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dailyorange.com
DAMAGE DONE
day hall graffiti
Students repeat concerns at forum By India Miraglia asst. news editor
Editor’s note: This article contains details about the usage of racial slurs.
More than 150 students attended a forum hosted by Residence Hall Association on Tuesday night. Students criticized SU’s response to racist graffiti found in Day Hall. elizabeth billman asst. photo editor
By KJ Edelman sports editor
Editor’s note: This story contains details about the usage of racial slurs
I
t was 7:15 a.m., and Addie Christopher was on schedule. She left her sixth floor Day Hall room, turned a corner and reached the bathrooms. One door creaked open and she took a peek inside. Lights were torn off the ceiling and thrown onto the ground. Christopher saw a janitor nearby. It
Students say SU response to racist graffiti represents pattern of inaction
was early in the morning, and she figured the janitor must’ve known about the destruction. She didn’t think anything of it, moving to a different bathroom to start her morning routine. What she returned to later that afternoon was a mix of confusion, anger and hate. That bathroom, the one she’d glanced in, was the sight of a hate crime. Light fixtures were torn down. The N-word was written on the walls, around the bathroom and on the back of a lightbulb tucked in the toilet.
see graffiti page 4
We are not trying to make SU fall to the ground and end SU. We chose this university so we want to see it be better. Kenyona Chaney president of juvenile urban multicultural program
N • Taking action
Gov. Andrew Cuomo discussed racial slurs in Day Hall at a Tuesday press conference in Syracuse. The governor has launched an investigation into the incident. Page 3
P • Fashion forward
Indigenous Students at Syracuse will host a fashion show centered around native clothing. This is the first time the heritage event has happened since 2006. Page 9
More than 150 people gathered in the Gifford Auditorium, listening as those around them shared concerns with how Syracuse University handled racist graffiti found on two floors of a university residence hall. Aicha Sacko, a freshman, stood with a microphone in her hand. She asked how many people in the room feel unsafe. A majority of the people the Huntington Beard Crouse Hall room raised their hand. One hand is a lot, an audience member yelled. Tuesday’s forum was organized by SU’s Residence Hall Association. It was the second forum in two days held in response to racial slurs in Day Hall. Multiple university officials attended the event, including Rob Hradsky, vice president for the student experience, Keith Alford, chief diversity and inclusion officer, Marianne Thomson, dean of students, and Bobby Maldonado, chief of the Department of Public Safety. “I’m just telling you how I feel,” Sacko said. “I didn’t come here to ask you questions. I don’t need to ask you questions. You guys need to be asking us questions.” Ceiling lights in bathrooms on Day Hall’s sixth floor were pulled out and put in a toilet on Wednesday night. The N-word was written on part of the light, at least one mirror on the floor and garbage cans. A slur against Asian people was also written on a bulletin board on the fourth floor. At the first forum on Monday night students expressed their concerns about DPS’ response to the incident and how SU values students of marginalized communities. Students at Tuesday’s forum spoke about many of the same issues. Students said they felt unsafe on campus. The university was not listening to them. Events like the racist graffiti in Day Hall happen again and again but aren’t addressed. SU failed to properly communicate to the student body, they said. “I want to know how I’m supposed to feel safe on my floor?” said Nia Brooks, a freshman on the sixth floor of Day. DPS has been investigating the Day Hall graffiti since 9:54 a.m. on Thursday when the department was alerted of the incident, Maldonado said at the forum. The department is working with the Syracuse Police Department and Onondaga County district attorney on the investigation.
see forum page 4
IN THE
PAINT SEE PAGE 11