About 100 Syracuse University community members gathered in front of Chancellor Kent Syverud’s and Theta Tau’s houses to protest SU’s refusal to release videos showing people in the Theta Tau house engaging in what the chancellor described in an email as “extremely racist” behavior.

The university did not release the videos to the public, but The Daily Orange obtained recordings of one of the videos and posted it Wednesday night.

The videos were posted in a secret Facebook group called “Tau of Theta Tau” by a user named David Yankowy III, the recordings show. Yankowy was listed as a member of Theta Tau on the SU fraternity chapter’s website before the website was made inaccessible Wednesday afternoon.

 

Protesters demanded the university release the video Wednesday afternoon, with several students using the hashtag “#WheresTheVideoSU.”

“We are not (Theta Tau),” said Liam McMonagle, a protest organizer and sophomore broadcast and digital journalism major. “They are not us. And they do not represent this community.”

About 20 protesters gathered in front of Syverud’s house at 6 p.m. That number grew to 80 people by 6:20 p.m. When protesters marched to Hendricks Chapel at 6:45 p.m., there were more than 250 people in the crowd.

Tayla Myree, a sophomore studying political science and history, spoke and chanted in a megaphone as she held up a sign that read, “Apathy is complicity.” She said most of the students protesting were people of color, despite SU having a predominantly white population.

“If you call yourselves allies and liberals, you should be standing here with us,” Myree said.

 

Courtney Jiggetts, a junior in the School of Design, said the university uses students of color for promotional material celebrating diversity. But she said she thinks SU does not protect students of color after incidents such as the circulation of the Theta Tau videos.

“So at this point in time, we are no longer going to let them utilize our melanin and utilize our ethnicities and backgrounds,” Jiggetts said.

A Department of Public Safety vehicle was parked in front of the fraternity house during the protest, and two DPS officers stood in front of the building before marchers walked past it. Marchers shouted, “Who are you protecting?”

Josh Shub-Seltzer | Staff Photographer

Several protesters said they believed the university would rather protect the fraternity members than marginalized students.

Demonstrators urged students to stay off Syverud’s and Theta Tau’s properties during the protest to avoid conflict with law enforcement.

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MORE COVERAGE: 

• Syverud: SU will start ‘top to bottom’ review of all Greek life policies, activities and culture
• Student Association leaders call for SU Greek life audit in wake of Theta Tau suspension
• Gallery: SU campus community reacts to Theta Tau videos

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A second public discussion on the Theta Tau incident was held in Hendricks on Wednesday night. The university hosted a similar discussion in the chapel Wednesday afternoon with officials such as Syverud, Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado and Student Association President James Franco.

As protesters marched to Hendricks, they chanted phrases such as, “Hey hey! Ho ho! Theta Tau has got to go!” and “Release the video!”

Saumya Melwani, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the campus community needs to continue fighting to address the issues not on a case-by-case basis, but systematically.

Melwani also said the Theta Tau incident is not an “us against them” situation. She said members of Theta Tau are human too, and that SU is still a community.

Protesters called out bystanders who stood on the other side of the street, watching but not participating in the protest.

“Apathy is complicity,” said Colin MacKenzie, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. “The university must know that by doing nothing, they perpetuate this.”

Published on April 18, 2018 at 11:16 pm

Contact Kennedy: krose100@syr.edu | @KennedyRose001