Some Syracuse University graduate students are striking until the university lifts suspensions and provides unrestricted access to food and supplies for #NotAgainSU protesters occupying Crouse-Hinds Hall. 

#NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black students, began occupying Crouse-Hinds Hall on Monday to continue its protest of hate crimes and bias incidents at SU. University officials have placed more than 30 #NotAgainSU organizers under interim suspension for remaining in the building past closing. 

University officials have said protesters inside the building are free to leave at any time. Department of Public Safety officers had sealed the building off as of Tuesday morning, prohibiting outside food and medical supplies from entering. 

Graduate students are calling on graduate teaching and research assistants, as well as part-time faculty and non-tenure track faculty, to “withhold their labor” until protesters inside Crouse-Hinds are given unrestricted access to food, medication and healthcare and SU lifts the suspensions of all organizers inside. 

“These siege tactics would be abhorrent under any circumstances,” the statement reads. “The university’s willingness to deploy them against unarmed students exercising their right to peacefully protest belies the university’s commitment to the health and safety of its students.” 

Organizers inside were given sandwiches shortly before 1 p.m.. The university later provided students with dinner, said Sarah Scalese, senior associate vice president for university communications.

Around 8:30 p.m., protesters threw food into Crouse-Hinds during a physical struggle as DPS officers opened the door to enter the building.

The graduate students claim that SU has repeatedly misrepresented or suppressed information about the occupation. SU’s response to the occupation is just the latest example of the university’s unwillingness to participate in good faith negotiations with #NotAgainSU, the statement reads. 

University officials offered to revoke protesters’ suspensions Tuesday night if they would agree to end their occupation, said Rob Hradsky, senior associate vice president of the student experience and dean of students, in a campus-wide email early Wednesday morning.

The university also offered to schedule a meeting with protesters to identify the leaders responsible for addressing the movement’s’ new and existing concerns, the email said.

Protesters rejected all of the university’s offers after deliberation, he said.

The administration has lacked transparency and violated commitments it made to students, an organizer said. #NotAgainSU initially submitted a list of 19 demands for Chancellor Kent Syverud to meet in response to a series of hate crimes and bias-related incidents. Syverud signed 16 of the demands and has written and revised the remaining three.

#NotAgainSU issued six additional demands, amended five and retracted one when the occupation began Monday.

Graduate students acknowledged that not everyone may be able to participate in the strike, but encouraged people to “quietly resist under the radar” by speaking about the university’s response to the occupation in class or refusing to take attendance. 

“As graduate students who experienced economic precarity, food shortages and insufficient access to healthcare at the hands of this institution, we stand in solidarity with the student activists of #NotAgainSU,” the statement reads. “We will not allow Syracuse University to use us as instruments of white supremacy.”  

As of 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, 135 people had signed onto the strike.

Published on February 19, 2020 at 9:58 am

Contact Michael: msessa@syr.edu | @MichaelSessa3