The SUNY Student Assembly
Advocacy Agenda
Advocating on behalf of SUNY's 1.4 million students is one of the most fundamental, core functions of the Student Assembly. With that said, developing the priorities that we will focus our advocacy on each year is a critical process that requires great amounts of thought, deliberation, and input.
Each academic year, the Student Assembly releases an advocacy agenda that frames our priorities. This agenda serves as a statement of our stances on a wide variety of items, as well as a frame for what our leadership will fight for in upcoming advocacy initiatives.
Our advocacy team works together with senior leadership to develop the first draft of our advocacy agenda between June and November. At each fall conference, the General Assembly, comprised of student representatives from all 64 campuses, votes to adopt the advocacy agenda that will go on to guide our efforts for the rest of the year.
Click to open a pdf version of the 2019-20 Advocacy Agenda.
In recognition that legislation can be difficult to understand, and inaccessible for many students, we have created supporting documentation that provides additional background information and links for some of the most complex subject areas in the agenda.
Click to open a pdf version of the supporting documentation for the 2019-20 Advocacy Agenda.
In addition to providing easy-to-print pdfs, the entire advocacy agenda has been converted into webpages, with supporting documentation integrated throughout, so that all students are able to read it in a comprehensive, understandable format. A table of contents for these webpages is below.
2019-20 Advocacy Agenda: Table of Contents
Increasing the Affordability and Accessibility of SUNY
Stopping the Rise of Tuition and Fees
Funding for Critical Maintenance and New Capital Projects
Increase State Support for Students with Disabilities
Reinstate TAP and Pell Grants for Justice-Involved Students
State Support for UUP Contract
Close the TAP Gap
Creating a National Impact on Higher Education
Work Study Reform
Expanding and Revising the "90/10" Rule
Increasing Pell Grant Award Sizes and Maintaining the Pell Grant Surplus
Protecting Title IX
Protecting Undocumented, Immigrant and International Students
Ensuring New York State's Commitment to Academic Excellence
Building on the Excelsior Scholarship Program
Year-Round TAP
State Support for Community Colleges
Increasing Graduate Student Wages
Support for SUNY's Hospitals and Health Science. Centers
Strengthening Campus Communities
On-Campus Childcare Centers
Educational Opportunity Programs
Educational Opportunity Centers
Provide Free Menstrual Hygiene Products Across SUNY
Enhancing University-Wide Programming
Combatting Food Insecurity
Open Educational Resources
Student Emergency Funds
Mental Health Resources