Dean of Students Robert Hradsky on Sunday night said Syracuse University will not publicly release names of the students who are suspended, expelled or acquitted of code of conduct charges in relation to the university’s investigation into the Theta Tau fraternity.

“The law prevents us from providing any individually identifying information, so we wouldn’t be able to say ‘Student X received this particular sanction,’ but perhaps we may be able to do something more broadly,” Hradsky said during a forum in Hendricks Chapel.

He said he would need to see if providing that information would be in violation of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, a law which protects personal information in student education records.

About 100 community members attended the meeting in Hendricks Chapel. More than 400 people had packed into Hendricks Chapel last Wednesday night after SU’s initial suspension of Theta Tau. The professional engineering fraternity was permanently expelled from campus on Saturday.

During the forum, Chancellor Kent Syverud also addressed why he didn’t attend that Wednesday night forum.

Complaints have been filed against 18 members of the fraternity, Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado announced in a campus-wide email on Sunday afternoon.

That investigation is still ongoing, Maldonado said at the forum, and no criminal charges have been filed against Theta Tau members.

Priya Penner, a sophomore political science and citizenship and civic engagement double major, asked administrators at the forum about who makes up the University Conduct Board, the body that handles Student Code of Conduct violations at SU.

Hradsky said the body is composed of students, faculty and staff who are chosen through an application process and are trained in areas such as sexual and relationship violence, as well as harassment.

Audience members, upon learning they were able to apply to serve on the conduct board, said they hoped the university would make it public when applications for positions open because they were interested in applying.

Syverud, who also attended the forum, addressed his absence from a student forum and committed to meet with students on Wednesday during a town hall.

Syverud attended a forum last Wednesday afternoon following the suspension, but did not attend the second forum that evening, prompting the circulation of the hashtag #WheresKent.

When asked directly by Vishwas Paul, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences,  on Sunday why he did not attend that Wednesday night meeting, Syverud said he should have attended the meeting and apologized.

“By the time I found out about the forum here, I had erroneously concluded that it was an opportunity, after the session earlier in the day … for students to be free of my presence,” Syverud said. “It was a mistake and I apologize.”

Students staged a sit-in in Schine Student Center on Friday morning to protest the university’s handling of Theta Tau’s suspension, disrupting an accepted students event. The chancellor briefly attended the sit-in and addressed students about his absence, apologizing but not explaining why he did not attend the forum.

At the protest, students and community members demanded that Syverud, the Board of Trustees, administrators and deans host a town hall with the campus community by Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.

Syverud, at the forum Sunday night, said he would attend a town hall on Wednesday at 7 p.m., but did not specify a location or if other university officials, including the Board of Trustees, will also be in attendance, at that time.

Several students during the forum also voiced their frustrations with what they said is a lack of resources the university offers in regard to mental health and Title IX violations.

One student said she was waitlisted for various support groups on campus as well as for appointments at the Counseling Center, saying she had to use “buzzwords” such as “suicide” and “rape” to have her concerns addressed in a timely manner.

Sheila Johnson-Willis, SU’s associate vice president and chief equal opportunity and Title IX officer, said the Office of Equal Opportunity, Inclusion and Resolution Services is looking to hire two additional Title IX investigators.

She said she hopes that, by the next academic year, the office will have three full-time investigators and two additional investigators to step in, if need be.

Some students complained about waitlists for the Counseling Center and what they said is a lack of diversity in the center’s staff.

Many audience members also said the behavior of Theta Tau fraternity members was not isolated, and that the university needed to make a massive cultural change to truly address issues.

Biko Gray, an assistant professor of religion, said the university could not use “Band-Aid” solutions for this, and that implicit bias and cultural sensitivity training does not do enough.

“They can’t just graduate. They just can’t walk out of here with a diploma,” Gray said of Theta Tau members involved with the videos.

An SU alumnus and current student at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University asked how SU will address and repair the university’s reputation as a “prestigious institution” following the publication of the videos.

Dara Royer, senior vice president and chief communications officer of the university, responded to that question and said it’s an important conversation that needs to be had, and there’s lots of work to be done.

“Reputation and what we’re known for is not what we say we do. It’s what we actually do,” Royer said. 

Liam Mcmonagle, a sophomore broadcast and digital journalism and political science dual major and a participant of the Recognize Us movement, said that if the administration addresses institutional and systemic problems at SU, the university’s reputation could “reach new heights.”  

“Right now, the entire nation is looking at us right now and saying what a disgusting place this is,” Mcmonagle said. “If you are the first university to fix it and make it right, they will recognize that.”

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MORE COVERAGE:

• SU chapter of Theta Tau says video depicts a ‘satirical sketch’
• 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
• Students protest Theta Tau videos outside Chancellor Kent Syverud’s house

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Published on April 23, 2018 at 1:45 am

Contact Kennedy: krose100@syr.edu | @KennedyRose001