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Chancellor Kent Syverud condemned acts of violence against people of Asian descent in a statement Wednesday after eight people, including six Asian women, were shot and killed in three spas in Atlanta on Tuesday.

The suspected gunman, a white man, was charged with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault for the attack, NPR reported. Police said it is too early to determine if the gunman will be charged with hate crimes, but violence toward the Asian community has continued to increase throughout the coronavirus pandemic. 

“Like so many of you, I am disgusted by the horrific acts of hate and violence that tragically claimed the lives of eight people in the Atlanta area last night,” Syverud said in the statement. “These shootings occur in the midst of a rising tide of racist and violent acts targeting Asian and Asian American communities.”

Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit that tracks hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S., received nearly 3,800 reports of hate incidents — including verbal harassment and physical assault — throughout the pandemic, according to NPR.

Notes containing racist language targeting Chinese students were found in at least three Syracuse University buildings last week, including Eggers Hall, Huntington Hall and Hall of Languages. The notes were found less than two weeks after two unknown individuals used anti-Asian language toward a student on Comstock Avenue.

SU also placed chemistry professor Jon Zubieta on administrative leave in August after images circulated online of his course syllabus, in which he referred to the coronavirus as “Wuhan Flu” and “Chinese Communist Party Virus.”

Student Association Vice President Jeremy Golden also addressed the recent attack in a campus-wide email Wednesday. Golden called on SU students, faculty and staff to respond to the incidents on campus and across the country by showing support for the Asian community.

“As a campus we must come together to defeat these oppressive and evil actors who are intent on attacking and further traumatizing people of marginalized identities,” Golden said. “These actions are indicative of their lack of compassion and wealth of ignorance.”

Golden said he and SA President Justine Hastings plan to advocate for a hate speech clause in SU’s Code of Conduct to better protect marginalized communities on campus. 

“This is a necessary first and big step but should not be our only response,” Golden said. 

Shana Kushner Gadarian, the chair of SU’s political science department, along with Seth Jolly and Daniel McDowell, two associate professors of political science, also sent a statement in response to the attacks.  

“Asian Americans are a vital part of the United States and an attack on one community concerns us all,” the statement said. “The Political Science department condemns these recent and ongoing racist, misogynistic and xenophobic attacks on Asian and Asian American people in Syracuse and throughout the United States.”

Syverud encouraged students to use the university’s resources — including the Center for International Services and The Barnes Center at The Arch — and show support for the Asian community at SU.  

“Acts of violence understandably create fear and isolation,” Syverud said. “To our Asian and Asian American friends, colleagues and neighbors, please know that we at Syracuse University support you. Together, all of us must condemn this violence and stand with those targeted by hate.”

Published on March 17, 2021 at 11:58 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss