While yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of The Diversity and Transparency Rally and the first day of the 18-day sit-in, THE General Body began from a coalition of student groups that were already protesting multiple crucial concerns on campus. DAT Rally was the fifth rally in the fall 2014 semester, and others followed. Activism is often memorialized and deemed a part of “history” as opposed to the continuous struggle that it is. Therefore, we do not aspire to be memorialized.

TGB is not an institution. The group arose organically among hundreds of students when it became clear that the new administration and Fast Forward Initiative was making drastic changes affecting diversity, resources, and transparency between administration and SU students, faculty, alumni, staff, and the broader Syracuse community. We believe that a similar coalition could just as easily arise again, either using TGB-type model or an entirely different one. When faced with injustice, we encourage everyone to find others and rise in solidarity with them.

What’s the situation at SU now? The Syverud administration has a directive from the Board of Trustees to enact policies of austerity, all along with skyrocketing tuition costs, so they continue to proceed accordingly. Since TGB began pointing to the issues, we have seen the administration continue in the same manner as regards numerous concerns on campus.

TGB wasn’t perfect. Working via consensus and collaboration, intending to do away with hierarchy, and in high-stress situations, is wonderful yet challenging, and we made mistakes — people were unintentionally pushed out, less visible and/or less represented, or could not find their home in the midst of coalition work. The university administration also worked to undermine solidarity, attempting to ‘befriend’ or isolate certain members, and by addressing certain issues, while ignoring others just as crucial.

While TGB has been less publicized, we continue to work from within our own circles and connections. The work hasn’t simply ended because we are no longer in direct communication with the campus at-large.

Due to space constraints, this update is abbreviated. We encourage you to connect: www.thegeneralbody.org, check out our timeline; twitter @THEgeneralbody; Facebook: THE General Body. We invite you to look into each of the original Grievances and Needs and analyze the current status of them. And please, keep sending your grievances related to SU to thegeneralbody@gmail.org. We’re keeping track!

Keep fighting, keep healing!

THE General Body and allies:

Kimberly E. Powell, Becca Shaw Glaser G ‘15, Mali Golomb-­Leavitt, Tati Cadet, Ben Kuebrich, Koy Adams, Danielle Reed­ – The Black Voice, Black Artists League, ‘16, Yanira Rodriguez – 2nd year PhD student in composition and cultural rhetoric, Vani Kannan­ – 2nd year doctoral student composition and cultural rhetoric, Hasmik Djoulakian – junior, women’s and gender studies and citizenship and civic engagement, Dan Heifetz, Alé Aviña, Angelina Vargas – junior, selected studies in education major, psychology minor, Patrick Dundon – MFA student, Alexis Rinck – junior, political science and sociology major, spanish and women and gender studies minor, Montiniquë DeNice McEachern – doctoral student, marriage and family therapy

Published on November 4, 2015 at 12:25 am