Greek life reviewers who visited the Syracuse University campus last month plan to submit a draft report by Oct. 17, Chancellor Kent Syverud said at a Wednesday meeting of the University Senate.  

Syverud said at the meeting that the external Greek life consultants are “impressive people,” and SU will take their report seriously. He also said USen and students will receive further reports throughout the process, but he did not give specific details on the extent of what those reports will be or when they will be distributed. 

The Greek life audit, which is split into four phases, began after the Theta Tau controversy last spring. The Theta Tau fraternity was expelled in April for videos the chancellor called, “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities.” 

All full-time undergraduate students were eligible to take a Greek life survey that was sent out before and during the beginning of the school year. About 42 percent of students eligible to participate responded to the survey. 

“(The consultants) met with lots of groups of people, including students not affiliated with Greek life, the Syracuse Police Department, DPS, faculty, staff advisers, the Greek council presidents, Greek-affiliation alumni (and) various people in the division of enrollment and the student experience,” Syverud said.  

The chancellor also said that in six years, the Institute for Veterans and Military Families’ programs have impacted 100,000 individuals, and enrollment of student veterans continues to grow each year. There will be a ceremony on Oct. 17 celebrating this milestone, he said.  

Senators on Wednesday raised concerns about the future of the campus-wide first-year experience, as well. A USen subcommittee has developed a permanent, mandatory three-credit course through the College of Arts and Sciences. It would teach students about diversity and inclusion and replace the current first-year experience SEM100 course.  

Many senators said they have concerns about the potential course, including its cost, who will teach the course, that students may reject the curriculum and that it could impact other courses the students would take. 

In SEM100, a non-graded course launched this year, all first-year students are required to participate in a shared reading experience. SU distributed more than 6,000 copies of comedian and political commentator Trevor Noah’s memoir “Born a Crime,” and 400 facilitators were trained to lead discussions. The five-week course began Sept. 24. 

Amanda Nicholson, SU’s assistant provost and dean for student success, said that a first-year experience course educating about diversity and inclusion is a standard now among other universities, peer institutions and New York state universities. 

“We’re not really ahead on this. We’re behind on this,” Nicholson said.

Published on October 10, 2018 at 9:53 pm

Contact Catherine: ccleffer@syr.edu | @ccleffert