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Syracuse University’s Student Association discussed the university’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility plan during a meeting with students at 119 Euclid Ave. on Wednesday night. The meeting was open to all students, and around 30 attended.

SU dedicated the building at 119 Euclid Ave. as a safe space for Black students, and the center opened earlier this semester. Students were encouraged by SA leadership to voice their opinions, frustrations and concerns about the drafted DEIA plan and what it is like to be a minority student at SU.

Many students in the meeting expressed their frustration with the DEIA plan, saying that the university made a series of statements with no clear methods on how SU will improve diversity and equality.

One student said they believe the DEIA plan feels very performative and the university is
trying to look good while not having any substance in the plan.

Another student said the university often uses students of color in promotional material for prospective students, and the student criticized their intentions behind this action. The student brought up the low percentage of Black undergraduate students at the university, which is only 6.8% according to SU’s fall 2021 census.

“(It feels as if the university) parades Black students as a way to show prospective students that Syracuse is diverse,” the student said.

Students were also frustrated with the plan citing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. coming to the university to speak as a highlight of SU’s diverse history while racism and inequality still occurs at the school today.

Students said they were also disappointed with the SU’s new first-year seminar course and how it addresses issues of race and student protests.

Many students at the meeting said they believe FYS 101 does not do a good enough job encouraging discussion to happen about uncomfortable topics such as anti-Black racism. Students also said they were dissatisfied with the way the university presented the #NotAgainSU movement in the class and felt the university “white-washed” the protests and did not tell the whole truth.

“It’s a missed opportunity, because you are never going to have a space where you have different students from different majors all in one spot,” said Olivia Stepter, a freshman SU student. “It’s a response to #NotAgainSU. Because of that, I feel like it’s really hollow and the university is trying to meet certain benchmarks without actually teaching students.”

Some proposals brought up during the meeting included encouraging or requiring students to take more courses about underrepresented groups, such as African American studies, women’s and gender studies or Native American and Indigenous studies. Students also expressed support for a permanent test-optional policy for standardized testing to increase the diversity of SU.

“I need methods of how they are going to approach these statements. (They say) ‘we are gonna do this,’ but there is no specific method of how they are going to approach these things,” said Linda Baguma, a member of SA. “I have hope that change will happen. I have hope that our voices are going to be heard. If not, we are going to keep fighting.”

SA member Adia Santos said she believes the freshman experience for Black students is underwhelming and disappointing. She added that, once she arrived at SU, she realized the university was less diverse than she believed it to be beforehand.

“It really makes you feel like you were thrown into a world you didn’t expect to be thrown into,” said Santos, who is a junior. “When I came here, I was promised a Black mecca … it’s hard to keep watching (bias incidents) happen within the first month of freshman year.”

Published on December 2, 2021 at 2:22 am

Contact Danis: dwcammet@syr.edu