Syracuse University administration and #NotAgainSU protesters disagree on what unfolded inside Crouse-Hinds Hall while the building was sealed off Tuesday and Wednesday.

#NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black students, began occupying Crouse-Hinds at noon on Feb. 17. The demonstration is part of the group’s ongoing protests of the university’s handling of at least 29 racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic incidents that have occurred at or near SU since early November.

The Department of Public Safety sealed off Crouse-Hinds as of Tuesday morning, barring people without swipe access from entering. Food, medicine and other supplies were not permitted to enter the building until Wednesday afternoon. The building reopened Thursday.

During and after the closure of Crouse-Hinds, protesters have said that the university prevented food, medicine and hygiene products from entering the building as a means of compelling protesters to leave.

“We felt like animals,” one protester said during a discussion with visiting students from SUNY Binghamton. “We felt like prisoners.”

Though administrators later offered food to protesters, it was on the condition that protesters engaged in discussions with university officials, an organizer said in an interview with The Daily Orange.

“Food was used as a leverage tool, a bargaining tool, when there was clearly very unbalanced power dynamics,” the organizer said. “(University officials) still don’t admit it. They still don’t admit that food wasn’t being let in unless it was used as a bargaining tool on their end.”

The university has repeatedly denied any allegations of restricting protesters’ access to food.

“There was no intention at any time to keep student protesters from accessing food, medicine or other necessities,” said Sarah Scalese, senior associate vice president for communications, in a statement. “The students were able to leave the building at any time to obtain food and other necessities and chose not to do so.”

The university provided protesters with lunch and dinner on Tuesday, as well as breakfast Wednesday morning, Scalese said.

Protesters said at a forum Wednesday that the university provided food Tuesday night on the condition that the organizers have a conversation with DPS officers. Protesters “never touched the food,” the organizer said.

“The administration was leveraging food access to get students to comply with ending the occupation,” a protester said during the forum.

Protesters chose to remain in Crouse-Hinds because their goal was to cause disruption, an organizer said.

Rob Hradsky, senior associate vice president of the student experience and dean of students, suggested Feb. 17 that organizers relocate to university buildings open for 24 hours, like Bird Library. Protesters who remained in Crouse-Hinds past the building’s 9 p.m. closing time were placed under interim suspension early Tuesday morning. Chancellor Kent Syverud announced Wednesday that the suspensions would be lifted.

“(Occupying Bird Library) is disrupting an academic space for an academic space’s sake,” the organizer said. “That’s not the point. We chose Crouse-Hinds because it deals with enrollment, admissions and all those things that are tied to the student experience.”

University officials did not inform protesters why food and supplies couldn’t enter Crouse-Hinds, the organizer said. When protesters asked DPS officers for an explanation, the officers responded that they were “just following orders,” they said.

When Syverud visited the Crouse-Hinds occupation on Friday, protesters asked him to identify the university officials who decided to restrict access to the building. Syverud said he did not know who made the decision, but he would find out.

Protesters also contended that Syverud, along with other high-ranking members of the university administration, are responsible for the decision to close the building. #NotAgainSU since November has called for the resignations of Syverud, DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado, DPS Associate Chief John Sardino and Dolan Evanovich, senior vice president for enrollment and the student experience.

“All the senior administrators have a piece of the pie,” the organizer said. “Regardless of whoever had the decision, they’re all compliant in it.”

#NotAgainSU held an eight-day sit-in at the Barnes Center at The Arch in November. The university opted to keep the building open for its regular hours of operation throughout the sit-in. Protesters were able to bring food and other supplies into the Barnes Center, the organizer said.

Tensions between protesters and DPS have also been higher during the Crouse-Hinds occupation than they were during the Barnes Center sit-in, the organizer said.

A DPS officer physically struggled with students at the entrance of Crouse-Hinds as the students tried to deliver food and supplies to the protesters inside, according to video shared on social media. The video also shows the officer reaching for his holster during the altercation.

“Student protesters feared for our friends’ lives and felt unsafe with (the officer’s) presence,” a protester said during Wednesday’s forum.

The university’s altered response to the Crouse-Hinds occupation is due to the difference in the protesters’ demands, Scalese said. The university agreed to 16 of the protesters’ 19 demands made during the Barnes Center sit-in as written, and made revisions to the other three.

#NotAgainSU added six new demands, revised five and retracted one Feb. 17.

“During the Barnes Center sit-in, students raised important issues and asked for changes that were reasoned and reasonable,” Scalese said. “The expanded and changing demands made by student protesters and their reluctance to engage in constructive dialogue through the many channels now available to them make this situation challenging.”

The university is working with members of the campus community to meet the commitments made to students in November, as well as address new concerns that have been raised, in consultation with members of the campus community, Scalese said.

To the organizer, the university’s decision to cut off protesters’ access to food reflects #NotAgainSU’s concerns about the administration, they said.

“It’s the food that is indicative of what’s wrong with this university,” the organizer said. “The fact that the administration is using a basic human right to talk to students — predominantly Black students — should not be happening.”

Published on February 24, 2020 at 12:42 am

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu