Members of NYU’s Student Government Assembly quizzed its prospective Global Student Council vice-chairs on how they plan to address concerns related to immigration and discussed a $70,000 proposal to renovate the commuter lounge in Lipton Hall at this month’s SGA meeting.
On Thursday, the three candidates for vice-chair of the GSC — the position responsible for consolidating students’ opinions across NYU’s 14 study-away sites — overviewed their plans to bolster support for study abroad students in the wake of a crackdown on immigration across college campuses. They said they aim to improve resources for students hoping to study abroad by clarifying which sites and circumstances could put them at risk.
“Being aware that there is a lot of visa restrictions on students and that there’s a lot of deportation cases in the USA is one of the main things I’m currently working on,” NYU Abu Dhabi junior Batool Al Tameemi, who currently holds the position and is now running for re-election, said during the discussion. “I’m having one-on-one conversations with students to direct them to reasonable, safe locations.”
Al Tameemi also said she planned to organize meetings with the Office of the President to better assess student safety. CAS junior Charlotte Rollins, current site ambassador for NYU Florence, suggested more legal and emotional support for affected students and recommended increasing awareness about resources at NYU’s Office of Global Services. Steinhardt junior Pei Lin Lui, former SGA London site ambassador and deputy director of marketing, was not asked about the issue.
The conversations come as the Trump administration revokes hundreds of student visas across U.S. college campuses, many of which have been attributed to participation in pro-Palestinian protests. In a Wednesday night universitywide email, President Linda Mills announced that “some members” of members of the NYU community have been affected by the federal crackdown, and at least one adjunct assistant professor fled to Canada after her visa was terminated.
Representatives from SGA’s Initiative Fund committee also presented a $70,000 proposal to remodel the Lipton Commuter Den which has remained the same since Lipton’s renovation in 2015. The renovations would upgrade the technology in the space, including its projectors, and provide more furniture and comfortable seating.
SGA’s Initiative Fund has a $500,000 budget dedicated to supporting student-led projects. Proposals typically only go through the initiative fund committee, however, instances that involve larger sums of money — such as the lounge renovation — are also presented to the broader student government.
“When the Initiative Fund was created two years ago, we wanted to ensure that the budget is used very intentionally,” SGA chair Angela Chou told WSN. “We want to truly make a difference in students’ experiences.”
Contact Amelia Hernandez Gioia and Dharma Niles at news@nyunews.com.
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