THE General Body activists currently occupying Crouse-Hinds Hall do not represent Syracuse University students. The activists delivered a lengthy list of demands devoid of diverse student input to university leadership.

The activists in Crouse-Hinds represent just one opinion of the many opinions held by SU students. They are a special interest group with their own predefined agenda that not all students support. Despite their #WeAreSU hashtag, they are not SU.

The SU students among THE General Body have appropriated the privilege of representing all SU students that does not belong to them alone. The outside activists among THE General Body have taken the privilege of representing SU students that does not belong to them at all.

THE General Body does not speak for all of us. There are undergraduate and graduate students who do not align with THE General Body activists’ tactics or demands. It is important that THE General Body activists do not drown out the voices of the whole student body with brute force.

The proposed vision and mission statements by The Strategic Plan Steering Committee are a refreshing improvement. The statements recast the University as “student-focused” and as an institution known for “academic rigor” with “a spirit of discovery.” Indeed, these statements make SU sound like a great place to learn, collaborate and earn degrees.

The Steering Committee’s choice to not include the term “diversity” in the proposed statements sparked criticism from THE General Body activists, who allege that this reveals a ploy to marginalize people of a different skin color than Chancellor Kent Syverud.

The activists fail to support this serious and severe accusation.

The new vision and mission statements focus on attracting the best scholars to a great school. Diversity needs no support beyond an admission process that considers ability to occur at a school with SU’s size and name recognition.

The search for excellence does not exclude any skin color, or degree of wealth or poverty. Top scholars may be found among the world’s rich and poor, from every continent and every heritage. The proposed vision and mission statements are compatible with diversity. When recruiting for excellence, diversity will certainly result.

Michael C. Stikkel ’15
Founder of newstand.co

Published on November 10, 2014 at 12:01 am