About 100 Syracuse University faculty, students and staff marched across the SU campus Thursday afternoon in solidarity with #NotAgainSU.

#NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black students, has occupied Crouse-Hinds Hall since Feb. 17 to protest the university’s response to at least 30 racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic incidents that have occurred at or near SU since November.

The movement will occupy the building until negotiations on its revised demands are complete. Organizers and university officials have made slow progress this week negotiating on the demands, scheduling a fourth meeting for Friday.

The Faculty Action Collective, a group of SU faculty in support of the movement, organized the march from Hendricks Chapel to Crouse-Hinds. Protesters stopped in front of several university buildings, including Sims Hall, Bird Library and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

At each stop, organizers read a short speech listing demands and expressing support for #NotAgainSU.

“We remain in solidarity with #NotAgainSU students and call upon SU administrators to negotiate in good faith with our students,” organizers said.

The collective’s demands echoed those of #NotAgainSU. Faculty called for the disarming of Department of Public Safety officers and for the creation of a committee composed of students, faculty and staff that oversees SU administration and the Board of Trustees.

Graduate students also participated in the march. Over 100 graduate students who identify as Black, indigenous and people of color, as well as international students, have withheld their labor since Feb. 19 to support #NotAgainSU.

Members of the collective restated demands for graduate students on strike to have a guaranteed renewal of their teaching assistantships when they return to work. Officials said during Wednesday’s negotiations that striking graduate students may be assigned to different classrooms.

Faculty members also called on the university to disclose and discontinue the use of facial recognition technology. SU officials have said that facial recognition technology was not used to identify organizers in Crouse-Hinds.

SU placed over 30 members of #NotAgainSU under interim suspension Feb. 17 for remaining in Crouse-Hinds past closing, lifting the suspensions a day later. Four SU students not present at the protest received suspension letters. The university rescinded those letters and later apologized.

Protesters chanted and carried signs as the march snaked across SU’s campus.

“Hey hey, ho ho, Kent Syverud has got to go,” protesters shouted. “Starving students is a crime, SU admin must resign!”

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#NotAgainSU continues to call for the resignation of Chancellor Kent Syverud and three other university officials. The movement has also criticized DPS officers’ interactions with organizers throughout the occupation.

DPS sealed off Crouse-Hinds as of Feb. 18, preventing outside food and medicine from entering until the afternoon of Feb. 19. The university provided lunch and dinner to organizers Feb. 18 and breakfast Feb. 19, reopening the building the next day.

Administrators during this week’s negotiations have denied #NotAgainSU’s demands for resignations and for disarming DPS officers.

University officials have also made a number of concessions. The university has agreed to implement mandatory diversity training for untenured faculty and raise the available printing funds for students from $20 to $40.

After the march, several protesters returned to Crouse-Hinds to partake in a teach-in from faculty in SU’s Department of African American Studies.

“We want undergraduate students back in class, where they want to be,” an organizer said as the march reached Crouse-Hinds Hall. “We want (Black, indigenous and people of color) grad students back teaching, where they want to be.”

Published on March 5, 2020 at 9:34 pm

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu