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Award-winning NPR journalist Rolando Arrieta spoke about reporting on the Ebola crisis and migration from Cuba at Newhouse on Wednesday night. Page 3
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Moderate columnist Bethanie Viele encourages first-year students to wait until they are sophomores to rush a fraternity or sorority. Page 5
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Rediscover the city of Syracuse this spring break through restaurants, concerts and more, including a Winter Farmers Market and Sneaker and Streetwear Convention. Page 7
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SU women’s basketball’s Gabrielle Cooper improved for the 2019 season, but health issues hindered her game after a case of “walking pneumonia.” Page 12
STILL SEARCHING Haudenosaunee nations continue looking for cultural items nearly 30 years after a law was passed to ensure their return
ackerman avenue assault
Police give no update on assault case By Kennedy Rose news editor
Nearly one month after the assault of three Syracuse University students of color along Ackerman Avenue, it’s unclear what progress has been made by police investigating the incident. A Syracuse Police Department spokesman did not provide any updates on the case to The Daily Orange after multiple emailed requests for information on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Feb. 9, three students of color were attacked outside a house in the 800 block of Ackerman Avenue, according to students at the scene and subsequent police reports. One of the assailants, a white man, allegedly yelled a racial slur before attacking one of the students, a black man. Students criticized SPD’s and the SU Department of Public Safety’s response to the assault in social media posts and at a campus safety forum. krose100@syr.edu
boeheim crash Story by Gabe Stern asst. news editor
Illustration by Sarah Allam illustration editor
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aithkeeper Oren Lyons stood on the stage of the they originally sought, but are still trying to identify and Everson Museum of Art in 1989, alongside Onon- reclaim other items of importance. daga Chief Irving Powless Jr. and Tuscarora Earlier in the evening at ArtRage, Lyons stood by a artist Richard Hill Sr. white podium and spoke to dozens of attendees who came They had been battling museums across New York to see a photo exhibit chronicling indigenous culture. He state for decades over wampum belts —indigenous items reflected on his childhood, growing up on the Onondaga that document historic events — on displays. And once Nation reservation: he spent much of his time hunting and again, they demanded that the New York State Museum fishing, and stayed outdoors “from sunup to sundown.” return their belts. Martin Sullivan, director of the muse- He described this time as the best part of his life. um, at the time, agreed to return them. As he approaches 90, Lyons still has Later that year, 12 wampum belts were concerns about his culture’s future. He brought back to the Onondaga Nation, an went to ArtRage that evening to present event that Powless Jr. said would live on They were never a talk called “Disappearing Cultures,” for generations to come, according to the and expressed his fear of the fragility of meant to be caged indigenous history. He called indigenous nation’s records. Thirty years later, Lyons, now 89, sat or encased in glass people “probably the most endangered on a wood-planked bench as dozens filed species in the world today.” or hidden. They out of the ArtRage Gallery near downtown “Very few people know much about it, Syracuse. He thought back to that moment were meant to be know much about wampum,” Lyons said. just blocks away, which helped enact a fedwe six (Haudenosaunee) nations used by the people. “But eral law protecting his people’s remains. know on a daily basis.” The Native American Graves ProtecHaudenosaunee Nations acquired Doug George-Kanentiio tion and Repatriation Act, commonly former trustee at the national wampum, a bead made of clam shell, more museum of the american indian known as NAGPRA, was passed in 1990 than 1,000 years ago from indigenous and requires federally-funded institunations near the Atlantic coast, Seneca arttions to disclose and in some cases return indigenous ist Peter Jemison said. These beads were sewn into belts that items that are proven to have cultural roots to indigenous served as messages, treaties and historical documentation. nations. This includes wampum belts, human remains The parallel lines of thousands of purple and white and medicine masks. beads on the “two-row” wampum belt symbolize two But since NAGPRA was passed in 1990, not all of cultures going down the river of life without ever interferthese items have been returned. In a series of interviews ing with each other. It commemorates the first contact with The Daily Orange, several Haudenosaunee leaders between Haudenosaunee Nations and the Dutch in the and legal experts said they have regained most of what 17th century — a “living treaty” with political relevance, see wampum page 4
Syracuse requests review of I-690 By Natalie Rubio-Licht asst. copy editor
The city of Syracuse is asking the New York State Department of Transportation to evaluate the lighting on a stretch of Interstate 690 where head coach Jim Boeheim struck and killed a man while driving along the highway Feb. 20. Syracuse resident Jorge Jimenez, 51, died in the crash. Osvaldo RiveraOlivo, 49, was also struck and injured. “At the request of the City of Syracuse, the DOT will evaluate the need for additional lighting in the area,” said Greg Loh, director of city initiatives, in an email Tuesday. Lighting of that section of the interstate would be under the jurisdiction of NYSDOT, Loh said. There is currently no lighting on that stretch of I-690, where the crash occurred, Syracuse.com has reported. nrrubiol@syr.edu @natalierubio_