SA sends resolution urging revocation of Rudy Giuliani’s honorary degree

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Student Association President David Bruen announced during Monday night’s meeting that the SA has sent a resolution to the Syracuse University Senate supporting the revocation of Rudy Giuliani’s honorary degree.

SU gave the degree, an honorary doctorate from the College of Law, to Giuliani in 1989. SA sent their resolution to the Senate along with a letter, which Bruen said was well received by the group. He added that it was charged to the honorary degrees committee, and the resolution should be discussed by the committee on April 13.

Drexel University and Middlebury College had also given Giuliani honorary degrees, but they rescinded them due to his attempts to disrupt the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

The Student Association elections began on Monday and will last until Friday at 11:59 p.m. Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF students can vote for president, executive vice president, comptroller, assembly seats and a referendum to continue giving $3 per each student’s activity fee to support the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Richard Kaufman IV, the chair of SA’s board of elections, said he is confident the ongoing election is on track to surpass student turnout from the fall election and possibly the spring 2021 election.

As of 9:56 p.m. on Monday, 557 students have voted in the election, Kaufman said.

Noah Cordes, the vice president of community and government affairs, announced that he and Malique Lewis, the vice president of diversity and inclusion, will be postponing the police and student conference initiative until the fall.

Cordes said that after meetings with other SA members and organizers they have decided to use the rest of the spring semester and summer to have more conversations about the initiative and build up a larger coalition among students, faculty and SU’s administration.

This past weekend, the SA wrapped up the ACC Leadership Symposium. SU hosted the leadership symposium, which featured over 100 representatives from ACC member colleges.

The topic of the symposium was “Breaking the Barrier: Creating an Intersectional Community Using Historical Context to Strengthen Connections Amongst Our Diverse Experiences.” Bruen said the symposium was a success and hopes to continue to build relationships with other schools.

“I’m proud of the whole thing,” Bruen said. “What’s been awesome is the relationships we’ve been able to create, build and develop. I have really high hopes that this will last beyond this year to do much more advocacy on a regional and national level for policies such as Title IX and college affordability.”