Fraternity Activities Suspended at Syracuse University Following Latest Racist Incident, Investigation into Racist Graffiti Ongoing

Syracuse University has a new development in its latest string of racist incidents.

On Sunday morning, the university suspended all social activities at fraternities after a group of students, including members of the fraternity Alpha Chi Rho, called a Black female student a racial slur on Saturday night. The altercation was caught on video and the students involved have been identified, university chancellor Kent Syverud said in a statement Sunday. The university also suspended Alpha Chi Rho.

“While only one fraternity may have been involved in this particular incident, given recent history, all fraternities must come together with the university community to reflect upon how to prevent recurrence of such seriously troubling behavior,” Syverud said in a statement.

Important Update from Chancellor Syverud and University Leaders from Syracuse University on Vimeo.

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has also ordered the New York State Police Hate Crimes Task Force and the state Division of Human Rights to look into multiple accounts of racist graffiti and vandalism on or near Syracuse University’s campus, The Washington Post reported.

On Thursday, Syracuse University’s department of public safety released two statements regarding two counts of vandalism on campus: “derogatory” language about Asian people in a bathroom stall in the physics building and another one on the third floor of Day Hall that “maligns” Asian people.

On Thursday, a swastika was found drawn in the snow near student housing, Syracuse.com reported. The Syracuse Police Department is looking into the incident, the student newspaper The Daily Orange reported.

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“Late Thursday afternoon, a swastika was marked in the snow on Comstock Avenue,” Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said in a statement. “This is another of several such racist incidents in our City in the past week. These acts are vile and appalling, and they will not be tolerated. The Syracuse Police Department is actively investigating this most recent incident, and they are also involved in the prior cases. We will keep working to find the people responsible.”

But these three acts are not the first this month. On Nov. 6, the Daily Orange reported racist language, also directed toward Asians, written on a bulletin board at a residential building and a sixth-floor bathroom in the same buildings had a slur against Black people at Syracuse University.

The hashtag #NotAgainSU is circulating at the university, mostly by students, to protest the hateful messages, and the university is asking students not to post images of the vandalism.

On Wednesday, Syracuse University students held a sit-in at a campus gymnasium, Syracuse.com reported, and had a list of demands for the school, including keeping students better informed about racist incidents, as well as kicking out the people responsible for the graffiti and more resources for minority students.

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