SYRACUSE, N. Y. -- Syracuse University students in the #NotAgainSU sit-in protesting recent racists incidents on campus created a list of demands for change at SU.

Chancellor Kent Syverud signed the list of student demands on Wednesday.

Students began to speak out after a series of incidents over the last two weeks, beginning with racist graffiti discovered in a bathroom stall of a residence hall.

The university also posted a signed memorandum. The chancellor also signed an agreement with representatives from the international student community.

The demands

Here are the demands the students made:

#NotAgainSU, a Black student led movement, believes transparency from the administration is necessary. The safety of students on this campus – specifically the safety of underrepresented and underserved students – is paramount. #NotAgainSU stands in solidarity with all groups and communities that identify with and for the movement. These are our demands to the Syracuse University Administration. They are followed by expansions for further clarity:

Short-Term Demands:

1. Different punishments for different levels of involvement, including expulsion, for every student involved with the hate crimes committed in Day Hall, and any other incidents of racism that have occurred since, that are found to violate the student code of conduct;

2. SEM 100 reform led by a diverse group of students and faculty to curate a curriculum that accurately addresses diversity issues in the 21st century and how they are influenced by history (Note: SEM 100 is a class for first-year students to promote a positive campus atmosphere);

3. Institute a clause in new faculty and staff contracts that requires mandatory diversity trainings, as well as new diversity hires. Current faculty and staff who are not tenured should have to attend new diversity trainings;

4. We would like to engage with the administration to strengthen or clarify the current anti-harassment policy regarding the use of abusive, threatening, or harassing hate speech to deliver the message that targeted use of hate speech is unacceptable;

Long-Term Demands:

5. A housing portal (such as My College Roomie or Roomsync) should be implemented as an option in the roommate selection process to allow future residents to choose a roommate based on mutual interests and identities, as well as the expansion and promotion of multicultural learning communities (LC’s) to more residence halls on campus, including upper division and mixed-population communities;

6. In order for the Office of Student Living (OSL) to properly implement housing changes, OSL should be allocated more funding for RA training, programming and other multicultural events in the dorms;

7. Agree to hire more counselors that better represent all marginalized identities on campus and more counselors with language fluency before the Fall 2020 semester begins, allow students to select their own counselor and enhance any current diversity & inclusion training, mandatory for both new and current counselors;

8. Agree to the development of a building for multicultural offices, including scholarship offices, organization, and programs, moving the existing offices for students of color to their new locations. This building should exist as a headquarters for those programs and offices; however, we would like to see these offices and programs represented across campus;

9. Agree to allocate necessary funds to support current students of color in alleviating financial burdens;

10. Individual Diversity be added to the factors considered when admitting students to colleges through the intra-university transfer process;

11. Agree to the allocation of a minimum of $1 million for the creation of a unified, required curriculum that educates the campus on diversity issues, specifically anti-racism;

12. Monthly updates about every long-term demand be sent via email, publicized through Syracuse University media outlets, and the development of a website where demand updates can be tracked by the public;

13. Make the diversity training status of tenured professors readily available through this public website;

14. Syracuse takes initiatives to equalize treatment of multicultural Greek Life and acknowledge the unique challenges multicultural Greek life faces;

15. The university agrees that when racially motivated incidents which impact the larger campus community occur, Administration will respond within a maximum of 48 hours;

16. We demand consistent levels of engagement from the Chancellor with minority communities, specifically a mandatory annual State of the University Address as it relates to the students of color experience;

17. Syracuse University expands and invests in student volunteer opportunities to better serve underserved and low-income communities in the city of Syracuse;

18. The university agrees that there will be no consequences or sanctions arising for students who are participating in the sit-in as a result of their participation in the sit-in.

EXPANSIONS:

For I: Varying degrees of involvement include:

I. Bystander

A. Individuals who witnessed the event or were present, but did not take part.

II. Accomplice

A. Individuals who aid/encourage the actions taken by the perpetrator.

III. Perpetrator

A. The individual responsible for the actions in question.

We encourage perpetrators face expulsion for their actions.

FOR 6: To ensure students of color and marginalized students feel safe in the housing process, a portal program and roommate matching system, such as My College Roomie and Roomsync, should be a voluntary option for all students. We are under the impression from OSL that they are currently working to implement this option for next school year and strongly support this decision. Multicultural learning communities (LC’s) should also be implemented in each residence hall, including first-year, upper division and mixed communities, and Sky Hall. This will allow for more diversity and intercultural communication, as well as give students of color the option of being surrounded by other students who look like them. Students of color have valid concerns that multicultural LC’s will make them more comfortable, feel safer on our campus, and ensuring opportunities for them to grow and thrive.

The learning communities should be advertised during the roommate selection process to ensure students are adequately informed about their housing options in terms of communities. The portal should ask students, “Would you like to live in a learning community?” After choosing yes, a drop down of Learning Communities will appear, and if you click on a LC, a short description will appear and display resources for incoming freshman. During the roommate selection process for current students, this same LC feature should be made available. In order for Resident Advisors (RAs) and OSL Professional Staff to be able to fully implement the programming needed to cultivate inclusion in our communities, we also ask for more funding to be given to the department of OSL, allowing for floor budgets to be expanded for community connection initiatives.

FOR 7: In a state-of-the-art health and wellness center such as The Barnes Center at The Arch, the mental health of marginalized students should be a top priority and additional accessible counseling space should be added to achieve a sufficient and effective counselor-student ration. Before the fall 2020 semester begins, we demand the university reach a counselor-to-student ratio of 1:500, which would bring the total counselors to 42. Over the next year, Syracuse University needs to hire 18 more counselors, in order to alleviate current wait-list issues and sufficiently address urgent mental health concerns students are facing.

Currently, marginalized students feel alienated by the underrepresentation of identities in counseling staff; therefore, the university must hire and employ a diverse counseling staff, in terms of gender, gender identity/expression, nationality, race/ethnicity, sexuality, religious affiliation, ability, and language fluency. Students deserve the rights to select a counselor in order to feel comfortable and validated, with a “choose your counselor” feature being available when scheduling an appointment. Each student should be assigned a counselor that is on their OrangeSuccess under “network,” enabling them to be aware of counseling resources before they attend SU. First-year students would be assigned prior to their arrival on campus and is determined by a form students fill out regarding their preferences for the identity of their assigned counselor.

FOR 9: The racially charged incidents of Theta tau, Ackerman, Madrid, and Day Hall are all clear examples that campus culture is not safe for students of color and it hasn’t been for a long time. The Syracuse University administration has failed to properly commit to and establish a diverse and inclusive campus environment. Their lack of adequate action has forced student leaders of color to dedicate years of unpaid labor to create safe spaces whether it is in organizations, clubs, events, and even in their own homes. Many students of color on this campus can cite several clubs they run in their free time and events they coordinate to create safe spaces for other students of color. Students of color dedicate the time they should be spending on their schoolwork to creating efficient safe spaces, which should already be provided by the administration. It compromises their ability to achieve academically at the same rate as their peers, excluding them from certain opportunities.

#NotAgainSU asks that Chancellor Kent Syverud signs and agrees to this list of demands by November 20th at 5 p.m. We will continue to occupy the Barnes Center until then.

Sincerely,

#NotAgainSU ________________________________________________________

Chancellor Kent Syverud