Dozens of students plan to walk to the chancellor’s office on Tuesday. They won’t march. They won’t shout or protest. They just want to talk.

Students in professor Biko Gray’s “Black Lives Matter and Religion” class hope to present Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud with their semester-long project on student demographics and the Department of Public Safety’s current policies and services. The class wants SU to create a Student of Color Advisory Board that would be independent from DPS and be able to review complaints made against officers, several students said.

Gray, a professor of religion, gave his “Black Lives Matter and Religion” class a choice: create an abstract campaign or a real one. The class decided to build a campaign around DPS’ policing after the Feb. 9 assault of three students of color on Ackerman Avenue.

Students at the house party where the assault occurred said four unknown white people approached the porch of the house. A man yelled a racial slur at a black student after which a fight broke. The Syracuse Police Department arrested a 15-year-old girl on Apr. 11 in connection with the assault. The girl struck students with a pellet gun, SPD said.

Students circulated statements on social media in February that criticized DPS and SPD’s handling of the assault. SPD has repeatedly said the attack was not racially-motivated. One of those statements was branded with #jSUtice — pronounced “justice.” An Instagram account soon followed, with anonymous testimonies about on-campus safety and a survey gauging students’ opinion on DPS.

All of this work came from Gray’s students. They set up meetings with DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado and interim Chief Diversity Officer Keith Alford to discuss how students of color feel on campus. During their meeting, Maldonado told them an external review of DPS isn’t necessary because the department doesn’t receive complaints, several students said.

Professor Biko Gray critiqued students’ work in class on Thursday. The end of this semester marks his second year teaching at SU. Molly Gibbs | Photo Editor

At the Feb. 18 forum organized in response to students’ concerns, Maldonado said he wouldn’t oppose a review of DPS.

Sarah Scalese, senior associate vice president for university communications, said in a statement to The Daily Orange that Maldonado told students DPS is awaiting a final report on re-accreditation from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. DPS is also in the process of receiving accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies — the “gold standard for public safety,” he said.

Alford is currently working to create a Student of Color Advisory Committee that would advise DPS on issues relating to student safety. He told Gray’s class that the committee will likely be a part of DPS with Maldonado as its co-chair, said Madeline Gould, a senior triple major in earth science, geography and environment, sustainability and policy.

Gould said the class believes more students would issue complaints if an advisory board was independent from DPS. The class’ report calls on SU to create a conduct board similar to that of University of California, Berkeley. The Berkeley Campus Police Review Board oversees complaints against campus police and monitors and reviews departmental policies.

SU will announce the membership of the Student of Color Advisory Committee this week, Maldonado said. The committee will collaborate with DPS to identify concerns and work to resolve them, he said.

Camryn Simon, a sophomore advertising major, said the class’ proposed advisory board would be more expansive than the Student of Color Advisory Committee. For example, she said the board would be able to review incidents like the usage of the N-word in classes at SU’s Madrid program.

“If there’s any injustice on campus, (it) would be a safe place for people to file their complaints and act accordingly,” Simon said.

Gray’s “Black Lives Matter and Religion” class teaches students to evaluate white supremacy and resistance from a religious studies perspective, he said. Throughout the project, Gray has provided the framework for students to build their campaign, but he never tells them what they can or can’t do.

Sophomore Camryn Simon said the class’ proposed Student of Color Advisory Board would be a safe place for students to issue complaints about not only DPS but also other campus institutions and policies. Molly Gibbs | Photo Editor

The class is divided into four teams: social media, networking, research and strategy. In class on Thursday, students presented final drafts for their parts of the project.

Austin Cieszko, a senior television, radio and film major, produced a documentary to expose what the class sees as injustices happening on campus. Simon and Student Association President Ghufran Salih are among the students featured in the video.

“There is a cycle of injustice at Syracuse University and nothing’s being changed, nothing’s being fixed and nothing’s being implemented,” Simon said in an interview. “It’s really annoying and confusing and destructive.”

In a draft of the video, Salih said she often feels unsafe on campus and has considered taking off her hijab. Like many people of color and women, Salih said she often internalizes her fear and tells herself that this is just how things are.

“Something needs to change because there’s just been so much this year,” she said. “There’s such a burden on students who walk around this campus and act like everything is okay when it’s not.”

