As Syracuse University’s Student Association held elections Monday night, allegations of misconduct and bias against former SA presidential candidate John Jankovic surfaced at the organization’s last meeting of the 2017-18 academic year.

The parliamentarian election was contested between Jankovic, a sophomore political science and psychology dual major, and Drew Jacobson, a junior computer science major. Jacobson won the election after a debate regarding Jankovic’s candidacy.

Jankovic allegedly committed two infractions during a separate election in April. SA Vice President Angie Pati noted an instance of bias related to the selection process for SU’s recent Puerto Rico aid trip. Jankovic served as the group’s student team leader during the trip.

After interviewing candidates, Jankovic chose two of his closest friends to go on the aid trip, Pati said.

Pati added that she knew two people who were “very highly qualified” who did not get interviews. In final deliberations, Jankovic also mentioned that a candidate he chose was one of his best friends, so he knew they’d do a good job, she said.

“That’s concrete bias,” Pati said. SA couldn’t do another relief trip this semester partly because of Jankovic’s actions, she added.

Others SA members discussed Jankovic’s past election policy violations.

“There were two instances that he got reported for breaking policy during an election,” said Obi Afriyie, the current SA parliamentarian. “And now he’s running for parliamentarian. That was three weeks ago.”

Sophia Faram, chair of SA’s board of elections and membership committee, said that one of the election infractions had to do with a reported misuse of email during the election process.

“One of the bylaws is you’re not allowed to email from the listserv,” Faram said. “I told all candidates not to use email at all, and I have gotten a message from one of the other people in the election that there was an email listed.”

Jankovic said after the meeting that he didn’t believe he committed an election infraction.

SA also held elections for other positions. Emma Peca, a freshman political science and international relations double major, was elected one of SA’s two representatives to SU’s Board of Trustees. The other representative will be Ghufran Salih, the incoming SA president.

Peca said she wanted to begin discussions with the board regarding inclusivity and accessibility.

“I have only been here eight months, but in my own personal experience as a woman of color on campus, observing, up close and at a distance, marco and microaggressions from other students, faculty, DPS and some of my other peers who have encountered bias, this campus is not 100 percent inclusive,” Peca said.

Will Pritchett, a sophomore policy studies major, was elected speaker of the assembly. He replaced outgoing speaker Louisa Mancuso.

Jankovic and Vanessa Davila, a sophomore international relations, economics and philosophy triple major, were elected to SA’s administrative operations committee.

An alumni board election was scheduled to take place, but the assembly tabled the vote until next semester.

Outgoing SA seniors were honored at the beginning of the meeting, and many graduating members gave parting remarks.

Current SA President James Franco praised the accomplishments of the organization and offered an endorsement of Salih and Rosenblum.

“I’ve been inspired by people like you all who kept pushing the limits of what I thought this organization could achieve,” Franco said. “It has meant a lot to me, I am confident in Ghufran and Kyle and everyone else who is here next year.”

Published on May 1, 2018 at 1:31 am

Contact Ryan: rarozenb@syr.edu