AVA HU: A black student center started running on 119 Euclid Avenue last month. Students can eat, paint, and enjoy their time here.
HU: This building is overseen by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, it is a response to last year’s NotAgainSU protests.
HU: To create a sense of belonging, safety, and legitimacy for students, executive director, Eboni Joy Britt said all the decorations in 119 Euclid have special meanings.
EBONI JOY BRITT: Basically every single room in the house has a theme, and the themes are identified. We have assigned five students that work through the design elements that you see.
BRITT: Down to like those aloe plants in the corner, that was on the list. We want Sugar Shack, which is a very significant black piece; we have the Obama frames to put up. So that was something like every touchpoint in the house was determined by students. They have their hands all over the spaces.
HU: The setting is successful. A senior student, Mathena Murray, finds the setting very similar to her grandma’s house.
MATHENA MURRAY: ln the living room actually, the painting, so you walk in and the painting that is on that wall. That is the exact photo my grandma has in her house. So every time I see it I am like, yep, that’s grandma’s house.
HU: There are five themes in this building, as the office coordinator Cornelia Stokes introduced.
CORNELIA STOKES: In our entertainment room, for example, we have Nigerian artists, Burna Boy, afrobeat artists.
HU: Another significant room is dedicated to black lives lost by violence.
STOKES: Anything that harms or hurts black bodies is recognized in this space. The walls are chalkboards so that people can insert names as they feel is necessary. So it is like an inclusive active space.
HU: And the place has more function than that.
MURRAY: It is a great place to study, a great place to just feel grounded. Especially as a black woman on campus, and I am a senior too. So a lot of places that I used to study in are… I am outgrown in a sense. So this is just newly furnished, extremely pleasing to the eyes.
HU: The office is mainly promoted through Instagram. Their following events, including yoga, movie nights, and panel discussions are all posted on the account.
HU: For now, the black student center is still called 119 Euclid Avenue. Some of the rooms are already named by their donors, but the office is waiting for a sponsor to name. From NCC New, I am Ava Hu.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — A Black student center opened on 119 Euclid Avenue last month. Students can eat, paint, and enjoy their time in this special place.
This building is overseen by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion; it is a response to the NotAgainSU’s protests last year. Protesters ask for more multicultural programs on campus to support different races. Last year, five students were assigned to build 119 Euclid into a place where black students can feel a sense of belonging, safety, legitimacy, and unity.
The five designers trace back to their grandparents’ houses. Eboni Joy Britt, Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Syracuse University, said they want to make black students feel they are at home.
Even the plants in the living room are carefully selected. Aloe is common medicinal plants in Black families. In 119 Euclid, this special plant is placed right next to a sofa. Students like Mathena Murray also find the setting very familiar. She found the same artwork in 119 Euclid with her grandma’s home.
“Every time I see it I am like, yep, that’s grandma’s house,” Murray said.
There is also the Obama family’s frame, cookie baskets, and other significant “Black things” in the surroundings. “When people see that, they will know that is kind of a black thing,” Britt said, “and we want to kind of have those black elements throughout the house to be significant to the people who will be here.”
119 Euclid has five themes in this two stairs apartment, including an entertainment room and a memorial chalkboard room.
The entertainment room displayed famous Black artists like, “Nigerian artists, Burna Boy, and afrobeat artists,” the office coordinator, Cornelia Stokes introduced.
Across entertainment room is the memorial room, which is dedicated to Black lives that were lost by violence. Harmed or hurt Black bodies are recognized in this space. The walls are chalkboards so that people can insert names as they feel is necessary.
The office is mainly promoted through Instagram accounts. Their following events, including yoga, movie nights, and panel discussions are all posted on the account. Britt said they will consider opening a TikTok in the future.
For now, the Black student center is still called 119 Euclid Avenue. Some of the rooms are already named by their donors, but the office is waiting for a sponsor to name them.
