T

he writing of racist graffiti in a Syracuse University residence hall spurred the formation of the #NotAgainSU movement. Led by black students, the group gained momentum as at least 14 additional hate crimes and bias-related incidents occurred on or near campus through Nov. 21.

Through 10 days of forums and protest, student activists made SU officials hear their demands.

Nov. 11

Over 100 students gathered in Watson Theater to express their concerns with how SU values students of color and how the Department of Public Safety handled the Day Hall graffiti. The broader campus community was not informed of the racist graffiti until the morning of Nov. 11, four days after DPS found the vandalism. 

Students discussed various action plans to ensure university officials heard their concerns. University officials did not attend the forum. Attendees specified that the action plans were private and asked that media not record.

Nov. 12

SU’s Residence Hall Association organized a forum in Gifford Auditorium to address the Day Hall graffiti, this time with university officials present. Vice President for the Student Experience Rob Hradsky, Dean of Students Marianne Thomson, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Keith Alford and DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado listened to the concerns of about 150 students. Many students brought up the same issues discussed at the Nov. 11 forum, and some attendees were present at both events.

Students said they felt unsafe on campus and recommended potential remedies to RHA president Sadia Ahmed. Many urged Chancellor Kent Syverud — who was out of town on business — to address the vandalism. “We want Kent,” they chanted. 

Nov. 13

At 10:30 a.m., about 30 students held a sit-in at the Barnes Center at The Arch in protest of the racist graffiti. The demonstration was originally set to end the next morning at 1 a.m., when the health and wellness center closed. By the end of the day, at least 200 students joined the protest in solidarity, and the sit-in lasted eight days. 

The protesters presented a list of nine demands for SU administration to meet by 3 p.m. on Nov. 20. If university officials did not agree to meet the demands, the protesters would call for the resignation of Syverud and Alford. 

#NotAgainSU was typed at the bottom of the list, a hashtag that would later become the official name of the demonstrators. 

Syverud visited the sit-in for about 10 minutes the afternoon of Nov. 13. The chancellor promised to read and address the students’ demands. He then left to attend meetings with additional students.

Hradsky, Maldonado and Thomson spoke at the demonstration to respond to students’ demands. The demands included revising SU’s first-year diversity and inclusion seminar, SEM 100, and mandating diversity training in faculty contracts.

Nov. 14

About 50 protesters occupied the Barnes Center at 10:30 a.m., past the 1 a.m. end of the demonstration that was initially planned. Students said they’d remain in the center until SU administration met their demands.

Protesters were in talks with university administration throughout the day about whether they could remain in the Barnes Center overnight without facing sanctions for violating SU’s Code of Student Conduct by remaining in the center past closing. Thomson confirmed with a protester at about 11:30 p.m. that students could stay at the center overnight without facing conduct violations.

Across campus, the Center for International Services held a forum for Asian students, faculty and administration to address four hate crimes and bias-related incidents that had occurred since Nov. 7. Racist graffiti against Asian people was found in a Physics Building bathroom the evening of Nov. 13, and a swastika was found etched in a snowbank near SU on Nov. 14. Asian and international students would later join the #NotAgainSU sit-in as an act of solidarity. 

The Chinese Students and Scholars Association, China Development Student Think Tank and Global China Connection submitted a list of nine demands to Syverud after the forum. The demands, which included implementing diverse mental health services, largely overlapped with those of protesters in the Barnes Center.

Nov. 15

Protesters at the sit-in adopted #NotAgainSU as the name of their movement and consulted a lawyer to revise the wording of their list of demands. 

Syverud returned to the sit-in that afternoon to respond to each of the revised demands. The chancellor said he would provide a formal response to all the protesters’ demands by the deadline of Nov. 20.

Nov. 16

State Sen. Rachel May and Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli visited the sit-in to condemn the recent hate crimes and praise the students’ activism. Protesters asked whether the state officials would use their political positions to help advance the movement’s demands. Both representatives said they read the demands, but did not promise to help implement them.

Nov. 20

Dressed in all black, hundreds of students filled the pews of Hendricks Chapel to hear Syverud respond to each of their demands. When the chancellor spoke, he said he couldn’t agree to each demand verbatim. 

The week-long protest then reached a fever-pitch, with some protesters chanting “sign or resign” before walking out of the chapel and marching to the Chancellor’s house on Comstock Avenue. Protesters remained outside the house for about 30 minutes before returning to the Barnes Center. 

Nov. 21

At about 2:30 a.m., Syverud announced he had signed 16 of the protesters’ demands as written, and had made changes to the remaining three to comply with law enforcement and the Board of Trustees. He also signed international students’ demands. On the afternoon of Nov. 21 Syverud announced that he agreed to concerns presented by Jewish students. 

#NotAgainSU announced they would be ending the Barnes Center sit-in that night. The protesters remain unsatisfied with Syverud’s response to their demands, and still call for his resignation.