Click here for the Daily Orange's inclusive journalism fellowship applications for this year


Student Association

SA passes bill to make DPS focus groups permanent

Annabelle Gordon | Asst. Photo Editor

SA also unanimously passed a bill providing the president, vice president and comptroller $2,500 stipends each for their work in the organization.

By Kailey Norusisstaff writer

Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Student Association unanimously passed a bill Monday to make its Department of Public Safety focus groups a permanent initiative.

SA Chief of Staff Kailee Vick introduced the bill. It’s important that students have an opportunity to provide feedback about the department and its role on campus, they said. 

“We really wanted to make it a permanent initiative and make this a recurring thing because we think it’s really important for students to be able to have a platform where they can really just voice their concerns with the department and then have that stage to be able to then have actionable change come out of that,” Vick said.

During the fall semester, SA partnered with InterFaith Works’ El-Hindi Center for Dialogue to hold student-led focus groups. Vick is unsure whether DPS will continue to fund the initiative because Chief Bobby Maldonado is retiring in August, but Vick is pushing for the department to make the initiative a priority.



“A lot of students really, really liked this opportunity, but because of COVID-19 … it wasn’t as successful as I think it could have been,”  Vick said. “But I think with a full on-campus rollout and publicizing, it could be a lot more fruitful.”

SA also unanimously passed a bill providing the president, vice president and comptroller $2,500 stipends each for their work in the organization. The stipends come from SA’s operating budget and are given annually to the president, vice president and comptroller.

The stipends come from SA’s operating budget and are given annually to the president, vice president and comptroller.

“All three of them have done a fantastic job this semester,” said Joshua Shub-Seltzer, SA parliamentarian. “I see no reason to not give them their hard earned cash.” 

David Bruen, SA’s speaker of assembly and president-elect, thanked President Justine Hastings, Vice President Jeremy Golden and comptroller Julio Burgos for their work this year. 

“This was not the optimal year, but I think they did as optimal a job as they could, so I appreciate that,” Bruen said.





Top Stories