Sifan Hunde didn’t know what to expect returning to Syracuse University this semester after studying abroad in the fall.

“When they were telling us about everything happening, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come back,” said Hunde, a freshman majoring in psychology and neuroscience. “I didn’t know if I was gonna feel safe.”

Students coming back to SU after winter break returned to a campus rocked by a slew of racist and anti-Semitic incidents. At least 21 hate crimes or bias-related incidents have been reported on or near SU’s campus since Nov. 7, sparking student protests and calls for university-wide reform.

The Daily Orange asked more than 100 SU students if they feel safe on campus after winter break and if the university could do more to remedy issues of transparency and safety. Students varied in how safe they feel at SU, but many were unsure whether campus-wide change has been made.

Coming back

Hunde was one of several students apprehensive to come back to SU after studying abroad last fall. Dayel Pope, a freshman economics major, and Megan Perlman, a freshman in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, said they didn’t know what the campus climate would be like.

“Coming into the aftermath, I actually feel safer on campus than the news projected and how the incidents were portrayed,” Pope said. “I feel like the campus is doing a pretty good job putting things back into their prior place.”

Hamid ElDarwich, a graduate civil engineering student, previously applied to SU for his Ph.D. studies. Now, he’s contemplating his decision.

“What happened last semester shouldn’t have occurred in the beginning,” ElDarwich said. “I don’t think this is the ideal place for me, to be honest, after the racist things.”

Everyday safety

Students of color and white students expressed different feelings about SU’s safety and campus climate after break.

“Whenever I’m by myself, I pay attention more about my surroundings because I don’t feel as safe as I did before,” said Yaya Diawara, a freshman economics student. “I already came into an environment where there’s not many people that look like me.”

Senior Serita Coles said she will be glad to leave SU after graduating this semester. The social climate on campus allows others to label and ostracize her by her skin color, said Coles.

Alex Gangemi, a senior earth science major, said he’s always felt safe at SU.

“Obviously, it is just a small group of people doing all this stuff trying to get a reaction,” he said. “Everyone is being very reactionary instead of proactive about it. I think we’re giving them unnecessary power.”

Seeking change

Many students felt uninformed about changes SU and the Department of Public Safety has enacted since the hate crimes and bias-related incidents in November and December.

The university launched campus engagement committees in December to collect input from students, faculty and staff on how to implement demands from the black student-led movement #NotAgainSU. The movement held a sit-in at the Barnes Center at The Arch for eight days in protest of the racist incidents.

Andy Ridgeway, a graduate student in writing studies, rhetoric and composition, said he’s still concerned for the safety of students and professors in his department. Genevieve García de Müeller, a professor of writing, rhetoric and composition, received a hostile, anti-Semitic email Nov. 19.

“SU can start by investing a larger amount of money in building a humanities core that would teach people the histories of these institutional cultures and the prevalence of white supremacy on this campus,” Ridgeway said.

Nearly 150 faculty signed a letter in December calling for the creation of a liberal arts core curriculum to teach issues of diversity.

Many students said Syverud’s administration did everything it could to ensure campus safety amid the hate crimes and bias-related incidents. Students also agreed that university officials created initiatives that align with the demands of student groups.

“If I was in Syverud’s shoes or Bobby Maldonado’s shoes, it would be very difficult,” said Owen Cross, a junior advertising major. “From a standpoint of leadership, I just don’t know how you would manage something like that: 20,000 students and they all have a mind of their own.”

Moving forward

Several students suggested ways the university could address the series of hate crimes and bias-related incidents in the coming semester.

While Aidaruus Shirwa, a freshman public policy major, feels safe from physical and emotional danger at SU, he fears there is no constructive dialogue between students and administrators.

SU should create committees made of students of all types of identities that can come together for public meetings to discuss institutional problems, Shirwa said.

Some students, like second-year architecture major Amreeta Verma and senior television, radio and film major Christian Lindabury, said the university needed to take additional steps to address campus safety and climate.

“If we’re going back to normal, then we’re going back to what was wrong before and we’re not resolving all the things that have happened,” said Lindabury.

Published on January 23, 2020 at 1:08 am

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