is literally, and that’s how I feel you’ll get results by learning when to lead and when to step back and let others lead because I feel like all forums on campus are activist groups. They’re all here for the good of our Syracuse community. And as SA governing body, we cannot try to take over that and advocate for them. I feel like that’s not the way to go about it, rather advocating for the spaces. And then negotiating with the administration so that these things, so that their emotions and voices are heard rather than we try to advocate for them, not let them advocate for themselves and their voices are suppressed. Do you understand?

J.N: Yeah, empowering student orgs.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Describe the SU administration in three words.

J.N: That’s a good question I think that one word I would use is transition. I think another word I would use is administrators. And another word I would use is complacent. So I think transition, a lot of SU administration is going through transition. A lot of things are getting restructured, a lot of things are moving to different places, so from a, I empathize with those people because at the end of the day administrators are people with lives. And I’d imagine that people, for example, Dean Rob Hradsky just got appointed to his position within the last two years, Maryann Thompson, the same thing. There’s a lot of new administrators in high positions, so I think that a lot of it, even Keith Alford, I think a lot of it is just adjusting to new positions which I think is hard, and I think that as students we don’t really know that’s happening but that is happening. I said transition, and complacent because regardless if they’re transitioning or not, their responsibility is to the students, and the fact that they’re allowing transaction or internal whatever to affect the products and the experience students are having I think is unacceptable. And my middle word was administrators. I think that, as administrators, there’s always a certain level of separation that administrators and students are naturally going to have, I think as twenty year olds versus fifty year olds. And I think that, I know that the dean before Chancellor Syverud, I forgot her name, but she was very focused on community engagement and really being involved with the students. And I think that since Mr. Syverud has been in administration, I think it’s been a lot more focused on outwards. It’s been a lot more focused on we want the most applications or we want the most money or we want to be the big global institution. And I think that administrators need to do a much better job of stepping out of their administrator box and coming into the student, Syracuse University box. So that’s why I said administrators. That was a good question.

R.P: I mean, I definitely agree with everything, all three words you said. One thing that I would probably switch out would be administrators. I mean, of course they’re administrators, it’s within the word administration. But what I would say is that there’s potential for us as students to work with administration. And it’s also on administration to want to work with students because a lot of decisions that are being made, I feel like the student body, the student government, has no idea what, they’re not really communicating. So administration has potential but however they need to work with the students and we, we as VP and President, we have to push that to exploit that potential that the administration has. Because, again, a lot of the things that they mention is we want to help students, we want the stage, so then why aren’t administrators engaging with student STO help bring this?

J.N: Yeah, in addition to my complacency standpoint, there’s a lot of issues that have been going on for his campus for decades so that’s also what informs that word.

R.P: Yeah, I’ve read upon a lot of the prior campaign, and I read about some of the issues that they stated in their campaigns, and it’s still the same issues we bring about today, you know? And that’s why, it’s like, if it was like two years ago, a year ago, and we’re still having these issues, where are our results, what are we doing, what are our measuring tools, what are we doing tom see progress, progression you know? It’s very frustrating. And that’s why Jalen and I, in the debate, we mentioned we want to change Syracuse for now but also for the future. I want my kids to attend this school. And currently I feel like, I have a niece, a nephew, a little brother, and I would love for them to go to this school But it’s like, is this school going to help me help them want to commit, you know? And it kind of brings me back to the Recognize US movement when were in Schine and we were telling, during admitted students day, we were telling the students “Don’t commit to SU until SU commits to you.” And, it’s again, students deserve that return on investment. We pay a ton of tuition, and yet where’s our return on investment, you know.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Do you have any specific examples of the issues that you were talking about that, you know, that previous chancellors or administration you’ve talked about, still exist?

J.N: So, for one, segregation on campus. When my mom went here, she spoke about how she was one of the first black students to go into Sadler, the dormitory next to Lawrinson. And there’s, still, I’d imagine, there’s not many students of color in Sadler right now. I’d imagine there’s not many students of color in general in the dorms at all. So I think that’s an issue that’s persisted. The feeling that administration doesn’t necessarily always care about the voices of certain students, especially marginalized communities of color, LGBTQ, disabilities, marginalized communities. That’s persisted for a long. Time. A lack of communication has persisted for a long time.

R.P: And just to go off of what Jalen mentioned, you know.  Just to give a little perspective in terms of numbers, right? You look at the tuition that’s really expensive. We have a two year fulfillment as students to live on  campus where, now that I’m a junior, I decided to live off campus because even on south campus it’s so expensive. You look at the numbers, if you complete the numbers, it’ about $1,200 you’re paying with rent. If you break it up, you’re paying $1,200 of rent month, not counting the electricity fees that they charge you, not counting the cable fees that they charge you so that’s also money added. So you look at it as, okay a semester only lasts four or five months, so this a ton of money you’re paying when now, when you move off campus, again, when students move off campus, it becomes unsafe, you know, but that’s only option you give when the tuition is so high. SU has to understand that people have situation, people have financial struggles SO when you move off campus, currently I paid $550, $50 a month with utilities. That’s about, that comes out to about $600 a month, right? And that’s half of what I’m paying on South for two extra months, you know. So again, it’s, important to put these things to light and put the perspective. And when you think about international students, a lot of them live on Westcott, you know, and it’s because tuition is very expensive. I live on Euclid, a little bit towards Westcott and, and when I take the Euclid shuttle, I constantly, I just, I, when these shuttles aren’t available, you constantly just think like, what is, you know, like what, like what, there’s so many robberies that occur, but yet the school isn’t doing anything really to address the fact that they are in a way pushing us out because of how expensive it is, you know. And some little insight that I required, that I acquired to my conversations with, a father figure that I see, I don’t want to say his name, kind of want to put them on the spot, but a father figure of a part of the DPS crew that has helped me throughout my struggles here at Syracuse who’s helped me throughout everything I experience, he mentioned that they are looking into making a third year requirement for living on campus. And when he said that, it just, it just made me out like it, it made me so outraged, you know, like if you want to make it a requirement, make more affordable housing options for students that cannot necessarily afford the amount of, of tuition it is to cost, to live on campus in SU. But yeah, that’s just my take. I’m sorry for the whole rant, but yeah.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Would you urge the administration to allocate invest Syracuse funds to specific programs on campus?

J.N: Definitely yes. I think that I would want to definitely do my research and study up on exactly what organizations and program before I like give you an answer. I think that there’s a lot that I don’t know now that hopefully I’ll know three months from now that can inform answers like that. So I definitely think that we should use the Invest Syracuse funds to give back to the student body through investments and programs and events and things like that.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Do you think the Department of Public Safety should commit to a review of its policies, and if so, what do you think that review should entail exactly?

J.N: Yes, I definitely think that the Department of public safety should do a review of its policies. I know that they do frequent, not frequent, but they do every few years an assessment just of like viability, I think would be the word. But I think that an independent review of the department of, the Department of Public Safety specifically talking about how their interactions with different communities on campus, I think would help inform a lot of the feelings on public safety, and on our relationship with the DPS. So kind of what we were talking about our previous point about how we voiced our emotions. I think that an important part of sustainability is getting data about these issues that we’re having. Without data on these issues, it’s hard to say that we feel like DPS is shutting down more parties, or we feel like this DPS officer’s treating me different. If we had concrete data and statistics to back that up, I think that’s very important. I remember in the forum Chief Maldonado said that more white parties were shut down then like black and Latino parties, which is like a completely ridiculous statistic if you think about it. But like as students, I have no idea what that means and I think that the fact that I have no idea what that means is unacceptable, and that’s a way that the administration can disempower students from having productive conversations. If I’m talking to Bobby and he knows the statistics on how DPS is having and I don’t, like he’s operating at a level that I’m not operating at in our discussion so it’s hard for me to ask for things that can make a tangible change. So I think that that’s why that’s so great.

R.P: So again, it goes back to the communication with, with DPS, with the administration, and they have to have students a part of this communication and transparency.

The D.O. Editorial Board: You have said students of color do not fully trust DPS. How would you address that?

J.N: I think that things like the Students of Color Advisory Committee are important to having students at the table with the Department of Public Safety to have conversations. I know that yesterday the local chapter of the NAACP, like Syracuse chapter, have meetings with DPS staff. So I think promoting events like that, promoting events where they reach out to DPS to come speak, increasing the sense among students that they can walk up to DPS and come speak. I think is important. So yeah, I think that Raymond and I personally both have decent relationships with some people in the Department of Public Safety. And I think that building on that and making them more accessible and making them seem like people, making them seem like Bobby instead of Chief Maldonado, I think is very, very important. I think that Raymond and  I because of the experiences we had are in a position to make that happen. Cause I know that there’s people in DPS who have expressed that that’s also what they want, yeah.

R.P: And just to go, go based off that, you know, when you have these, these relationships, these genuine relationships, you can, you can use that to get results, you know, and like, so George, George Wazen, that’s, could you not like include his name? But that’s the man who I developed a relationship with, you know, and he, he cares about the kids. You know? And when you think about it, these officers are parents, you know, so they understand, the fears when it comes to safety and the fact that some of our parents send us away. Some of, some of our parents send us away, you know? And so when incidents like this happened, it just reminds me of where I grew up at you know, and like the struggles and all the violence that I’ve experienced as a young kid and I don’t want that same experience in college. And I feel like Bobby, Bobby is also a man who, oh, who comes from the Bronx and he understands the, the, the violence that people face outside and they’re aware they are where they’re from. You know, and it shouldn’t be the same in college. And it’s more of, it’s more like, yes, we fear, we fear like the violence because we got away from that, you know? And when we, when, when some students feel that, that there’s an issue with, with, with safety, then it has to be addressed because not only do we fear it, but our parents fear it, and if something happens to any of any student who lives off campus who lives on south, wherever the, the jurisdiction does not cover, that’s an issue because now you live in a part of SPD. But the student goes to Syracuse is still a Syracuse student and their parents who rely on the Syracuse administration on SPD, I mean on DPS to keep us safe. So again, it’s more like you have to just think about parents as well. They send their kids away. And even international students, like international schools are the most, should be the most prioritized in the safety and the safety discussion because their safety. There’s been international students, my freshman year who, who, who passed away, who got shot, you know. It’s sad and like for the parents to hear that, that news all the way from, from a different country, it hurts, you know? And that’s what we have to think about. It’s like you have children just like, just like you have children. This is someone’s child and we have to keep them protected. I’m sorry.

J.N: In addition to that, just going like that, I think a lot of students tend to conflate the responsibilities of DPS and SPD. Um, Syracuse, the city has a relatively high crime rate as far as New York state. And I think a lot of that stigma bleed into what people think about the community and how people feel. So I hear a lot of students say that they don’t want to cross the bridge or they don’t want to go to certain places in the area. And I think that that’s all of our problems. So as, as a president, yeah, we would definitely really, really push because I think it’s important to have conversations with the Syracuse police department and I know Kenton Buckner’s, the chief reaching out to them to have conversations because like every incident that happens, DPS will be like, it’s not our jurisdiction. And they’d say that as if it had absolves them  from responsibility. So I think it’s important that we have people responsible at the table. And I really, that’s very, very important to have SPD at the table. And we try to do that for the forum, but they refused.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Were you satisfied with SU’s Greek life review? Why or why not?

R.P: I feel like for Greek life there, there has to be a more, okay. So I don’t know if you all know Donald McPherson, Mcpherson. He, he was, he’s alumni from, from Syracuse. And he came in to speak to Greek life, male Greek life presidents and, and like the, the presidents of, of, of different organizations within Greek life. And in his conversation he speaks about what it is to be a man. And these are conversations that many people do not engage with. And that’s an issue because some, some people are what would the issue, there’s a lot of issues and, and so, all right, my apologies. It’s just, a very painful topic to talk about. But again, Donald Macpherson, he came in to speak on the issues of sexual assault and relationship violence and how men do not want to address the fact of what it is to be a man. And this is so important because the media and these things of that nature is what develops this, this, this disgusting and harsh, you know, male macho figure, you know, and, and men have to engage with what conversations and any, just get rid of the toxic masculinity they exist within the Greek culture and the Greek life as a whole. And it’s important to hold these individuals accountable for actions that are, that are made through this whole like, shoot your shot or, or just keep going for it. You know, I’m sorry. It’s just, I feel like the Greek review can be more and more in depth and it has to continue to, to push people to get uncomfortable and, and, and especially, especially, Greek, male Greek fraternities to engage with uncomfortable conversations. Because I feel like that is the first step to creating change. People are uncomfortable to talk about sexual assault. People are uncomfortable to talk about things that they, that they don’t want to identify. So they’re uninterested and I’m sorry because I have family members who is included, who has experienced this issue. So it’s very sensitive to me and it’s. It’s upsetting. It’s very upsetting. And I think that the school has to do a better job in terms of making sure that people are safe on campus. And yeah. There’s, there’s so much more than needs to be done.

The D.O. Editorial Board: The executive summary of the review included the following note: “Although hazing did not seem to dominate the conversation with the affiliated students, there were some underlying concerns shared by them. Some examples included sleep deprivation, extreme exertion/exercise, and verbal and emotional abuse.” Do you believe SU releases enough information about hazing incidents? If not, what would you do to address that?

R.P: Again, so you look at this, this Theta Tau incident, right? A lot of, a lot of things were said in the video and they did not want to release it, again because they have an image to upload. And we have to hold them accountable to release this information, this information when it’s reported. We have to make sure that students are safe because these are, this hurts students at the end of the day because they’re here to be students. And if they’re facing because they want to join an organization, if they’re facing these issues, then they should, they should go report it, you know, because that’s how you’re going to make change, and we have to hold the administration accountable for these things.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Specifically related to hazing, is there anything you or just the university administration can do to address that?

J.N: I think that in addition to releasing more information on it, I think it’s hard for administration to quote unquote address it without the data and facts to back up what they’re addressing. So I think in addition to releasing the data, I think that administration should be cognizant that there are some students going through Greek life processes and having programs to cater to them and explicitly, like you talked about sleep deprivation, right? If you as administration know that there’s thousands of students going through this thing where they’re deprived, you should do something about it. You shouldn’t just say, oh there’s, like that shouldn’t be on, it should also be on the fraternities to address, but I don’t think that it should be completely be on the fraternities to address, to address because you know, this is part of what happens and if the same things happen every year and the same students are having the same concerns in the same type of things every year and you’re not addressing it, that’s where administration comes, becomes complacent, like I said before. So I think that they definitely need to do more things to recognize a population of students specifically going into that process and how that transition might be on like mental, emotional, physical, all types of health, and academic success too. Because I know a lot of people struggle academically during that time.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Do you have specific ideas for what they can do to address that?

