UPDATED: Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019 at 9:41 p.m.

Syracuse University’s Student Association passed a resolution at Monday’s assembly meeting condemning the university for not acknowledging the racism in the Feb. 9 assault of three students on Ackerman Avenue.

The resolution criticized SU for not publicly referring to the attack as racially-motivated. One white man and a white woman attacked three students of color at a house party on Feb. 9. Victims and witnesses of the attack said at a Feb. 18 forum hosted by SA and the Student African-American Society that a racial slur was yelled during the attack.

Academic Affairs Committee Chair Ryan Golden introduced the resolution at the Feb. 11 assembly meeting. The resolution states that it is a “common occurrence for racial criminal activity to go unnoticed or unacknowledged by the University and the Department of Public Safety.”

At the Feb. 18 forum, students asked why SU and DPS had not referred to the assault as a hate crime. DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado said he cannot comment on the assault because the Syracuse Police Department is investigating the assault.

SPD said that the assault was not racially motivated. Students at the forum said SU should call the assault a hate crime, even if SPD won’t.

“I can only respect the words of the Syracuse Police Department,” Maldonado said at the forum. “The Department of Public Safety cannot comment about specifically whether this was a hate crime or not because it is not our investigation.”

Public Relations Co-chair Torre Payton-Jackson proposed a bill at Monday’s assembly meeting calling for a review of DPS. Students at the Feb. 18 forum called on DPS to conduct a review of its training and policies. Maldonado said he would not oppose a review at the forum last week.

A representative asked if SPD’s role in the incident could be mentioned in the resolution. Payton-Jackson said the bill is still in the process of being edited. Students at the forum criticized SPD for its handling of the investigation.

“The police system in the United States is already so geared towards white people and not working for people of color, and there’s a lot of bias,” Payton-Jackson said. “That’s such a bigger problem.”

The bill requests that SU conduct a review similar to the review of Greek life that was conducted last semester. The review would evaluate DPS and gather statistics about student experiences with the department.

Other business

SA representatives recently took a trip to North Carolina to discuss food insecurity on campus with leaders from other Atlantic Coast Conference schools.

Representative Kailee Vick, a staff writer for The Daily Orange, defined food insecurity as limited availability of or access to food.

Vick said SU doesn’t have as many resources to combat food insecurity compared to other schools in the ACC. The representatives who attended the conference said SA is trying to approach this issue with solutions in the future. But for now, promoting existing resources to students and approach the issue is important.

“One thing that we didn’t know or that we didn’t really touch on was the fact that food insecurity can happen to anyone, anywhere,” Representative Jenniviv Bansah said.

Bansah said the representatives who went to the ACC conference suggesting a system of donating guest meal swipes. The idea for this initiative is to create a portal on an SU website where students can anonymously request donated meal swipes, she said.

Representatives also worked with the organization Rise Against Hunger in North Carolina where they, along with delegates from other schools, packaged 25,000 meals for those in need. SA is now working to find a similar organization in Syracuse to partner with.

The representatives also said food insecurity is an issue that all SA committees can have a part in changing.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Kailee Vick was misquoted. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

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Published on February 26, 2019 at 12:02 am

Contact Hannah: hagraf@syr.edu