Syracuse University tightens security after racist manifesto appears on forum

Syracuse University has tightened security after a racist manifesto appeared on a campus forum early Tuesday morning.

The 74-page manifesto from the suspected shooter in the Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque attacks earlier this year was reportedly “AirDropped” to students in the library early Tuesday, the school newspaper the Daily Orange reported. 

In response, the university has added double patrols, stationed campus police vehicles around campus and boosted patrols to residence halls and campus buildings, according to a release from the university’s Department of Public Safety, which includes the campus police.

The department said in the statement there is not “the appearance of a direct threat,” and it is working with the Syracuse Police Department, New York State Police and FBI to examine the white supremacist manifesto. 

The latest episode comes as a string of racist incidents have occurred on Syracuse’s campus, including racist graffiti in a residence hall and an African American woman being verbally harassed with a racial slur. The incidents have led to protests and sit-ins on campus.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) released a statement Tuesday calling on the university’s board of trustees to hire a monitor to regulate the uptick in recent incidents and condemning the university’s chancellor, Kent Syverud. 

“As we have learned repeatedly, these increasing exhibitions of hate and bigotry must be handled strongly, swiftly and justly,” he said in the statement. “That must be both the reality and the perception. Syracuse University and its leadership have failed to do that. It is your obligation to remedy the situation immediately.”

Syverud released a statement Sunday after the African American woman reported being verbally assaulted, saying the act was committed by members of a fraternity that have now been suspended pending investigation. He added that the other episodes were being “actively” investigated.