August 31, 2020

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International students fear new regulations on communications app WeChat will cause difficulty connecting with their families and friends.

Page 3

The cancellation of the 2020 New York State Fair has left vendors without an otherwise dependable source of income.

Page 7

Five current and former SU broadcasters have adjusted when covering professional and collegiate sports during the pandemic.

Page 12

SA plans to support SU’s marginalized communities

on campus

Advisory committee recruiting members

By Madison Tyler asst. copy editor

JUSTINE HASTINGS (LEFT) AND RYAN GOLDEN ran on a platform of making SU more financially accessible, supporting marginalized communities and increasing accountability within Student Assocation. will fudge staff photographer

Hastings and Golden helped facilitate the chancellor’s signing of #NotAgainSU demands made in the spring

By Mira Berenbaum asst. copy editor

J

ustine Hastings and Ryan Golden know their goals for Syracuse University’s Student Association might seem unrealistic to some. But that hasn’t stopped them from putting their plans into action.

Hastings and Golden were elected SA president and vice president in April over two other campaigns. The pair ran on a platform focused on making SU more financially accessible, supporting marginalized communities, enacting the demands of #NotAgainSU and increasing accountability within SA. Despite the coronavirus pandemic and its financial fallout for the university stall-

ing some of their progress, Hastings and Golden have already taken steps toward achieving some of those goals.

“Even during the campaign, we were told a lot that some of our goals were very ambitious,” Hastings said. “Some will come easily. Others will take more time.”

A key component of Hastings and Golden’s action plan for the 2020-21 academic year is supporting the demands of #NotAgainSU. The movement, led by Black students, has protested SU’s handling of a series of racist incidents reported at the university last academic year. Hastings is a member of #NotAgainSU. The pair also aims to add a student vote to SU’s Board of Trustees, make campus more accessible to students with disabilities

see sa page 4

The concerns that we’re raising are important, and the university needs to address them in an appropriate manner Ryan Golden sa vice president

Syracuse University’s Student of Color Advisory Committee is recruiting new members six months after the committee informally disbanded during #NotAgainSU’s occupation of Crouse-Hinds Hall.

The committee, composed of more than a dozen students, took shape about a month after the Department of Public Safety was criticized for its handling of an assault of three students of color in February 2019. Committee members didn’t have the authority to change DPS policy but met regularly with DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado and other SU officials.

At the height of the #NotAgainSU’s occupation of CrouseHinds in February, many students involved in the committee chose to stop meeting and instead support the protest, former committee members told The Daily Orange.

The decision to informally disband came as the committee felt that DPS hadn’t taken concrete action to meet their recommendations.

“The overarching goal was to increase trust and have that relationship between DPS and students so that students of color also felt safe and protected,” said Kate Abogado, who served as the co-chair of the committee with Maldonado. Abogado graduated from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the School of Information Studies in May. “That goal was not being reached.” #NotAgainSU, a movement led

by Black students, has protested the university’s response to a series of racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic incidents on campus since November.

Both Abogado and Ashley Hudson, a senior policy studies major who served on the committee during the 2019-2020 academic year, said DPS didn’t take enough action in response to the committee’s recommendations.

Some students on the committee began to lose faith in its ability to produce change after DPS did not disclose racist graffiti found in Day Hall in November 2019 to students, Abogado said.

“The biggest problem was (when) the initial vandalism happened in Day Hall, we weren’t notified, and that was basically the whole point of the inception of the committee, so that students of color could be integrated into that see committee page 4

2 aug. 31, 2020

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aug. 31, 2020

student association

SA rollover budget larger than past years

By Kailey Norusis

contributing writer

Syracuse University’s Student Association has a rollover budget from last academic year of about half a million dollars, an increase over past years.

The rollover budget, which includes funds from canceled SA and registered student organization events, is much larger than previous years since many events were canceled after SU transitioned to remote learning in March, said Julio Burgos, SA comptroller.

With the increase in the rollover budget, SA is using some of the extra funds to help student organizations make their events available virtually, Burgos said. The university also required SA to use some of its funding to pay for the organization’s meeting space in Goldstein Auditorium, where the Assembly can meet with social distancing.

