Dozens of Syracuse University community members are calling on Chancellor Kent Syverud to publicly endorse a community grid option to replace Interstate 81’s aging viaduct.

But, for now, SU is declining to take a public position on the thorny issue that’s sparked a decade-long local debate — politicians, businesses and residents clashing over the possible transformation of the city’s primary throughway.

Members of the campus community say that’s not the right approach, and have written a formal letter to Syverud urging him to speak out.

In a dozen interviews with The Daily Orange, and a statement from signatories of that letter, originally published late last year, SU community members detailed reasons for why they believe Syverud should publicly weigh in on the landmark public infrastructure decision, and on what replacement option he supports.

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Professor Thomas Keck, who co-wrote the letter to Syverud, reached out to the chancellor shortly after it was published online by The Daily Orange on Dec. 7, 2018, with the hope he could sit down with him to discuss the content of the letter, Keck said. The chancellor’s office acknowledged that they had received his message, but as of Sunday, Keck said he had not heard back from university leadership. The letter was signed by 160 people, including students.

In a statement emailed to The D.O. last Friday, SU’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Dara Royer said it would be “inappropriate” for the university to take a public stance on an I-81 replacement option. But Syverud, along with other institutions on University Hill, have previously communicated recommendations for the I-81 replacement plan with the state, Royer added.

“Given the academic mission and values that define Syracuse University, it has been our position that it would be inappropriate for the University to take a public stance on a specific I-81 replacement option, until New York State releases the final Environmental Impact Study/Statement, and related Tunnel Study,” Royer wrote in the statement.

As the third-largest employer in the city, SU is a “major stakeholder” in the city’s economy, multiple people interviewed said. The current viaduct acts as a barrier between the university and the city of Syracuse, they said.

Syracuse is one of the most racially- and financially segregated cities in the United States, and I-81 cut through traditionally black and Jewish neighborhoods when it was built.

On a campus that has committed to creating a diverse environment, I-81 provides a living example of the “direct line” between racial equity issues and the curriculum SU teaches, said Coran Klaver, an associate professor of English.

“You can’t ask to push for racial equity and racial awareness in your classroom and on your campus if there’s something going on in your community that’s perpetuating racial segregation,” Klaver said. “If we’re going to care about what’s happening in the university, we have to care about this.”

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On April 15, 2014, Syverud sent a memorandum to five SU faculty members. They were called on to start a two-month workgroup on I-81 that would assess the major issues to the university and the community.

“The purpose of this workgroup is not to study those alternatives, nor advocate for a specific plan on the behalf of the University,” Syverud wrote to the workgroup in April 2014. “Your charge is to help me better assess the major issues surrounding the I-81 replacement and therefore make decisions that are in the best interest of the University, both internally and externally.”

The 30-page report, released in June 2014, gave seven recommendations for the I-81 project. It examined six aspects of how the highway currently influences university and city operations, and how new alternatives can influence the university and the surrounding area.

Six of the seven recommendations called for unprecedented planning for construction, multiple access points to the university from the new highway structure, an aesthetically pleasing view of the city and a defined “gateway” to the university.

The seventh recommendation, though, was different. Because of “political obstacles,” SU needed to collaborate with neighboring institutions to advocate for their interests, it said.

“The University should identify objectives shared by other institutions located at the University Hill and work collaboratively to achieve our common goals,” the report said.

In July 2017, just more than three years after SU’s initial report was released, a commentary piece appeared on Syracuse.com from a coalition of University Hill employers: Syracuse University, SUNY-ESF and various hospitals on the Hill among them.

The University Hill Corporation wanted to “create more access (and) minimize disruptions” as a result of the I-81 construction and its long-term impacts. Some recommendations, including multiple access points to the highway system and minimizing construction damage, echoed the 2014 report. Requests to minimize housing and job displacement and a call to keep streets that connect University Hill to downtown open were new.

“Once we have the appropriate amount of time to review the information, the University Hill Corporation intends to determine what option best suits the needs of our collective stakeholders,” the commentary said.

Klaver said she read the report and found similarities between the suggestions made by University Hill organizers and the community grid. The grid was all about increased access, she said. It would get rid of the single on-ramp that the university can be accessed from, Klaver added. It would minimize disruption. But the commentary still lacked an endorsement for a specific option, she said.

“(SU has) taken a part in it, but they haven’t come out as strongly as they should in a leadership role,” she said. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to really change the city.”

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Will Pritchett, a senior policy studies major, read the 2014 report years after its release and was disappointed.

He had recently spent time in a policy studies course running an environmental club for first-and-second graders at Wilson Park, where he engaged with new people in a community less than half a mile away from Brewster Hall.

Pritchett saw the current I-81 viaduct as a “physical barrier” between the campus and neighborhood, he said, and a community grid would act as a bridge between the two.

But Pritchett also believed the university was not taking enough of a city-based stance on the issue. He said SU has not done enough to advocate for the issue because there has been a lack of public dialogue from the university.

“Our stance is just ‘we don’t care,’” Pritchett said of the work group’s suggestions. “We just want it to be pretty and we want it to connect to our campus. And I feel like that’s a terrible way of looking at this issue. Because Syracuse University is a part of this city and this city is a part of Syracuse University.”

Pritchett co-wrote a resolution that was passed in spring 2018 by SU’s Student Association. It did not specifically mention the community grid, but it added six suggestions for I-81’s future to the seven written in the chancellor’s report. The replacement plan would have to ensure racial equality, promote inclusive economic development, uphold environmental justice, ensure a higher quality of life for all residents, be fiscally responsible and plan for the future.

Professor Gretchen Purser, sitting in her Eggers Hall office, echoed Pritchett’s resolution. Purser signed the recent letter so students would cross the area where the current viaduct runs, she said. She called it the “divide” between SU and the city of Syracuse. A grid would increase mobility and it would encourage economic development, she said.

Purser, who teaches sociology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said she hoped it could change the way that students interact with the city of Syracuse, and that it could change SU’s relationship with the city, as well.

“(Students) tell me all the time that … they’re told their first year ‘don’t cross I-81,’” she said. “And I just find that crazy that that’s how they’re told to navigate the city that they’re living in.”

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Debates over how to replace the aging viaduct have persisted for a decade. But now, as New York state finishes analyzing the remaining replacement options in its Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Keck said there’s a time to organize.

“We didn’t know how long it might take to get the chancellor’s attention,” Keck said in early January. “So right now is a great time to be lining up folks who are willing to speak out in support of it, because the public comment period is going to start pretty soon.”

In December, several city officials predicted the New York state Department of Transportation’s DEIS would be released in early 2019. A 45-day public comment period will follow the impact statement’s release, followed by a final impact statement and decision on the replacement options for the aging viaduct.

Many signees believe that a decision will be made soon about the replacement option for the viaduct. After more than 1o years, they said they feel that it’s time for Chancellor to step in.

“It’s incumbent on all of us to speak out,” Keck said. “This highway’s only going to get redeveloped once. It’s been there 50 years, and this is the chance.”

Published on January 23, 2019 at 10:20 pm

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326