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About 20 students gathered in Sims Hall at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday to participate in a sit-in and demand more action from Syracuse University administration to address sexual misconduct on campus.

Leaders of Stand With Survivors SU, a student-led organization that aims to fight sexual misconduct and rape culture on campus, read their list of 18 demands and manifesto with Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado and several SU officials who were in attendance. 

After sharing their demands at the sit-in, members of SWSSU discussed moving forward with their demands with Maldonado and Rob Hradsky, the vice president for the student experience.

“We’re receiving support from the university,” said Nancy Linehan, co-president of SWSSU. “And we’re hoping that this is a relationship that we can sustain and make this a collaborative kind of thing where we can implement these changes on campus.”

Carla Guariglia, another co-president of SWSSU, was also in attendance and spoke at the sit-in.

Members also spoke with Jorge Castillo, J. Cole Smith and Cerri Banks, members of SU’s Student Activism Engagement Team, about holding future discussions on bringing their concerns to administrators. 

Administrators at SU previously appointed SAET to give students a space to express their concerns and provide them with resources for campus activism.

In a conversation with participants of the sit-in, Banks said that SU is limited in what policies they are able to alter based on SWSSU’s demands. But she said that she and other officials are willing to collaborate with students to figure out solutions. 

Max Mimaroglu | Contributing Photographer

“The thing about Title IX is that we have these policies and practices in place. And the government stepped in and created regulations that go against what we do,” Banks said. “It’s really problematic.”

SWSSU leaders briefly talked with Maldonado about issues surrounding the sexual misconduct reporting process. The organization has demanded any DPS personnel who fail to file instances or reports of sexual misconduct or drugging with the Title IX office be removed immediately. 

“I always encourage people to follow the process,” Maldonado said about reporting incidents of sexual misconduct.

Both Linehan and Guariglia said that, following their conversations with university officials, SWSSU would likely implement some changes to their manifesto. But Linehan said that many of the issues at the university could be helped with better explanations from SU.

“If they explained more than just saying ‘We can’t do that because of the federal law,’ if they said ‘Well, federal law states XYZ and that’s why we can’t do ABC,’ if they actually went in-depth into why federal law prevents them from doing that, I think it would appease a lot of survivors,” she said.

Guariglia said that SWSSU is in the process of creating a “sister” movement that will focus on the abolition of Greek life at SU. 

She also said she still wants to see either action taken on the group’s demands or communication from the university’s administrators, namely Chancellor Kent Syverud.

Guariglia contacted The Daily Orange at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night and she said that the organization has left Sims Hall. Their demands for communication or action were not met, she said, and although SWSSU was proud of their day as a whole, they were disappointed Syverud did not attend.

Published on November 2, 2021 at 9:38 pm

Contact Richard: rjchang@syr.edu | @RichardJChang1