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Crouse Hinds Hall Doors Open to #NotAgainSU Protestors Crouse Hinds Hall Doors Open to #NotAgainSU Protestors

By Jaron May

#NotAgainSU posters hanging in Crouse Hinds Hall at Syracuse University. Protestors have been occupying the building since Monday.
© 2020 Jaron May

Reporter: NOT AGAIN S-U PROTESTORS WERE HUNKERED DOWN IN CROUSE HINDS HALL FOR THE PAST THREE DAYS AFTER THE UNIVERSITY DENIED STUDENT ACCESS TO THE BUILDING. WITH LIMITED FOOD AND DRINK, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF ARREST, STUDENTS AND FACULTY WERE OUTRAGED THIS WEEK, INCLUDING NEWHOUSE PROFESSOR TULA GOENKA.

Chancellor Kent Syverud: “And I am extremely distressed, angry, upset at the way the administration has treated this protest. This is extremely cruel and extremely inhumane.”>

Reporter: THE DOORS OF THE BUILDING WERE FINALLY OPENED THIS MORNING. PROTESTORS INSIDE WERE ABLE TO GO HOME, WHILE OTHER STUDENTS REPLACED THEM. SYRACUSE CHANCELLOR KENT SYVERUED ANNOUNCED THIS CHANGE LAST NIGHT.

Professor Tula Goenka: “I have concluded that we cannot move forward productively unless we start with compassion for our students and de-escalation. I am taking these first steps. I hope all of us, all of our community will model this as well.”>

Reporter: A NOT AGAIN SU PROTESTOR TOOK TO SOCIAL MEDIA AFTER THE SPEECH SAYING SYVERUD WAS QUOTE ACTIVE IN STARVING AND HARMING PROTESTORS. JARON MAY, N-C-C NEWS.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — The doors of Crouse Hinds Hall were opened on Thursday for the first time since #NotAgainSU protestors started occupying the building earlier in the week. Students are now able to go and leave whenever they want. The change comes after Chancellor Kent Syverud made an announcement Wednesday night in an address to the University Senate.

“I am not going to let students be arrested and get forced out of Crouse Hinds Hall,” Syverud said. “I have directed arrangements for ensuring they are fed and cared for. I am also directing for the interim suspensions to be lifted.”

The university suspended 30 students on Monday for not leaving Crouse Hinds Hall when the building closed. That suspension has since been lifted.

With the doors open, more students have set up inside of the hall, covering the majority of the first level. They are free to continue their protests.

“We cannot move forward productively unless we start with compassion for our students and de-escalation,” Syverud said. “I am taking these first steps. I hope all of us, all of our community will model this as well.”

The decision to open the doors comes after a very stressful week for students and faculty. Many people, including Newhouse Professor Tula Goenka, were not pleased with how the university handled the situation.

“I am extremely distressed, angry, upset at the way the administration has treated this protest,” Goenka said. “This is extremely cruel and extremely inhumane.”

Staff and other protestors claim they were racially profiled by university authorities when trying to enter the building. The protestors inside of Crouse Hinds Hall were afraid of being arrested by Syracuse police.

#NotAgainSU is continuing its protests from December, when it occupied the Barnes Center. The group has come out with an extended list of demands with its new protest. The demands include:

  • Disarming DPS officers
  • Freezing tuition increases
  • Identifying the people who did the biased incidents last semester
  • SU taking responsibility for the issues occurring on campus

#NotAgainSU plans on continuing to occupy the building until they get what they are asking for.

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