SUNY-ESF established a COVID-19 response plan to reduce classroom density and trace the virus on campus. The school did not require students to submit a negative COVID-19 test result before coming to campus.

sarah lee asst. photo editor

suny-esf

SUNY-ESF outlines COVID-19 response plan

By Abby Weiss

asst. digital editor

Lauren Kelly arrived at SUNY-ESF excited for the upcoming semester but fearful that her classmates could have brought the coronavirus to campus.

Kelly, a junior environmental studies major, is pleased with her college’s COVID-19 response strategy. But she’s concerned that SUNY-ESF did not require students to receive testing prior to their arrival on its campus and did not immediately require all students to receive testing upon arrival.

“That’s just something I assumed was going to be there as a precaution,” Kelly said. “Coming to campus without that test-

ing requirement scared me, and I questioned why the school didn’t say something.”

SUNY-ESF’s COVID-19 response plan, like that of Syracuse University, includes measures to reduce classroom density and trace the virus’ spread on campus. But the plan doesn’t include SU’s more rigorous testing protocol.

Similar to SU, the college resumed in-person instruction with an accelerated schedule that ends in-person classes in November. All SUNY-ESF students must adhere to New York state health guidelines such as wearing a mask on campus and practicing social distancing.

The about 800 SUNY-ESF students who use SU facilities had to submit a negative COVID-

19 test result before coming to SU’s campus. However, SUNYESF did not immediately require its students to submit a negative result to access its own facilities, said John Wasiel, the college’s environmental health and safety officer.

The college tested students living in Centennial Hall upon arrival and allowed students to quarantine in the residence hall while awaiting their results, Wasiel said. Residential students can’t have guests from outside the building this fall.

SUNY-ESF offered testing to all students living off campus a few days before classes started Aug. 24. The college sent an announcement Wednesday stating that all its students are

required to receive testing, the results of which would be shared with SU. “It took a while for ESF to mandate off-campus testing,” Kelly said. “We ESF students, most of (us) showed up without being tested at all.”

The college is conducting pooled saliva testing similar to SU, Wasiel said.

If a residential student tests positive for COVID-19, they will either return home or relocate to isolation housing at Onondaga Community College. The isolation facilities at OCC can house 190 students, said Stephanie Specchio, associate vice president of communications and marketing at SUNY-ESF. see coronavirus page 4

on campus

App ban a challenge for international students

By Kaizhao (Zero) Lin contributing writer

Chinese international students at Syracuse University and their families are grappling with a potential loss of communication following President Donald Trump’s decision to ban WeChat, a popular Chinese social app.

The Trump administration signed an executive order Aug. 6 imposing a partial ban on WeChat, a multipurpose app that functions like a combination of Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and PayPal. In justifying its decision, the White House claimed that WeChat automatically retrieves users’ data and allows “the Chinese Communist Party

access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.”

The app, which had a total of 1.17 billion users by early 2020, is largely used by native Chinese people. The Trump administration’s ban prohibits anyone residing in the United States—including international students at SU, who frequently use the app to communicate with their families—from performing “transactions” with the app starting 45 days after the order was enacted.

“The new policy definitely adds difficulty to international students and their families,” said Xinyue Chen, an international student and advertising major at SU. “My friends and I could adjust to new apps and new ways (of

My uncle is worried about me so much.

Every time when I repost Syracuse news, he (asks) me, ‘Are you going to be affected? Is it possible to come back after graduate?’

— more importantly — ‘Are you safe?’

Aorui Pi

senior international student and advertising major

communicating) easily, but what about my family?”

Many parents of Chinese international students use WeChat as the only way to stay in touch with their children, who are thousands of miles away from home, Chen said. Most parents are not familiar with other apps, which may take more time for them to understand.

Aorui Pi, a senior international student and advertising major, believes using WeChat is going to become more complicated if the Trump administration continues to tighten restrictions on the app.