Salih and SA Vice President Kyle Rosenblum have stressed the need for a review of DPS in meetings with Maldonado and DPS Patrol Commander Kathy Pabis, Salih said.

The Student of Color Advisory Board proposed by Gray’s class would result in more student-driven decisions, Salih said. Students should be able to provide input while decisions are being made instead of providing feedback afterward, she said.

Salih plans to present Syverud with jSUtice’s recommendations on Wednesday. Salih and Rosenblum will be introducing the chancellor to incoming SA President Mackenzie Mertikas and Vice President Sameeha Saied at the meeting.

Both Mertikas and Saied said in an April interview with The D.O.’s Editorial Board that a review of DPS is necessary. The review should be conducted by external consultants, like SU’s Greek life audit, and any data or information from the review should be made public to students, Mertikas said.

Nia Scarboro, a senior food studies major, is part of the research group in Gray’s class. She compiled information on SU’s student demographics and DPS policies, then compared the data to other universities. The research group found that the percent of black students on campus dropped from 8.1% in 2015 to 6.5% in 2018, according to SU’s census data.

“Syracuse prides itself on being a diverse campus when it’s not in actuality,” Scarboro said. “The campus is almost 60% white, and it’s kind of alarming.”

One concern raised by the class’ project is that students believe DPS shuts down parties hosted by students of color at a disproportionately higher rate than parties hosted by white students. This has been a long-standing concern among students of color at SU.

Senior Nia Scarboro: “The campus is almost 60% white, and it’s kind of alarming.” Molly Gibbs | Photo Editor

Mikayla Bonsenor, a senior marketing major, said she is often at the parties hosted by students of color that get shut down. Many of the parties are held on South Campus, she said.

“But then you walk around Main Campus and see the white people partying,” she said. “Even in the middle of the day, they never get shut down. Nothing happens.”

SU has fraternity rows on Comstock and Waverly avenues. Both streets are within DPS’ jurisdiction, according to a map released by SU. South Campus and the privately-owned University Village Apartments on Colvin Street are also within DPS’ jurisdiction.

Briana Kilkenny, a freshman psychology major, said the work being done in Gray’s class is important to her as a black student at SU.

“We’re worried about our safety. We’re worried about whether or not people are looking at us differently, whether or not people are judging us,” she said. “How can I feel safe on a campus where I’ve seen with my own eyes how DPS has treated students of color?”

Gray asked students in class on Thursday if they were comfortable with being publicly attached to the project. In response, they asked if he was afraid of retaliation. University administrators are already well aware of him, he said.

Gray has spoken up for students before. At the Feb. 18 forum after the Ackerman assault, he urged Maldonado to improve DPS’ implicit bias training. A little over a year ago, Gray offered his support to student protesters at a forum held after the suspension of the Theta Tau fraternity.

“Chancellor Syverud knows I’m the random black dude, the big ass black dude with the locks, at every town hall that’s like ‘the students ain’t lyin,’” Gray said.

His first exposure to activism was organizing after the death of Sandra Bland, a black woman who was found dead in her jail cell three days after being arrested during a traffic stop. At the time, Gray was working toward a doctoral degree in religion at Rice University in Texas.

“This is the second time in my two short years here that we’ve had discriminatory violence occur on or near campus,” Gray said. “The administration has been very clear that it rather wait it out and produce what I think are quite cheap and easy and facile ways of responding to these problems.”

He hopes Syverud and other administrators seriously consider the recommendations from his students. The chancellor serves SU’s students and should be accessible to them, he said.

Gray, who has a tenure-track position, said retaliation from the university is a concern for him, but his integrity is more important. He said that if fighting for what he thinks is important jeopardizes his job, then he will have to face those consequences.

Students in Gray’s class said they do not have high expectations of Syverud’s response to their recommendations.

“I literally predict Syverud saying ‘We see you. We hear you. We just can’t take action at this moment,’” Scarboro said.

Bonsenor expects the university to wait until the campus dies down or goes on summer break so students give up on their demands, she said. Simon said that even if the advisory board isn’t created, it’s important for administrators to know that students are trying to fix issues surrounding discrimination.

In class on Thursday, Gray was blunt about his expectations: “I told y’all before. I’ll tell y’all again, I make no f*cking promises. None.”

Published on April 28, 2019 at 8:26 pm

Contact Casey: casey@dailyorange.com | @caseydarnell_