SYRACUSE, NY: Ronn Torossian, chairman and founder of 5W Public Relations, was arrested on Syracuse University’s campus on Sunday following a verbal altercation with students protesting the Israel-Hamas war.
Torossian was charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing, a Syracuse University spokesperson confirmed to PRWeek. The spokesperson declined to provide the incident police report.
Allen Groves, the university’s SVP and chief student experience officer, and Craig Stone, associate VP and chief of campus safety and emergency management services, notified students, faculty and staff of the arrest of a student’s parent on Sunday.
Groves and Stone described Torossian as “especially aggressive in his verbal treatment” of students where a “Gaza solidarity encampment” has been in place since April 29.
“When asked to de-escalate by student experience staff, the parent refused, escalated to grabbing and tossing students’ food from a table, moving signs and continuing to verbally berate the students in the protest space,” the statement said. The university officials said they believe there was no physical contact between the parent and the protesters.
Syracuse University’s department of public safety arrested the parent when he refused to depart the campus, the university officials said.
The Daily Orange, Syracuse’s student newspaper, first identified Torossian as the arrested parent.
“It’s unfortunate Syracuse University has chosen to appease antisemitic, anti-American terror supporters,” Torossian said in a statement to PRWeek, calling for an emergency meeting with Jewish student leaders, rabbis and communal members to discuss the safety of Jews at the university. “As the grandson of Holocaust survivors at my child’s university I was proud to raise a voice of moral conscience and stand against hatred.”
Torossian denied that he coughed food from a table, questioning whether the university provided food to what he called “anti-American protesters.”
Torossian said that, following the incident, he was arrested for “nonviolent civil disobedience” for refusing to leave the encampment and was detained for 90 minutes after demanding the chancellor and chief of police meet with the Jewish community.
Torossian questioned why no one was arrested after an incident on Saturday at a park adjacent to the university in which a Jewish student was punched. The university said a “brief altercation” took place when an individual, who is not affiliated with the university, made a Nazi salute toward a group of students and punched a student. The assaulted student declined to press charges or to seek medical attention.
Syracuse Police were aware of the planned pro-Palestine “community support rally” in Walnut Park, according to the university’s statement, and had a presence in the park when counterprotesters arrived. The incident, which occurred on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, prompted Torossian and other parents to show up on campus to “raise a voice of moral consciousness,” he said.
Syracuse University has 2,500 Jewish undergraduate students, comprising 17% of the undergraduate student population, and 500 Jewish graduate students, making up 7% of the graduate student cohort, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The campus also houses Hillel, Chabad and Jewish Greek life organizations.
College campuses across the country have navigated responses to on-campus protests and demonstrations in recent weeks, with many calling on law enforcement to assist in dismantling encampments or to clear campus buildings.
Torossian said he is president of the Syracuse Jewish Parents Council, an “ad-hoc organization” created by parents of Jewish students after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. He said the group has 450 “Zionist families” involved with Syracuse University.
The university declined to confirm that the council is affiliated with the university.
The council has filed dozens of complaints with the school since October about the harassment of Jewish students, Torossian said, adding it has made thousands of calls, emails and petitions asking for a meeting with University Chancellor Kent Syverud. Torossian said none were addressed.
“The university refuses to engage with the Jewish community,” Torossian added.
“Regarding Mr. Torossian’s claim that no one has responded to Jewish parents, Syracuse University has engaged parents and families in a variety of ways since October 7,” a university spokesperson told PRWeek. “This includes countless phone conversations, emails and text messages, as well as Zoom sessions.”
Torossian, whose child attends Syracuse University, said he lectured to Newhouse School communications students and professors this semester about PR. A spokesperson for the university denied this claim, saying the school’s department of public relations brought a group of students to New York City in March to meet with PR agencies including 5WPR. The students participated in a one-hour meet and greet with 5W staff in which Torossian spoke with students for roughly 10 minutes.
Torossian founded New York City-based 5W in 2003. He resigned as CEO of the firm in early 2022, following criticism of his masked ownership of Everything-PR, an alleged industry news site that criticized 5W’s rivals and touted his own agency. Dara Busch and Matt Caiola are 5W’s co-CEOs, according to its website, and Torossian serves as founder and chairman.
5W reported a 2% decrease in revenue to $61.6 million globally and in the US in 2023, according to PRWeek’s 2024 Agency Business Report.