“My uncle is worried about me so much,” Pi said. “Every time when I repost Syracuse news, he (asks) see wechat page 4

$2,812 Amount SU charged SA to use Goldstein Auditorium for its meetings

The organization allocated $30,000 of the rollover budget to equipment needed to film and stream student events and $9,200 to Zoom webinar technology for student organization events, according to SA’s website.

SA also used $4,000 of the budget on Turbo Vote — the service SA uses for students to vote on MySlice –– and $150,000 on funding for RSOs to use for extracurricular programs throughout the year.

The university charged SA $2,812 for the use of Goldstein Auditorium, which the organization paid for with its rollover budget. While SA has been able to use Maxwell Auditorium for meetings free of charge in previous years, the organization had to relocate its meetings this fall to account for New York state social distancing requirements.

“We had to pay for Goldstein because we needed to have a physical space and that was really the only space that we could use,” SA Vice President Ryan Golden said. “It was either that or no in-person meetings.”

SA asked Rob Hradsky, vice president for the student experience, whether the association could use Goldstein Auditorium for free. Hradsky said that SA should pay for the larger room because of its increased rollover fund and the university’s financial problems due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to SA’s website.

SA’s Assembly plans to vote on paying for the meeting space with the organization’s operating budget, shifting funds back into the rollover budget in the process, Hastings said. SA will continue to use the rollover budget to pay for meeting space in Goldstein until the Assembly can vote, she said.

“This is what we have to work with and we want to do our meetings, our mission, and the things that we are required to do on campus,” Burgos said. kmnorusi@syr.edu

4 aug. 31, 2020

from page 1

sa

freeze tuition.

Even if they can’t accomplish all of their goals by the end of their term, Hastings and Golden would like to start a conversation around these measures. At the very least, Golden would like the university to show a commitment to working toward SA’s goals.

“I would really like to see a change in tone and attitude,” he said. “The concerns that we’re raising are important, and the university needs to address them in an appropriate manner.”

The duo has worked over the summer and into the fall to begin putting many of their plans into action. During summer break, Hastings and Golden helped facilitate Chancellor Kent Syverud’s signing of commitments that the university made to #NotAgainSU protesters while the movement occupied CrouseHinds hall in the spring.

The commitments, which Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost John Liu announced in March, did not fulfill all of #NotAgainSU’s demands but did include the expansion of multicultural learning communities, the hiring of additional counselors and the reform of first-year seminar SEM 100.

Hastings and Golden have drafted a profrom page 1

committee response process,” Abogado said. “We were supposed to be an advisory committee and everything we did was reactionary.”

During the occupation of Crouse-Hinds, SU placed over 30 student protesters on interim suspension for remaining in the building past closing. The university later lifted the suspensions.

DPS also faced renewed scrutiny when, during the first three days of the protest, officers barred students from accessing the building — preventing food and other supplies from reaching the protesters inside. Officers also struggled physically with protesters during multiple interactions. Videos and photos showed DPS Deputy Chief John Sardino reaching for his holster during a struggle with students outside Crouse-Hinds.

Chancellor Kent Syveurd announced in February that former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch would conduct a review of DPS, citing concerns raised about officers’ interactions with students, including protesters.

Abogado and the other members felt administrators were using the advisory committee’s existence to justify the protesters’ suspensions, she said. from page 3

coronavirus To trace the spread of the virus, SUNYESF established a contact tracing team. A faculty member will lead the team and will work with the Onondaga County Department of Health.

Karina Lang, a junior conservation biology major, wishes the college required a from page 3

wechat me, ‘Are you going to be affected? Is it possible to come back after graduate?’ — more importantly — ‘Are you safe?’”

Miao Luo, an international student studying architecture, said his parents are concerned about the consequences of the worsening relationship between China and the U.S., including increased restrictions on Chinese apps such as WeChat.

Banning WeChat makes me feel (like I’m) being rejected Xinyue Chen a sophomore international student and advertising major at su

Constantly hearing about the negative news in the U.S. gives many Chinese parents

dailyorange.com news@dailyorange.com

posal to give students voting positions on SU’s Board of Trustees. Under their proposal, the SA president and an SA-appointed undergraduate student representative would each have half a vote, while a whole vote would go to a graduate student representative who SU’s Graduate Student Organization would appoint.

