free
wednesday
mar. 19, 2014 high 44°, low 38°
t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k |
N • From the ground up
dailyorange.com
P • Deep roots
A growing philanthropy company plans to partner with the Connective Corridor to help beautify the city of Syracuse.
Members of the Marczak family have been attending Syracuse University for more than 100 years. Page 9
S • His journey
How C.J. Fair went from a Baltimore teenager to a Syracuse star. Page 16
Page 3
Tuition to increase next year By Annie Palmer news editor
PAT DRISCOLL, operations director of the Syracuse Say Yes to Education chapter, is also an NCAA basketball official. Throughout his career, Driscoll has officiated three Final Four games in the NCAA Tournament, and awaits this year’s assignment. joshuah romero asst. photo editor
Working overtime
Say Yes to Education operations director balances duties as NCAA official, father of three By Zach Schweikert staff writer
F
or Pat Driscoll, there’s more madness to March than college basketball. As an NCAA basketball official, operations director of the Syracuse chapter of Say Yes to Education and father of three, life for Pat Driscoll can be very hectic this time of year. At the end of the week, Driscoll
could be officiating a tournament game, which would round out his four months of NCAA refereeing. Driscoll started officiating basketball while he was a student at St. Bonaventure University in the late 1980s. While in school, Driscoll served as a manager of the men’s basketball team and officiated high school and intramural college games. That’s when he became interested in refereeing as a career.
“My dad was a high school basketball official,” Driscoll said. “That’s where I really started getting the bug for it, and then having played basketball myself, it just stuck with me.” And for the past 17 years, Driscoll has been an NCAA official. After graduating from St. Bonaventure in 1989, Driscoll furthered his interest in sports by getting involved in local government. For a time, Driscoll worked as parks and recreation commissioner for the city of Syracuse. In 2011, he began working for the Syracuse chapter of Say Yes to Education. As director of operations for Say Yes, Driscoll said he is responsible for working with his colleagues “to identify resources to support young people in the Syracuse city school district.” Say Yes sets up programs to increase high school graduation and college enrollment in Syracuse. It provides services at all grade levels, including scholarships for students headed to college. It is the ability to work with these Say Yes scholars that Driscoll said is one of the highlights of his job. Ahmeed Turner, Say Yes’ scholar-
ships director, said Driscoll is a fair and accessible employer. “Pat is a pleasure to work with, probably the best boss I’ve ever had,” Turner said. His careers in public education and
CAREER STATS Officiating seasons tracked: 1996-2013 Total games: 914 States visited: 33 Total fouls called: 33,758 Fouls per game: 36.9 Total ejections: 1 Most common conferences worked: Big East and Big Ten Source: StatSheet.com
as a NCAA referee often complement each other, Driscoll said, and both require a calm, unbiased attitude. “We all know how sport goes and how competition goes,” Driscoll said.
see driscoll page 4
Tuition for the next academic year is expected to increase 3–3.6 percent and increases are likely in the coming years. Chancellor Kent Syverud said he hopes to get students more involved in the discussion about raising tuition in the future. Although he could not provide an exact date, Syverud said a release will be sent out within the next few days detailing how much students will have to pay to attend Syracuse University for the 2014-2015 academic year. The Board of Trustees Executive Committee approved this year’s increase at a March 6 meeting. The committee was briefed before it made the decision to approve, Syverud said. The increase will not be uniform across all colleges, Syverud said, adding that it’s “more than just one number.” At a March 4 Student Association meeting, SA Vice President Daniela Lopez told the assembly that her and President Boris Gresely had met with Syverud to discuss a potential tuition increase. Syverud asked Gresely and Lopez how the student body would respond to such a change, he said. Both Gresely and Lopez told him students would react negatively. Gresely said he first heard that the tuition would increase during his meeting with Syverud. “It was news to me. I had heard that tuition was going to increase, but because I was transitioning into office, that may have played a role into why I wasn’t aware what was going on,” Gresely said. Syverud said he was surprised that Gresely and Lopez were not aware of the tuition-setting process earlier on. He said he hopes to include a student representative in the tuition-setting process next fall. The Executive Committee doesn’t work on a representative basis, Gresely said, but there is a graduate student representative on the University Senate Budget Committee. The Budget Committee doesn’t see all the numbers, though, he said. The release will also describe the
see tuition page 8