Syracuse University’s LGBT Resource Center has been located on Ostrom Avenue for most of its 17-year history. By January, the center will move to the fifth floor of Bird Library as SU prepares to potentially move forward with plans to expand student housing, the center’s director said.

The LGBT Resource Center isn’t alone. The Daily Orange, the Center for Autism Research in Electrophysiology Lab and the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity all must relocate in coming years if SU expands on-campus student housing into the 700 block of Ostrom.

SU plans to build two dorms on a stretch of Ostrom between Shaw and DellPlain halls. The university announced the potential infrastructure expansion in May 2017 as part of the Campus Framework initiative, a 20-year plan for construction projects on University Hill. SU owns all of the properties in the 700 block, but leases them to different organizations.

The exact timeline for the expansion is currently unclear. Pete Sala, SU’s senior vice president and chief facilities officer, did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

But preparations for the housing expansion have already begun, said khristian kemp-delisser, director of the LGBT Resource Center.

“There’s no more doubt,” kemp-delisser said. “The LGBT Resource Center will be moving.”

SU has started construction on the fifth floor of Bird to prepare for the resource center’s temporary move. The LGBT Resource Center will be housed in Schine Student Center after future renovations to that building are complete, kemp-delisser said. The Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Disability Cultural Center will share an office space with the resource center in the renovated Schine building, they said.  

Sala said at a May press conference that construction for Schine’s renovation could begin as early as January 2019.

kemp-delisser said Colleen Bench, associate vice president for SU’s division of enrollment and student experience, had informed them in late September that the move was confirmed, and Bench has sent over moving boxes.

Lambda Chi Alpha’s president did not respond to requests for comment on this story. The CARE Lab declined to comment on its moving status.

Off-campus and Commuter Services also moved from its previous headquarters at 754 Ostrom Ave. to Goldstein Student Center on South Campus.
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Student Legal Services, which was formerly housed in one of the SU-owned buildings on Ostrom, has already relocated to an office at the Marshall Square Mall. SLS Director Christopher Burke said he did not know of SU’s plans to build housing on Ostrom Avenue, and that their move was coordinated through SU’s Student Association and Graduate Student Organization.

On a June afternoon in 2016, Justin Mattingly, then-editor-in-chief of The D.O., sat in his car in downtown Richmond, Virginia. He scrolled through a draft of the Campus Framework, and saw red highlighting around a block of Ostrom. It was labeled “campus building opportunities.”

There was a small gap in highlighting on the plan, near the location of The D.O.’s offices at 744 Ostrom Ave. He said he wondered if the house was included in the “campus building opportunities.” By the end of the day, he found that it was.

“I saw it and had a — not a meltdown, but that ‘take-a-deep-breath moment.’” Mattingly said.

More than two years later, current D.O. Editor-in-chief Sam Ogozalek is looking at potential new housing sites for The D.O. He’s working to find a new space to occupy “well before” June 2020, when the newspaper’s current lease extension at 744 expires, he said.

Ogozalek said The D.O.’s management team is looking for a new location in the University Hill neighborhood, from the area east of Main Campus to spots toward East Genesee Street.

Sala has largely been the voice of the Campus Framework plan. He has sent campus-wide emails giving updates on SU infrastructure projects in recent years. None have included the developments on Ostrom.

“That’s another reason that I was so unsure (if the LGBT Resource Center would move)” kemp-delisser said. “Because I don’t see the more official channels communicating that message out.”

Sala has remained in contact with D.O. management during the past two years. In fall 2016, Sala walked Mattingly through campus to discuss his vision for the Campus Framework, Mattingly said. In summer 2018, he spoke with Ogozalek.

kemp-delisser looks forward to the LGBT Resource Center’s move, they said. But Mattingly said “Nobody wants the D.O. to leave 744 Ostrom,” in an email to The D.O. Board of Directors in June 2016.

The D.O. moved into 744 Ostrom Ave. in 1983. The LGBT Resource Center was established in 2001, and moved to Ostrom Avenue shortly after.

kemp-delisser was a member of Pride Union when they were a student at SU, they said. They pushed for an LGBT center to be created. Now, they’re moving out and heading closer to the heart of campus.

“It’s a really bittersweet experience for me to return to my alma mater, to lead up the center that I helped to open, but also at the same time to close the center,” said kemp-delisser, laughing. “My triumphant return (to the LGBT Resource Center) is to preside over the closing of it.”

Published on October 10, 2018 at 9:15 pm

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