SU betrays students with planned tuition increase

I stumbled across this piece from Syracuse University’s newsletter the other day. It enthusiastically pitches Boost the ‘Cuse, a 44-hour fundraising event from early November. It brags that members of the Orange family worldwide will “boost the ‘Cuse” with online, phone and in-person donations, encouraging attendance by featuring fun events like a trivia night and scavenger hunt.

“Together,” it finishes, “we’ll Boost the ‘Cuse and celebrate what it means to be Orange!”

Together?

Together?

Boost the ‘Cuse ended Nov. 6. The next day, residents of Day Hall found racist graffiti in their bathrooms and were directed not to take photos or video of the event. As students broadcasted the event regardless, Chancellor Kent Syverud responded days later with an email saying the coverup was the result of poor communication between leadership.

On Nov. 13, #NotAgainSU’s occupation of the Barnes Center at The Arch began. There were more racist incidents as the occupation continued. Yet even though the protest gathered attention nationwide, even earning a spot on the front page of The New York Times and gaining the support of politicians, Syverud failed to respond to demands until students marched to his house.

Together, we poured money into a university that immediately attempted to cover up a hate incident on its grounds — and not for the first time.

Together, we donated to a university that was already charging us $52,210 in tuition, only to be dismissed in Hendricks Chapel until Syverud changed his mind.

Together, we contributed to a family that apparently feels lots of things for us, and love is not one of them.

My family — my biological family, I should specify — has never searched my room for food and starved me because I was protesting. My brother is great at making promises and keeping them, especially when those promises pertain to quickly informing the rest of the family of hate incidents committed within the house. My father has yet to receive the largest paycheck in his lifetime and then ask me to give him an additional $2,060 a year.

What kind of family starves and freezes its own children and then charges them an additional $2,060 as the national unemployment rate nears 20%?

Sure, the “Orange family” has suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic like the rest of us. University officials reported $35 million in revenue losses as of April 20. But the planned 3.9% tuition increase would raise about $47 million, far more than is necessary to recover the losses.

The university gained $9.9 million in federal funding to assist with its coronavirus-related losses, but only $4.9 million is designated for the financial aid budget. A spokesperson announced Friday that the university will not direct its unrestricted endowment funds to make up for this $35 million of lost revenue. And while top university officials including Syverud took a 10% pay cut in response to the virus’s effects, even this pay cut leaves Syverud secure among the United States’ top 1% of earners. Pardon this Pell Grant recipient for not weeping at the gratitude of our benevolent “family members.”

Tuition also increased by 3.9% last year. In the year since that increase, the Orange family has seen racist threats, written attacks, shooting rumors, DPS inaction, intentional starvation, mistaken suspensions, repeated cover-ups and economic turmoil. My siblings have suffered. My siblings are suffering. And we are now facing a $2,060 tuition increase for the privilege to do it all again, except now without a job. In March, Pew Research Center found that half of those aged 18 to 23 said they or someone in their household lost a job or faced pay cuts because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By the end of Boost the ‘Cuse, the Orange family raised over $2.5 million in donations over 44 hours, surpassing its goal of 5,000 donors. A press release later thanked the SU community for its support and noted that the top three donors were from the classes of 2020, 2023 and 2022, classes currently enrolled at the university. The event kicked off the Forever Orange capital campaign, a donation drive that raised over $846 million by March.

Together, we, the Orange family, boosted the ‘Cuse.

And together, we, the Orange family, need a boost.

And together, we, the Orange family, were betrayed.

Sign the petition to demand a suspension of SU’s planned 2020-2021 tuition increase here.

Erin Sheffield

Class of 2022