#NotAgainSU issued 10 additional demands and expanded several of its original demands Monday night.

The additions bring the movement’s total number of demands to 34. The new demands were made in response to SU administration’s treatment of organizers occupying Crouse-Hinds Hall, the movement said in an “official negotiation document.”

#NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black students, presented Chancellor Kent Syverud with 19 demands in November in response to at least 30 hate crimes or bias-related incidents that have occurred at or near Syracuse University since early November.

The movement issued six new demands, amended five and retracted one demand Feb. 17, the first day of its occupation of Crouse-Hinds.

Organizers have now occupied Crouse-Hinds for nine days. The university placed more than 30 students under interim suspension for staying in the building’s lobby past its 9 p.m. closing time. Syverud lifted the suspensions at a University Senate meeting Wednesday evening.

The movement’s 25th demand requests that SU release a “formal and public acknowledgement and apology” to students, faculty, staff, parents and alumni regarding the treatment of students who remained inside Crouse-Hinds past closing.

Department of Public Safety officers sealed off the building Feb. 18 and Wednesday, preventing students and faculty from bringing in any outside food or supplies.

The university provided students with lunch and dinner Feb. 18 and breakfast Wednesday. DPS allowed faculty to bring food into the building Wednesday afternoon. Crouse-Hinds reopened Thursday morning.

Having organizers’ academic records expunged of suspensions is #NotAgainSU’s 26th demand. The movement’s 27th demand states that organizers will not be penalized for absences or late or missing coursework.

The university announced Monday that the suspensions would not appear on any of the students’ academic records.

The 28th demand states that graduate students, faculty and staff who showed solidarity for #NotAgainSU will not be punished for participating in the movement and going on strike. Over 100 of graduate student employees, who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), will participate in a labor strike until #NotAgainSU’s demands are met.

A new policy stating that SU’s Campus Disruption Policy does not apply to peaceful student protest is the movement’s 29th demand. Students are never again to be denied access to food, medical supplies or hygiene products, the statement said.

#NotAgainSU’s 30th demand is for a meeting with the Board of Trustees’ executive board. The movement will choose its legal counsel to be present in the meeting, the statement said.

During the meeting, executive board members must agree to a timeline establishing when SU will fully implement the movement’s original 19 demands by March 31, it added.

#NotAgainSU in its 31st demand calls for SU administration to agree on a formal investigation into DPS, specifically DPS Associate Chief John Sardino.

In its 32nd demand, the movement calls on SU to establish a paid committee of students, faculty and staff to oversee the campus climate and the university’s progress on proposed demands. The first members of the committee will be students from #NotAgainSU. Any other members will be elected by the student body, the statement said.

Creating a section of SEM 100, a required diversity and inclusion course for first-year students, to teach the full history of protests at SU — including THE General Body, Recognize Us and #NotAgainSU — is the movement’s 33rd demand.

#NotAgainSU’s final demand requests that the university reveal if administrators used facial recognition software to identify and suspend those involved in the occupation and that racial profiling by the university led to the wrongful suspension of students.

SU mistakenly suspended four students last week who were not occupying Crouse-Hinds when the building closed Feb. 17. The university has since lifted these suspensions and apologized for the error.

Interim Provost John Liu and Graduate School Dean Peter Vanable stated that the university identified protesters using “personal knowledge” of students in a statement Monday.

The movement also expanded nine of its original 19 demands.

These expansions request an allocation of $500,000 to Office of Student Living for floor budgets and Resident Adviser training and at least $4 million recommitted to the Posse Foundation, which provides scholarships for students of color.

Published on February 25, 2020 at 12:56 am

Contact Sarah: [email protected] | @sarahalessan