Located in central New York, Syracuse University bills itself as “a student-focused, global research university renowned for academic rigor, richly diverse learning experiences, and a spirit of discovery.”  But this laudable spirit of openness is contradicted by recent events. Instead of welcoming intellectual diversity, Syracuse has attempted to thwart it at every turn, denying recognition to a conservative student group, penalizing all campus fraternities for an allegedly racist incident committed by a non-fraternity member, and maintaining restrictive policies that allow administrators to arbitrarily punish speech that deviates from leftist norms. 

In 2019, Syracuse administrators refused to recognize a campus chapter of the national student group, Young Americans for Freedom. At issue was the group’s requirement that members support conservative principles including the United States Constitution and also the national organization’s alleged history of “supporting discourse via printed materials and/or other means that are deemed inflammatory.” The group was only recognized after months of conflict and the intervention of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) which pointed out the absurdity—and legal pitfalls—of the university’s position. 

Syracuse also has a history of attempting to stamp out racism—and stamping on the rights of its students in the process. In November 2019, a black female student alleged that a group of students had yelled a racial slur at her. The woman’s claims were contradicted by eyewitnesses, including members of her own family. The student who allegedly yelled the slur was not even a student at Syracuse, but instead attended Rutgers University. However, the mere fact that the alleged perpetrator of this hate crime was in the company of members of Syracuse’s Alpha Chi Rho fraternity meant that the university felt entitled to take drastic action. Syracuse suspended the activities of ALL campus fraternities—including minority ones—for the rest of the semester.

In a similar incident which also targeted Greek life at the university, Syracuse suspended 15 members of the Theta Tau engineering fraternity chapter because they held a private event during which they “roasted” other members with off-color humor. After videos of the private event were leaked without authorization, Syracuse brought the participants up on disciplinary charges for their allegedly “sexist” and “racist” conduct which they claimed caused “an immediate breach of the peace” and strayed “beyond the bounds of protected speech”—statements that FIRE, which took on the students’ case, deems flat out lies.

More recently, in September 2020, Syracuse launched an investigation into a chemistry professor who had taught at the university for 30 years and banned him from all contact with students. His crime? The professor, Jon Zubieta, used the terms “Wuhan Flu or Chinese Communist Party Virus” to head a section of his course syllabus on COVID-19 precaution. Syracuse administrators failed to see the humor—or the factual truth—in the professor’s label and instead issued a statement claiming that the description was “damaging to the learning environment for our students” and launched a disciplinary investigation.  Zubieta was eventually reinstated by the university, but only after a five-month witch-hunt damaged his reputation and interrupted his academic career and that of his students.

“My intention was to mock the euphemistic conventions of PC culture rather than the Chinese people or their great heritage and traditions,” Zubieta responded. “The actions of the university in placing me under suspension and in practice seemingly supporting the accusations of racism and Sinophobia are deeply disturbing.”

Syracuse’s rampant disregard for the academic freedom and free speech of both students and faculty merit its placement near the top of the list of most fascist universities.