J.N: Do I have specific ideas about what they can do to address that? No, not right now. I wouldn’t want to give you a false idea.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Do you believe SU has healed from Theta Tau’s expulsion? Why or why not?

J.N: I think that Theta Tau was indicative of centuries long of like racial prejudice that’s present in the country as a whole, Syracuse specifically, Syracuse University. So I don’t know if that’s something that you can quote unquote heal from. I don’t think the country is healed from like the prior judge of the past, like I don’t think you can heal from things like that. I think that, no, I don’t think the university has healed and things like that. I think that many of the problems that were present when the data tower issue happened still persist. I don’t think that having Sem 100 classes are having, I think while it’s a step, I don’t think that’s the solution to fixing racism on campus. I think that it’s very ironic that administration is having all these diversity and inclusion conversations, they’re having all these classes while cutting programs that admit students of color. So I think that in terms of having tangible healing processes, that needs to be addressed, why we’re having all this rhetoric about we want to build this inclusive community, but we’re not. So no, but we should.

R.P: And just to, just to add, definitely, I agree with Jalen that this school has not, has not healed. And expulsion is not enough. These issues still, still go on behind closed doors. The only, the only thing that happened with Theta Tau is that it got brought to life, and that’s what we have to, that’s what we have to dismantle. We have to dismantle like all this hidden, hidden, like just disgusting hatred towards marginalized groups and, and with, a diversity course is not enough to, to change that because it’s a class that students go to. However, they do not have to engage in those conversations. They just go because they have to go. It’s just a requirement for them to be there. So it’s just for them to be there. That’s all they’re going to do is just go and be there to get the grade and then they’re just done with that class, you know, so there has to be more than just a class.

J.N: I think in addition to that, I think that a lot of times we talk about we want to remove the hatred towards marginalized groups, and I think that coming from a quote unquote marginalized group, I think that it’s also important to get rid of, not hatred, but get rid of the contention between us and the quote unquote predominant groups. I think building a community on campus is very, very important, and I don’t think that hatred is a one sided thing. Like sometimes we rhetorically present it to be. So I think that Raymond and I will be really focused on, like we said, empowering student orgs and building that community among campus. Because I think that’s how you heal too, talking about racism. Like you heal by building community, heal by, you guys are my friends, I’m going to respect you as friend and this is what we’re going to do.

The D.O. Editorial Board: You mentioned SEM 100. If elected, how involved do you want SA to be in redeveloping how the courses are run?

J.N: So I taught for both of those semesters for SEM 100. So I think that I would personally like to be involved just in the creation of it. I know that next semester they’re reading New Girl, I think I heard, “Lab Girl,” sorry, “Lab Girl,” which kind of confuses me cause I thought that it kind of confused me. But I, yes I do want to be involved with that program. I think that one of my biggest critiques is that we had a diversity and inclusion class. But my first semester when I was a peer facilitator, my lead facilitator used to ask me to guide the discussions on diversity and inclusion like as an 18-year-old kid that doesn’t like, so I think that again, there’s a difference between what this school says sometimes and does. And I think it’s a lack of integrity when they say we’re going to have this diversity and inclusion classes, but you’re filling it with teachers that are asking the students to teach the kids about diversity and inclusion. That’s not a class. That’s not a diversity inclusion class. And I don’t know, while I did my best and I tried to like, communicate with these kids, I don’t know if I made a transformative, like changing their lives and now like prevented Theta Tau. And I think that’s what the school marketed this as, so I think taking the SEM 100 class seriously is very, very important and I don’t think administration is taking it as seriously as they should be according to what they told the students the intention of the program was.

The D.O. Editorial Board: How will you address the pain that we were just talking about?

J.N: What pain?

The D.O. Editorial Board: The pain from Theta Tau.

J.N: How will I address the pain? I think, I don’t think that the pain I feel as a black student on this campus is directly related to Theta Tau. So in terms of like addressing the pain, I think making students of color in marginalized communities feel like SU is really a university for them. Like I think I might be one of the few people in my community that really feels like SU protects them and that administration is great. And a lot of that is because I come from like this legacy and I’m bias in a lot of ways and I know that resources are, are available and I know how to navigate certain things. Like in this, in The D.O., there’s few people of color. I think a big reason why I particularly was able to get to The D.O. is because I have a mom that went here. So, I knew that this was like an opportunity for me. And I think a lot of students of color or marginalized communities in general don’t have that. So, I think addressing the pain is making tangible steps to make sure that students feel included in the community. I don’t think that the Theta Tau is the issue. I think the issue is that, or it was like you, you with three students of color in their organization, I think that’s a much bigger cause of students concerned. All right?

