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THURSDAY
nov. 19, 2020 high 51°, 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 • Ready to go
C • Amplifying voices
SU students said they are happy with how long on-campus classes lasted following a rise in COVID19 cases but are relieved to head home ahead of winter break. Page 3
Rematriation Magazine was created in order to give Indigenous women a place to gather for collective healing, storytelling and empowerment. Page 7
dailyorange.com
S • Injury plagued Last season’s offensive line struggles have continued in 2020 for Syracuse, which is limiting the Orange’s offensive firepower. Page 12
suny-esf
Students describe gaps in SU’s COVID-19 response
Mahoney appointed SUNY-ESF president By Mary Rand staff writer
SU allowed students to depart campus prior to their scheduled move-out time after the university transitioned to online classes last week. emily steinberger photo editor
By Sarah Alessandrini, Mira Berenbaum, Hannah Gonzalez the daily orange
Q
uinn Schmidt never heard from a Syracuse University contact tracer. After one of his friends tested positive for the coronavirus, Schmidt, a sophomore public relations major, immediately contacted SU’s COVID19 hotline to see what he should do next. After explaining that he had been around his friend only the night before, the employee on the hotline told him he could still go to class and see his friends. “That just didn’t seem right to me just because I was in such close contact with somebody who tested positive,” Schmidt said. “They were kind of apathetic toward what I was going through.” SU announced Nov. 11 that it would transition to online learning for the remainder of the fall semester amid a rise in COVID-19 cases on campus and across Onondaga County. Five days
Students received mixed messages from SU after they were exposed to COVID-19 later, the university reported a record of 700 students in quarantine. SU confirmed 280 active coronavirus cases among students and employees in central New York and 586 students in quarantine as of Wednesday evening. While SU’s COVID-19 office tries to contact all students in isolation or quarantine daily, the rising cases have made doing so difficult, said David Larsen, an associate professor of public health who served on SU’s Public Health and Emergency Mansee response page 4
agement subcommittee. “Ideally, we communicate with everyone in quarantine or isolation every day,” Larsen said. “That hasn’t happened over the last couple weeks because we’ve had thousands of students in quarantine. There’s not enough bodies in the COVID office to call every single person and still do the contact tracing.” At the beginning of the semester, the facility that processed SU’s COVID-19 tests was able to process tests overnight, Larsen said. Now, because the facility processes tests beyond just SU’s, test results have been slower to come back. “That process has been too slow this semester,” Larsen said. “It is frustrating for me to watch it, and it is frustrating for it to happen.” Larsen also attributed some of the new cases to an increase in off-campus parties and to the popular restaurant Margaritas Mexican Cantina, which recently confirmed 19 cases of the virus among its employees. Despite SU’s extensive COVID-19
For Joanie Mahoney, accepting the job of SUNY-ESF president just made sense. Mahoney, who previously served as the Onondaga County executive for 11 years, was appointed president of SUNYESF in early November. Her work in the county led her to the position, she said. “I used the network that I built over the years as one of the assets that I bring to ESF, not simply by virtue of the network, but as evidence of the skill set that ESF needs right now,” Mahoney said. Her appointment comes after a year-long search to replace former President Quentin Wheeler, who resigned in early 2018. Wheeler left after the college’s Academic Governance body voted no confidence in him due to what they deemed to be poor leadership and a climate of fear. He also faced criticism for firing three faculty department chairs before the start of the spring semester in 2018. Mahoney, who was the first female Onondaga County executive, will also be the first female president of SUNY-ESF. She plans to apply her government experience and passion for solving environmental issues as president. “I feel an extra sense of responsibility coming first,” Mahoney said. “I’m proud of that and take it very seriously.” After receiving her undergraduate degree from Syracuse University in 1987 and her law degree from SU’s College of Law in 1990, Mahoney began her career at SUNY-ESF in 2018 as chief operating officer. She now aims to strengthen the relationships she has already forged with the school’s faculty and staff. “I have always been impressed by the faculty and the quality of the research, the students that I’ve interacted with,” Mahoney said. “Having an opportunity to come to an institution I already knew about and already admired was great for me.” Gary Scott, who is the director of SUNY-ESF’s Division of Engineering and co-chaired the college’s Ways and Means committee with Mahoney, said she’s see president page 6