On the morning of April 18, 2018, Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud sent a campus-wide email announcing the suspension of the Theta Tau fraternity. In the hours and days after that email, SU students marched across campus, held forums and made demands. This is the comprehensive timeline of the first 176 hours of one of SU’s biggest crises.

April 18

Morning of April 18

Syracuse University received the Theta Tau videos in an email and began its investigation into potential Code of Student Conduct violations.

11:05 a.m.

Pam Peter, then-assistant dean for the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, sends an email to the Theta Tau fraternity chapter telling them that the Greek organization was suspended for the “hazing of new members” and posting “bias related videos in a private fraternity Facebook.com group.”

11:34 a.m.

Chancellor Kent Syverud sends a campus-wide email announcing Theta Tau’s suspension for videos including behavior he called “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities.”

2:30 p.m.

Dean Brian Konkol hosts the first of two April 18 forums in Hendricks Chapel. At the forum, Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado tells community members that its investigative team was looking into the videos. He says that students involved in the videos’ production were being interviewed.

3 p.m.

Protesters begin assembling outside of Syverud’s house. Hundreds of people would eventually gather before the march began to move across campus, from the Theta Tau house to Hendricks.

4 p.m.

More than 400 people fill Hendricks for the second of two forums on April 18. Then-SA President James Franco, then-SA Vice President Angie Pati and other students speak at the forum, which lasts more than three hours. Students at the forum say they have experienced racism at SU in the past and question why Syverud did not attend the second forum.

5:58 p.m.

The Daily Orange publishes the first of two Theta Tau videos. In this video, which was filmed in Theta Tau’s house, a person forces another person to his knees and asks him to repeat an “oath,” including racial slurs. A person, using anti-Semitic language, yells at two other people. “You f*ckin’ k*kes, get in the f*ckin’ showers,” he says, and the two people run out of the room as others laugh.

April 19

10:20 a.m.

Syverud appears at a ceremony in Eggers Hall. He declines to comment on his absence from the second Hendricks forum when approached by a D.O. reporter.

6:24 p.m.

Syverud announces a “top to bottom” review of all Greek life activities, policies and culture. The review, which was released in January 2019, would eventually identify issues with diversity and inclusion in Greek life, “high-risk” behaviors associated with a party culture and unrecognized groups operating on campus.

April 20

6:40 a.m.

Students arrive at Schine Student Center to tape demands to the center’s windows. Among the demands are that the university expel students involved in the videos and hold a town hall with Syverud, the Board of Trustees, administrators and deans. Students eventually begin protesting in the center before an admitted students event.

8:00 a.m.

Syverud arrives at the Schine protest, where he apologizes for skipping the second Hendricks forum.

“I see you, I hear you and I am deeply concerned. That’s not what you want to hear, I know you want complete action. I’m working on that. I can’t say more than that right now,” Syverud said. “I love all our students.”

April 20, afternoon

Schools, colleges and student organizations hold forums for students to discuss the Theta Tau videos and their thoughts and concerns about diversity and inclusion at SU.

April 21

12:48 p.m.

Syverud announces the permanent expulsion of the Theta Tau fraternity in a video sent to the entire campus community.

Credit: Syracuse University

10:24 p.m.

The D.O. releases a second Theta Tau video, showing the mimed sexual assault of a person with disabilities.

April 22

6:54 p.m.

Maldonado announces in a campus-wide email that charges have been filed against 18 students involved in the production and circulation of the Theta Tau videos.

April 23

7:30 p.m

More than 100 campus community members attend a town hall in Maxwell Auditorium, where student leaders from five organizations answer questions about diversity, on-campus segregation and the Theta Tau videos.

April 24

All Day

Schools and colleges hold forums for students to discuss the Theta Tau videos and their thoughts and concerns about diversity and inclusion at SU.

Four Theta Tau pledges and one fraternity brother file a lawsuit against SU, claiming the university rushed to label them as “criminals” in an attempt to “malign the students personally” to salvage SU’s reputation. Five more students would eventually join the lawsuit, and a second lawsuit would be filed in New York state court later that summer.

April 25

7:00 p.m.

More than 300 SU students, administrators, faculty and staff attend a town hall at Hendricks to comply with the demands of the Recognize Us student activist group.

The list of demands distributed that day called on SU to expand and rework diversity and implicit bias training for students, faculty and staff; review and conduct a campus-wide survey on Greek life; improve accessibility for individuals with disabilities; improve services for sexual assault survivors and hire more faculty with marginalized identities.

At the forum, students discuss the Theta Tau videos, DPS’ actions toward people of color and sexual assault resources.