#NotAgainSU responded Friday night to a statement from a university spokesperson claiming organizers reached an agreement with Chancellor Kent Syverud on Nov. 20. 

Sarah Scalese, senior associate vice president for university communications, provided a statement to The Daily Orange on Thursday morning. Scalese said several #NotAgainSU organizers agreed to revisions to the movements’ demands during a private meeting with university officials in the Hendricks Chapel Dean’s Suite.

Scalese also said it would be “patently false” to claim that Syverud and university officials didn’t meet with the movement.

#NotAgainSU’s Friday statement clarified that the black student-led movement never claimed organizers didn’t meet with Syverud or university officials. The group instead claims it didn’t reach an agreement on the revisions during the Nov. 20 meeting. 

#NotAgainSU, which held an eight-day sit-in at the Barnes Center at The Arch in protest of racist incidents at SU, provided a list of 19 demands for Syverud to meet by Nov. 20 or face calls for resignation. A forum was held in Hendricks Chapel that evening, during which Syverud met privately with several protesters after initially saying he could not agree to meet all of the movement’s demands as written. The chancellor later signed 16 demands as written, and suggested changes to the remaining three.

Syverud had two public meetings with students at the Barnes Center in addition to the 90 minute Hendricks Chapel forum, Scalese said. She also said that Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Keith Alford met privately with more than a half dozen student protesters on Nov. 20 in Hendricks Chapel’s Dean’s Suite. Professor Biko Gray, who attended the forum, provided counsel and guidance to students throughout their protests, she said. 

#NotAgainSU confirmed in its response that Syverud made the mentioned public appearances and addressed the student organizers at the Hendricks Chapel forum. After the walkout, SU administrators rushed to Gray to have a closed-door meeting with meet with #NotAgainSU organizers for the first time, the group said in its statement.

The chancellor told a few organizers later in the Dean’s Suite that he couldn’t sign the document due to legality, #NotAgainSU states. Had this been expressed sooner, the organizers said they would have changed their language. 

“We stated that we would need to go back to the collective to express what was said in the meeting before we could make a decision,” the statement said. 

Syverud and Alford discussed the students’ demands during the meeting and both parties collectively agreed to a set of revisions, Scalese said. Once those revisions were made, Syverud signed the document. 

#NotAgainSU said no agreements or revisions were made at this meeting. Organizers unanimously agreed after the meeting to continue to call for Syverud’s resignation instead of  meeting with him further about demand revisions, #NotAgainSU said. Organizers then contacted Alford to inform him of their decision.

“We have reconvened with other student organizers as well as those present during the conversation that occured with Chancellor Syverud,” said #NotAgainSU in a text to Alford sent Nov. 20 at 10:34 p.m. “We have unanimously decided to maintain our position on calling for the resignation of the aforementioned administrative officials.” 

Scalese said that later in the evening, members of #NotAgainSU — who she claims previously agreed to the revisions — informed Alford that they had changed their minds and would no longer support the changes.

Syverud sent a signed copy of the revised demands in a campus-wide email Nov. 21. The document doesn’t include signatures from members of #NotAgainSU. 

The university listened to its students, heard their concerns and worked to meet their needs in good faith, Scalese said, which is why Syverud signed the demands Nov. 21 and shared them with the broader campus community. 

In a statement provided to The D.O. Friday night, Scalese said she stands by the Thursday statement because it is accurate and factual. 

“Sitting in, as the protestors have done in recent weeks, has sparked and inspired important conversations about creating change,” Scalese said. “Taking a seat at the table means coming together to do the hard and often frustrating work it takes to actually create lasting change.”

Syverud and his leadership team are working to implement recommendations from student groups, including #NotAgainSU, Scalese said. Agreeing to 16 of the movement’s demands is a “clear demonstration” of the chancellor’s commitment to addressing student concerns, she said. 

Crouse-Hinds Hall was closed Thursday and Friday morning, and #NotAgainSU organizers who planned to hang posters in the building were denied entrance. The university later issued a statement that said classes in the building had been relocated to “protect the academic environment.”

The closure of Crouse-Hinds makes it clear that the university needs systematic change to become a safe space for all students, #NotAgainSU said.

#NotAgainSU called on SU’s Board of Trustees to discuss the recent events on SU’s campus and make a case for Syverud’s removal. They also continue to urge the University Senate to take a vote of no confidence in Syverud, #NotAgainSU said.

Published on December 6, 2019 at 11:15 pm

Contact Sarah: scalessa@syr.edu | @sarahalessan