CAS junior Ron Hall selected as next NYU student gov’t chair

NYU’s Student Government Assembly elected a new chair and passed resolutions addressing the adjunct faculty union’s upcoming contract negotiations and mental health provisions on city transportation.

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Susan Behrends Valenzuela

(Staff Illustration by Susan Behrends Valenzuela)

Lauren Ashe, Senior Staff Writer

CAS junior Ron Hall was elected chairperson for the summer and 2022-23 academic year by the Student Government Assembly on April 7. The student government also passed resolutions in support of the NYU adjunct faculty union’s contract bargaining efforts and providing mental health resources in New York City subway stations.

During its previous meeting on March 31, the SGA announced the nominees for the position, which serves as the liaison between the student body and NYU administration. Hall — the Presidents Council vice-chair, All-University Events Committee chair and a College of Arts and Science senator — previously served as the CAS president for first-year students and the president of the sophomore Class Activities Board. He will succeed CAS senior Mehrin Ali, the senator at-large for students experiencing food and basic needs insecurities, after she graduates this spring.

Anthony Cruz, the chair of the Chair Elections Reform Committee, and Christopher Van Demark, the senator for the Graduate School of Arts and Science, then proposed a letter in support of ACT-UAW Local 7902, the labor union representing NYU’s adjunct faculty, and its collective bargaining with NYU for a new contract starting this week. The resolution passed with a majority vote.

“Their working conditions are our learning conditions,” Cruz said. “I’ve asked that you, as we have in the past supported unionized labor, that we support the adjunct faculty union and their fight for better working conditions at NYU.”

Ryan Carney, the chair of the Financial Affairs Committee, introduced another resolution promoting a Fordham University student government proposal to address the safety concerns of commuter students by providing mental health resources in subway stations and on city transportation. Fordham also contacted the student governments at Columbia University, the State University of New York, the New School and the Fashion Institute of Technology to ask for their support.

The letter outlines a three point provision plan, which calls on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to place permanent mental health signage in stations, improve emergency assistance help points and install platform screen doors which prevent riders from falling onto tracks.

The last SGA meeting of the spring semester is scheduled for May 5.

Contact Lauren Ashe at [email protected].