Syracuse Announces New Efforts on Race Relations

Syracuse University announced on Friday new actions to address campus race relations and equity. The university made national news in November for the “two weeks of hate” the campus experienced, when 16 separate racist or anti-Semitic incidents were reported, spurring student protests. The hate crimes and other incidents, which students and faculty said occurred regularly at the university and stretch back decades, also attracted the attention of New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo.

A release by Syracuse details 15 new efforts the administration is currently taking or has planned. These include addressing space issues for “multicultural” students and student groups, launching a diversity hires initiative, and forming a special committee within the Board of Trustees on university climate, diversity and inclusion. The university also announced allocating $5.6 million for diversity and inclusion initiatives, including the addition of 16 new staff members to work on the programming.

The administration also announced that it has installed more security cameras in Day Hall, a residence hall where racist graffiti was found in November. Additional security cameras will be added in that hall and others.

Administrators have been working with Native American students, the release said, to form a committee that would eventually determine the best way to permanently recognize that the campus is located on ancestral Onondaga land. The administration has also planned a security assessment of Hillel, the Jewish student group.