The second week of October saw the confirmation of Juvanie Piquant as the new CUNY University Student Senate Chairperson, whose office is held in tandem with a seat on the CUNY Board of Trustees. Piquant, a junior student of law and paralegal studies at City Tech, has a long history of student activism and leadership and aims to make the voices of CUNY students heard.
Prior to winning this office, Piquant served on the USS Steering Committee as the Vice Chair of Legislative Affairs, acting as the second in command to the chairperson. As Vice Chair, Piquant focused on legislative advocacy and higher ed policy. Here she learned about some of the many contours of the discussion revolving around higher education not just for CUNY, but for SUNY, and institutions around the state.
In addition to her post at USS, Piquant also served as a board member for New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG). Although her latest term recently ended, for the three years she was involved, Piquant was able to conduct research on environmental policies and higher education.
“It’s given me the foundation as a student leader to understand the importance of organizing and policy but also how to activate other students,” Piquant told the Vanguard.
Piquant understands the importance of her new position, which also makes her the student representative on the CUNY Board of Trustees, with the power to vote on CUNY wide decisions like tuition hikes.
“You are more involved in conversations with members of the trustees and the administration,” she said. Being that nothing is made official without some form of preceding discussion, this direct line of communication is designed to have students’ concerns platformed at the highest rung of the administrative ladder.
While this year harbors several extreme problems and tough discussions, CUNY students have always had a lot of valid gripes with the administration. Some of the key discussions that Piquant hopes to bring to the board is racial inequality throughout the university, sustainability, and pertinent to the circumstances at large, a credit/no credit policy.
Piquant wants to emphasize the role of student involvement not just in student governments or various USS issues, but in CUNY as a whole.
“How do we work cohesively and collectively together to become champions of our own goals that we know we can achieve?” Piquant said. The answer, she believes, lies within students being able to recognize their role in the fight no matter how big or small. “The fight for a better CUNY is not just one person’s fight, it is all of our fight. And our job is to understand what is our role in this fight.”