By now, the racist and homophobic language spewed by Syracuse University soccer team player Hanna Strong has become well known across campus, national and international communities.  To be sure, the video is brief and little publicly is known about the entire circumstances of Strong’s interactions with the others in the group, including the African-American man whom she specifically addressed. 

What is clear, however, is that the student chose her words deliberately and felt secure in knowing what language was most offensive and dehumanizing within the hierarchy of race, sexual orientation and other intersectional identities in the United States.  This is not a proud moment for Syracuse University.

The university has responded swiftly with an investigation, student suspension from the soccer team and a call for increased “tolerance for difference.”  But this much also should be clear:  This incident is not about a single student uttering hateful speech.  It is the latest episode within a pervasive culture involving racist, homophobic and misogynist behavior by students and other members of Syracuse University.  Thus the question of tolerance for difference is embedded with assumptions based on race, gender and sexual orientation and begs the questions “different from whom?” and “tolerance by whom of whom?”  Repeated investigations or punishment of individual students hardly address core issues while institutional structures remain in place in the face of declining numbers of students, faculty and staff of color and while members of gender and sexual minorities are marginalized.           

The university’s response must go further, much further, lest we remain in an endless spiral of offense and punishment and return to the status quo until the next incident.  A more lasting result requires less focus on individuals’ behavior and greater focus on institutional climate and practices in which such behavior can thrive.  Beyond the glare of embarrassing social media, this institution must ask and answer why and how such behavior is possible at Syracuse University and must take steps to become anti-racist-sexist-homophobic in a broader, respectful and more inclusive approach to all its constituents.  We do not seek a tolerant university, but a just one.

The Democratizing Knowledge Collective of Syracuse University

An interdisciplinary collective of Syracuse University staff, graduate students and faculty.