Chancellor Reaffirms Commitment to Support Veterans

In a virtual Veterans Day address on Nov. 11, 2020, Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud pledged to continue supporting veterans everywhere through inclusion and research on campus.

Chancellor Syverud cited the ways student, faculty and staff veterans enrich the campus community with their varied life experiences and unique global perspective. He also highlighted the University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), the first interdisciplinary academic institute in the country with a focus on advancing the lives of U.S. military veterans and their families. He praised IVMF for its unique advocacy on behalf of veterans everywhere.

Chancellor Syverud’s support is part of a historical commitment to supporting veterans that dates to World War II. Former Chancellor William Pearson Tolley was an author of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, more commonly known as the GI Bill. Syracuse University is a Yellow Ribbon school and places no limits on the number of Post 9/11 veterans eligible to receive educational benefits.

Today, Syracuse University is the only private top tier research (R1) university in the country that supports active duty, Reserves and National Guardsmen by capping costs at the rate of tuition assistance offered by the Department of Defense. The National Veterans Resource Center at the Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Building recently opened on campus and serves as a central hub for veteran life on campus, in the local community and across Central New York. Addressing veterans directly, Chancellor Syverud said, ”We will continue helping you reach your goals through scholarship and education, here and around the world.”

Chancellor Syverud was mentioned in commentator Wick Sloane’s summary of his annual survey of veteran enrollment at highly selective colleges and universities, published in Inside Higher Ed. For the first time, Syracuse University was included in the survey, with the number of student veterans exceeded only by Columbia University among the institutions ranked.