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Students stood at windows of the building to talk to their friends inside.
© 2020 Ellis Stanton -
Many students skipped class to stand outside of the building during the day. One student worked on a paper, in cold, while he stood outside the building,
© 2020 Ellis Stanton -
The protesters have lined the inside of the windows at Crouse-Hinds Hall with posters.
© 2020 Ellis Stanton -
Students gathered outside of all the entrances of Crouse-Hinds. The building has four entrances.
© 2020 Ellis Stanton
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) Editor’s Note: This story has since been updated, as the University now says it will revoke the suspensions referred to in this story.
Zach Letson tried to go to class Tuesday morning at Syracuse University’s Crouse-Hinds Hall, but the Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers stopped him at the door. Letson is a Syracuse University student and was on his way to Spanish class. His class is typically at Crouse-Hinds Hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When he went to enter the building Tuesday, DPS officers told him the building was closed. Letson got an email earlier in the morning that his class was at Browne Hall today.
A campus organization called #NOTAGAINSU held their second “occupation” of the academic year Monday afternoon at Crouse-Hinds. The operating hours of the building are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. DPS asked the protesters to leave at 9 p.m., the students refused to relocate. Syracuse University issued a letter of suspension to these students. According to pictures on the #NOTAGAINSU Instagram page, these students violated the Campus Disruption Policy and suspended due to a violation of the Code of Conduct.
Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Keith A. Alford, and Vice President for the Student Experience, Rob Hradsky, emailed students and faculty last night explaining the situation.
Once these students leave Crouse-Hinds Hall, they will be suspended and removed from school property. The students have decided to remain in place and continue to protest. Syracuse University decided to close the building as the protest continues to go on. No students have been let into the building.
Multiple employees faced issues trying to enter the building to go to work this morning. DPS officers operating at the entrances have only allowed faculty with swipe access to the building. If their SUID opens the door, they will enable the employee inside. One employee, who preferred to remain anonymous, is an accountant for Syracuse University but did not have card access. They had to wait outside while other employees came to the door to tell DPS to let her into the building.
“It’s part of the job,” they said when asked for their opinion about these procedures.
#NOTAGAINSU mentioned in an Instagram post that DPS denied the staff from the Office of Multicultural Affairs access inside, even though they had card access.
Students brought the protesters food, as many had not eaten since noon Monday. But DPS has denied any food from entering the building. Students tried to convince people that can get inside the building to bring the food inside to the protesters. Many of these people ignored the students and continued inside.
Classes and admission events that are generally at Crouse-Hinds Hall were at other locations on campus.
More updates and information is available on the #NOTAGAINSU Instagram page.
https://instagram.com/notagain.su?igshid=uocwbtuk67kk
Videos and updates can also be found on CitrusTV’s YouTube page.
https://www.youtube.com/user/CitrusTV/videos