R.P: Oh, I’m sorry. Yeah, like you, you touched, you touched on most of them, you touched on most of the points, but again, it’s just communication and access to resources and that that’s, that’s a, that’s a part of our pillars, and we need to make sure that all students have access to these resources, know the opportunities that are in front of them, and have an equal opportunity to get accepted to it. You know, a lot of, a lot of things, so for instance, I’m Puerto Rican and for the Puerto Rico relief, for Puerto Rico Relief Fund, and the trip to relieve, after the hurricane, I applied for that. Being a Puerto Rican, I want to, I want, like I have never been able to visit Puerto Rico after I left when I was two, two years old, my family visited and when I was two and I didn’t get to experience it, and when my country was in a, in a sad in place, I wanted to help and I had to apply in order to be accepted to help my country where I’m from, you know, my island. And it’s like, and that’s upsetting because I didn’t get accepted and it’s like, why? Why not? You know? Like why couldn’t I help my people might have family.

J.N: Yeah. And even to a broader point, I think that as a, I used to be the music columnist for The D.O. And I think that sometimes I would go to events and there would be hip-hop and it’s like, I remember the A$AP Ferg and Playboi Carti event, and I would go in the back and it, out of 15 reporters, two of us would be of color. And like while there’s nothing wrong with that, I want reporters to have opportunities to cover all they want, like it is clear that student are not getting the same opportunity based on their race. Like I’m also the editor for Renegade Magazine, which is the only black general interest magazine on campus, and the difference between the Renegade and then like maybe a bigger publication like The D.O. I don’t think is necessarily skill all the time. I think it is because I understand that it’s amazing but like the opportunity to write, like if you’re a freshman and you’re a student of color, you’re probably going to try to write for Renegade versus if you’re not a student of color and you have that privilege, you might try to write for The D.O. And how that manifests, how that works over your four years, it makes a big impact because when you graduate you’ll be able to say, I wrote for the number one newspaper in the country, whereas someone writing for Renegade, like no one knows what that is. And I think that that’s a shame.

R.P: And just to go based off of that as well, you know, people shouldn’t be penalized because on their on paper resume doesn’t look good. You know, there’s a lack of resources, naturally, where you come from or like where you’re from that, there’s areas in this country and it goes back to, to the country as a whole, there’s areas where resources lack and people aren’t able to have a good paper resume, you know, like, like to have those opportunities because again, the same opportunities that they reach for, they were denied upon, you know, so it’s like who are making these decisions that allows students to either join The D.O. or have to join Renegade, be a part of the Puerto Rican relief  trip or not, you know? And yeah, so like we have to make sure that there’s equal, equal opportunity within access and resources.

The D.O. Editorial Board: If elected, how do you plan to represent students whose experiences you can’t relate to? And that’s with regard to gender, sexuality, race, financial status?

R.P: So, so can I speak on this? Okay. So again, one thing that I learned within the Recognize Us movement is that people felt that their voices were suppressed because there were, there were students who were trying to advocate on behalf of, of their marginalized group, and we have to, we have to advocate for spaces and allow them to advocate for themselves and then work, work with them to learn more. Again, this is where, this is where Jalen, when Jalen mentioned we have to be a part of the discussion, we have to work with them, we have to hear them out and no more, you know, cause we don’t know everything, and you cannot identify with every group on campus, of course, so you have to be willing to take that step. And I feel like Jalen and I are willing to, to work with, with all groups on campus to make sure that their voices are properly represented rather than going upon what we think we know and advocating right away. So you, so you have to, you have to fight for the spaces so that they can advocate for themselves because if you don’t, then all you’re doing is suppressing their voices more than it’s already been suppressed.

J.N: We went to empower students to give their voices.

R.P: And not advocate leadership if you, if you cannot advocate fully because you cannot, you cannot represent fully, represent identities that you don’t identify with. So you have to let them represent themselves. Because personally for me, I wouldn’t want somebody to advocate for any of my struggles because they cannot. You can empathize but you can never walk in my shoes.

J.N: Yeah. And there’s definitely a value to firsthand experience that we want to empower.

R.P: And with leadership comes allyship, you know, everything is important. You cannot just be the face. You have to understand that if, if you’re not the face, what can you do to help? Because that person is going to be reached out to before the faces we start to period. You have to know as, as a leader, okay, am I fitting to, to fight this battle or do I have to become an ally or step down and let somebody else take it? Because not, not everything you have to be a leader know, you don’t have to be the forefront person, like the person that’s in charge. But you have to understand that some people are more knowledgeable than you and you have to let them fight their own battles and advocate for themselves and work with them and work with administration at the same time to make results occur.

The D.O. Editorial Board: What have Salih and Rosenblum done well in the past year? Why?

J.N: I think they’ve done an amazing job of making SA a very diverse like group. I think that’s one thing. There’s a lot of things I could go through, but that’s one thing I want to give them credit for. I think that as someone who came in in mid semester, I think my personal relationship with Kyle and Ghufran has been strong because I think that they helped me understand what passion and determination looks like in this organization. Like I know Kyle and Ghufran are spending hours every week and really giving their all to this, to this organization. And I have admire that, like with all my heart, and I hope if I get the opportunity that I can embody that and hopefully build on that. I think that they did an amazing job with encouraging students to speak up within like cabinet specifically, maybe not the broader, but within cabinet I think they did a very good job of giving us the freedom to kind of represent our constituencies and kind of plan events without a lot of like red tape from them. And I think that’s important. So yeah, those are three things. I also, sorry, I also think that seeing like the personal development of like Ghufran in particular, I think has taught me a lot about what I expect next year. And I think she’s grown a lot as a person, grown a lot more confident of herself. And I think that’s amazing, and I’m proud of her.

The D.O. Editorial Board: What do you think has not worked well with the previous SA administration? What would you like to improve?

J.N: I think that there needs to, I think that one, accountability, two, structure, and three, respect. So I think structure can go first. I think that with giving cabinet members a lot of freedom to do their event, there wasn’t a lot of instruction on how to do an event or like when to do an event or like why to do an event. It was kind of like you have to figure it out. So I remember when I was planning the Ackerman for, I did not come into that with any prior event planning experience from SA or otherwise. And in retrospect I probably should have if my job is to play with it like this. So I think that there was a lot of things that I had to learn for the first time that if I was learning this maybe for the second or third time could have had a much better, more effective event. So I think that, kind of informing and instructing leaders as to what exactly their petition, position entails and what’s expected of them is very important as well as giving them the resources to like reach that because you can’t just say we want you to be the best, so you have to say here’s how you can do it. I think that respect, I don’t know if this is with Kyle or Ghufran, but I don’t think that the atmosphere of students association was always respectful. So I think that they could’ve done a better job of demanding respect because I think as a leader sometimes you just have to not tolerate certain things for the good of the organization. And I think that in an effort to be, not nice, but like in, in an effort to be understanding and like inclusive, I think sometimes they missed out on opportunities to say this is the organization that it is, you have to respect it regardless if you agree or not. And I think that that’s important to like an effective organization. Ray?

R.P: I mean I feel like we touched upon everything. It’s just, again, communication within, sorry, communication within this organization is so important and we have to communicate in and understand that the topics that we are speaking on are very sensitive and, and controversial topics and things that we want to work on. So understanding that, you know, we have to come to a common ground as an organization so that we can represent the students and if we’re not able to do that within our own organization, then we’re going to struggle to fully represent and, and, and get change for students. It is important that you have to, at the end of the day, come together and put it put aside any like personal or, or personal issues with respect and, and, and just point of views. Because if not, you’re just going to, you’re not going to do your job. You’re not, you’re there, people elect you so that you bring change, you bring results. And instead, if you’re, if you’re fighting within the system, there’s no way that that can happen.

J.N: And just, sorry to skip, but you asked me earlier. They’ve had  a lot of stories and done a good job with the SA social media page and just getting PR out there. So we also think they’ve done a good job of promoting us, just to throw that in there.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Do you feel you’ll face any limitations, never having been in SA before?

R.P: No, I absolutely don’t. And the reason I say that is because all my life, I’ve been a hardworking individual and I have the summer to, if elected, I have the summer to push my limits and learn as much as I can. And the one thing about me is I’m very adaptable. I can adapt, I can adapt to any, any situation. I have a, I, I take in so many different perspectives and when, when given with these controversial topics, you have to be like that because you have to understand other point of views even though you disagree with it. It’s a, it’s, it’s a concept of civic discourse. You know, what can we do for the greater good? And the thing about me is that I’m so passionate when it comes to this that I know that regardless of what stone in my way, whatever limitations I may face, I will break through them. Because all my life, I’ve been hit with limitations. This past summer I’ve been hit with limitations and I’m still here today, this year running for vice president. You know, and that as a thing that it’s not about experience, but it’s rather are you enthusiastic? Are you willing, you know, experience plays a lot. You know, you can, you can have all the answers, you can know everything point by point. But when a plan doesn’t go as, as planned, what is your, what is your backup plan? What are you going to do to make sure that the results that you want to see are still being done? And that’s why I felt that because of my hard work, my enthusiasm, there are no limitations that will hold me back because all my life I fought, I fought through any limitations and I’m willing to do that for the student population as well.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Could you name three specific projects you would pursue to improve physical accessibility on campus?

J.N: I think that number one, data that I’ve been thinking about all the time. I definitely want to get a better gauge of exactly what buildings are not accessible or less accessible than others. I think having tangible data and having a tangible assessment on that by which we can then inform all of our decisions is very important. I know that I’ve spoken the past, I think her name is Diane Wiener, I want to say, I spoken in the past with her about how there’s some accessibility issues in classrooms specifically, and I think that that’s unacceptable. In terms of like renovating classrooms and fixing that, I definitely want to get more information before I can like tangibly say this is what I want to do. But I think that there’s no way that there should be any spaces on campus that some students can physically get to that others can’t. I think that’s unacceptable and I really want to fight to create an infrastructure that will allow SA to address that issue over time. I know that Kyle and Ghufran have done some work to make American Sign Language an official language on campus. I think that’s very important. So I definitely want to speak to them about pursuing that in the future. And a third one, I think working with the Offices of Disabilities in the first place and working with, or say more organizations that represent that is very important because as we spoke about before, empowering other offices and people to speak up who never have. I as an able bodied person, I’m not the best person at this time just because I’m not as informed us others, to necessarily push all of these policies. But I will make it a focus to be in the room with all the people that are so that we can work together to kind of come up with effective solution for students with disabilities. So that’s three.

