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WEDNESDAY
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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 • Hacked
P • Bach from the grave
New York state had a record number of data breach incidents in 2016, the state’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Tuesday. Page 3
city
Perez Williams joins race
Setnor School of Music put together a concert dedicated to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in celebration of the composer’s 332nd birthday. Page 9
dailyorange.com
S • Making the grade
At the midway point of its season, Syracuse men’s lacrosse is 5-1. The Daily Orange beat writers assessed the team’s performance thus far. Page 16
Out of place Transfer students frustrated with housing options
city
Nicoletti touts experience
By Chieh Yuan Chen
By Michael Burke
A former Syracuse University employee recently became the seventh candidate to join the Syracuse mayoral race. Juanita Perez Williams, a Democrat, announced her candidacy after receiving support and encouragement PEREZ WILLIAMS from her friends, family and community members. “It’s a huge decision,” Perez Williams, 53, said, adding that people at her age are usually thinking about retirement. If elected, Perez Williams plans to prioritize solving the city’s poverty issues. She also said she would work to make immigrants in the city feel safe during Donald Trump’s presidency. Perez Williams joined the military after completing her education and is now a United States Navy veteran. Her time serving as a military attorney, she said, paid off because she learned how to stand up and to find solutions. The military is where she said she started to see success. “It taught me the ability to unleash the talent of other people, put people in the right place, come up with a plan and move forward,” she said.
Joe Nicoletti remembers sitting in a graduate course in Syracuse University’s Maxwell School in the early 1970s when then-Syracuse Mayor Lee Alexander and Maxwell Dean Alan Campbell called him into the hallway. NICOLETTI A lexander wanted Nicoletti, who had worked on Alexander’s mayoral campaign, to start working part-time in the mayor’s office. Nicoletti accepted the offer and hasn’t looked back since: He’s spent most of the past 40 years working in government. He’s served for different mayors, on the Syracuse Common Council and in the New York State Assembly. Now, Nicoletti wants to continue his political career as Syracuse’s next mayor. Nicoletti, who has run unsuccessfully for mayor multiple times, announced in February that he was entering the race, which now consists of a seven-person field. In a recent interview with The Daily Orange, Nicoletti said he believes the years he’s spent in government make him the best candidate for the job. He spent time on the Syracuse Common Council in the 1980s and 1990s and on the state Assembly in the 1990s. He was re-appointed to the Common Council in 2015. “I think our city is at a very important crossroads,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult. … And I think it requires someone who has deep experience, and someone who is not looking to make this a political stepping stone.” Here’s how Nicoletti said he plans to tackle several noteworthy issues that the next mayor will face.
staff writer
Poverty in the city of Syracuse is really based on a lack of opportunities in the neighborhood. Juanita Perez Williams syracuse mayoral candidate
She worked at SU for eight years, beginning in 2001, overseeing judicial affairs for the school. She later became the associate dean of students. Following Perez Williams’ time at SU, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner appointed her as a city attorney in 2010. Before joining the mayoral race, she also served as Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s regional labor department’s representative for the central New York region. After working at the federal, state and local levels for many years, Perez Williams said she has more see perez
williams page 4
news editor
1 1. Skyhall I, located on South Campus, often houses transfer students. ally moreo photo editor 2. STACY OMOSA, a transfer student, ran into housing issues at SU. colin davy asst. photo edtior By Jordan Muller staff writer
W
hen Stacy Omosa arrived at Syracuse University in January, she was welcomed to her on-campus home — a Skyhall dorm — with bug-ridden bathrooms and an SUID reader that wasn’t functioning, she said. Omosa, a freshman political science major who transferred to the university in January, felt that Skyhall was generally run-down. That, coupled with the dorm’s location away from Main Campus, made it difficult for her to get acquainted with campus life. As the housing lottery process for the 201718 academic year begins, SU transfer students like Omosa continue to cope with limited and often unappealing housing options. Most transfer students are placed either in one of the Skyhall dorms or in expensive off-campus apartments and are often left to figure out housing on their own. Some transfer students say they feel the university is simply not doing enough for them. Currently, transfer students can only secure on-campus housing on a first-come, first-serve basis, according to the SU admissions website, which means that the earlier a housing deposit is submitted by a transfer student, the more likely they are to secure on-campus housing. Transfers students who do secure on-campus housing, like Omosa, are typically housed in the Skyhalls. That can pose its own issues for transfer students trying to get acquainted with the SU campus. The Terms and Conditions of Student Housing 2016-17 state that “housing will be assigned to transfer students at the University’s discretion if it is determined that space is available.” This means that transfer students sometimes have to live off campus if on-campus housing fills up. Last year, students who did not receive on-
2 campus housing were placed in Campus West Apartments, an off-campus apartment complex located on Henry Street. Omosa said she was never notified of the firstcome, first-serve transfer student housing policy. She learned she wouldn’t be guaranteed on-campus housing only after doing her own research online, she said. Omosa said she called the university immediately after learning that transfer students weren’t guaranteed housing and was able to get a room in Skyhall on South Campus. But Omosa quickly encountered problems when she moved into Skyhall. In addition to feeling that the dorm was run-down, Omosa said the distance from Main Campus, where most new students live, was an issue. Because Omosa was unfamiliar with the SU campus, she said she would leave her room an hour before her first class to make sure she got there on time. “It made a difference, especially with making
see housing page 4
Interstate 81
New York state consultants are currently reviewing several options for replacing an elevated portion of Interstate 81 in Syracuse and plan to publish a study on their review later this year. Nicoletti said he believes the portion of the highway, located near Almond Street, needs to come down. “I think it would open up an area for research, building, housing, everything in that area that’s needed,” he said. The “community grid alternative” is the most popular replacement option that would see the highway brought down to street level. Under that option, the existing viaduct would be demolished and traffic would be rerouted around the city on Interstate 481, which would become
see nicoletti page 8