UPDATED: Jan. 26, 2018 at 3:56 a.m.

The Graduate Student Organization on Wednesday unanimously voted to pass a bill supporting Syracuse University’s divestment of companies that supply services to for-profit prisons.

Dante Dauksz, a philosophy graduate student and general member of Syracuse Divest, presented the resolution to the organization during a meeting in the Life Sciences Complex.

“I am bringing this up to the GSO because (Syracuse Divest) has not received a satisfactory answer from the administration,” Dauksz said.

SU Treasurer David Smith said in a February email to Syracuse Divest that SU had no direct investment in any companies providing faculty operations or business services to for-profit prisons, Dauksz said.

Syracuse Divest responded by calling upon the university to publicly announce its divestment, Dauksz said.

“Simply the fact that (the) university does not have any investment as of Feb. 24, does not mean that they will not have investments the day after,” Dauksz said.

Various universities including Columbia University, Georgetown University and all of the University of California system colleges have already denounced direct investment in companies that invest in for-profit prisons, Dauksz said.

After the resolution was discussed by GSO and amendments were made, the bill was passed unanimously.

“This means that we will use the mechanisms of soft power we have available to try to convince the university that this is a good idea,” said GSO President Jack Wilson.

Other business:

• A motion was held for the election of three at-large senators, but no one was nominated. The GSO pushed voting on the matter to its next meeting.

• The GSO voted to fully fund the Central New York Earth Science Student Symposium, an event organized by the Society of Undergraduate and Graduate Geology Students. The event, which is hosted by the department of earth sciences, allows upstate and central New York geology students to present their research to peers and potential employers.

• Wilson is continuing to advocate for a better employee health insurance plan, he said in his report.
  
  “There have been further talks whether migrating the employee health plan to the student health insurance plan,” Wilson said. “The hope is this will lead to a slightly better coverage at a discounted rate.”
  
  Wilson added that an Ombuds Office will be implemented by the end of the spring semester. The GSO president said he will be following the process carefully so it will be achieved in a timely manner.

• Christopher Burke, director of Student Legal Services, spoke to the GSO about legal services the organization offers to SU and SUNY-ESF students.

• Vice President of Internal Affairs Rikki Sargent asked the Senate to send her their SU values so the Sesquicentennial Planning Committee, which was established to celebrate SU’s 150th anniversary, can have a better understanding of what values students stand by.
• Wilson also announced that GSO will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Plans for the semicentennial celebration will be decided upon and announced later, Wilson said.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Rikki Sargent’s questioning regarding the Sesquicentennial Planning Committee was misstated. Sargent asked members of the Senate about their Syracuse University values. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on January 24, 2018 at 11:32 pm

Contact Jonathan: jnchau@syr.edu