The #NotAgainSU protest has dominated conversation on the Syracuse University campus and found its way in to the national landscape this week. SU also has more than 100 study abroad programs in 60 countries, as well as domestic abroad centers in Los Angeles and New York, and they’re affected by this movement too.
I spoke with three students—Natalie Fahmy in New York City, Jason Streiter in Florence, Italy and Oneysha Brown in Madrid about their #NotAgainSU experience away from Syracuse. Streiter and Brown represent two of six global abroad centers, while Fahmy is a part of one of two of the domestic programs.
Natalie Fahmy, Junior – New York City
“We’re all just like looking at each other like, ‘are you kidding me? Is this happening again?”
That’s what Fahmy said the overwhelming feeling is on Newhouse’s N.Y.C. campus. The 27 students there have followed the protests every step of the way through campus news outlets, like CitrusTV and the Daily Orange, in addition to the campus-wide emails.
Staying late after class here at @NewhouseNYC to catch all the @CitrusTVNews coverage of the on-campus protests. Great job keeping everyone who isn’t currently in Syracuse informed!
Here’s the link to the Special Report:https://t.co/dsOoi5kBaM pic.twitter.com/8qH2z2RKx3— A.J. Fabbri (@armand_john) November 21, 2019
Every student takes a class entitled, “Race, Gender, and the Media,” which according to Fahmy, explored “how Syracuse University, it doesn’t really promote diversity” this week in class. In general, it has been easier following the incidents and what’s happened because there’s no time difference.
Jason Streiter, Junior – Florence, Italy
Streiter received the first email about a racial bias incident while on a trip in the Italian countryside last week. He said there was little conversation about it within the program until Tuesday, when SU Abroad Florence Director emailed the following message:
“We want to affirm that Syracuse Florence is committed to the principles of diversity, inclusion, tolerance and respect.”
On Wednesday, the institute held focus groups for students who wanted to talk about the events. Streiter received his information through the university’s emails and messages from SU Hillel.
One of Streiter’s biggest takeaways came from interaction with professors; all four of his teachers are native to Italy, so their connection to SU and the United States is a different out. When Streiter asked his Italian Cinema professor what she thought, she said, “this didn’t make sense.” His Italian-born professor could not believe the events, because it did not fit with her version of the “American Dream.”
Oneysha Brown, Senior – Madrid
“For me personally, I believe in everything they’re fighting for. So like I want, like I want to be that extra voice, like, the bigger the better,” Brown said. “So it’s kind of like sad to not be a part of it, but at the same time I’m sad that people are getting through it.”
Brown has tracked these protests largely through social media and expressed frustration with the university’s communication from Syracuse and in Spain. On Tuesday, SU Madrid Director Dieter Robert Kuehl emailed the students in the program, stating, “we invite you to approach any of us on staff for assistance.”
But Brown expressed a similar sentiment to Streiter, explaining that because most professors are native to Spain, it is difficult for them to fully understand what is going on more than 3,600 miles away.
“I thought about… being like ‘hey can I just have a day, to like, process?’ And I don’t know what they would say, but I also just feel like their answer wouldn’t be a thought out answer,” Brown said. “I didn’t feel like having to deal with trying to explain.”
London
While I spoke with three students in these programs, other SU abroad programs weighed in as well. On Wednesday, Syracuse’s London abroad Twitter page tweeted the following:
As @syracuselondon commemorates the 30th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, our students & staff have been building a dynamic Wall Gallery of messages for global peace and respect. The resulting conversations have become all the more important in the light of #NotAgainSU pic.twitter.com/RlWgicRFDt
— Syracuse University London (@syracuselondon) November 20, 2019
“The London Center is deeply committed to diversity, inclusion, and building a place for all to study and grow,” it said in a follow-up message. “We thank the student leaders and others who are responding to incidents of hate crime on campus with efforts to change our university culture and hold us all accountable.”
