The Daily Orange is a nonprofit newsroom that receives no funding from Syracuse University. Consider donating today to support our mission.

O

rganizers with #NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black students, began their eight-day occupation of the Barnes Center at The Arch one year ago Friday. The movement, formed in response to SU’s handling of a series of on-campus hate incidents, pressured university officials to meet its demands and urged them to support students of color.

The movement twice occupied university buildings as more than 30 racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic incidents were reported at or near the university beginning Nov. 7, 2019.

Following the sit-in at the Barnes Center, organizers occupied Crouse-Hinds Hall for 31 days in February and March, making it one of the longest-running student protests in SU’s history.

The protests, which centered around the movement’s demands to improve SU’s campus climate for students of color, elicited negotiations with, and some concessions from, university administrators.

A year later, here’s a look back on the #NotAgainSU movement –– how it started, what it achieved, and where it is today:

Two days before #NotAgainSU’s sit-in at the Barnes Center began, more than 100 students gathered in Watson Theater to express their concerns with SU’s delayed response to racist vandalism found on two floors of Day Hall.

University officials had waited four days to alert the campus community that racist slurs against Black and Asian people had been written on Day’s fourth and sixth floor.

The Juvenile Urban Multicultural Program, a registered student organization that aims to bridge the gap between SU students and the city, organized the forum, where students criticized the university, its priorities and how it treats Black students.

The conversation continued in a group chat composed of students of color who were concerned with how the university was handling racism on campus. After additional in-person meetings, the group of students went on to form the #NotAgainSU movement.

On Nov. 13, 2019, organizers with #NotAgainSU began occupying the Barnes Center to protest what they deemed an inadequate response to hate incidents on campus — a problem representative of larger institutional failures around race, diversity and inclusion. 

During the sit-in, organizers drafted 19 demands for the university that spanned a variety of issues related to diversity and treatment of students of color at SU.

Protesters would remain in the building for 24 hours each day, sleeping on the tile floor, often with a crowd so dense there was little room to walk. Donations of food and other supplies poured in from supporters.

Chancellor Kent Syverud first visited the Barnes Center protest for about 10 minutes on its first day, offering brief comments and reading aloud a list of short and long-term demands written by protesters. He returned a few days later to address more than 200 students in the building, promising the university would address #NotAgainSU’s demands in the coming days. 

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, Common Council President Helen Hudson and Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens later visited the occupation for nearly an hour to answer questions and express their support for the movement’s efforts.

When head basketball coach Jim Boeheim came to the Barnes Center, he told protesters that they can’t blame the university for the actions of a few rogue students, a statement that angered many in attendance. The next time Boeheim visited the building with pizza, protesters rejected it.

After the movement made national headlines, political leaders from across New York state and the country weighed in on SU’s response to the racist incidents. Gov. Andrew Cuomo called Syverud’s handling of the incidents “ineffective.” Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer condemned the hate incidents on campus. 

President-elect and SU alumnus Joe Biden, at the time a candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, said he was “deeply disturbed” by the racist actions at his alma mater. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, at the time Biden’s competitor for the nomination, also tweeted in support of the movement, using the hashtag #NotAgainSU.

Nearing eight days of protests, hundreds of students, faculty and staff descended on Hendricks Chapel on Nov. 20 for a forum with Syverud to discuss the movement’s demands. At the time, #NotAgainSU had presented 19 demands to Syverud, with the deadline for signing them approaching.

After about 40 minutes, one student asked if Syverud would immediately sign the organizers’ demands as written. When the chancellor declined, hundreds of the protesters flooded out of the building and onto the Quad, chanting “sign or resign.” 

The movement has called for the resignation of Syverud, Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado, Senior Vice President for the Student Experience Dolan Evanovich, and Associate Chief for Law Enforcement John Sardino.

After protesters exited Hendricks Chapel, they marched to the Chancellor’s House on the 300 block of Comstock Avenue. After about 30 minutes, they returned to the Barnes Center while discussions between Syverud and #NotAgainSU organizers continued in Hendricks Chapel. Demonstrators occupied the building for one more night.

Following the walkout, Syverud signed 16 of the movement’s demands as written and revised the remaining three due to limitations on his authority to implement them. Later that night, members of #NotAgainSU told Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Keith Alford they did not accept Syverud’s response and would continue to call for his resignation.

SU later issued a statement disputing a claim from #NotAgainSU that the group did not negotiate with Syverud at the Hendricks Chapel forum.

In December, #NotAgainSU staged a walk-out to demand the resignation of Syverud, Maldonado, Evanovich and Sardino. Students met in the lobby of Huntington Beard Crouse Hall before relocating to the steps of Hendricks Chapel, where they had strung a banner between two pillars that read “Bye Kent” in black and red letters.

Similar signs naming Maldonado, Evanovich and Sardino appeared in other locations around campus.

