The Daily Orange Editorial Board commends Syracuse University’s Student Association and InclusiveU for their efforts to increase on-campus representation for students with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

SA recently partnered with InclusiveU, a university program for students with developmental or intellectual disabilities, to include InclusiveU members on SA committees, including the Diversity Affairs and Student Life committees. The measure fulfills a plan proposed during SA President James Franco and Vice President Angie Pati’s campaign last spring.

The partnership comes into play at an important time under the university’s Fast Forward initiative, ensuring that people from marginalized communities have a greater platform to utilize their voices and speak on issues concerning them.

For SA’s collaboration with InclusiveU to be most beneficial, it’s essential that SA extends this partnership beyond membership in the Diversity Affairs and Student Life committees. To ensure proper representation, SA should invite InclusiveU members to meetings with various student organizations and administration members on a regular basis to maintain a dialogue about accessibility and on-campus experiences for these communities.

Rather than speak on behalf of students with disabilities, SA should utilize its partnership with InclusiveU to contact them directly and ask which resources they need to best facilitate academic and community success. In the same way, SA should seek to partner with similar groups, including the Disability Cultural Center and the Office of Disability Services.

Inclusivity isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for increasing diversity, and it’s important SA explores all avenues when working to increase visibility of marginalized communities in student government. The editorial board looks forward to seeing how this relationship with InclusiveU — and hopefully more on behalf of SA — contribute to more balanced representation in campus policies.

The Daily Orange Editorial Board serves as the voice of the organization and aims to contribute the perspectives of students to discussions that concern Syracuse University and the greater Syracuse community. The editorial board’s stances are determined by a majority of its members. You can read more about the editorial board here. Are you interested in pitching a topic for the editorial board to discuss? Email [email protected].