#NotAgainSU will meet with Syracuse University officials Monday to negotiate on the movement’s additional demands. 

The movement, led by Black students, has occupied Crouse-Hinds Hall since Feb. 17 to continue its ongoing protest of hate incidents occurring at or near SU. Protesters blocked the intersection outside Crouse-Hinds for two hours Wednesday, calling for university officials to negotiate with them.

Organizers presented Chancellor Kent Syverud with a list of 19 demands in November. Syverud signed 16 as written and revised the remaining three. The movement has added 16 demands since it began its occupation last week. 

SU officials and organizers reconvened Thursday in Crouse-Hinds to plan the logistics of the negotiations two days after they did not reach an agreement on terms. The two parties spent much of Thursday’s talks coordinating which administrators would participate in Monday’s 4 p.m. meeting.

The university selected five officials to be present at the negotiations, including Amanda Nicholson, interim deputy senior vice president for the student experience, and Deka Dancil, manager of bias response and education.

Organizers in the meeting questioned why Syverud would not be present during negotiations. 

“Why isn’t the chancellor in the room?,” an organizer asked. “It is completely inappropriate to even discuss any of this without him being present.”

“Shouldn’t the chancellor want to be at this meeting?” another member of #NotAgainSU asked. “He should be there because he should want to care for his students.”

Rob Hradsky, senior associate vice president for the student experience, said the administrators were chosen because they each are able to address a specific part of the movement’s demands. 

Ron McGuire, #NotAgainSU’s lawyer, expressed doubt that the five administrators would be able make decisions regarding the movement’s larger demands, including those involving funding and curriculum. 

Organizers asked the officials whether they have any power to change the list of people attending the negotiations. Along with Syverud, the movement would like Dean of Students Marianne Thomson, Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost John Liu and Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado to participate in the discussion. 

“We need to move forward and ensure as best as possible that we will get the folks at the table, including the chancellor,” said Keith Alford, chief diversity and inclusion officer.

#NotAgainSU also asked whether members of SU’s Board of Trustees would participate in negotiations. 

The movement on Tuesday announced plans for a Wednesday meeting with administration and two executive members of the Board of Trustees. A university spokesperson later said the meeting was never confirmed after organizers and officials couldn’t agree on terms Tuesday evening.

Hradsky said he’ll notify #NotAgainSU by 2 p.m. tomorrow about whether trustees will be present at Monday’s meeting. He also agreed to confirm whether closed captioning and American Sign Language interpreters would be available at the meeting.

#NotAgainSU will live-stream Monday’s meeting. The faces of university officials will not be shown in the video, but the administrators will be identified with name tags. 

“We absolutely necessitate a live-stream recording,” an organizer said. “The reason why we need this is because there’s no trust.”

Published on February 27, 2020 at 11:44 pm

Contact Emma: esfolts@syr.edu