The D.O. Editorial Board: What sets you apart from other candidates?

J.N: I think that, Raymond would you like to answer?

R.P: I mean you could start off and then.

J.N: Alright. I think that one, our experiences. I think that Raymond and I come from a background that very few students, who few, Student Association candidates have come from before. And I think that because of our hard work in the community and outside of our community, we come with a very broad perspective on what the student body and what a student at this university looks like. I think that since we were freshmen, we’ve truly, I met him in summer start, so I met him the semester before freshman semester. So I think since I’ve met Raymond, we’ve both been very focused on developing as leaders and of like men of integrity. So not that that separates us from other people, but I think that we’re very focused on how can we, we’ve always been very focused on how can we empower those around us and how can we empower the community. And I think that while I’m nowhere half near where I aspire to be like in my future, that’s something that’s very, very important to me that I think separates me because like I really, really in my heart care about that. Like I wake up and think about leadership. I read, I watch leadership podcast when I’m bored. I think that in addition to that our communication, I feel like as I spoke about before, SA, some people in SA are kind of a bubble and I think that the bubble is in some places more expensive than other candidates. I think that we have both the perspective of what’s going on inside SA, what’s going on with the students who are willing to be in these meetings and willing to talk to administration to talk about these things and what is going on with students that don’t really care or don’t really know. I think we have a good perspective on the different variation of SU students that are on this campus. I think that using that to inform our decisions and having a policy of empowering others is what separates us. Because we don’t necessarily want to be the superstars of SA. We want SA to be a superstar in the student body though and excel because of it.

R.P: Yeah. And Jalen touched upon a lot of it, you know, definitely perspective is one. When I see that these issues are re-occurring from years ago, you know, and it’s like why? Why is that? Do we have to change our perspective? Do we have to, to find a way that we can find results? You know, there’s still issues that, that are still on this campus that were there two years ago and that’s an issue. You know, that’s something that we have to, that’s an opportunity to make change. And that’s what we’re here for. And what separates us is that, you know, we, we have experienced firsthand experience with a lot of, a lot of, a lot of uncomfortableness as, as men of color on campus. Stepping into a classroom, you constantly face that, that you feel mute, you feel like you, you’re not, you’re not able to really articulate the way other students can articulate themselves. So you, you don’t really want to step out. And I see this is an issue with all marginalized groups. This is just your voices are naturally suppressed so, so it’s hard for you to, to speak up and you have, you have all the knowledge, all the tools to do so. And I think that’s what helped me learn from last year compared to this year. I have definitely become a more vocal person rather than a behind the scenes person because I have found my voice and I feel like a lot of, a lot of other people have to find their voice as well. And for me that’s one of the reasons why I decided, you know, maybe I can be that hope so that other, other voices can be found in other and other, other people in marginalized identities are willing to speak up and let their voices be heard rather than having others try to advocate for their behalf.

J.N: Yeah, I think just approaching this position with a level of humility, I think, separates us.

The D.O. Editorial Board: What are your plans if you’re not elected?

J.N: I think for me, my plan is to keep doing what I’ve been doing. I really care about the school. I still want my kids to come here, so I’m still going to be very focused on building a sustainable, passive communication, access and safety for students. Yeah, if I don’t get elected, I’m definitely going to focus on my grades a little bit more, get some A’s out of the way. I’m probably going to be focused on after college is a little bit more than I would just because I’ll have that free time in my head. But yeah, I’ll definitely continue to do what I’ve been doing. I won’t disappear and I’m driven by passion, not by ego or like money or congrats. So I have no doubt that I’ll continue doing what I’m doing. Raymond?

R.P: Could you repeat the question? My niece came into the room. If you could see her on the camera, she wants to say hi.

The D.O. Editorial Board: What are your plans if you’re not elected?

R.P: It’s important, right? Because everybody has something to offer. Each candidate has, has leadership skills and information that can be utilized, you know, and if I’m not elected, I have this perspective that I feel that a lot of individuals can grow from and I will be willing to offer that because, again, when they need help to solve these issues that I want to solve on campus, they’re going to reach out to a person for, you know, a new perspective, a way of going about things. And so again, when I mentioned earlier, it’s allyship whether, whether I’m the face or not, whether I’m, whether I’m elected or not, my goal is so that we can reach that change. So again, I will, I will, I obviously I have to work on post grad, but I also work on the fact that I want to change the university for the future students, not just for the students in one year. I want to change it for, for students to come, come to the following years. You get me? So whatever knowledge I have, whatever, whatever ability or, or any, any, anything that I can offer to help the other candidates because they’re great candidates. Again, there are great and they all have the ability to create this change, but we can use each other regardless to make this change because it’s, it’s five other individuals including myself to have so much vast, a variety of knowledge within their own specific communities. And if we can help then I will be an ally anyway I can because it’s not about, it’s not about, I just want to win. The election is about I want to make change.

