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Syracuse University Provost Gretchen Ritter announced Wednesday that there are currently 74 self-reported active student COVID-19 cases and 26 faculty and staff cases on campus.

Only students that report their positive cases to the Barnes Center at the Arch will qualify for excused absences in their classes, Ritter said at Wednesday’s University Senate meeting. The Barnes Center will send an email to faculty should a student report a positive test.

On Monday, an SU spokesperson reported a 52% decrease in COVID-19 cases from the weekend, with 34 active student cases and 15 active faculty and staff cases.

At the meeting, Chancellor Kent Syverud announced the release of a report suggesting a new process to revoke honorary degrees. The action comes in response to the senate’s resolution last spring to revoke the honorary degree of Rudy Guiliani awarded in 1989.

“Standards are in place for revocation under any degree, that standard should then I believe be applied to the Rudy Giuliani case,” Syverud said. “I think it’s important that we look at the process as a whole and be careful, but I think there’s a way forward provided in the report.”

In his report, Syverud added that SU should be careful when policing the conduct of people after receiving their degree for legal, ethical and resource reasons. Syverud said degree revocation should be limited to the “most egregious cases of post-award conduct.”

In its 152-year history, SU has only revoked two earned degrees and no honorary degrees, Syverud said.

Members of the University Senate, Student Association and Graduate Student Organization Senate will have until the Oct. 26 University Senate meeting to provide commentary on the report. Syverud will then deliver the adjusted report to the Board of Trustees at its Nov. 4 meeting.

Jacques Megnizin | Design Editor

The senate also introduced recent hires, including Brett Padgett, the university’s new senior vice president and chief financial officer, Professor Mary Graham, faculty athletic representative, and Mary Grace Almandrez, vice president for diversity and inclusion.

Almandrez said she was an active student leader and part of the multicultural center during her time as a student at the University of San Diego, where she received her undergraduate degree.

“(My experience) helps me to grow my work to continue to put students at the center of my work,” Almandrez said. “So no matter what the position might hold, I will always keep students at the center.”

Syverud acknowledged that this year’s freshman class is one of the largest undergraduate classes in the university’s history. There are 4,100 new students, 400 over the university’s goal. The large student group displaced some sophomores set to live in off-campus residence halls, but 90% of sophomores got their first choice among the alternative living options, Syverud said.

“Syracuse University was the first choice for a lot more students than we expected,” Syverud said. “While (sophomores) were not all happy with the change, I do think the teams did their best to provide what our first year students should reasonably expect, while accommodating our returning students. The team decided that the top priority was keeping our first year students together and on campus.”

Syverud also addressed community concerns about the university’s campus expansion plans.

“We have been in a process of evaluating what to build related to student housing on empty lots on Ostrom,” Syverud said. “That process is going to take into account how we maintain a neighborhood near the campus, where faculty and staff want to live. I think the process is starting, but I wouldn’t expect to see any bulldozers very soon on Ostrom Ave.”

Syverud also held a moment of silence for the three SU community members who passed away in the past several weeks. He honored Meghan Bruno, a member of the academic affairs team; Cerri Banks, vice president for student experience and Yuyi Zhan, a third-year student in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

University Senate’s Oct. 26 meeting will be held over Zoom at 4 p.m..

Published on September 21, 2022 at 11:08 pm

Contact Katie: [email protected] | @katie_mcclellan