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Syracuse University’s Student Association has continued to support #NotAgainSU a year after the movement began.

#NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black students, has protested the university’s response to racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic incidents reported at SU since last November. The movement presented demands to SU officials during two separate occupations of university buildings in the 2019-20 academic year, some of which the university agreed to.

Since #NotAgainSU’s occupation of the Barnes Center at The Arch in November 2019, SA has advocated for the movement. Multiple students who protested with #NotAgainSU have since joined SA. The organization wants to use its resources to elevate the voices of #NotAgainSU members, said SA President Justine Hastings.

“One of the actual goals of the SA is to support the demands of #NotAgainSU, international students, Jewish students and Indigenous students,” said Hastings, a member of #NotAgainSU.

Hastings and SA Vice President Ryan Golden included supporting the demands of #NotAgainSU in their campaign platform during SA’s presidential election in the spring. SA still meets once or twice a month with administrators who were involved in negotiations with #NotAgainSU organizers, Hastings said.

SA played a significant role in pressuring SU administrators to sign commitments the university made to #NotAgainSU during the movement’s occupation of Crouse-Hinds Hall in the spring, Golden said.

“#NotAgainSU is obviously deserving of our support, but also it’s our job to back up student movements — especially when they are in the best interest of every student on campus,” Golden said. “Justine and I fully believe SA should be in the business of telling all student organizers and protesters that we are a resource.”

SA expressed support for #NotAgainSU during both its occupations. In November, SA canceled an assembly meeting to join protesters in the Barnes Center, and in the spring, the organization passed a resolution urging the university to acknowledge its mistreatment of protesters inside Crouse-Hinds Hall.

#NotAgainSU and other student movements have continued to reach out to SA for resources and support, said Adriana Lobo, SA’s Community Engagement co-chair. Resident advisers reached out to SA for support when they submitted demands for additional COVID-19 protections to the university in September, she said.

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SA’s involvement in campus protests:

• April 2020: Justine Hastings, Ryan Golden hope to include #NotAgainSU in SA discussions
• Feb. 2020: Student Association urges SU to acknowledge protester treatment
• Nov. 2019: Student Association cancels meeting, joins #NotAgainSU protests

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SA still faces challenges related to implementing commitments the university made to #NotAgainSU organizers during negotiations in March. SU has yet to make full transcripts of the negotiations publicly available.

#NotAgainSU organizers were told that they would have access to transcripts of the negotiations, Hastings said.

A university official has told SA that releasing the transcript will keep the university fixated on the past and prevent it from moving forward, Hastings said. She has sent multiple emails to follow up on requests that SU make the transcripts publicly available, she said.

“There is no moving forward if there’s no accountability or acknowledgment taken for what happened,” Hastings said. “Maybe you feel like you’re moving forward, but, on all fronts, nobody else is.”

SA plans to continue providing support and necessary resources to #NotAgainSU, though no official events or initiatives have been announced yet, Hastings said. SA intends to let student organizers take the lead and inform SA when they need resources or support, she said.

“A movement is not a person but its people,” said Lobo. “We are stronger together because we are not fighting for the right one but for each other.”

Published on November 15, 2020 at 9:27 pm

Contact Kailey: kmnorusi@syr.edu