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During the first meeting of the semester for Syracuse University’s Graduate Student Organization on Wednesday, GSO President Daniel Kimmel urged senators to advocate for students in the wake of the changes to higher education enacted by President Donald Trump’s administration.

Since Trump took office on Jan. 20, a wave of education policy changes have affected higher education, including a freeze of federal funding that has since been judicially blocked, removals of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and roll backs of previous administrations’ efforts for LGBTQ+ inclusivity. Kimmel said these policies threaten the welfare and rights of many graduate students, making it GSO’s responsibility to respond.

“I am doing my best to keep up on those developments, to listen to what our administrators are saying and to also continue having conversations with our administrators in defense of not just graduate student rights, but at this point, in some cases, human rights,” Kimmel said.

Kimmel urged senators and cabinet members to defend the rights of affected graduate students and communicate the complaints and concerns of their constituents to administrative officials.

In the wake of these efforts, Kimmel announced the appointment of Saladin Abuhamdiya, a master’s in public administration student, to head the University Senate’s Free Speech and University Policy Committee. The committee was founded in November and promotes free speech on campus.

“They will be defending graduate student interests on their committee,” Kimmel said. “It will touch on vital matters regarding rights to protest, how free speech can be embodied on campus.”

Kimmel also stressed the importance of graduate student involvement in GSO in light of the federal changes. With multiple positions open currently and new cabinet seats expected to be available next semester, they encouraged members to apply for these positions.

GSO filled one of the open positions in the meeting, electing Ethan Engelhart, an international relations masters student, to one of the seven available University Senate seats. Engelhart said he hopes to serve on the finance committee and wants to focus on improving GSO’s accessibility for the rest of the graduate student body.

Members proposed two funding requests at the meeting. GSO passed the first resolution, allocating $1,300 to the Geology Graduate Student Organization’s annual Central New York Earth Science Student Symposium.

The Math Graduate Organization requested $4,700 for their annual New York State Regional Graduate Mathematics Conference. This sparked discussion about where to financially limit such requests.

The finance committee recommended limiting GSO’s contribution to $3,000, in accordance with the organization’s constitution. MGO requested the additional $1,700 to cover the extra costs of special alumni speakers in honor of the annual conference’s 50th anniversary.

The event is anticipated to serve SU students and a significant number of graduate students outside the university, with a National Science Foundation grant covering the attendance expenses of students who need transportation.

GSO voted against the $4,700 request, choosing instead to allocate $3,000.

Published on January 30, 2025 at 1:22 am

Contact Anna: aclevitt@syr.edu