Maxwell Faculty of Color group says SU’s response to racism inadequate

Dear Editor,

We, the undersigned members of the Maxwell Faculty of Color group, wish to express our abhorrence of the hateful racist graffiti and verbal attacks that have been directed at students of color and of non-Christian faiths at Syracuse University this month. Such incidents are persistent and deeply hurtful. They create an atmosphere which is hostile, unsafe and exclusionary to students who have to navigate these spaces on a daily basis. As faculty of color who have some shared understanding of the students’ experiences, we feel that the university’s response has been inadequate. We hold the university accountable to address the students’ concerns in good faith. We ask for a commitment on the part of the administration to implement effective and sustained reform measures in the direction of a more inclusive campus environment and learning framework.

Sincerely,

Lamis E. Abdelaaty

Edwin Ackerman

Mona Bhan

A. Peter Castro

Carmen E. Carrion Flores

Alphonso Flores-Lagunes

Cecilia Green

William Horrace

Masood Hyder

Jenn M. Jackson

Radha Kumar

Prema Kurien

Yingyi Ma

Gladys McCormick

Guido Pezzarossi

Martin Shanguhyia

Abdulaziz B. Shifa

Farhana Sultana