The movement set a January deadline for the university officials to resign, with organizers promising consequences if they did not vacate their offices during that time frame. Following the walk-out, Chris Johnson, associate provost for academic affairs, met the students outside of Crouse-Hinds Hall, where an organizer handed him resignation letters that they demanded be delivered to Syverud, Maldonado, Evanovich and Sardino.

#NotAgainSU organized a second sit-in at Crouse-Hinds Hall that began Feb. 17. The organizers reissued their calls for the resignation of Syverud, Maldonado, Evanovich and Sardino and would eventually revise their demands to include several additions.

When Crouse-Hinds, which houses the offices of Syverud and other university administrators, closed that night, some organizers opted to remain inside. At the building’s 9 p.m. closing time, SU officials threatened the students with suspension for violating SU’s Student Code of Conduct. A little after midnight, the university suspended the more than 30 students who remained in the building.

Syverud later lifted the students’ suspensions. Organizers would remain inside Crouse-Hinds for 30 more days.

The morning after #NotAgainSU’s occupation of Crouse-Hinds began, the Department of Public Safety sealed off the building, preventing outside food, medicine and supplies from entering. 

As news of the university’s crackdown on the protesters spread, students began to amass outside Crouse-Hinds with food, blankets and other supplies they planned on passing to protesters inside. DPS officers staged at the building’s entrances refused them and, on several occasions, engaged in physical altercations with students hoping to pass supplies inside.

The campus community criticized DPS officers for their interactions with protesters during the occupation. One video posted to social media showed DPS Deputy Chief John Sardino reaching for his holster during a physical altercation with protesters outside the building. 

In response, SU launched an external review of the department led by former United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who served under former President Barack Obama. Syverud announced the review in February and has said he anticipates Lynch will finish her review by the end of this semester.

After the university reopened the building, more students and faculty joined the organizers already inside and delivered food and other supplies. Some professors held classes inside the space. #NotAgainSU also hosted speeches, teach-ins and poetry recitals. Students from other universities visited the occupation as well.

As the occupation continued, the movement called for administrators to enter formal negotiations to address its demands.

When the university did not immediately agree to engage in negotiations with the protesters, more than 100 students, faculty and supporters of #NotAgainSU spilled onto the street on Feb. 26, blocking the intersection of South Crouse and Waverly avenues for two hours. 

Protesters had given administrators until 4:15 p.m. that day to arrive at Crouse-Hinds and negotiate with them. These negotiations were never agreed upon previously, SU officials said at the time.

Organizers formed two circles within the intersection for about 40 minutes. Protesters of color formed the inner circle while white protesters stood outside and held hands.

The organizers returned to Crouse-Hinds later that night. Soon after, SU agreed to begin negotiations.

Negotiations between #NotAgainSU organizers and university officials drew out into four separate sessions — three planned and one agreed to as an extension when the others stalled. In each meeting, tensions ran high and progress came slowly. 

Organizers and faculty supporters of #NotAgainSU urged a team of university officials to compromise on the movement’s demands. They asked SU to, at the very least, issue a statement acknowledging what had taken place in the contentious first few days of the occupation. In return, university officials offered apologies but few concessions. 

Officials agreed to implement mandatory diversity training for non-tenured faculty, hire five counselors and revise SU’s Campus Disruption Policy relating to peaceful protests. But the movement’s key demands for disarming DPS and for the university to issue a statement acknowledging its role in white supremacy went unfulfilled after hours of debate.

Syverud missed most of the negotiations, only participating once via phone call. University officials said the chancellor was busy coordinating the university’s response to the rising coronavirus pandemic.

As negotiations wore on, faculty and graduate students at SU rallied to express support for #NotAgainSU’s demands. Nearly 100 graduate students and workers who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color, as well as international students, went on strike in solidarity with the movement, vowing to continue until the university fulfilled #NotAgainSU’s demands.  

A group of faculty supporters, under the name Faculty Action Collective, also organized a solidarity march that wound across the SU campus. A group of over 100 students, professors and striking graduate workers stopped in front of Sims Hall, Bird Library and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs to repeat the movement’s revised demands into a megaphone.

After the university formally ended negotiations, #NotAgainSU organizers continued to occupy Crouse-Hinds, demanding SU resume discussions. Protesters remained in the building even after students left campus for spring break, which SU had extended to two weeks in response to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.

#NotAgainSU ended its occupation after 31 days, when organizers secured a virtual meeting with university officials to solidify commitments made on their revised demands. The decision came shortly after the university announced it would move all classes online for the remainder of the semester due to the pandemic.

The remaining protesters left Crouse-Hinds on March 18, leaving behind a campus deserted mid-semester.

The implementation of the movement’s demands also became a key point in the Student Association presidential election. A member of the movement — Justine Hastings — would go on to win the SA presidency. 

The university, meanwhile, made incremental progress on meeting the movement’s demands, adding punishments for bystanders of hate crimes to the Code of Student Conduct and allocating $600,000 to a city volunteer program.

Lynch’s review of DPS has produced the framework for a new review board, through which SU students and employees can recommend discipline for DPS officers accused of misconduct and review the department’s policies.