Syracuse University plans to change the format of this spring’s SU Showcase after announcing Friday that classes will be held on the annual event. In addition to reinstating classes, the event will include a sustainability theme, and the day’s activities will be focused on the Quad.

Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina sent an e-mail to the university community Friday announcing that SU Showcase will be held on Monday, April 19, and will be a regular instructional day.

‘There were an awful lot of things going on that weren’t focused on the central academic message highlighting academic achievement,’ Spina said.

SU Showcase, a day of on-campus student presentations and performances, used to be titled MayFest. When student focus shifted from the on-campus activities to the Euclid Avenue block parties, the university changed the name of the event last spring.

Friday’s announcement that classes will be held on SU Showcase has sparked a response from SU’s Student Association and students outraged by the decision. SA is pushing the university to give students a day off the same week as SU Showcase.

Though students are upset with the loss of a day off, Stephen Parks, an associate professor in the Writing Program who is in charge of coordinating and implementing plans for this year’s SU Showcase, said they have no reason to be concerned.

‘When I think of the leadership on this campus, I can’t believe they won’t come up with a plan that really satisfies students,’ Parks said. ‘I don’t mean that naively. I think the administration will be able to listen to students and come up with some type of alternative that will meet everyone’s needs.’

Parks said the separation of MayFest and SU Showcase has the potential to make SU Showcase a bigger and better-attended event, even with classes in session.

MayFest and SU Showcase have inherently clashing purposes, Parks said. As more and more students were drawn to the parties on Euclid Avenue, the on-campus event became almost ignored, he said.

‘When you had the dual identity you would have literally over 100 or more student presentations, but most of them had no audience because people were pulled to the bands and parties and stuff,’ Parks said. ‘The idea this year is sort of to separate those two events and to make Showcase the academic showcase of student work, and I guess SA is working on getting a second event.’

This year SU Showcase will have a theme focusing on sustainability to add consistency to presentations, Parks said.

‘This generation has really taken on sustainability and environmentalism in a unique way and in a way that’s changing political debate, changing how we think of college campuses,’ he said. ‘It’s given a real historical significance to this generation.’

The event also falls on the 40th anniversary of Earth Week and comes after SU announced its commitment to become carbon neutral by 2040, as outlined in the university’s Climate Action Plan.

If having a theme takes hold this year, Parks said next year’s SU Showcase will take on a different theme.

Parks also said he wants to centralize presentations in one place to make them more accessible to students and classes. Right now the plan is for everything to take place on the Quad, instead of in many buildings around campus as it has in the past. Parks will work with faculty and classes to collaborate on different projects and get students involved.

Parks said he wants to encourage classes to collaborate across disciplines in their discussions of sustainability. He proposed having two or more classes meet at the same time to do this.

‘So maybe a biology and a political science class will talk about sustainability in both areas and how research differs,’ Parks said.

Parks said the day’s presentations will span different colleges and research areas.

‘If you’re in dance, research is your performance. When I say presenting research I don’t just mean the classic person reading a paper to 35 quiet people,’ he said.

With six months until SU Showcase, Parks said he’s open to student feedback and help with planning. He’s already met with members of SA and said he hopes to reach out to student groups on campus and at the neighboring State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

He also said he’s committed to ensuring that students who want to attend SU Showcase will be able to despite classes.

‘No student will be denied. If that’s their fear, I will figure it out,’ Parks said.

jmterrus@syr.edu

Published on October 25, 2009 at 12:00 pm