Two Syracuse University students holding signs that criticized Chancellor Nancy Cantor were escorted from the student section of the Carrier Dome at Saturday’s homecoming football game.

Seniors Matthew Carstensen, a political science and international relations major, and Michael Isserlis, a finance major, held signs stating ‘Cantor Smells’ and ‘Dump Cantor,’ displayed for the entire crowd, focusing the signs in the direction of the alumni who gathered under the tunnel for the retirement of the No. 44 at halftime.

‘We knew they would take it away as soon as they saw it,’ Isserlis said. ‘We just wanted to make a bold statement.’

The two students arrived to the game right after kickoff and stood in the front row of the Juice Box, next to the tunnel. They both said they did not display their signs until about five minutes before the end of the first half of the game.

After they displayed the signs for the alumni in the tunnel, Isserlis engaged in an argument with one of the alumni, Carstensen said.

An older man and woman in the group of about 50 SU alumni told Carstensen and Isserlis that ‘this isn’t the time’ for them to display their opinions, Carstensen said.

The man told Isserlis, ‘You’re too young to know,’ Carstensen said.

Isserlis said, ‘I pay $40,000 a year to go here. This is the time and this is the place to express my opinion,’ Carstensen said. The argument ended after that.

‘All of (the alumni) looked interested because Mike was in a pretty heated argument with that guy,’ Carstensen said.

However, one member of the alumni group smiled at Carstensen and gave him a discreet thumbs-up, Carstensen said.

‘Our goal was to get in trouble – to make a scene,’ Carstensen said. ‘I think we were pretty successful at that.’

A Public Safety officer then came to them and asked for their signs. They refused to hand the signs to him.

Carstensen and Isserlis moved back a few rows before another officer asked to speak with them. That is when they were asked to leave the building, Carstensen said.

Isserlis was escorted out by a Syracuse police officer and Carstensen by a Public Safety officer.

‘Out response from the student section was phenomenal,’ Isserlis said. ‘It’s exactly as we thought it would be.’

No one from Public Safety was available for comment during the weekend.

The two students said they left their seats peacefully, but they also kept their signs high in the air and encouraged cheers from the students cheering for them in their section of the seats.

‘He said if I don’t keep my hands down he was going to arrest me,’ Isserlis said of the Syracuse Police officer. ‘I asked him what I did wrong, and he said he’d think of something.’

Carstensen said he did not hear the officer address Isserlis, but Carstensen was focused on the activities of the crowd, who was cheering in support of the two students.

After exiting the building near will call at gate B, both Carstensen and Isserlis spent about five minutes speaking to the Public Safety officer, while the Syracuse Police officer stood a few feet away, they said.

Isserlis said the officer told him all of the Public Safety officers were instructed to remove anyone displaying negative signs about the SU administration.

The posters were meant as a statement for Cantor, Carstensen and Isserlis said.

‘It’s just the whole direction she’s taken the school in,’ Isserlis said. ‘The whole element of the school has changed since we were freshmen.’

Isserlis said he feels like his freedom of speech, expression and right to assemble were infringed upon by his removal from the Dome.

‘I’m a senior, and I’ve noticed a significant difference from Buzz Shaw to Chancellor Cantor,’ Carstensen said.

Carstensen and Isserlis said they do not like decisions Cantor’s administration has made, such as the Connective Corridor and breaking up of student social parties. They also do not like the wall dedicated to the chancellor. Carstensen said Cantor’s action disbanding HillTV was the final straw for him.

‘I’d rather have her spend money on academics – not to treat us like preschoolers,’ Carstensen said.

They both brought three empty posters and a Sharpie marker to the game after deciding the night before they should make a statement in front of the campus community, Isserlis said.

Isserlis said he knew if they made the signs before entering the Dome, the signs would be taken away from them, which is why they discreetly put the signs together during the first half of the game.

Another sign stating ‘Go Home Cantor’ was made by another student sitting with Carstensen and Isserlis, they said. They met the creator in line for the game and he happened to sit next to them inside, Isserlis said.

‘There was a third sign, but when everything went down, he was no where to be seen,’ Carstensen said.

Carstensen and Isserlis both said neither of the officers wrote down any information about them and they were not in trouble with the university or the city of Syracuse.

Both Carstenesen and Isserlis said they were not drunk during the game. Carstensen said he had consumed one beer before the game.

Published on November 13, 2005 at 12:00 pm