J.N: And I’d also love to be in SA next year.

The D.O. Editorial Board: So just a follow-up question actually going right back to the beginning of our discussion. You said something about wanting to improve documentation. Could you expand on that, or say why that’s a concern of yours?

J.N: I think, documentation in terms of, let me think. Okay. I think that that’s a concern of mine because we don’t necessarily, we have an agenda for cabinet meetings but we have a pre, so we have like the agenda that you come in come in with, but there’s not like a posted agenda. So I think having a postage and things like that kind of recapping what we discussed in the meeting is really important. Even with assembly meetings, I think that’s also very important. Yeah, just overall documentation or writing things down in the assembly meetings. If we come to a resolution in that sometimes people might forget after a week of busy classes and hanging out with their friends. And I think having our pre meeting and a post meeting document, it’s just a really quick, easy thing that you can do to just keep track of your thoughts. I’m someone who is like, thanks a lot. So I know for me I need to write that things down in my notebook to like keep track. I’m sure a lot of you guys as writers are also like that. So I think that kind of just bringing that to SA because there’s a value writing things down and keeping track that I think it just inherit.

The D.O. Editorial Board: So it’s more of a process as opposed to something like financial related or?

J.N: No, definitely more of a process. I think the process is important and I think that having a written process can, you can go back and say, oh page four, this is where my event might’ve gone wrong when we see page for instead of I just told you the event and now I have to think back in my head to like what was the process of, and sustainability. If you can then, when I am done with SA, read my book about how I did these events and know the process, then this is a stronger SA in 2021.

The D.O. Editorial Board: So institutional memory.

J.N: Institutional memory. I like that.

The D.O. Editorial Board: Last question from us, I think, unless there are any other follow-ups. How are you an effective president, vice president ticket?

J.N: I think we balance each other out amazingly. I’ve, it’s crazy because I’m, I’m a man of faith. So like I believe things happen for a reason. And I remember walking with my mom the first day of Summer Starts seeing, right. And like I think that outside of thinking that this is what we’re supposed to do, like genuinely I think that the places where I’m weak, Raymond’s strong, and the places where I’m strong, Raymond’s not weak. I think we balance each other out really well. I think that we’re both talented young men who are humble and I think we both want to be leaders and our definition of leadership is very similar. Our definition of leadership for neither of us is centered around ego or necessarily personal esteem. It’s more so centered on community and progress. And I think like those two personal values in addition to like, he has high integrity, high character, or why we can balance each other and like get along.

R.P: Yes. And again, one thing that I felt, you know, that separates us is that I’m not, I’m not afraid to challenge Jalen on his, certain ideas so they can, they get better. As vice president and president, you have to understand that you may not always agree and someone cannot overpower your voice and I, I was seeing a little bit above it. And you know, again, you can’t do that, not within our campaign. Like I, I don’t want to, in the debate, I noticed like some people were talking more than others and I feel like as a team you have to understand everything. You have to understand like, each individual has to understand their, their abilities and what they’re capable of, and you have to be able to question each other in order for an idea to develop even more because your perspective, everybody’s perspective is very important and you can’t overpower your vice president, neither can the president over power the president.

J.N: We both want our kids to go here. I think like even though that’s like a cool thing to say, like I think we both want our kids to go here meaning that we both are thinking about genuinely SU in 2030. And I think that that’s something that very, I don’t know if a lot of students were thinking about that. We can really connect to them in this position.

R.P: I just, I just also speaking about like destiny, you know, and, and like destiny, the reason, the reason I took, the reason I chose to be on this ticket with Jalen is because we constantly cross each other’s paths, right? And we were always friendly with each other. And again, when you speak about genuineness, genuineness, Jalen helped me at the lowest point in my life. This summer I’ve faced, I faced hardship. I had a house fire. Jalen, Jaylen donated the most money out, Jalen, he didn’t even ask. He just sent it, you know, and it was something that I didn’t, being that Jalen and I, we were close, but we weren’t always like, we weren’t the best of friends. Like, you know, like we weren’t best friends, but we were friends. We were like, oh we, we’ll, we’ll see each other. We’ll say hi. And so that, just, that kind act that he, that he did, you know, right away I knew like Jalen’s character, who he is, he cares. And so if this, if Jalen helped me at my lowest point, I know that he could help Syracuse at its lowest point because Syracuse right now, it needs to be lifted up again. It has to, it has to, it has, the community as a whole has to be lifted because, again, it’s not only the Theta Tau incident. Since these incidents, since, it happened at, all around, every day. And so I know that, that just that little act of kindness and that little act like, just that act of donating and helping. I know that we both have genuine, genuine leadership and want the betterment of our community and that’s what we need.

DISCLAIMER: Jalen Nash is an assistant copy editor in The Daily Orange’s features department. He does not work for or interact with the News or Opinion sections nor does he influence its content in his capacity as an assistant copy editor. Nash is also a member of The D.O. Editorial Board, but has recused himself from SA-related topics this election season.

Published on April 8, 2019 at 1:04 am

Contact: opinion@dailyorange.com