UPDATED: Nov. 17, 11:26 p.m.

More than 150 members of the SU community, including faculty and staff gathered near the Remembrance Wall on Monday to take part in the latest rally held by THE General Body.

THE General Body, a coalition of student organizations, has been staging a sit-in in the lobby of Crouse-Hinds Hall since Nov. 3 following the Diversity and Transparency Rally. Last Wednesday, Chancellor Kent Syverud sent an email to the SU community, which included an apology for the communication surrounding the closing of the Advocacy Center, as well as a 53-page response to THE General Body’s list of grievances and demands.

“We are exhausted, but that’s not to say we’re not galvanized to keep up this fight,” said Yanira Rodriguez, one of the protesters. “None of us take pleasure sitting in an administration building, again, for 14 days, 331 hours, but we will not leave that building until we get concrete actions that address the issues that we’re all concerned about.”

The rally, which lasted about 40 minutes, was held at the Remembrance Wall and focused on the lack of negotiations between the SU administration and protesters, SU not allowing legal counsel to enter Crouse-Hinds over the weekend and SU faculty members supporting the protesters.

“This university is at a crossroads and we owe a deep debt of thank you to THE General Body for pointing to exactly where that crossroads is,” said Don Mitchell, a geography professor at SU. “They sit-in and I stand with them precisely because they are pointing to the exact pressure points in this university where we can make change, change that we need to make.”

Mitchell was one of about 50 SU faculty members in attendance.

Paula Johnson, a professor in the College of Law, said THE General Body should have been allowed to meet with legal counsel over the weekend. On Friday, university officials delivered copies of the student code of conduct to protesters staying in Crouse-Hinds over the weekend. When Janis McDonald, a tenured professor in the College of Law, tried to enter the building on Saturday morning to discuss the code of conduct with students, she was turned away by Department of Public Safety officers.

Crouse-Hinds closed at 5 p.m. on Friday. Students were allowed to stay in the building over the weekend and could leave at any time but were not allowed to re-enter until Monday morning.

“As a lawyer, as a law professor, as a member of this community, that action offends me on so many levels,” Johnson said of the students not being able to meet with legal counsel.

“If it were a medical emergency, they (lawyers who went to Crouse-Hinds over the weekend) would have gotten in. This was a legal emergency and they should have gotten in,” she said as the crowd cheered.

During her speech, Johnson encouraged attendees, especially faculty members, to support THE General Body and get involved.

Said Johnson: “We stand with the students. We demand that there be no reprisals against these students. My faculty colleagues: use your voice, use your action, use all of the means at your disposal to say what the future of this university will be.”

Published on November 17, 2014 at 1:37 pm

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306