Malique Lewis spent last summer working with colleagues to gather student input, spitball ideas and plan for a new space on Syracuse University’s campus. On Sept. 7, 2021, Lewis and other university leaders cut the ceremonial orange ribbon for 119 Euclid, which has since become one of the epicenters of student life for many Black students.

“This is something that people have been asking for for a long time. And it’s finally happening,” Lewis said. “It’s really here.”

A year after the building’s grand opening, 119 Euclid has created a safe space for Black students, said Al Cade, the fundraising chair of the Haitian-American Student Association. Students come to the space for game nights, for reflecting, for cooking, for decompressing, for hanging with friends and even for taking naps, he said.

“It’s a space where I can embrace Black excellence and reminisce on the culture,” Cade said. “It makes us feel comfortable to be ourselves.”

Members of the #NotAgainSU movement demanded the university create a safe space for Black members of the campus community, and it became a necessity following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, said Eboni Britt, the executive director of strategic communications at the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Movie and TV posters fill one of the walls within 119 Euclid. The posters represent movies and shows that are particularly influential to Black history. Emily Steinberger | Senior Staff Photographer

Students and staff intentionally designed every aspect of the building’s interior, said Lewis, who was the Student Association’s vice president of diversity and inclusion when the building opened.

“It’s very detailed, very thought out, very cared for,” he said.

One room is Black pop culture-themed, with posters of “Selma,” “A Raisin in the Sun,” “13th” and other movies and TV shows influential to Black history collaged on one wall. The other displays albums created by Black artists, including Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye and Tupac.

Movie and TV posters fill one of the walls within 119 Euclid. The posters represent movies and shows that are particularly influential to Black history. Emily Steinberger | Senior Staff Photographer

Another room, which is meant for reflection, has names of Black people who unjustly lost their lives — many from police brutality — such as George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor and many others, painted on chalkboard walls. Students can also write the names of loved ones they are mourning.

When Jada Knight entered 119 Euclid for the first time, she said she felt an indescribable presence in the space. Although the building has now been open for a year, she said she still feels her original sense of awe.

“Community. Togetherness. Love. Unity. That’s the heart,” Lewis said.

Many multicultural organizations on campus, including the Haitian-American Student Association, the seven SU chapters of the Divine 9 and the Black Honors Society, use the building as a gathering location as well.

Gabrielle Pinkney, one of the founding members of the Black Honors Society, remembers feeling a “welcoming spirit” from Cornelia Stokes, the former office coordinator of 119 Euclid, when she first walked into the building. The organization now hosts many of its events within the space.

“When I walked into the different lounges, it just felt like home,” she said. “It really felt like I had already developed a family with the people that were in the building even though it was my first time going in.”

For Alexandria Brown, the Ivy Leaf Reporter of SU’s Iota Upsilon chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, 119 Euclid is a “home away from home.” She said she feels comfortable in the space, and that it resembles her own house, with a living room on the ground floor and a kitchen she can do homework in.

“How do you feel when you talk to your mom, and you talk to your dad, and you talk to any family member that means a lot to you?” Lewis said about the space. “How do you feel when you eat your favorite food? How do you feel when you listen to your favorite music?”

Cade said he doesn’t have to code switch and change who he is to fit in at 119 Euclid. The space allows Black students to simply be themselves and express their honest opinions, Britt said.

“The conversations and discussions that we’re having, that we have among Black people are unique in a certain aspect, and (119 Euclid) gives them a chance to really share their perspectives and think a little bit differently,” Britt said. “(119 Euclid) just gives them a place to just be.”

In the hallway of 119 Euclid’s first floor, students, faculty and staff congregate in celebration of the building’s one year anniversary. Emily Steinberger | Senior Staff Photographer

119 Euclid’s staff also make the space more inviting and offer helpful advice, several students said. During the summer, Cade would look forward to Friday, his day off, because of the conversations he had with Britt when he stopped by the building, he said.

When Brown met Stokes at 119 Euclid, she found out that she, like Brown, is a member of AKA, which she said made 119 Euclid feel even more like home.

“(Knowing that Stokes is an AKA) was another warm feeling, especially to have a Black woman in charge of a big and welcoming space such as 119,” Brown said.

Having a space like 119 Euclid is especially impactful for the Black community at predominantly white institutions like SU, Knight said.

“(119 Euclid) is a reminder at a PWI that there are POC on campus and that we are strong and that we worked hard just like everyone else to get into Syracuse,” she said.

Black students at PWIs often have a difficult time finding a community of people with similar backgrounds, Lewis said. Though students should be meeting people of different cultures at college, he said, sometimes Black students need to “come back home” and be with people of a similar ilk.

“We’re at this new place. We’re going through a lot. And we have no starting point. We have no origin,” Lewis said. “But now we have that — that place that we can call home. Now we know where to find each other. (119 Euclid) is kind of like a GPS.”

“It makes me feel like I’m not alone,” she said. “I didn’t realize there was so many people like me on Syracuse University’s campus.”

Although 119 Euclid is a space focused on creating community among Black students, the building is open to students of all races, ethnicities and backgrounds. Jordan Pierre, the president of the Delta Zeta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, said he encourages white students to stop by 119 Euclid to learn about Black culture and experience being a minority in a comfortable environment.

“The racial majority should find time to put themselves in a position with the minority. (Black people) often don’t have that choice. That is our reality,” Pierre said. “It’s important that we all make that conscious decision to put ourselves in spaces where we are the minority to learn.”

Cade said that the physical space itself — specifically the room with the names of those who have died or were killed — pushes him to keep advocating for change.

“(Looking at the different walls) gives me encouragement — just knowing we have further to go and I can help in that fight to make sure that we get justice,” he said. “Seeing stuff like that does encourage me to keep pushing and keep going after my goals.”

On chalkboard walls, names of lost loved ones written by guests of 119 Euclid surround the names of Black people who unjustly lost their lives. The room was created as a space for reflection. Emily Steinberger | Senior Staff Photographer

Still, to many, 119 Euclid is only a step in the right direction. Lewis, who is now the vice president of SU’s Black Student Union and SA’s chief of staff, said 119 Euclid should be ever-evolving, growing and changing to meet the needs of students.

“We’re trying to leave the campus better than where we’ve got it,” Lewis said.

Multiple students echoed the sentiment that although SU still has room to improve in terms of diversity and inclusion, 119 Euclid has already made a huge impact on campus for all students of color, especially Black students, in its one year.

“This was a missing puzzle piece,” Lewis said.

Published on September 8, 2022 at 12:38 am

Contact Emily: [email protected] | @madlehead