Editor’s note: This story contains details about the usage of racial slurs.

It was 7:15 a.m., and Addie Christopher was on schedule. She left her sixth floor Day Hall room, turned a corner and reached the bathrooms. One door creaked open and she took a peek inside. Lights were torn off the ceiling and thrown onto the ground.

Christopher saw a janitor nearby. It was early in the morning, and she figured the janitor must’ve known about the destruction. She didn’t think anything of it, moving to a different bathroom to start her morning routine. 

What she returned to later that afternoon was a mix of confusion, anger and hate. That bathroom, the one she’d glanced in, was the sight of a hate crime. Light fixtures were torn down. The N-word was written on the walls, around the bathroom and on the back of a lightbulb tucked in the toilet. 

“How can I have not seen it?” Christopher said, reflecting five days later. 

A bulletin board on the fourth floor was vandalized with racist comments directed toward Asian and black people, too. Students on both floors were asked to attend two meetings between Thursday and Sunday, one separated by floor and another including Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado and Chief Diversity Officer Keith Alford.

All the while, only students on those two floors were told what happened. Several students told The Daily Orange that a university official told them not to record the second meeting. Other Day Hall residents and the larger student body weren’t notified of the racist incident until 5:20 p.m. Monday night, hours after a report of the act surfaced. 

Dozens of students believe Syracuse University’s unwillingness to inform its student population was harmful. Students and organizations have used the hashtag #NOTAGAINSU to voice their frustrations. The university later apologized for its response time in a campus-wide email, stating it regrets “not communicating more broadly” with students. But to many, the damage was already done.

It’s a pattern the university cycles through nearly every academic year, students said. 

THE General Body, a student protest movement, produced a 45-page document of grievances in 2014 leading to increased diversity training. Student activist group Recognize US asked for further demands following the Theta Tau videos in 2018. Chancellor Kent Syverud implemented more changes. Forums were held last spring after the Ackerman Avenue assault. Administrators added a DPS advisory committee in response.

“We will do better,” Syverud promised in 2014 and 2018.

 

Karleigh Merritt-Henry | Digital Design Editor

“Administrators say, ‘We’re going to do better. We were really committed to hear a diverse and safe society. I feel your pain. I’m sorry that happened to you,’” said senior Jalen Nash. “And it happens again.”

For a moment, Tayla Myree thought she broke that pattern. It was April 2018, days after videos surfaced showing members of the now-expelled Theta Tau fraternity performing a skit that shows a person repeating an “oath” including racial slurs.

Protests scattered across campus. National media outlets soon followed. The chancellor stood face to face with protesters and told them “I see you, I hear you and I’m deeply concerned.”

Members of Recognize US argued to get into Hendricks Chapel, where Board of Trustees members gathered for the forum. Recognize US spoke at the beginning, making similar demands that THE General Body had years before. They stayed in the crowd, held signs in the pews and draped a banner from the balcony. It read “RECOGNIZE US. RECLAIM OUR CAMPUS.”

Myree, now a senior, said in that moment she thought this could spur the change that Recognize US was looking for. But that momentum fizzled. 

“If I’m being completely honest, I think the chief diversity officer is incompetent at his job, and I think Kent is completely incompetent as being chancellor,” Myree said Tuesday afternoon. “That’s the opinion of a large mass of students on this campus, especially the student of color community, particularly the black community.” 

In February, students accused campus and city police of mishandling the investigation into the assault of three students of color at a party on Ackerman Avenue. The N-word was yelled at a student during the attack. DPS and Syracuse Police Department did not call the assault “racially-motivated.” Victims, students present at the party and later the Student Association believed it was.

But on Monday, there was no debate.

When Christopher returned to her floor at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, some of her floormates tossed around blame internally. The meeting that night featured two DPS officers, resident advisers and a residence director. 

During the meeting, one DPS officer warned students that whoever wrote the racist slurs would be expelled and could face up to 10 years in prison, said several students at the meeting.

“Half of me wants me to think its a foolish kid’s joke that didn’t realize his consequences. Another part of me think it was this was really planned out,” Christopher said. “10 years is a lot — that would ruin someone’s life — but there needs to be consequences.”

Tayla Myree, an organizer of the Recognize US movement, thought the groups’ protests after Theta Tau would spark the change they wanted.  Josh Shub-Seltzer | Staff Photographer

After the Sunday meeting with fourth and sixth floor residents, freshman Xyta Vrijmoet was angry that a university official discouraged students from sharing information about the graffiti. She went back to her dorm and explained the vandalism and meeting on her Instagram story. 

Her Instagram story was circulated around social media. Renegade Magazine published the photos on their Instagram with a statement that read “We can’t let them cover this up.” 

“They have a history of finding out something is wrong and not saying anything until students are mad about it,” Nash said.

Rob Hradsky, vice president for the student experience, sent students an email on Monday saying SU won’t tolerate the incident. Syverud apologized via email about the delayed response. Several students said SU’s response so far is inadequate. 

“It really is just an attempt to say ‘We did something’ when really there’s a lot of action that needs to be taken,” said Vrijmoet. “They need to stop covering these things up. That can start with this.”

In the past two days, students have aired their grievances at public forums. The Juvenile Urban Multicultural Program’s forum on Monday night brought more than 100 students together in Watson Theater. SU’s Residence Hall Association organized a second forum on Tuesday night with university officials. 

Kenyona Chaney, president of JUMP, said the organization decided to use its scheduled general body meeting for students to voice their concerns and focus on solutions.

“We are not trying to make SU fall to the ground and end SU,” Chaney said. “We are students. We chose this university, so we want to see it be better.”

Kenyona Chaney, president of the Juvenile Urban Multicultural Program, said DPS should’ve notified students of the Day Hall graffiti in the same way they inform students of robberies and assaults. Elizabeth Billman | Asst. Photo Editor

Chaney doesn’t see herself as an activist, and JUMP isn’t a social activism group. The RSO just had a meeting scheduled at the right time. As a senior, Chaney said SU doesn’t take racist incidents seriously. 

DPS should’ve notified students about the Day Hall graffiti the same way it sends alerts about robberies and assaults, she said. Students of color needed to be informed of the Day Hall incidents because others may worry if people in their dorms could do the same.

One student that attended Monday night’s JUMP forum said DPS and SU’s handling of the incident jeopardized the safety of students of color. The majority of the forum was dedicated to hearing students’ concerns and developing an action plan to hold university administration accountable. 

Like THE General Body in 2014 and Recognize US in 2018, this iteration of activists is in the process of crafting demands to publish for the university. Nash said they’re expected to be released this week.

“Students of color are constantly saying that they feel marginalized on the street,” Nash said. “They’re constantly giving examples. They’re constantly giving reports to administration who are constantly showing them that they don’t care.”

“My demand is change that.”

— News Editor Casey Darnell and Asst. News Editor Gabe Stern contributed reporting to this story.

Published on November 13, 2019 at 12:28 am

Contact KJ: kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman