Syracuse University administrators will not sign a written version of commitments made to #NotAgainSU, university officials said Tuesday.

#NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black students, occupied Crouse-Hinds Hall from Feb. 17 to March 18 to continue its protest of hate incidents occurring at or near Syracuse University. Organizers and SU officials met four times during the demonstration to negotiate on the movement’s revised demands but did not reach a resolution.

Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost John Liu announced after the meetings that SU would end negotiations with the movement but provide other means for discussion. #NotAgainSU announced March 18 that it was ending its occupation after securing a virtual meeting with administrators to formalize commitments made during the negotiation meetings.

There will be no formal signing of the university’s commitments to #NotAgainSU, said Gabe Nugent, SU’s deputy general counsel, in a conference call with organizers Tuesday. Liu’s statement will allow the campus community to hold SU accountable for its commitments to organizers, he said.

“We don’t view this as a legal contract,” Nugent said. “There’s not going to be a separate signing of this. This has been a very public process.”

During the conference call, organizers and SU officials also clarified the university’s response to several of #NotAgainSU’s demands.

University officials again denied #NotAgainSU’s demand for SU to state that it’s complicit in white supremacy. Administrators have issued several statements condemning hate incidents and acknowledging the treatment of protesters during the Crouse-Hinds occupation, said J. Cole Smith, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

The Department of Public Safety sealed off Crouse-Hinds on Feb. 18, preventing outside food, medicine and resources from entering until the afternoon of Feb. 19. Organizers were allowed to leave at any time, university officials have said. SU provided lunch and dinner to organizers Feb. 18 and breakfast Feb. 19.

“The university has said all it’s going to say,” Smith said, “There’s not going to be a further statement.”

Keith Alford, chief diversity and inclusion officer, will publish a statement on his website condemning all forms of racial, ethnic, identity and religious hate, Smith said.

The university also intends to open paid student advisory positions in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, said Rob Hradsky, senior associate vice president of the student experience.

The student advisors would work with various campus committees — including the University Senate Committee for Diversity — to make recommendations regarding campus climate, Hradsky said.

“Let me be clear that we consider these negotiations to be over, and that we would expect that issues around campus climate more broadly would be brought up by those advisors,” Hradsky said. “The faculty input piece would happen through the faculty senate committee for diversity.”

Alford will be responsible for opening the positions and hiring candidates, Hradsky said. The university will also advertise the position to make students aware of it, he said.

Graduate students who participated in a strike in support of #NotAgainSU will not be penalized, a university official confirmed. Nearly 100 graduate students who identified as Black, indigenous and people of color, as well as international students, withheld their labor starting Feb. 19.

Students who went on strike will be able to retain their title and pay, Hradsky said.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion will also work with SU residence hall advisors to expand diversity and inclusion efforts on campus, Hradsky said. Organizers said that RAs should receive a stipend for any additional work related to diversity and inclusion.

“This really shouldn’t be a volunteer position,” an organizer said. “We need to pay people to address this problem.”

University officials also laid out plans for the expansion of Multicultural Living Learning Communities in SU residence halls, one of #NotAgainSU’s demands.

The university will launch first-year MLLCs in Day and Lawrinson Halls in fall 2020 and an upperclassman MLLC in Ernie Davis Hall, Hradsky said. In fall 2021, MLLCs will be expanded to Watson Hall and Brewster, Boland and Brockway halls, he said.

The university plans to move forward with the creation of a roommate match service for first-year students, Hradsky said. The university wants to take marginalized student perspectives into account in building the service, he said.

“We will be evaluating the tool in the fall once all the assignments are made,” Hradsky said. “Given where we were in the roommate assignment process, it was too late to do it this year.”

Published on April 1, 2020 at 2:22 am

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu