Representatives of THE General Body met with senior administrators for three and one-half hours on Sunday night to further discuss their 45-page list of grievances.

Student protesters from THE General Body, a coalition of more than 50 student organizations at Syracuse University, have camped out in Crouse-Hinds Hall since Nov. 3, when they presented a document of demands and grievances to SU administrators following the Diversity and Transparency Rally. The sit-in has lasted for seven days now.

Since Wednesday, the SU administration has released two responses to THE General Body’s list of grievances, students have protested outside the Sheraton Hotel, a solidarity protest was held prior to the SU football game on Saturday and University College Dean Bea González, the liaison between the protesters and Chancellor Kent Syverud, along with other SU administrators have continued to meet with the group.

On Sunday, representatives of the coalition met with González, Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina and Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz, senior vice president and dean of student affairs.

“The meetings have gone pretty well. The administrators have been pretty open and sort of receptive to what we have to say,” said Colton Jones, one of the protesters. “A few things are pretty complex and we acknowledge that, but for the most part they’ve been very receptive to the things we’re saying and they really care about what we’re doing.”

In an email sent to the SU community Sunday night, the university listed nine actions it’s prepared to take to address THE General Body’s concerns.

“The students provided some helpful feedback on our proposals,” said Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs in the email. “We hope very soon we can move to a new phase in this process, one that is sustainable and can produce positive change over the long term.”

A meeting between the protesters, González, Spina and Kantrowitz has been scheduled for Monday afternoon. Jones said he hopes Syverud is part of the meeting.

Syverud’s only meeting with members of THE General Body was on Wednesday night in the lobby of Crouse-Hinds Hall when he, along with Gonzalez, talked about certain parts of the group’s list of grievances.

One of the bigger issues discussed during the Wednesday night meeting was the postponement of the vote on SU’s new mission and vision statement by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees met on Thursday and Friday and approved the draft form of the mission and vision statements.

On Thursday night, the SU administration released its response to some of the demands made by THE General Body. In its response, the administration addressed issues that were discussed during Wednesday’s meeting, including the closing of the Advocacy Center and more transparency in the decision-making process.

In the same response, González also offered the several items to THE General Body if the group agreed to leave Crouse-Hinds Hall by Friday. The items included the Board of Trustees delaying a decision on the university’s mission and vision statement, a meeting with the board, a non-retaliation/student judicial violations commitment, a meeting with Spina and Kantrowitz and a promise to begin the search for an Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator.

THE General Body put out an official release Friday that said the administration’s response on Thursday was not adequate. The release said that neither the email sent from González nor the response “address the full scope of the concerns of THE General Body, and fail to adequately respond to urgent student needs.” Protesters remained in the building over the weekend.

On Friday morning, protesters stood outside the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel and Conference Center, where the Board of Trustees was scheduled to meet.

Doors to Crouse-Hinds Hall locked at 5 p.m. on Friday, when it normally closes, and 40 protesters remained inside. Food was dropped off twice a day over the weekend at designated drop off times.

Late Friday night, the administration released a second response to THE General Body’s list of demands. In the response, SU said it was disappointing that progress had not been made in the negotiations despite “real dialogue” and the administration’s “movement on a number of issues.”

The second response was broken up into nine sections and addressed concerns over the mission and vision statement, changes to the POSSE programs and problems with workgroups and committees, among others.

On Saturday, prior to the SU football game against Duke University, protesters from THE General Body chanted outside of Crouse-Hinds Hall in solidarity with protesters in the sit-in.

A change.org petition titled “We Stand with THE General Body” was also created and has received 670 supporters as of 9:30 p.m. Sunday out of a 5,000-person goal. Crouse-Hinds Hall is scheduled to open at 7 a.m. Monday morning.

“Hopefully we can have the meeting tomorrow and go through the document and go from there,” Jones said. “I think morale is up. You know we’re all pretty tired and we hope this will end soon, but we don’t want to leave this place unless we all come to a compromise.”

Published on November 10, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306