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UPDATED: March 3 at 10:15 p.m.

Six months after the formation of Syracuse University’s Student Activism Engagement Team,  the team is focusing on building trust with the student body, meeting with student organizations and overcoming skepticism from student activists.

In response to protests on campus last academic year, SU formed the team in August 2020 to “support and engage student activism.” Members of the team hope to act as a liaison between students and administration for student groups with concerns about university policy or actions. 

Made up of 10 members — including Student Association President Justine Hastings, administrators, faculty and staff — the team meets weekly to discuss how best to encourage student activism.

Christabel Sheldon, director of the McNair Scholars Program, protested while at SU in the 1990s. She wanted to get involved with the SAET to help her students who are involved in student activism.

“Last year, a number of my students were in leadership positions of #NotAgainSU, and I realized that I understood the student perspective, but I wasn’t involved in the conversations with administration,” Sheldon said. “I felt that this would be a way to have a better understanding of that so I could have better conversations with my students about decisions being made.”

Since the beginning of the fall semester, the team has tried to build trust with students. Many student activists are not willing to reach out to the SAET because of its relationship with SU administrators. 

#NotAgainSU protesters — who twice occupied SU buildings to protest the university’s response to racist incidents and its treatment of students of color — were unresponsive when Hastings contacted them on behalf of the team, she said. #NotAgainSU has since decided to not work with SU administration in any capacity, citing SU’s “complete unwillingness to care for and listen to Black students,” as well its “violent treatment” of protesters. 

“I don’t think anyone should do what they don’t want to do, especially given (#NotAgainSU’s) past negative experiences. I completely understand if #NotAgainSU organizers or other student activists do not want to work with the team,” Hastings said. “It’s our responsibility to build that trust with students.”

Hastings said many of #NotAgainSU’s demands have been ignored by administrators. SU has agreed to and completed progress on several demands and is still working to address others. The university rejected calls for university officials to resign, for DPS to be disarmed and for SU to state that the university is complicit in white supremacy.

SAET’s work is more than just having conversations with student organizations, as they have been doing in recent months, team members said. It also involves hearing concerns from student activists and bringing them to administrators. The team has already been successful addressing student concerns and avoiding protest when possible, said associate professor Brice Nordquist.

“All the messages I received from university administration have been definitely inviting of perspective and feedback,” he said.

To Nordquist and Sheldon, SAET’s role isn’t to negotiate between students and administrators but to encourage activism.

“We are very aware as a group of the risk of institutional co-opting,” Nordquist said. “We’ve been very cautious about being available, making sure we are open and encouraging dialogue, but at the same time letting student groups of activists do their thing. We don’t want them to feel like they have to check in with us.”

Hastings is the only student on SAET, through her role as SA president. She wants more students on the team and has asked SU to add the Graduate Student Organization president to the team starting in the fall.

“While I feel like every time I contribute something it is heard and greatly considered, I would like there to be more students,” Hastings said. 

In the spring semester and summer the team hopes to touch base with more student organizations that may have concerns and explore holding open forums with students to gauge their priorities.

“It may take a while to develop trust, but we believe in doing the work,” Sheldon said. “If we continue to do the work and we’re open and transparent with the students, eventually they’ll come around.”

Published on March 3, 2021 at 8:29 pm

Contact Nick: nickrobertson@dailyorange.com | @NickRobertsonSU