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On Veterans Day, his first as chancellor, J. Michael Haynie wanted to make sure he shared his most important message first during the annual Veterans Day Ceremony.

“To every veteran in this room, and to the families who served beside you, thank you,” he said.

“For nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of working with and working for veterans at this university and across the country,” Chancellor Haynie said. “I am a veteran myself. So, when I stand here, I am speaking about a community that I am a part of and that is part of who I am.”

Speaking in the K.G. Tan Auditorium in the (NVRC) at the Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Building, Haynie told the audience that veterans are a foundational part of Syracuse University.

After World War II, under the leadership of Chancellor William Tolley, the University welcomed more than 10,000 returning veterans.

“They filled our classrooms, they pushed this institution to grow and they helped transform Syracuse into the global research university that we all know and love today,” said Chancellor Haynie, who served 14 years as a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force.

The University’s continued commitment to veterans found a permanent home in 2021, when the NVRC opened through the generosity of Dan ’68, H’20 and Gayle D’Aniello, bringing together the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), the and the University’s ROTC programs.  Chancellor Haynie, who was the founder and executive director of IVMF, was the visionary behind the NVRC, a first-of-its-kind hub dedicated to veteran and military-connected student success.

Why Veterans Make Campuses Better

“This nation’s colleges and universities should support veterans, and we should do so—first and foremost—because doing so makes us better,” he said.

He challenged the longstanding view of veterans’ education as a debt owed for service. That framing, he said, “quietly says that veterans are people we do something for, rather than people who do something for us. The evidence and the data tell the latter story.”

Student veterans at Syracuse and across the country outperform their classmates on nearly every measure, from persistence and graduation rates to GPA and campus engagement, Chancellor Haynie said, often while older, working and raising families.

He credited the leadership and judgment they bring from service, experience that enriches classrooms and research labs alike.

“This is to say that in a moment when many Americans are asking whether higher education still delivers on its promise, veterans are actually one of our best answers,” Chancellor Haynie said. “They show what education can do when it meets people who are ready for it, and they show what a campus gains when it is ready for them.”

He also noted the deeper thread between veterans and higher education.

“This nation’s all-volunteer force asks a small share of Americans to shoulder the burden of America’s defense on behalf of everyone else. The unspoken bargain in that agreement must be engaged citizenship from the rest of us,” Chancellor Haynie said.

“A university is one of the few institutions that can honor that bargain in a lasting way: by turning service into a degree, a career, and a civic voice, and by making sure no veteran ever concludes, as one young veteran once told me here, that they simply don’t fit in,” he said.

A Pledge to Those Who Served

Chancellor Haynie gave himself a charge in observance of those who have served.

“As Chancellor, I commit that Syracuse will remain the best place for veterans and military-connected students: not as a slogan, but as a standard we hold ourselves accountable to meet,” he said.

To the audience, those who have not worn a uniform, he asked them to consider what they can do for veterans.

“Learn a veteran’s story. Ask a classmate, a colleague, or a neighbor about their service, and then listen. Tell that story to someone else,” he said. “It is how we close the distance between the few who serve and the many who are served.”

Wednesday’s service also included a welcome from Dwayne Murray ’97, deputy director of the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs and retired U.S. Army officer; invocation by Rev. Corey S. MacPherson, dean of Hendricks Chapel and U.S. Army reservist; a history of Syracuse University veterans by Varun Gollapudi ’27, president of the Student Veteran Organization and U.S. Army reservist; national anthem by Francis J. Caravita’29, U.S Army ROTC cadet; and music by Hendricks Chapel Choir and 198th Band.

Earlier in the day, the Veterans Day 5K Fun Run and Walk kicked off in front of Hendricks Chapel.