Syracuse University is reconsidering cuts to the Posse scholarship program following criticism about the changes from the campus community. 

“We simply wanted to give it another review,” said Ryan Williams, associate vice president for enrollment management and director of scholarships and student aid. “The reaction that we had from the student body, from the campus simply said to us, ‘Let’s just make sure that all the information had been reviewed appropriately.’” 

Williams and Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Maurice Harris are currently reviewing the changes and will submit their findings to Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina. 

The SU community first heard about the changes last week, when the university notified current Posse scholars that it would reduce its involvement with the program starting next fall. SU currently recruits students from Miami, Los Angeles and Atlanta for the program, but starting next fall, will only recruit in Miami. Students in Posse are recruited from cities around the country and receive full scholarships to four-year universities.

In response to this decision, more than 100 SU community members participated in a protest outside the Life Sciences Complex last Friday.

When asked whether it was possible that all three Posses could continue, Williams said he “wouldn’t want to say that.”

“I would want to say that we are thinking about what’s the right positioning for us and our total financial aid,” he said. “Is it appropriate for us to have a multiple number of Posses in play at one time or are there other areas that we might want to target our limited financial aid dollars to?”

Williams noted that the Posse program at SU is only three years old and that it’s fairly unusual for a school to recruit from three cities. SU is one of only three schools in the country that supports three Posses. There is only one school that supports four, while the vast majority of colleges support only one Posse, he said.

Any money saved by reducing SU’s involvement with Posse would be put toward other forms of financial aid including both merit and need-based financial aid, Williams said.

The changes to the Posse program was part of a yearly review of how financial aid dollars are being spent, Williams said. In the past, SU has phased out or added other merit-based and need-based programs depending on how well the programs were meeting the needs of students. With Posse in its third year on campus, the program became a part of that conversation more so than in previous years because SU now has more experience with Posse, Williams said.

“This is not in any way, shape or form Syracuse University’s attempt to reduce the amount of financial aid across the board, it’s not an attempt to reduce aid offered to underrepresented populations and it’s not signaling any kind of reduction in our commitment to keeping SU affordable for all,” he said.

David Jackson, a sophomore dual history and secondary education major who organized the rally protesting cuts to the Posse program, said he’s happy the university is looking into it and was surprised by how fast the administration took action.

But Jackson said the rally was about more than just cuts to the Posse program. Following the rally, Jackson was able to hand Chancellor Kent Syverud a list of demands, which included creating a caucus of black and Latino students that would meet with the chancellor, increasing funding for minority students and holding mandatory open dialogues on campus.

Jackson hasn’t been contacted by the administration since the protest and he said he hasn’t thought about what the next step is.

“At this point it’s like playing chess,” he said. “We’re just waiting for someone to make a move so we can make our move.”

Published on September 25, 2014 at 12:01 am

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