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TUESDAY
may 2, 2017 high 57°, 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 • Last meeting
P • Ice cream institution
The Syracuse University Student Association met for the final time of the 2016-17 academic year at its weekly assembly meeting on Monday evening. Page 3
dailyorange.com
The Sno Top ice cream shop has been a feature in Manlius for the past 60 years. The shop has created a family legacy and gained a loyal following along the way. Page 11
S • Cain is able
“The yips” derailed Faith Cain’s future as a star pitcher in her sophomore year of high school. She spent years trying to get it back before moving on at SU. Page 20
whitman
VIRTUAL CAMPUS Online learning platform 2U continues to expand at SU
Story by Delaney Van Wey asst. news editor
Illustration by Tatiana Diaz staff illustrator
E
very day, thousands of Syracuse University students boot up their laptops to go to class from the comfort of their own homes. They all open the same program, 2U, and watch the squares on the screen fill up with live video streams of people — their classmates. In the center is their professor, who could be signing on from anywhere in the world, as well. Some say these students represent the future of education, particularly at the graduate level. Although higher education has been generally slow to adapt to new technology, SU has formed partnerships with 2U, an online education company, in numerous schools and colleges in recent
years. While early phases have been challenging and sometimes controversial, professors and administrators said they see online learning — and 2U — as a key tool in the survival of their graduate programs.
Legal education is steeped in tradition, and changes of this magnitude rarely happen quickly. Craig Boise dean of su’s college of law
“Obviously our mission is education in large part. Three years ago we had very
little education at all in online education at Syracuse University,” SU Chancellor Kent Syverud said in a recent interview with The Daily Orange. “So in some sense we as a university were not involved in a significant area where education is occurring and is going to occur more and more in the future, particularly at the graduate level.” Syverud has a history with 2U. He helped implement an online Master’s in Legal Studies degree at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, where he was dean before coming to SU. Across campus, and around the United States, administrators and educators are concerned about the future of higher education. The dean of the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University said in 2016 that traditional lectures were quickly becoming antiquated and that technology was pushing see 2u page 9
Task force battles Title IX transparency issues By Anna Merod asst. web editor
A sea of blue and orange cups consumed a portion of Syracuse University’s quad, as a visual display indicating the number of current students who have or will experience sexual assault at SU before graduation: 2,977 cups — 2,977 students. This display, organized through
the Office of Health Promotions and “It’s On US” campaign at SU, sat on the quad for several days last week. On the quad almost seven months earlier, a group of students stood silently with red tape over their mouths, behind bare mattresses with messages on them spelled out with the tape that said, “rapists go here” and “I can hear your silence.” After the Title IX
investigation began, protesters demonstrated “to symbolize the pain and outrage of living in a university community that does not support sexual assault survivors,” they said in a statement. Sexual assault and access to sexual assault resources on campus at SU has been a controversial topic for years. The Chancellor’s Task Force on Sexual and Relationship Violence
was created at the university three years ago after the controversial closing of the Advocacy Center and the reorganizing of sexual assault resources into the Counselling Center, the Office of Health Promotions and the Office of Student Assistance. Though the decisions regarding the closing of the Advocacy Center and the restructuring of sexual see title
ix page 9
Koch grant petition circulates By Michael Burke news editor
More than 50 Syracuse University faculty and students have signed a petition, as of Monday afternoon, calling on Chancellor Kent Syverud to release the contract terms of gifts the university has received from the Charles Koch Foundation. The university is currently looking into the grants and compiling a report based on them. Earlier this academic year, the Martin J. Whitman School of Management accepted a $1.75 million grant from the Kochs to create the Institute for an Entrepreneurial Society. The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications later accepted a small grant from the Kochs for the Tully Center for Free Speech. The grants have raised concerns among some faculty, who worry that the grants could come with strings attached and threaten academic freedom. Syverud said in a recent interview with The Daily Orange that Provost Michele Wheatly is currently looking into the grants. “I know she gets counsel from sources on it, including counsel from faculty groups,” he said. “... I haven’t seen the final report, but I suspect we’re following what is appropriate with academic freedom.” Though the grants were each accepted months ago, the university community has recently begun to come together in opposition to the grants. About two weeks ago, the Student Association passed a bill denouncing the Whitman School’s grant. And at last week’s University Senate meeting, faculty clashed over the grant as the research committee addressed the grants. The petition currently circulating among faculty and students states that students, staff and faculty fear the donations “undermine the values upon which our institution was built.” “We, the undersigned, strongly urge Chancellor Syverud to make these contracts public for the sake of transparency and to ensure the protection of academic freedom,” the petition states. In the recent interview, Syverud said that academic freedom in research is important to him. “There are all sorts of threats to academic freedom in research that could occur and have occurred historically, one of which one would be efforts of funders to put ideological blinders on what the findings of research could be,” he said. “I do think that we have policies and procedures in place for how we accept grants.” mdburk01@syr.edu @michaelburke47