he path to Goldstein Auditorium, about a 50-foot walk from one side of the lobby to the other, had a roadblock — block-letter posters and discerning faces of Syracuse students. The smiles of Syracuse officials coincided with students’ chants that voiced frustration for the lack of representation on campus. Accepted students — then-seniors in high school — expected a classic college tour. Instead, they were met with protest.

It took a lot for Madii Goldberg, one of the hundreds of protestors, to stay calm when student after student and parent after parent blew by her. Accepted students were told to keep walking. The 17- and 18-year-olds who wouldn’t look up.

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n late April 2018, Syracuse University students protested outside Chancellor Kent Syverud’s house. They spoke at town halls. They occupied Schine Student Center. They marched to the Carrier Dome. They rallied against behaviors depicted in the Theta Tau videos that rocked SU’s campus one year ago.

Those students now have varying opinions on the roles of the university and student body in facilitating progress on campus, on the next steps the SU community should take and to what extent change has happened on campus.

And whether or not they were actually heard.

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niversities across the country have conducted reviews of Greek life in recent years, revealing behavioral incidents, violations of student conduct codes and issues of diversity among members and Greek chapters.

In January, Syracuse University released the results of an external review following a months-long investigation into the university’s Greek life system after Theta Tau’s expulsion last year. Videos released by The Daily Orange showed students in the engineering fraternity’s house engaging in behavior Chancellor Kent Syverud has called “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities.”

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aren Davis’ office sits in the corner of Link Hall, with a large window facing the College Place bus stop. Day and night, students wave at her as they pass by. Some throw pebbles at the window to get her attention.

In April 2018, students in the college demanded change after the expulsion of Theta Tau, the professional engineering fraternity chapter at Syracuse University. Then-College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean Teresa Dahlberg appointed Davis as interim assistant dean to lead a new office that would examine the college’s diversity and culture: the Office of Inclusive Excellence. Davis has worked at SU since 2004.

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ast fall, roughly two dozen students gathered in front of Hendricks Chapel to protest Syracuse University’s handling of the Theta Tau videos controversy, almost five months after the fraternity was expelled. They held signs reading “all power to the students” and “fund scholarships not frats.”

The protestors also listed demands for the university: funding for advocacy and resource centers on campus, implicit bias training, a “cluster hire” of employees of diverse backgrounds. The demands were what was left of a longer list, and the protestors were what was left of a larger movement — Recognize Us.

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t a code of conduct hearing in May 2018, a former Theta Tau brother said he had a problem with the fairness of the Code of Student Conduct process.

Chancellor Kent Syverud had already called the videos “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities.” The ex-brother, referred to as “John Doe,” was worried about the influence of the university on his University Conduct Board hearing.

“I feel that there may be a conflict of interest,” John Doe said in state court documents. “The Board may be worried about losing their jobs if they were to render a verdict that was not in the Chancellor’s favor.”

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n the morning of April 18, 2018, Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud sent a campus-wide email announcing the suspension of the Theta Tau fraternity. In the hours and days after that email, SU students marched across campus, held forums and made demands. This is the comprehensive timeline of the first 168 hours of one of SU’s biggest crises.

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