Giving Compass' Take:

• Andre Perry argues that university and college campus leaders must address a rise in bias incidents on campus and off.

• Hate speech and incidents of bias must be taken seriously, how are donors and policymakers helping this issue?

• Learn more about why hate speech remains a persistent concern in schools.  

Last week, Syracuse University administrators suspended 30 students who were protesting the institution’s failure to curb bias incidents that have occurred over the past several months. The suspensions were handed down after students refused to leave a campus administrative building.

Since November 7, 2019, the student-run newspaper The Daily Orange has documented at least 30 hate incidents on or near campus that have largely gone unaddressed and unpunished. Those include cases of verbal harassment, anti-Semitic, homophobic and racist graffiti, and threatening emails towards members of various historically marginalized groups. One student reported being assaulted.

Students, rallying under the #NotAgainSU hashtag, have participated in numerous demonstrations since November without facing discipline. However, the recent sit-in inside a building that houses the office of Syracuse Chancellor Kent Syverud evoked a strong response. Students refused to leave the premises after the building closed — because protests don’t keep regular office hours — and administrators issued temporary suspensions.

Confounding matters, at least 4 of the students who were suspended had not even been at the sit-in; they were in their dorm rooms at the time. University officials did not clarify how they misidentified those students.

Read the full article about lessons learned from suspending protesting students by Andre Perry at The Hechinger Report.