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Throughout Syracuse University students’ first month back on campus, SU’s Student Association has announced a list of upcoming events and projects, including Latine Heritage Month festivities, its annual Harvest Festival, the Lending Closet initiative and the continuation of the grocery trolley service.

Members of SA’s executive branch began planning the return of multiple student advocacy initiatives over the summer. The association has reintroduced some projects, including “No Problem Too Small” and the Menstrual Product Initiative, with an expanded scope, SA President German Nolivos said.

The Daily Orange has compiled some of SA’s upcoming events and ongoing initiatives for the rest of this fall semester.

Latine Heritage Month

Latine Heritage Month began Sept. 16 with an opening ceremony — hosted by SU’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion — in Schine Student Center.

Activities planned for the month range from Reggaeton in the Rink, a night of music and rollerskating hosted at SU’s Barnes Center at The Arch, to Latine Experience at ‘Cuse, a discussion event featuring a panel of National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations members.

SA is also hosting its second-ever Calentón Music Fest on Oct. 19 at Goldstein Auditorium. In collaboration with Orange After Dark, University Union and Las Naranjas, the festival will feature performances by Latine artists, DJ Exxtra and Raíces Dance Troupe.

The event is exclusively offered for SU and SUNY ESF students. Tickets cost $10 online at the Student Box Office. LHM celebrations will conclude on Oct. 26 with a Comedy Night.

Grocery Trolleys

The executive branch has made progress on bringing back its grocery trolley service, despite new guidelines that prohibit SU trolley services outside of campus, Nolivos said during last week’s SA meeting on Sept. 16.

In the past, SA has provided free trolleys every Sunday for students from campus to nearby grocery stores. The service has since been halted with the new trolley guidelines, Nolivos said at Monday’s meeting.

SA is now working to continue the service using “alternative vendors,” he said.

“The University Affairs team has been working really hard to bring this initiative back to campus, which … has been an essential part of the students during past school years,” Nolivos wrote in a Sunday statement to The DO. “We are finalizing all the last-minute arrangements, but we are happy to announce that it will be active and running soon.”

Lending Closet

This year, SA plans to introduce the Lending Closet initiative, a shared storage service for on-campus registered student organizations. The closet hopes to offer a cheaper, more sustainable way for RSOs to access commonly requested items by allowing them to borrow products from previous events.

The closet is meant to eliminate RSOs’ financial and material waste when they need single-use supplies like event decorations. By taking advantage of the overlap in supply needs, the initiative aims to create a communal supply of items for RSOs.

“The main purpose of this is for sustainability but also it will let us save more money to be able to allocate for more events and other organizations,” Nolivos said in a Sept. 9 SA meeting.

Menstrual product initiative

At the Sept. 16 SA meeting, Vice President Reed Granger reported that they met with Sheriah Dixon, SU’s dean of students, to work on improving access to free menstrual products on campus.

Efforts to provide access to free menstrual products through SA’s Menstrual Product initiative began in 2022.

SA plans to re-invigorate and expand these efforts following new legislation by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul that requires public colleges and universities to provide access to free menstrual products. As a private university, SU is not legally obligated to follow the new law, but Nolivos said the association has taken it as a “call to action” for SU administration and SA.

No Problem Too Small

SA intends to broaden its No Problem Too Small student feedback project. Currently, the resource features a single online Google Form accessible to all students where they can submit their concerns and feedback.

SA is working to offer multiple forms regarding topics related to student experience at SU, including parking, housing concerns and personal experiences, Nolivos said on Sept. 16.

Harvest Festival

Later this fall, SA will host its annual Harvest Festival. In previous years, the campus celebration featured fall-themed activities and games. Last year’s festival also hosted a food drive organized by the Food Recovery Network. The date of the festival has not been announced.

Published on September 22, 2024 at 10:01 pm

Contact Anna: aclevitt@syr.edu