SU must guarantee the safety of all members of university community

Dear editor,

As members of the Sociology Graduate Student Association, we would like to address the several racially-motivated attacks that began on Nov. 7.

Beginning on Nov. 7, reports surfaced that two dormitory bathrooms of Day Hall were defaced with racial slurs. Students in Day Hall woke up to the fourth and sixth floor bathrooms vandalized with racially-motivated slurs targeting both black and Asian communities. Since then, there have been numerous accounts of racially charged and anti-Semitic incidents on and nearby the campus.

As sociologists, we are concerned with these repeated and continued episodes of violence and the impact this has had on our campus community, including the hostile campus climate that is developing. We understand how differences in individual identities based on — but not limited to — race and religion interact and intersect in our daily lives to shape our experience as students at Syracuse University. As such, we demand that the administration implement policies and procedures to effectively guarantee the safety of all members of the university community. To this end, we request that Syracuse University administrators be transparent in their investigations into these attacks, and hold individuals, organizations and collectives accountable.

To the Syracuse University community, this is a call to action: to confront racism on and around campus; to directly address the university’s continued inaction against racism and other forms of hatred; to stand in support with the students, activists and community members who are engaged in various forms of protest; and to speak out against racism in its many forms. In solidarity with the #NotAgainSU movement, we call for a unified and ongoing effort to hold ourselves and the university accountable in ensuring and protecting the rights of all members of Syracuse University.

Sincerely,

Dalton Stevens
Dustin J. Satterfield
Adrienne Atterberry
Crystal Lee
Winston J. Scott
Jacob Bartholomew
Kelsey Wilber
William Oliver
Claire Pendergrast
Sarah Elizabeth Reilly
Mary Pagan
William Barr II
Wencheng Zhang
Deniz Ayaydin
Lindsey Prutsman
Shanel Khaliq
Ibrahim Yanik
Andrea Constant
Mehdi Nejatbakhsh
Michael Branch
Aaron Blasyak
Zeyd Koytak
Ning Zhan
Julene Cooney
Yue Sun
Erin Bisesti
Selene Cammer-Bechtold
Amra Kandic
Racheal Chubb
Trent Fenner
Athena Karch
Jenna Sikka
Jeung Hyun Kim

Syracuse University Sociology Graduate Student Association