Nearly 150 Syracuse University faculty members have signed a statement calling for the creation of a university-wide liberal arts core curriculum that would promote critical thinking about issues of diversity. 

The letter includes signatures from 148 faculty members and was written in response to a string of at least 17 hate crimes and bias-related incidents reported on or near SU since Nov. 7. SU currently has a single-course diversity requirement fulfilled through SEM 100, a first-year seminar. The course has been ineffective in addressing discrimination on campus, the statement reads. 

A university-wide liberal arts curriculum would better educate students about issues of diversity and could help deter individuals from committing similar hate crimes at SU, said Virginia Burrus, director of graduate studies in the Department of Religion and co-author of the statement, in an interview.

Faculty Statement by The Daily Orange on Scribd

“The university isn’t doing it’s job if we’re not educating people so that they can think critically and constructively and ethically,” Burrus said. “It’s the humanities, the social sciences and the arts where issues of difference and discrimination are really tackled critically.”

Burrus wrote the statement with assistant professor of religion Biko Gray. Gray proposed the creation of a similar curriculum to Chancellor Kent Syverud at a forum between students and university administration held Nov. 20 in Hendricks Chapel.   

The statement outlines the steps necessary to establish a liberal arts core curriculum, including the expansion of faculty in the humanities, arts and social sciences. The signatories also request greater diversity and inclusion among faculty at SU. 

The statement also claims the university’s Cluster Hires Initiative has deprioritized the hiring of diverse faculty and have diverted resources away from the humanities, arts and social sciences. 

SU’s Cluster Hires Initiative aims to foster collaboration and support university research by placing hired faculty in multidisciplinary groups, or clusters, based on shared research interests. SU approved 53 hires across seven research and academic areas in November 2018, and is seeking to expand the initiative. 

The cluster hiring strategy favors the hiring of faculty in the hard sciences over the humanities and “makes it harder to prioritize diversity,” Burrus said. 

The statement also pushes for opening lines of communication between faculty and the SU Board of Trustees. #NotAgainSU, a black student-led movement, demanded that SU create a platform for students to discuss their experiences directly to the Board of Trustees. 

Over half of the statement’s 148 signatories teach in the College of Arts and Sciences. No faculty from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, the School of Information Studies, or the College of Engineering and Computer Science signed the letter. 

“No group can claim to represent the voices of all faculty members,” the statement concludes. “We issue an invitation to all of our Syracuse University faculty colleagues –– across schools, divisions, departments, and disciplines — to join us in our efforts.”

Published on December 11, 2019 at 11:41 pm

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu