Members of Syracuse University’s Student Association are praising the proposed establishment of a student of color advisory committee to address concerns about the Department of Public Safety.

The committee was created in response to demands made by students at a Feb. 18 forum where SU community members discussed the assault of three students of color along Ackerman Avenue earlier that month. Interim Chief Diversity Officer Keith Alford suggested SU create the committee after several students of color at the forum said they didn’t feel safe or welcome on campus.

“It especially feels like a lot of what students have been talking about with the relationship between students of color and DPS … it’s been a little bit strained there, there’s like a stigma around DPS,” SA President Ghufran Salih said. “I think that this will be a great idea to kind of unpack the history of that.”

A Feb. 19 campus-wide email from Alford, DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado and Dean of Students Rob Hradsky announced that the student of color advisory committee will be created to work with DPS. In a second email on Thursday, Alford said SU will call for nominations for the advisory committee. The committee will work to collaborate with DPS on issues such as safety, late-night transportation and DPS intervention, he said. 

SA passed a resolution during the Feb. 25 assembly meeting that condemned SU for not publicly saying that the Ackerman Avenue assault was racially motivated.Victims and witnesses of the assault have said the attacks were racially-motivated.

Peter Choi, public relations co-chair of SA, told The Daily Orangethat SA was happy some progress came out of the forum, which SA hosted with the Student African-American Society. Choi said the committee is a good first step, but DPS needs to be more direct in responding to students’ demands and recommendations.

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“Just because we do one thing doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re doing everything that we can,” he said. “And I think that there needs to be more work done.”

Choi said it’s too early to see what the impact of the committee will be. He added that he would like to see the committee take on issues outside of DPS relations, such as Greek life.

He also said it would be good if DPS responds to SA’s demand for a review of the department. Public Relations Co-chair Torre Payton-Jackson called for the review in a bill proposed at the Feb. 25 SA meeting. Students at the Feb. 18 forum also called for a review of DPS.

The goal of the review would be to collect as much data and information as possible to “get down to the bottom of the situation” and propose constructive recommendations and changes, Choi said. He said that even if the review does not expose any changes that need to be made, SA would like to increase transparency overall.

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“I think all of these are really great steps forward,” SA Vice President Kyle Rosenblum said. “It obviously doesn’t completely solve the issue, it’s all just taking the steps that I think are very necessary.”

Salih said at the Feb. 18 forum that there was a lack of transparency about what happened during the Ackerman Avenue assault. SA members have mentioned the assault in every assembly meeting since.

“This is a wake-up call,” Choi said. “And I don’t know how many more wake-up calls we need before the administration and SA starts to be more proactive with our solutions.”

Published on March 3, 2019 at 10:20 pm

Contact India: irmiragl@syr.edu