free
THURSDAY
oct. 5, 2017 high 73°, low 51°
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 • Opioid epidemic
There were 142 opioid-related deaths reported in Onondaga County in 2016, which is the highest rate in New York state, excluding New York City. Page 3
O • Pass the plate
Business columnist Daniel Strauss explains how ethnic restaurants can satisfy diversifying tastes and boost the local economy. Page 5
dailyorange.com
HOMECOMING GUIDE 2017 Page 7
RISING TENSIONS
S • Giving back
Cliff Ensley played three sports at Syracuse, including his stint as a walk-on for the football team. Now, the multimillionaire is giving back to his alma mater. Page 20
on campus
1st Schine redesign forum held By Sam Ogozalek asst. news editor
Syracuse University expects a group of architects to submit a study on possible major renovations to the Schine Student Center by December, one administrator said at a public presentation Wednesday evening. The event, announced in an SU News release on Tuesday, was billed as a roundtable discussion where students, faculty and staff could provide input on Schine improvement projects. In a conference room on the building’s second floor, though, only three students attended an hour-and-a-half long presentation on how Schine could fundamentally be redesigned. One Schine employee, Kellen Williams, also sat in for the event.
(FROM LEFT) TRACIANN CELESTIN AND DELMAR FEARS, co-chairs of Black Students United, hold up their fists at a September University Assembly meeting in Cornell University’s Clark Hall. courtesy of cameron pollack | the cornell daily sun
How experts say student activists can influence race relations on college campuses By Michael Burke senior staff writer
I
THACA — One month into the academic year, issues of race had consumed the Cornell University campus. The student government meeting in Bache Auditorium, on a Thursday evening in September, was no exception. About 30 undergraduate students, including several from the umbrella organization Black Students United, crowded the floor of the auditorium to support the passage of a bill condemning hate speech and hate crimes. The resolution was brought in response to two racially charged incidents that occurred near the campus. Six days before the meeting, a black Cornell student was called the N-word multiple times and punched in the face repeatedly by a group of white students, he told The Cornell Daily Sun. Earlier that month, another Cornell student chanted “build a wall” in front of the Latino Living Center. The incidents sparked campus protests and demonstrations organized by Black Students United. The group’s leaders presented Cornell President Martha Pollack with a list of demands meant to curtail racism on campus. Pollack responded by, among other things, promising to launch a task force to address “persistent problems of bigotry and intolerance” at Cornell.
But BSU members made clear they wanted more from the university — including an addition to the Campus Code of Conduct with language banning hate speech. “We are not complacent, and we will keep fighting for our demands,” said Imani Luckey, BSU’s political action chair, at the assembly meeting. Two weeks later, the push for racial equality hasn’t subsided. The Sun reported Tuesday that a coalition of graduate students delivered its own list of demands to the university calling for improved social justice on campus. The circumstances at Cornell, a Syracuse University peer institution, aren’t uncommon on campuses of historically white institutions, which scholars say have racism entrenched in their cultures. Just last week, Confederate flag posters with cotton attached were found on the campus of American University, another SU peer institution. Also last week, students at the University of Michigan marched in protest of on-campus racial injustice, The Michigan Daily reported. Similar protests have become common on campuses in recent years. That includes SU, where in 2014 THE General Body — a coalition of students, faculty and staff — held an 18-day sit-in at Crouse-Hinds Hall to protest, among other issues, the university’s see student
We are not complacent, and we will keep fighting for our demands. Imani Luckey bsu political action chair
activism page 4
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Number of architectural firms leading a Schine Student Center redesign feasibility study
“If we walk away with three new ideas, that’s going to be really valuable to me,” said Colleen Bench, associate vice president for the division of enrollment and student experience, when asked whether she was disappointed with attendance. A pipe in Schine broke Monday night, shutting off the building’s air conditioning, Bench said. That could have affected turnout, she said. Two architecture firms — Mackey Mitchell Architects and Ashley McGraw Architects — are leading a feasibility study on how SU can redesign and improve Schine, Bench said. Representatives of both firms attended the event on Wednesday. John Burse, a principal with St. Louis-based Mackey Mitchell Architects, flew to Syracuse for the presentation. Burse is an SU alumnus. Bench said the feasibility study will be submitted to the university by December. The study will include both recommendations and potential concepts for how SU can redesign the building. The university wants to engage donors interested in the project, Bench said. “We’re just envisioning what could be,” Bench said. “There have been no decisions made on what will happen.” see schine page 6