Editorial : Assembly member raises important issues facing undergraduates

Jonathan Reyes, an assembly member of Student Association who was voted in on Monday, raised an important debate at Monday’s meeting. He called for more Latino involvement in university leadership and for better integration among Syracuse University’s different ethnic groups.

SA, SU’s student governing body, is structured so every assembly member represents the needs of his or her school. Several members expressed concern that Reyes highlighted issues related to ethnicity and not issues specifically related to the College of Arts and Sciences. Fortunately, SA voted Reyes into the assembly, as his passion and different approach are refreshing.

SA representation is neatly divided by school affiliation. But often students identify more closely with a different aspect of their campus life — such as a club, fraternity or sorority or sport. His call to action, though it may not have been specific to Arts and Sciences, is based on observations that cut across the entire undergraduate community — self-segregation of minority groups.

Reyes’ call is a valiant one. With the SU administration pushing the university toward greater ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic diversity, there is little public discussion about what happens when those students actually get on campus. Do they face adversity? What could help ease the transition for first-generation college students? And how do we solve the issues of self-segregation?

Furthermore, different approaches to the job as assembly members and paths to uncovering issues facing undergraduates will make SA more effective and its resolutions more comprehensive. Every representative has a primary duty to his or her school. But SA must respond to issues facing students in general, even if they don’t arise neatly from one college or another.