We are Syracuse’s Grads…..

Syracuse’s Engaged Grads has navigated to http://imaginingamerica.org/syracuseengagedgrads/syracuses-rise/. Please visit us there for updates on all things CNY engaged graduate students, PAGE,  and education!!

 

 

 

On October 2, 2011, The Chronicle of Higher Education published “Syracuse’s Slide,” critiquing the merit of Syracuse University’s vision, Scholarship in Action, which promotes and acknowledges the importance of publicly engaged scholarship.  As graduate students at Syracuse University, we actively contest the article’s suggestion that engagement stands in opposition to rigor. This is our response.

Dear Editor,

We are: Syracuse’s Rise….

We are graduate students at Syracuse University writing to take a stand against Robin Wilson’s unfair and one-sided critique of Syracuse University’s mission of publicly engaged scholarship, Scholarship in Action, in her “Syracuse’s Slide” article publicly published on October 2, 2011.  We write to share our stories of engaged research, teaching, learning, and civic life as citizens of Syracuse, New York and students enrolled at Syracuse University.  Far from experiencing or perceiving a decrease in the rigor of our educational experience, we acknowledge what a privilege it is to grow in our disciplines through sharing and co-creating knowledge with diverse and valuable communities.  In response to your article, one graduate student within our network posted the article on Facebook expressing outrage and dismay that work with, by and for publics could be labeled as a “lack of commitment to significant scholarly work.”  This may have been the spark out of which an alliance grew with the collective sense to speak back and express our belief that engaged scholarship powerfully adds to our academic experience, combats the out of date “Ivory Tower” metaphor, and rigorously contributes to our academic community.

We embrace engaged scholarship, the building of knowledge that is inseparable from practice. The inclusion of historically underrepresented students does not detract from our ability to recruit or to remain competitive. It contributes to a robust and dynamic learning environment where multiple perspectives and voices expand our notions of what is knowable. Public scholarship is important to us because it mobilizes community and campus resources, brilliance, and creativity.

We view community constituents as our research partners in the knowledge laboratory. This breathes life into the experience – it gives the work a richness and meaning and purpose. The idea that we should not engage the local community in a collaborative effort in creating social change while simultaneously being rigorously challenged academically creates a false dichotomy that does not allow room for the academy to grow.

Our engaged praxis informs our collective understanding of working and writing for change, building meaningful relationships between the university and the community, and perhaps most importantly, including a wider range of perspectives and voices in making knowledge. Relevant and responsible scholarship does not and should not happen in a vacuum. Like the professors Ms. Wilson interviewed, we do feel a commitment to the “broader academic community.” However, we do not see this commitment as something in opposition to publicly engaged work.

Publicly engaged scholarship should be rigorously reviewed within a continuum of knowledge-making practices, so we participate in national organizations – like Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life based at Syracuse University – that develop standards of excellence for publicly engaged scholarship. We strive to be accountable to both academic and community stakeholders.

We are proud to be a part of a university whose commitment to engaged scholarship is unwavering.

We are engaged scholars. We are presenters at national research conferences. We are participants in think tanks. We are published scholars. We are students of color. We are partners on the Near West Side on the Gifford Street Community Press.  We are participants in the school and community arts initiative at 601 Tully.  We are allies of First Nation students.  We are advocates who recognize the significance and value of our geographic location on Haudenosaunee Land. We are the Haudenosaunee Promise Program, working to include native students in a predominately White institution. We are disability activists. We are activist writers.  We are creative writers who partner with veterans. We are tutors at the GED tutoring program at Auburn prison. We are QuERI- Arts in Action, encouraging and supporting LGBTQ&A students’ under-represented voices throughout Central New York. We are Intergroup Dialogue facilitators partnering with civically active urban high school students.  We are the SmartKids-Visual Stories project, and we believe students offer insight into school reform.  We are international students who choose not to ignore the community surrounding our university.  We are partners working with local immigrant rights groups and religious organizations. We are the Central New York chapter of Imagining America’s Publicly Active Graduate Education (PAGE). We are working-class students, studying and working to combat oppression, exploitation, and war. We are teachers and tutors of a diverse constituency of high school students enrolled in our highly competitive Summer College. We are researchers driven by social change who insist on conducting research with not on communities of color as a way of positively impacting society. We are Scholars in Action….

We are:

 

Amanda Leigh Alger

Juliann Anesi

Carolina Arango-Vargas

Janet Armentor-Cota

Jessica Bacon

Brian Baillie

Mitul Baruah

Andrew Bennett

Jennifer Billinson

Tammy Bluewolf-Kennedy

Afua Boahene

Sivan Bomze

Kenisha Burke

Jeffrey Carroll

Tina Catania

Hayley Marama Cavino

Anthony Chefalo

Danielle M. Cowley

Florence Di Gennaro

Tim Dougherty

Carrie F. Elliot

Fatima Espinoza

Tracy Feocco

Chantell Frazier

Derek Ford

TJ Geiger II

Peter Gerlach

Kristing Goble

Crista Gray

Soumitree Gupta

Jamie Haft

Samantha Harmon

Jessica Hausauer

Anna Hensley

Meghan Hinkley-Forcier

David James

Kathleen Janas Hennigan

Amanda Johnson

Joy Mutare Fashu Kanu

Emily Kaufman

Ivy Kleinbart

Nilus Klingel

Benjamin Darnell Kuebrich

Bridget Lennae Lawson

Justin Lewis

Meredith Madden

Kathie Maniaci

Nathan Matise

Elizabeth Metcalf

Sarah Miraglia

Jackie Micieli-Voutsinas

Erica Paige Monnin

Liz Mount

A. Wendy Nastasi

Kate Navickas

Janine Nieroda

Nicole Nguyen

Yasmin Ortiga

Fernanda Orsati

Lindsay Pasarin

Yvonne Alyce Perez Lopez

Tracy Lynn Peterchak

Bethany Piraino

Heidi Pitzer

Kaity Maureen Price

Eric Robinson

LaToya Sawyer

Don Sawyer

Sally Sayles-Hannon

Matthew J. Shaler

Lauren Shallish

Rachel Shapiro

Carlo Sica

Katherine Sieger

Jermaine Soto

Sivilay Steven Somchanhmavong

Blair Ebony Smith

Melissa Smith

Danielle Sutton

Avery Brooks Tompkins

Rebecca Wang

Missy Watson

Staci Weber

Thomas West

Bernadette Marie White

Emily Williams

John Wolf

We welcome comments on this page and the addition of names of graduate students who wish to sign our letter,.  We are happy to post as pages your narratives of why engaged scholarship matters to graduate students at Syracuse University.

For an additional response to the Chronicle article, follow Peter Levine.

The Chronicle’s editorial director, Jeff Selingo, wrote this blog in support of universities engaging their local contexts.

Eric Hoover of the Chronicle wrote this article on Syracuse’s admissions policy representing a “Surge.”

Campus Compact response.

The Anchor Institution Task Force response.

Response by founding director emerita of Imagining America Julie Ellison.

Principal Anthony Broh argues that Syracuse’s growth and diversity is a success.

Syracuse’s African American studies professors are “disappointed” by Wilson’s one-side article.

Abigail Stewart, Lawrence Bobo, David Winter, and Claude Steele highlight Cantor’s innovative vision.

Imagining America’s National Advisory Board’s response.

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