Student Association President James Franco has responded to frustrations over a private meeting held to discuss a possible reconfiguration of Student Legal Services.

Jack Wilson, president of Syracuse University’s Graduate Student Organization, expressed concerns on Wednesday after he said he learned GSO representatives were left out of a meeting regarding SLS between Franco, Chancellor Kent Syverud and M. Dolan Evanovich, the university’s vice president for enrollment and the student experience.

SLS, which is jointly funded by the SA and GSO, provides free law services to Syracuse University undergraduate and graduate students.

Franco said there was no deliberate decision to leave Wilson out of the conversation about SLS. He added that SA wants to collaborate with GSO as much as possible moving forward. Wilson was not immediately available for comment Sunday evening.

“Nothing is set in stone nor were formal options given,” Franco said.

The topic of making changes to SLS was first raised with Syverud last semester, who then directed SA to Evanovich, Franco said in an interview with The Daily Orange. A meeting was held with Evanovich in early February to see if SA would be able to revisit how SLS operates and serves the undergraduate student body, Franco added.

Wilson on Wednesday said he was notified of a meeting between Franco and SU officials after it had taken place, adding that it raised concerns that the interests of GSO members were deliberately left out of preliminary talks.

“We do not like this,” Wilson said. “The degree of independence that the SLS provides is absolutely critical.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, GSO members said they were concerned that SLS would be replaced by lawyers working for the university and SLS would subsequently lose its status as an organization independent of SU.

“I think Jack may have misperceived that nature of the first two meetings. They were really preliminary,” Franco said.

Franco said he wants to make changes to SLS that would increase its accountability. At present, not as many undergraduates are using the service as is to be expected and it’s important to find out why, Franco said.

If students are not accessing legal help — whether it’s because the SLS lawyers currently available are unable to address certain topics or the litigation process for some cases would be too complicated — SA wants to find a way to fix that problem, Franco said.

“We’re looking toward keeping that separation from the university to a degree, while also getting more support from the university,” Franco said on the independence of SLS.

He also said there was a meeting of student government leaders, including Wilson, with Evanovich on Friday to discuss possible SLS plans.

He added that undergraduates have expressed some concerns over SLS, and as SA’s president he said he wants to ensure the service is working for the students he represents.
“Wilson represents the graduate student body and I think they’re much more pleased with the current success level of SLS,” Franco said.

Published on February 18, 2018 at 10:02 pm

Contact India: irmiragl@syr.edu