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The Graduate Student Organization will consider working with a program to allow Syracuse University faculty and graduate students to teach courses in prisons.

Christopher Rick, a doctoral student in public administration and internal affairs, said at Wednesday’s GSO Senate meeting that he is currently working with SU administrators to establish the program, called “College-in-Prison,” for fall 2022.

The program would allow SU faculty and graduate students to teach SU courses to incarcerated people at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, New York. The students would receive an SU degree upon completion.

“It’s Syracuse University in a different setting,” Rick said. “This is for us. It shows who we want to be as a university and a community.”

While SU does not currently have a program like College-in-Prison, other colleges and universities in New York, including Columbia University, Cornell University and the University of Rochester, offer similar programs.

“This is a tangible and significant investment in our push for diversity, equity and inclusion,” Rick said. “Prison education promotes social and racial justice.”

Keith Alford, SU’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, also joined the meeting to discuss issues of racial injustice on SU’s campus.

Alford cited recent instances of police brutality, such as the killing of George Floyd by police which sparked nationwide protests last summer, as examples of another “pandemic” that society has faced during 2020.

The creation of #NotAgainSU is evidence of the collective effort SU students have made to combat racial injustice going on in and around the campus community, Alford said.

#NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black students, led two occupations last year in response to a slew of racist incidents that occurred at or near SU. The group has criticized the university’s response to those incidents and its handling of campus protests.

Alford called on the GSO and graduate students to continue to fight against racial injustice together.

“There are a number of -isms, areas of concern that are nuanced,” Alford said. “We are still dealing with a racial injustice pandemic. It is pivotal that we continue to advocate for change and fight against it.”

Published on November 18, 2020 at 11:31 pm

Contact Dominick: dpfister@syr.edu