UPDATED: April 26, 2018 at 6:09 p.m.

As Chancellor Kent Syverud spoke on Wednesday evening in Hendricks Chapel, members of Recognize Us silently stood in aisles and pews, holding banners that read, “All Power to the Students” and “Everything Expressed Needs to be Addressed.”

From the balcony of the chapel, a banner was hung that read, “RECOGNIZE US. RECLAIM OUR CAMPUS.”

High-ranking Syracuse University administrators, deans and members of the Board of Trustees were present at the town hall in Hendricks to address student concerns following uproar over videos published by The Daily Orange that show people in the Theta Tau fraternity house using racial slurs and miming the sexual assault of a person with disabilities.

About 300 students, faculty and staff attended the event, which lasted about one hour and 30 minutes and consisted of a wide-ranging conversation that included Title IX policy and the racial makeup of the Department of Public Safety.

Board of Trustees Chair Steven Barnes, Trustees Vice Chair Reinaldo “Rey” Pascual, Trustee Joan Nicholson and Trustee Theodore McKee sat in pews at the chapel Wednesday.

“I too believe that the outlines of the recommendations, the demands, make a ton of sense,” Barnes said of Recognize Us’ list of demands, which were presented during the forum.

In a petition distributed to audience members, Recognize Us members wrote that a plan to address the demands must be disclosed to the campus community and ready for implementation by Sept. 3 or “students will be forced to employ other measures to demand recognition and respect.”

Syverud, who spoke several times during the forum, sat near Barnes and other trustees.

“Our alumni are appalled that, we who are here today, might let these videos define our values and our (university),” Syverud said. “And the videos will so define us unless we today act and show by our actions what our values really mean.”

The forum, which started at 7 p.m., came at the demand of Recognize Us. The group presented Syverud with a different list of demands at a sit-in in Schine Student Center on Friday morning. That protest was organized in opposition to the university’s handling of the initial suspension of Theta Tau.

As part of those demands, the coalition requested a town hall with SU administrators, deans and members of the Board of Trustees. The university announced that board members would be present at the forum during a press briefing on Monday.

Dan Lyon | Staff Photographer

The list of demands distributed Wednesday called on SU to expand and rework diversity and implicit bias training for students, faculty and staff; review and conduct a campus-wide survey on Greek life; improve accessibility for individuals with disabilities; improve services for sexual assault survivors; and hire more faculty with marginalized identities.

Jo Johnson, a women’s and gender studies major, presented the demands to forum attendees.

Susima Weerakoon, a graduate student, questioned administrators about SU’s policies regarding the Title IX process for sexual assault survivors.

Weerakoon said sexual assault survivors can go to the university’s Title IX Office for No Contact Orders. These orders prohibit communication between designated students in the best interest of their safety and security, according to the 2016-17 SU Student Conduct System Handbook. No contact orders at SU prohibit contact in person, over social media or via a third party.

Students who live off campus must present evidence to the Onondaga County Family Court to obtain an order of protection. This requires paying SU’s Title IX Office for evidence transcripts, Weerakoon said. She asked why the university makes survivors pay for their own transcripts.

“Based on your description, that’s a really stupid policy,” Syverud said. The room snapped in response.

Chief Human Resources Officer Andy Gordon said that as of Thursday, funds would be made available for students to access their Title IX transcripts, and the audience erupted in applause.

A few attendees raised concerns about DPS’ actions toward people of color, which they described as discriminatory.

DPS “routinely polices and profiles students of color,” said Chris Eng, an assistant professor in SU’s English department. He asked what DPS is doing to address concerns raised about the policing of students of color.

His question wasn’t addressed until an audience member pointed out that DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado hadn’t answered Eng.

“This department must reflect the community in which it serves,” Maldonado said.

He added that he has been “strategic” about increasing the number of women and people of color in the department. It’s unclear if there will be an audit of the department, which Eng and other audience members requested.

Students and officials also discussed the student conduct process in regard to sexual misconduct; accessibility of the campus; bathrooms and various resource centers for individuals with disabilities; hiring in the Counseling Center; and SU’s relationship with the city of Syracuse.

Raymundo Juarez, a junior studying history and political science, took the microphone for the final question of the evening.

“I’ve never felt like I’ve had a home at this university, no matter how hard I’ve tried,” Juarez said.

He added that SU has no support systems to make students who are not white men feel at home.

He asked officials to make Schine a place where students can congregate and feel like they’re at home and to emphasize places such as the Office of Multicultural Affairs as being more than “just a box in the basement.”

Juarez said: “I challenge the Board of Trustees to take the courage to not just be another corporatist university in the United States, but to make this an oasis of justice.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Jo Johnson’s major was misstated. Johnson is a women’s and gender studies major. Also, the question English professor Chris Eng asked at the forum regarding the Department of Public Safety’s policing of students of color was misstated. Eng asked DPS to think more expansively about how it would address concerns raised about the policing of students of color. The Daily Orange regrets these errors.

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MORE COVERAGE:

• Second Theta Tau video shows mimed sexual assault of person with disabilities
• SU will not publicly release names of students in Theta Tau investigation
• Complaints filed against 18 people present at Theta Tau event
• Multicultural Greek organizations find inspiration for activism in Theta Tau videos

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Published on April 26, 2018 at 12:27 am

Contact Kennedy: krose100@syr.edu | @KennedyRose001