Syracuse University Racism Epidemic

As someone who was very excited to submit their application to Syracuse University, the racist incidents occurring on campus these past two weeks have lowered my desire to attend substantially. Over the past two weeks, beginning on November 7th, the university has been experiencing an epidemic of discriminatory acts towards minority groups, such as swastika graffiti, hate speech, the n-word being directed towards a black woman and the latest, a right-wing manifesto sent to a small group of people. The manifesto is what triggered this New York Times article to be published. Tuesday morning in the Syracuse library, a racist manifesto was sent out, warning of “the great replacement,” a right-wing conspiracy theory that predicts white genocide at the hands of minority groups” (NYT, Manifesto). However, Syracuse has had a lack of response that has shocked many. There have been examples of over ten racist incidents on campus since early November, but the only action that has taken place besides increased security on campus is the suspending of all social activities at fraternities for the rest of the semester. This happened after a group of students from the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity used a racist slur when a black woman walked by. However, the reason that any action took place was because the incident happened to be caught on video.

Many students are not happy with the university's response and have staged sit-ins inside university buildings. There was even a hashtag created #NotAgainSU, which is revisiting last years racist incident with the Theta Tau fraternity. The fraternity participated in a video which was described as “‘racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist and hostile to people with disabilities.”’ “The six minute video included a pledge “to always have hatred in my heart” for African-Americans, Hispanics, and Jews, all of whom were referred to with slurs. One student in the video told Jews to get in a shower, an allusion to Nazi gas chambers” (NYT, Fraternity). The university did little to address this problem when it occurred, hence the hashtag NotAgainSU. The students have a list of demands which include expelling those involved in hate speech but also more deep-rooted changes like diversifying faculty and changing the curriculum to include diversity training and also to educate on racism. Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, said that the response the university had was not enough. He criticized the chancellor, Kent D. Syverud, and he wanted to hire an independent monitor to investigate this crisis that is occurring.

These racist incidents have coated the campus with an air of anxiety, fear, and quietness, which is not normal for the large and rowdy university. Class is canceled, no one is out in public places anymore and students don’t want to leave their dorm room. Some are even calling their parents asking to go home. These events “triggered a panic...we can’t sleep. We can’t think” (NYT Manifesto).

Reading these articles I was saddened but not shocked. Ever since Trump got elected, I think he has set the tone that racism, sexism, homophobia and more are acceptable. If the president gets to say these things, why can’t we? I think this mentality has allowed racism to thrive ever since 2016. I’m not saying it was non-existent before, but Trump has given racists a platform to speak their minds and to exhibit racist actions without much consequence. I think that young, white males especially are given leeway when it comes to racist remarks, and that is what I believe is happening in Syracuse University and all around the US.

Sources https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/nyregion/syracuse-manifesto-racism-fraternity.html?te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_NN_p_20191120§ion=whatElse?campaign_id=9&instance_id=13975&segment_id=18936&user_id=36ae122ced4af3aa2c20f0c6bee70da2®i_id=101474281ion=whatElse https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/nyregion/racist-fraternity-syracuse-university.html?module=inline