Updated: Nov. 7, 8:26 p.m.

Despite earlier pressure from the administration to end the sit-in in Crouse-Hinds Hall by Friday, 40 protesters will stay inside the locked building this weekend.

The doors of Crouse-Hinds Hall locked at 5 p.m. on Friday, when it normally closes, and will reopen on Monday morning. Only 40 protesters from THE General Body may stay in the building and cannot re-enter once they leave. The lights and heat in the building will remain on throughout the weekend, said John Sardino, associate chief of the Department of Public Safety. DPS officers will be watching each entrance of Crouse-Hinds throughout the weekend, Sardino said.

Gabe Nugent, associate general counsel for SU, told THE General Body at 3:30 p.m. on Friday that the building would close at 5 p.m. and the same rules for the building overnight would apply for the weekend. There will be two drop off times for food on Saturday and Sunday. The two drop off times each day will be at 10 am and 4 pm, Nugent said. Each drop off time will last between 30 to 45 minutes long.

The 12 protesters on the negotiation team had until 6:30 p.m. to gain access to Crouse-Hinds on Friday. But even with the extended time, some of the key negotiation team members will not be able to make it in time to stay in the building over the weekend.

When members of THE General Body asked Nugent when they could speak with administrators for negotiation meetings, Nugent said the meetings would be determined later.

“We’re going to take it day by day,” he said.

Bea Gonzalez, dean of University College and the liaison between the THE General Body and Chancellor Kent Syverud, said the student coalition has her cell phone number and can contact her at any time. Gonzalez added that she will be in Crouse-Hinds on Saturday to communicate with THE General Body and its negotiation team.

Forty members of THE General Body have slept in the lobby of Crouse-Hinds since the Diversity and Transparency Rally on Monday. On Wednesday night, Syverud and Gonzalez met with the protesters for about an hour and 15 minutes.

Gonzalez met with students from THE General Body until 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, according to an SU press release. Students gave Gonzalez an updated version of their demands and solutions document, which is now 45 pages long, according to the press release.

In the release, Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs, said the university supports the students speaking out on issues important to them and that SU has negotiated “in good faith.”

“We have responded to each one of the students’ requests for feedback, dialogue and cooperation,” Quinn said in the release. “At the same time, it is counterproductive that the demands continue to change and shift. We are absolutely committed to a continued dialogue and hope the group can focus and stabilize its demands.”

In an email sent to the campus community late Friday night, Gonzalez said members of the chancellor’s executive team had reviewed the protesters’ new document and provided a second set of responses on Friday afternoon.

The student sit-in was timed to coincide with the Board of Trustees meeting, which took place Thursday and Friday. At the meeting, board members were scheduled to approve a new mission and vision statement for the university. In its list of grievances and demands, THE General Body took issue with the new statements and asked the administration to delay the vote to allow more feedback from the campus community.

On Wednesday, Syverud told THE General Body he would ask the board to delay the vote but couldn’t promise an extension. On Thursday, the board said it would delay the vote if the protesters left Crouse-Hinds, an offer the students turned down. The current status of the vote is unclear. Quinn did not respond to an email and a phone call asking about the vote.

Mike Kelly, a senior political science major, is one of the protesters who has been sleeping in Crouse-Hinds since the sit-in began. Kelly said THE General Body is currently preparing its responses to the administrations’ comment on their demands and solutions document from Thursday.

Kelly added that he did not bring any other additional supplies for sleeping over in the building this weekend because of the short, two-hour notice.

“I’m ready to stay. We all care enough, we’ve all been here for four, five days. It’s been day five for [me],” he said as he high fived fellow protesters around him.

Published on November 7, 2014 at 7:01 pm

Contact Anna: almerod@syr.edu