Seven members of the Syracuse University community crawled the Crouse College steps on the SU campus Wednesday to raise awareness for the inaccessibility of housing in the city of Syracuse.

Over the course of an hour and 18 minutes, four current SU students, two alumni and one student taking a leave of absence climbed the more than 65 steps located in front of the building that houses the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Crawlers took breaks — usually lasting about 15 minutes — at nearly all of the 12 levels of stairs. During the breaks, those participating discussed the inclusivity of housing both on the SU campus and in the city.

The rally was organized by the Coalition for a Livable and Accessible Syracuse, which began The Radically Accessible Living Project, an initiative that is working to raise money to buy a home in the SU area for students with disabilities to live in.

There was discussion among the participants about the purpose of the space and who it would be open to.

“I see the space as a place for community change,” said organizer Nick Holzthum, who is taking a semester off from SU.

Others worried about the space being exclusive to other students while trying to be inclusive for those with accessibility issues. Overall, discussion focused on building “safe spaces.”

“There’s a lot that goes into accessibility,” said Laura Jaffee, a doctoral student in cultural foundations of education who participated in the crawl.

Less than 5 percent of housing in the city is accessible for people with physical impairments, according to a press release sent out by organizers prior to the crawl. The Crouse stairs “represent the physical and social structures that people with disabilities have to negotiate daily just to survive,” according to the release.

When the crawl started, only five people were taking part, but SU senior history major David Buzby and Class of 2015 SU alumnus Ray Garzia joined the five on the seventh level of stairs.

During the crawl, a little more than 100 people walked past the group. Some of them looked on with puzzled expressions.

After seeing that the group had blocked the steps, two SU students climbed over the railing and walked up the hill the steps are on. Another student began walking up the steps, but decided to go back down and go up the hill instead.

Holzthum said he wishes more people attended the crawl and added that he was expecting about 10-12 people to show up.

Published on September 2, 2015 at 4:21 pm

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306