Syracuse University continued working over the Thanksgiving break to address the demands of #NotAgainSU. Chancellor Kent Syverud first agreed to most of the students’ demands on Nov. 21.

#NotAgainSU, a movement led by black students, held an eight-day sit-in at the Barnes Center at The Arch. The sit-in began Nov. 13 as a protest against racist graffiti found in a SU residence hall and the university’s response to the incident. At least 16 hate crimes and bias incidents have been reported to the Department of Public Safety since Nov. 7.

The protesters gave Syverud until Nov. 20 to agree to their demands before facing calls for his resignation. In a Nov. 29 campus-wide email, Syverud and John Liu, incoming interim vice chancellor and provost, said the university will work “move aggressively” to implement the demands from #NotAgainSU, as well as from international and Jewish students.

“While we will return to campus on Monday, Dec. 2, we will not return to business as usual,” the email reads. “As a community, we must push urgently for change on our campus.”

Syverud agreed to 16 of 19 #NotAgainSU demands as written. He suggested minor revisions to three that require approval from SU’s Board of Trustees or involve law enforcement compliance. He also agreed to demands and concerns from international and Jewish students.

Still, #NotAgainSU continues to call for Syverud’s resignation. The group is also calling for the resignation of Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado, DPS Associate Chief John Sardino, and Dolan Evanovich, senior vice president for enrollment and student experience.

#NotAgainSU protesters demanded that SU provide monthly emails about the movement’s long-term demands and create a website displaying the progress of their demands. The university announced on Nov. 25 a tracker for the student demands that lists each demand or concern, SU’s response and the official or officials in charge of executing the response.

SU’s tracker lists all 19 demands, including the three that Syverud made suggestions to. All of the demands are in progress except one, which has already been met. #NotAgainSU demanded that students would not face consequences for participating in the protest, which the university agreed to and resolved.

The three demands that Syverud suggested revisions to are also in progress.

Here are some other actions the university committed to implementing in response to #NotAgainSU’s demands:

• Working to clarify the university’s policy surrounding hate speech.
• Supporting students of color in easing financial burdens by allocating funding.
• Working with deans on adding individual diversity to factors considered in student transfer between SU’s schools and colleges. By the end of spring 2020, the university will report on changes made to the transfer process.

DPS will set up a webpage that puts all of the department’s safety updates in one spot, fulfilling a student demand that called for a maximum of 48 hours when racially-motivated incidents occur around campus.

Many of #NotAgainSU’s demands revolved around university curriculum and those teaching it. Syverud agreed to allocate a minimum of $1 million for a required curriculum teaching diversity issues, specifically anti-racism. All new faculty and staff will go through diversity training, and all faculty and staff will complete annual discrimination unconscious bias training as required under state law.

SEM 100, a first-year seminar on diversity and inclusion, is also facing reform after harsh criticism from protesters throughout the sit-in. Protesters said the mandatory course hasn’t been effective.

SU committed to releasing data by school and college each academic year that relates to the progress of tenured professors in their diversity training. Protesters demanded that the progress be available publicly.

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Syverud is working on this demand with minor revisions. He added that required diversity and inclusion training is part of tenure requirements. The chancellor also added that the data will be released up to the extent permitted by law.

Another suggestion from Syverud applied to a #NotAgainSU demand requiring a housing portal that allows people to choose roommates based on mutual interest and identities. Syverud’s suggestion removes the word “identities.” Legal aspects in regard to selecting a roommate by identity would “constrain” solutions, according to the university’s response to the demands.

Students demanded that the Office of Student Living be given more money to implement housing changes related to resident advisor training, programming and multicultural events. The university will work with student representatives to identify and allocate resources beginning in spring 2020.

Syverud also suggested a change to the language of a demand asking for SU’s Board of Trustees to hold an open forum with students twice a year. The revised demand reads that Syverud will strongly urge the board to hold the forums.

Additional #NotAgainSU demands concerned different student experiences. The university committed to consulting the Multicultural Greek Council on how to implement equal treatment of multicultural Greek life. SU will also address a demand calling for the development of a building that serves as a headquarters for multicultural offices and programs.

In response to a demand for more counselors who represent marginalized communities, SU said it opened four positions that will be hired before fall 2020.

Another student demand called for Syverud to engage with minority communities, which includes an annual State of the University speech addressing the experience of students of color. Syverud will address diversity and inclusion in his annual January report, and Keith Alford, chief diversity and inclusion officer, will give an annual report.

Published on December 1, 2019 at 10:02 pm

Contact India: irmiragl@syr.edu