Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

None of those involved in the attack on Marshall Street Friday have been confirmed as Syracuse University students, Chancellor Kent Syverud said at a University Senate meeting Wednesday.

Videos that circulated on social media on Saturday and Sunday showed three people dragging and hitting a person outside Huntington Hall, but Bobby Maldonado, the chief of SU’s Department of Public Safety, did not send a campus-wide email addressing the incident until Sunday. The university is working with the Syracuse Police Department to analyze security footage and evidence circulating on social media, Syverud said, but the investigation is still ongoing.

Syverud encouraged anyone with information to inform the DPS. He also said that any SU students found to be involved in the attack will face immediate repercussions.

Addressing concerns about sexual assault on campus, which have sparked protests in recent months, Syverud said the university’s student experience team has been working with leadership in the Office of Community Standards — formerly the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities — to review the reporting process. The two groups are still awaiting guidance on Title IX from the U.S. Department of Education.

Additionally, Syverud announced that the Forever Orange campaign has raised over $1 billion toward its goal of $1.5 billion, surpassing the previous campaign’s total.

Diane Murphy, the dean of Falk College, encouraged faculty and student representatives to provide input on the drafted plan for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, which was released on Monday. 

Murphy said the plan has been in progress since Aug. 19, when Syverud announced the task force that would work on the draft. The final reports will be issued in early December after the campus engages with the draft plan and provides input.

Gretchen Ritter — SU’s vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer — addressed the senate, explaining her values and commitments she wants to follow in her tenure at SU.

Two of Ritter’s values were the centrality of the academic enterprise and academic excellence.

“It’s through our faculty and students that we make a real difference in the world,” Ritter said. “It’s through the research and creative work of our faculty that we expand the frontiers of knowledge and discovery and further human understanding. It’s through the educational opportunities that we provide to our students that we help to prepare them as future leaders.”

Ritter also committed to being transparent and developing trust with the senate.

She announced that a review of SU’s Cluster Hires Initiative will be led by Cole Smith, the dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and Jamie Winders, a professor in the geography department of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

The senate also approved Jorge Castillo as co-chair of the LGTBQA Justice and Advocacy Committee and Yousr Dhaouadi, president of the Graduate Student Organization, as a student voice on the Agenda Committee.

Published on October 20, 2021 at 11:38 pm

Contact Richard: rcperrin@syr.edu | @richardperrins2