Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon released a statement Wednesday morning in support of Chancellor Kent Syverud’s response to demands from #NotAgainSU.

Chancellor Kent Syverud outlined five demands that should be met with urgency. SU is immediately committing resources to those, including the allocation of more than $1 million for curriculum development. International students have also provided the chancellor with a list of demands but some demands overlap in the two groups.

“I am confident that the leadership at Syracuse University and our various law enforcement agencies are doing everything in their power to find those responsible and hold them accountable,” he said.

For the Barnes Center protesters, the university plans to expand mandatory diversity training and to clarify SU’s opposition to hate speech in the Code of Student Conduct. For international students, the university pledges to more effectively position security cameras and to recruit more international and multilingual resident advisers.

This came in an 11-page action plan that Syverud emailed to the student body on Tuesday. He will formally respond to the #NotAgainSU demands on Wednesday evening.

“I am encouraged by the recent report issued by Chancellor Syverud and appreciate his commitment to continuing the dialogue with the students and community at large.”

McMahon also condemned the recent hate crimes and bias-related incidents on campus, saying “The racist and cowardly attacks impacting our community this past week have no place in Onondaga County.” 

A little before 3:20 p.m., Syverud stopped by the Barnes Center to speak with students about his response.

“I do take very seriously and took very seriously with a lot of people working through these responses,” Syverud told protesters. “I am very eager to hear your suggestions and reactions to each. I’m very eager to continue that dialogue.”

#NotAgainSU, a movement led by black students, has occupied the lobby of the Barnes Center at The Arch since 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The sit-in was motivated by SU’s delayed communication of racist graffiti against black and Asian people found in Day.

Since then, at least 12 hate crimes or bias-related incidents have been reported on or near SU’s campus to the Department of Public Safety. On early Tuesday morning, a white supremacist manifesto was allegedly airdropped to several students’ cellphones in Bird Library. A link to the document was also posted in a Greekrank.com forum at 10:34 p.m. Monday.

Some professors and departments canceled classes due to widespread fear about student safety. Numerous events were also canceled or postponed. The Syracuse Police Department and DPS have repeatedly said there was and is no direct threat to the campus or city.

Published on November 20, 2019 at 1:23 pm

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326