Syracuse University is in a crisis. A hate crisis. Since Nov. 7th, there has been a litany of reported instances of hateful graffiti, vandalism and hate speech being directed at students. 

The hateful incidents are wide in their scope and scale. On the night of Nov. 7th, racial slurs against black and Asian people were found in Day Hall. A bathroom in the building was vandalized with a racial epithet and an anti-Asian slur was found on a bulletin board. On Nov. 14, racist graffiti targeting Asian people was found in a bathroom in the Physics Building. That same day, a swastika was found in a snowbank across from an apartment building that houses many SU students. More racist graffiti was found later that evening in Day Hall. 

On Nov. 16, the Daily Orange reported that a racial slur was shouted at a freshman, who is Chinese, outside Day Hall. Anti-Semetic graffiti was found in Haven Hall, a residence hall, later that day as well, and a student reported that another student was yelling a racial epithet about African-Americans in Sadler Hall. Also on Nov. 16, a black female student reported that a group of fraternity brothers and their friends yelled a racial epithet at her as she passed their house. The fraternity in question was Alpha Chi Rho, the only Greek organization at SU reported to be suspended in recent days. 

On Nov. 19, a SU professor reported that she received an anti-Semetic email referencing the Holocaust while she was off-campus. 

SU students have responded by holding a sit-in at the Barnes Center, with a list of demands for the university. They have been labeled the #NotAgainSU protestors. This is exactly the right thing for the students to do. Clearly, SU is having an issue within their student body with racism and hate speech. Protestors and international students have furnished the SU administration with a list of demands, focused around improving the campus climate and improving the experiences of international students at SU. Clearly, the students are dissatisfied with the university.

Many of the student demands center around forming forums of engagement, where students can engage with the administration of SU, express their expectations and their disappointments with the university, to foster an environment of improvement. That the university did not already offer these forums is surprising.

The situation in Syracuse has gained national attention, for good reason. Things have gotten very, very bad for SU students, and the university administration must address each and every issue, and quickly, if they want to keep their student body satisfied.