Protesters released an updated list of demands at the Barnes Center at The Arch on Friday night that will be sent Chancellor Kent Syverud. 

#NotAgainSU, a movement led by black students, first presented a list of nine demands on Wednesday morning in response to racial slurs found on the fourth and six floors of Day Hall. 

The demands have evolved to include immunity from conduct sanctions and increased funding to support students of color. 

Protesters read the new list of demands at about 9 p.m. on Friday. The update expanded the demand list to a total of 18 demands. Members of #NotAgainSU reviewed the demands with a lawyer before releasing them, one protester said.

#NotAgainSU demands in the updated list that Chancellor Kent Syverud signs and agrees to the list by 5 p.m. on Nov. 20.

One demand was completely eliminated from the list. Protesters initially called for an open forum, held twice a year, for students to discuss experiences and expectations with SU’s Board of Trustees. University officials who spoke at the sit-in on Wednesday told students that the board would not be on campus until May. 

These are demands added to the list:

Demand No. 6 from the updated list states that SU should allocate more funding to the Office of Student Living for resident adviser training, programming and other multicultural events in the residence halls. No. 9 urges the university to allocate funds to help students of color alleviate financial burdens. 

Demand No. 10 states that “individual diversity” be taken into consideration when admitting students who wish to transfer between schools colleges within SU. 

Demand No. 12 requires monthly updates from the university on long-term demands that are sent out via email and publicized by SU media outlets. This includes the development of a website where progress on demands can be publicly tracked. Demand No. 13 requires diversity training for tenured professors to be made available on this website. 

Demand No. 14 requires SU to equalize treatment of multicultural Greek life organizations and acknowledge these organizations face. 

Demand No. 15 requires that when a racially-motivated incident happens on or near SU campus, the administration must respond within 48 hours. No. 16 requires “consistent levels of engagement” between Syverud and minority communities and a mandatory annual “State of the University” address relating to experiences of students of color. 

No. 17 demands that SU expand and invest in volunteer opportunities that serve low-income communities in the city of Syracuse.

Demands clarified: 

The group clarified four demands in the updated list. No. 1, for example, requires the expulsion of anyone involved in the Day Hall graffiti and any other racist incident that has occured. That demand now explicitly defines involvement as bystander, accomplice and perpetrator in relation to the racist and bias-related incidents. 

In demand No.7, protesters call for more counselors that better represent marginalized students of color on campus, including counselors that are fluent in multiple languages. The clarification of the demand requires the university to reach a counselor-to-student ratio of 1:500 by fall 2020 — bringing to the total number of counselors to 42.

Students should also be allowed to choose their own counselor for appointments and be assigned a counselor before coming to SU, according to the list of demands.

Published on November 15, 2019 at 11:02 pm

Contact Natalie: nrrubiol@syr.edu