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april 25, 2016 high 59°, low 43°
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 • Campus framework
Syracuse University held four student-focused input sessions regarding plans for its Campus Framework plan on Thursday and Friday in Newhouse. Page 3
P • Statuesque
You know those strange pieces of art scattered around campus? In celebration of International Sculpture Day, Pulp uncovered the stories behind them. Page 11
dailyorange.com
S • The train
Who is Syracuse?
Syracuse women’s lacrosse attack Kayla Treanor broke the school record for career goals this past weekend. She is one of the best to ever play for the Orange. Page 20
The series begins with Jeff Rubin and Lorna Rose, SU alums who embody Orange spirit. Meet more individuals who bleed Orange later in the week. Page 3
TWO YEARS OF SYVERUD PARTS 1 AND 2 OF 4
In Chancellor Kent Syverud’s inauguration address in April 2014, he listed four goals to improve Syracuse University. This series looks at the status of those four goals, two years after the speech.
Friends remember late student Hongming Cao seen as optmistic, loyal friend and boyfriend By Rachel Sandler asst. news editor
illustration by devyn passaretti head illustrator
More than teaching Syverud emphasizes research as element of great university
Plans to improve undergrad experience underway at SU
By Delaney Van Wey
By Annie Palmer
asst. web editor
development Editor
C
rammed into a room with 30 other scientists, Samantha Usman listened intently to the voices coming over the conference call. On the other end of the call, hundreds of other Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) researchers were also waiting expectantly in their respective corners of the world. They were about to “open the box” and find out if they had finally detected gravitational waves — proving Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Usman had dedicated three years of her life to the project after Syracuse University professor and LIGO researcher Duncan Brown hired her as an undergraduate researcher on his team. Now, as a senior at SU, her analysis of the data was the topic of discussion. After months of testing — and 50 years of SU’s investment — the heads of the program announced that Usman’s analysis see research page 10
A
s the Syracuse University community begins to discuss implementing the Academic Strategic Plan, one working group has the potential to impact every one of the university’s 22,000 students — the group titled the “Student Experience.” The term is often interchanged by academics and administrative officials with the words undergraduate experience, campus life, student life and other phrases. About two years ago, while delivering his inauguration address in Hendricks Chapel, Chancellor Kent Syverud boiled the phrase down to a few basic things: “where students live, eat, work, study and interact with each other and the faculty and the community.” The Student Experience Working Group has plans to look at SU’s campus culture, students’ personal, professional and social developments and other areas. These things make up a “whole student” — a concept that is more possible with university-wide coordination of student services, according to a draft of the Academic Strategic Plan. see undergraduates page 8
Hongming Cao and Will Zhao would drive to the Finger Lakes region in central New York almost every weekend just to see the sky — its openness, its calmness, its beauty. This sky was something new to both of them, CAO as they were used to the most industrial parts of China, where the air is often filled with smoke and pollution. “We don’t have skies like that in China,” said Zhao, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University. But last October was Cao’s last time driving to the Finger Lake region and seeing that sky. A month before, he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, which prevented him from engaging in too much activity. Over Winter Break, he had surgery in his home country of China. Then he died at his home in Shenzhen, China — which is near Hong Kong — on Tuesday. His death came two days before his 22nd birthday. “He was very easygoing and generous,” Zhao said. “He was like a big brother to me.” Cao, a junior economics major both in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, was described by those around him as an optimist who loved to tell jokes. In his spare time, he played the computer game “League of Legends” and listened to hip-hop and R&B. Cao’s favorite artist was rapper Lil Wayne, said Zhao, Cao’s roommate. Cao and Zhao met when they were freshmen living in Brewster/Boland/ Brockway Complex (BBB). They were the only two students from China on their floor. Soon after they first met, the pair became friends and started eating meals, taking road trips and going to class together. “I am very picky about my friends. Intentionally, I did not want to make a lot of friends see cao page 10