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LACROSSE GUIDE 2017 Chinese students seek secure campus
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THURSDAY
feb. 9, 2017 see insert
On safer terms
By Michael Burke
Residents reflect on violent incidents By Sam Ogozalek
news editor
asst. news editor
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rompted by the murder of Xiaopeng “Pippen” Yuan in the fall, a group of Syracuse University students have developed a campaign aimed at increasing safety for the Chinese student population. The executive board members of the China Development Student Think Tank, a student organization at SU, have been working in collaboration with university leadership since October to improve on- and offcampus safety for Chinese students as well as communication between the university and those students. The university is expected to publish a report addressing those issues sometime this month, said Shuai You, president of the think tank. SU is currently implementing a few initiatives relating to safety and communication, but university officials also said that many resources are already available to Chinese and other international students that simply need to be better publicized. “The issues of safety on this campus are, and have always been, of concern,” said Pat Burak, director of the Slutzker Center for International Services. “... What our responsibility is — as a university — is to get information out to the students.” You and other officials in the think tank met with SU Chancellor Kent Syverud in October and have since met with university officials in the Division of Student Affairs and the Department of Public Safety, among others. They’ve also met with the 22-member Internalization Council, which was established in the fall.
illustration by emmy gnat head illustrator
see campaign page 7
esidents of the Springfield Garden Apartments in the town of DeWitt are at odds over violent incidents that have occurred at the complex in recent months. Xiaopeng “Pippen” Yuan, a Syracuse University international student from China, was murdered behind one apartment building in late September. In January, an undercover police detective working for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office was shot at while waiting in an unmarked car in one of the complex’s parking lots. The detective was helping coordinate a drug buy operation. Police and county officials met recently to brainstorm security upgrades for the complex in response to the violence. Springfield Garden Apartments is an income-based apartment complex adjacent to Le Moyne College, a small private Jesuit school a few miles east of downtown Syracuse. The apartments are located along Caton Drive and have 300 units and are spread across nearly 30 acres of land, according to town of DeWitt officials. In the past, the complex has also over the years been the site of multiple other homicides and several assaults. With the recent violence, some residents are looking to quickly leave the apartments, fearing for their children’s safety. Others say they still believe Springfield Garden Apartments is a safe and comfortable place. Dennis Gibbs, an SU alumnus, has lived at the apartment complex for about two years with his wife and see apartments page 8
Syverud denounces Trump order Chuck’s demolition could begin in March city
By Satoshi Sugiyama asst. news editor
Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud on Wednesday denounced President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration. That came after about 250 increasingly frustrated Syracuse University faculty members signed a petition this week calling on him to do so. In a statement to the University Senate on Wednesday that was read by Provost Michele Wheatly, Syverud spoke out against the ban, saying SU “simply cannot support or abide by any policy that discriminates against, or makes a preference for, one
person over the other based on religion, national origin or other inherent characteristics.” “Any such policy is wrong and antithetical to the constitution of the United States of America and the values of this university,” he said. Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president of public affairs, said in a statement to The Daily Orange that the university hopes Syverud’s statement is “responsive to the petition.” Osamah Khalil, an assistant professor of history at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs who created the ongoing online petition, said in an email that he was happy Syverud made “such a strong statement” against the ban.
“And that the university is joining its peers around the nation and the world in opposing the ban. I hope that the university will also support efforts to have the Executive Order revoked,” he said. It was Syverud’s first comment related to the ban since last week, when in an email to the university community, he expressed support for students affected by the ban but didn’t openly oppose the order, which bans immigration for 90 days from seven majority Muslim countries, though the order is temporarily suspended. Sy verud had largely kept silent regarding his stance on the see petition page 6
By Delaney Van Wey asst. news editor
The demolition of Hungry Chuck’s and other businesses on South Crouse Avenue may begin as early as March, according to paperwork filed with the city of Syracuse. Syracuse.com first reported the potential timeline. The developers of the project, BLVD Equities, took a major step forward in the project on Monday when the Syracuse Planning Commission passed the proposal. The
eight-story, mixed-use building will include approximately 16,800 square feet of retail space and 287 beds, per the paperwork. The timeline for the project, called “Campus Plaza Development,” shows March 1 as the start date for construction and Aug. 1, 2018 as the first date of occupation. The paperwork was submitted to the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency as part of a request for $1.7 million in mortgage and sales tax breaks. Previously, those close
see chuck’s page 8