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For years, Jordan Goodwin was one of several Syracuse University students working behind the scenes to assist in renovation efforts for 113 Euclid Ave., home to SU’s Native Student Program.

Goodwin, a 2023 SU graduate who studied Native American and Indigenous Studies, said he experienced firsthand the limitations the location had for Indigenous students.

“This (was) in talks for a long time,” Goodwin said. “We didn’t have a kitchen or anything, and we only had one room and then the bathrooms were ours as well — we literally had shelves in the bathroom that had mugs on them.”

Goodwin was one of several SU community members who gathered for the re-opening of the newly renovated 113 Euclid Monday, a central gathering space for SU’s Indigenous student community.

Members of the NSP worked with SU officials to install a new elevator and sidewalk, remodel the kitchen and provide upgrades to furniture, according to an SU news release. Yewleh wi se Cornelius, a 2023 SU alumna, said the improvements enhanced the building to be a safe space for Indigenous communities on campus.

“This program’s motto is creating a home away from home for Indigenous students on campus,” Cornelius said. “Without a building to go to when I needed a space to nap or hang out with friends or feel a part of the community, I don’t think anybody would have been able to graduate from a college this big.”

The building is dedicated to the Onondaga Nation, Firekeepers of the Haudenosaunee, the Indigenous peoples’ ancestral lands that SU is built on, and other Indigenous communities across the country. It’s meant to bring students from many different Indigenous communities together.

Four years ago, the #NotAgainSU protests called for more multicultural spaces at SU. In a list of demands submitted to the university in December 2019, Indigenous students asked the university to allow the NSP to remain at 113 Euclid until another building is mutually agreed upon.

The renovations make 113 Euclid a permanent home to Indigenous students with updates to the structure’s amenities.

“We celebrate the completely transformed space that honors indigenous culture at Syracuse University,” Allen Groves, SU’s senior vice president and chief student experience officer, said to an audience of roughly 50 at the re-opening. “It provides such a welcoming and functional space for all our students, all our Indigenous communities to study and relax and build a stronger community.”

Goodwin said SU agreed to the renovations for 113 Euclid. last year to show its willingness to help minority students on campus. The renovations provide Indigenous students with an expanded space compared to previous years. Goodwin said that before the re-opening, Indigenous students only had access to three rooms in the building.

“There wasn’t a room to do any socializing,” Goodwin said. “Students would go upstairs and use some of the rooms and they would yell at us because they weren’t technically our rooms.”

The NSP now has full access to the first floor of the building and most of the second floor, according to the release.

Goodwin said he hopes the university community will be able to experience what 113 Euclid has to offer and what it means to SU’s Indigenous community with the new renovations.

“See the native population that still is on campus and recognize that we’re still here and we’re still in these academic spaces … I hope that this kind of brings awareness to Native students and Indigenous culture in the area,” Goodwin said.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misattributed a quote that was spoken by Yewleh wi se Cornelius. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on November 6, 2023 at 10:35 pm