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UPDATE: This post was updated at 1:55 p.m. on May 8th, 2024.

The Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Syracuse University refused to relocate from the Shaw Quadrangle after university administrators formally requested Wednesday morning that it move to an alternate location due to commencement activities, according to an SU statement.

The university will treat the refusal as a violation of university policy and will address it through conduct processes, the statement read.

“The University will continue to prepare the Quad and other areas of campus for Commencement activities,” the statement read. “We remain focused on ensuring our graduates and their loved ones have a safe, welcoming and joyous celebration.”

SU’s Student Experience Division first distributed a document with its request for the encampment to relocate Wednesday morning.

The university proposed two alternative locations for the encampment — a greenspace adjacent to the Life Sciences Complex on College Place and the Women’s Building Field at the corner of Euclid Ave. and Comstock Ave. The document said SU facilities staff would be available to help the encampment relocate.

The document also said SU would require the encampment to include only students, faculty and staff affiliated with the university to “ensure the safety of our campus” during graduation activities.

May 8 document issued to GS… by Julia Boehning

The document said if members of the encampment failed to comply, SU would charge individuals for violating the Student Conduct Code and refer them to the conduct system.

“The University has permitted you to engage in protest for the past week with an opportunity to bring awareness to your positions,” the relocation request document read. “However, seeking to remain on the Quad beyond this point will constitute a disruption of University activities in violation of University policy.”

The GSE will “not discuss the question of moving” until administration has a “good-faith meeting” with the encampment’s negotiations team and provides a list of actionable items regarding each of the encampment’s six demands, GSE organizer Cai Cafiero told The Daily Orange.

“If they were to have a meeting with us, and to give us that list of actionable items on each demand, we will be happy to discuss relocating and what that would look like,” Cafiero said. “We’re waiting for them to come to the table.”

Cafiero, a graduate student in SU’s School of Education, said it has been “very difficult” to arrange a meeting between the encampment and administrations. Administration offered to meet with the GSE on Monday the 13th, which is after commencement, Cafiero said.

“Offering a meeting five days after (the relocation request) does us no good. We want to see that they are willing to negotiate before we comply,” Cafiero said.

The GSE refuses to relocate unless the university meets with its negotiations team and addresses its demands before Monday, Cafiero said.

The encampment at SU began on April 29, with organizers calling for the university to divest from Israel and support a ceasefire in Gaza, among other demands.

In the relocation request document, the Student Experience Division wrote that the Quad will play an “essential” role as it has in previous years of graduation ceremonies. Graduation events and receptions will begin Thursday and will last until Sunday. SU began setting up tents on the Quad Tuesday, according to the document.

Published on May 8, 2024 at 12:23 pm

Contact Stephanie: spwright@syr.edu