#NotAgainSU will continue its occupation of Crouse-Hinds Hall for a fourth day, the movement announced at a forum in Maxwell Auditorium on Wednesday night.

The movement, led by Black students, began occupying Crouse-Hinds on Monday at noon. The demonstration is part of the group’s ongoing protests of Syracuse University’s handling of at least 26 racist, anti-Semitic and bias-related incidents that have occurred at or near SU since early November.

SU placed more than 30 #NotAgainSU organizers under interim suspension early Tuesday morning for remaining in Crouse-Hinds past closing. Chancellor Kent Syverud announced the university would lift suspensions on protesters at a University Senate meeting earlier Wednesday.

#NotAgainSU will continue its occupation until its demands are met, organizers said during the forum via a video call. The protesters have persisted in their occupation to effect change, not to avoid punishment, organizers said.

“The reason for us being here is not to evade penalty,” an organizer said. “We are moving to engage in negotiations with the administration so we can discuss the terms of how they’ll implement our demands.”

Protesters inside the building received confirmation that their suspensions had been lifted, an organizer said. 

Organizers criticized SU administration and the Department of Public Safety’s handling of the occupation in their opening statement. DPS restricted access to Crouse-Hinds to those with card access starting Tuesday morning, preventing food and other supplies from entering the building. 

“That was a collaboration to make sure our human needs weren’t met, to force us out of this building,” an organizer said.

SU announced Wednesday night that Crouse-Hinds would re-open for its regular hours starting 7 a.m. Thursday. The protesters urged students who had previously been unable to enter the building to come to Crouse-Hinds and join the occupation.

One forum attendee asked how SU had responded so far to protesters’ call for the resignation or removal of DPS Associate Chief John Sardino. University officials have cited Sardino’s union affiliation as one of the barriers to his removal, protesters said. 

Another attendee asked whether DPS had used facial recognition software to identify protesters and deliver suspension letters. 

Robert Hradsky, senior associate vice president for the student experience, said the university had rescinded suspensions mistakenly given to students not in Crouse-Hinds at a University Senate meeting earlier Wednesday. A university spokesperson confirmed that SU had mistakenly filed conduct charges against four students.

Graduate students began circulating a letter Wednesday requesting graduate teaching and research assistants to strike until the university lifted suspensions on protesters and allowed food and supplies to enter Crouse-Hinds. An attendee urged graduate student employees to join the strike.

Organizers agreed that graduate students could help pressure the university to implement #NotAgainSU’s demands. Graduate students should continue to strike until the university agreed to the movement’s demands in full, the attendee said.

“We are withholding our labor,” the attendee said. “We will no longer be teaching. We run this institution and that is how we are showing our power.”

The university has shown reluctance to negotiate directly with protesters inside Crouse-Hinds, the organizers said. The university has sent third-party mediators without decision-making power to negotiate with them, they said. 

“They’re utilizing Black faculty as pawns in order to get what they want,” an organizer said. “If they want to send Black folks down to make decisions with us, they need to be Black folks with decision-making power. And Black people at this institution should have decision-making power.” 

The organizers also addressed Syverud’s role in the negotiations. Syverud, whose office is located in Crouse-Hinds, has not spoken directly with the protesters since the occupation began, they said.

Syverud spoke with protesters during their sit-in at the Barnes Center at the Arch in November.

Published on February 20, 2020 at 12:34 am

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu