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University Senate committee members laid out plans to address food insecurity among students at its Wednesday afternoon meeting. This comes after the senate reported a dramatic increase in use of the Syracuse University Hendricks Chapel food pantry on campus and at its South Campus location.

The Student Life Committee reported its findings on food insecurity as one of five presenting committees, including the Committees of Administrative Operations, Computing Services, Curricula and Athletic Policy.

Conversations with people from Hendricks and student representatives revealed an increasing need for volunteers to work the pantry, said Julia Carboni, an associate professor and the chair of the citizenship and civic engagement program at SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, who presented on behalf of the committee.

Specifically, graduate students are more inclined to need food assistance, said SU English professor Crystal Bartolovich, referencing another report she said was discussed in previous USen meetings.

Carboni said the committee is working on pursuing partnerships with other food pantries at Cisco and Syracuse Banana, and plans to collaborate on potential solutions with the Food Bank of Central New York.

“We talked about bringing in some of the food banks of Central New York to do a SNAP screening of benefit… for graduate students in particular who may qualify for various forms of food assistance depending on their citizenship status,” Carboni said.

The Student Life Committee will meet next week with Amalia Swan, the chief community impact officer at the Food Bank of Central New York, to connect the CNY Food Bank to the SU Pantry.

Other Business:

The Committee on Student Life also addressed parking fees for graduate students who have assistantship status, reporting that graduate students who do not have a current assistantship pay more than students who do. The process for how graduate students are to pay for parking is currently under review by the Administrative Operations and Services to Faculty and Staff Committee.

The Committee on Student Life also plans to meet with Cory Wallack, SU’s associate vice president of student health and wellness, to discuss access to mental health services and reachability of therapists at the Barnes Center at The Arch.

Published on February 16, 2023 at 1:04 am