Oct. 14, 2021

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THURSDAY

oct. 14, 2021 high 72°, low 61°

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 |

dailyorange.com

N • LGBTQ+ Board

C • Another option

Mayor Ben Walsh announced 19 community members for the new advisory board. It will act as a liaison between the LGBTQ community and the city. Page 3

The SU chapter of Callisto offers survivors of sexual assault who are on campus another option to safely document their story and connect with other student survivors. Page 7

IN THE HUDDLE SYRACUSE VS. CLEMSON OCT. 15, 2021

Why they left

Hate crimes, tuition costs and pandemic stresses added to why these former Syracuse University students transferred from the university By Francis Tang

asst. copy editor

Photo Illustration by Shannon Kirkpatrick presentation director

W

hile some students choose to transfer to Syracuse University from other institutions every year, other students went in the opposite direction.

The Daily Orange spoke to five former SU students who chose to transfer to other colleges during the past two years. Some of them traveled across multiple continents to continue their education, expressing dissatisfaction with SU’s reputation, education quality and commitment to inclusivity and diversity.

Hate crimes and bias-related incidents

Multiple students said the series of hate crimes and bias-related incidents in the fall 2019 and

spring 2020 semesters contributed to their decisions to transfer from SU. Kirin Cao, a former film major student at the College of Visual and Performing Arts from Beijing, chose to take a gap year after the spring 2020 semester. Cao, who was a freshman living in Haven Hall then, said she felt unsafe living and studying on campus after the series of incidents, especially with the racist graffiti found in bathrooms in Haven.

see transfer page 4

on campus

SU at COVID-19 ‘RED’ masking level for almost 2 months By Hannah Ferrera asst. digital editor

On Aug. 13, Syracuse University adopted a four-tier COVID-19 alert system and masking requirements for students, employees and visitors. The university has been enforcing its four campus COVID-19 alert system, which is broken into four colored levels — “GREEN,” “YELLOW,” “BLUE” and “RED” — with different masking requirements for each level. SU changes its masking requirements based on rates of new infec-

tion, testing data and contact tracing information for the campus and local community, said Mike Haynie, the vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation, in a campus-wide email. The campus level changed from “BLUE” to “RED” on Saturday, Aug. 28 — right before classes started on the following Monday. Under this “RED” mandate, those who are unvaccinated and vaccinated must wear a mask indoors and outdoors in the presence of others. As of Oct. 13, SU is still under the

163 Number of active COVID-19 cases SU reported when it reached its peak on Sept. 13 and 15

“RED” alert level. It is uncertain, however, at what point the university changes the level or whether changes are based on campus or county COVID-19 infection, testing or contact tracing data. When SU was at the “BLUE” level on Aug. 23, just a week before it switched to “RED,” the university had a total of 12 active cases. A little over a week later, when students attended their first day of classes at a RED level, there were 31 active cases on campus. Active COVID-19 cases that SU reported continued to climb until they

reached their peak on Sept. 13 and 15 at 163 cases. After that, there has been a steady decline in the number of active cases. On Oct. 13, SU reported 36 active cases on its dashboard, the fewest active cases since Sept. 1. SU switched to a COVID-19 alert level of “RED” three days after Onondaga County was classified as having a “high” rate of COVID-19 transmission. Sometimes, SU’s COVID-19 active case dashboard rises and falls with Onondaga County’s new case dashboard. But this is see covid-19 page 4


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