“The voice of the students needs to be one voice,” Hastings said. “(The Board of Trustees) is not going to agree to more than one in that kind of a setting.”

Hastings and Golden are also continuing SA’s efforts to bring Callisto, a third-party sexual assault reporting system, to SU. The pair met with Callisto representatives and Sheila Johnson-Willis, chief equal opportunity and Title IX officer, to discuss implementing the program at SU. Callisto is now undergoing an accessibility review process to determine whether SU will adopt the system, Hastings said.

Hastings announced Monday that students can declare their preferred name on their SU I.D. cards, fulfilling another one of their duo’s objectives.

While they’ve made progress on some initiatives, COVID-19 has posed obstacles for Hastings and Golden in meeting a number of their goals. They created several positions over the summer dedicated to addressing the

impact of COVID-19 on different student communities, including international students and students with disabilities.

“The biggest challenge so far is that, of course, and naturally, university administrators are kind of focused on COVID right now,” Hastings said. “COVID is interfering with a lot of our goals and plans, but we’re still being diligent in any way we can and being flexible.”

As part of their efforts to make SU more accessible, Hastings and Golden are working to make American Sign Language a recognized language at SU. However, because of the hiring freeze SU implemented in response to the pandemic, the university can’t hire the necessary staff members to carry out their plan, Hastings said.

The university’s decision to halt many construction projections in light of the pandemic has also made it difficult for the pair to create more dedicated spaces for marginalized student communities, she said.

SA will continue several long-term initiatives under Hastings and Golden’s administration, including offering students a free preparation course for the Graduate Record Examination and working to provide free menstrual products in bathrooms across campus.

The organization will also host a modified version of its annual Mental Health Awareness

Week in October, placing an emphasis on mental health among marginalized communities on campus. Overall, Hastings would like to offer more programming this semester that highlights student organizations and offices serving marginalized student groups at SU. SA hosted a series of events last weekend in solidarity with Friday’s March on Washington, in which thousands of demonstrators descended on the National Mall to protest racial injustice and police brutality. Hastings led a solidarity march around SU’s campus, leading students in chanting the names of Black Americans killed by police.

Despite the challenges that COVID-19 poses, the duo is excited to lead SA this upcoming semester, and they hope to see more student involvement in the organization. While New York state social distancing guidelines will prevent students from joining SA Assembly meetings in person, Hastings encouraged students to join virtually.

As leaders of SA, Hastings and Golden’s first priority is to uplift students’ voices.

“Everything I do, I try and frame it as, ‘how is it supporting students?’” Hastings said. “If I can answer that question, I move forward with 100% commitment and diligence and energy towards that.”

“The words that they were saying were that there were other avenues to go about protesting and creating change,” Abogado said. “We didn’t even feel that was a productive way to bring about change because our decisions didn’t hold weight, or our suggestions were merely suggestions.”

Increasingly frustrated with SU administrators, DPS and overall inaction, several of the committee’s student members stopped attending the meetings and went to the protests instead, Abogado and Hudson said.

While a significant portion of the committee decided to disband, other student members were still willing to serve, said Natalia Rice, one of the committee members who chose to disband.

“For those who did decide to disaffiliate, there was a general consensus that we didn’t feel that DPS was taking the committee seriously, and saw it more as a symbolic step than something to actually enact positive change,” Rice said.

While several members said the committee informally disbanded, Christine Weber, public information officer for DPS, said in an email to The Daily Orange that the committee remained active through the end of last academic year. She said the committee is currently working to finalize its annual report, but did not provide a release date.

Weber did not respond to a follow-up email asking whether any members of the committee stopped attending meetings.

Maldonado is reaching out to committee members who served last year to gauge their interest in continuing to serve, Weber said.

The department will also put out a call for nominations for those who are interested in joining the committee this academic year.

Committee members’ frustrations with DPS began before the Crouse-Hinds occupation or the racist incident at Day Hall, Hudson and Abogado said.

One of the committee’s highest priorities was investigating whether DPS disproportionately shut down parties hosted or attended by students of color on South

Campus compared to predominantly white parties. But students on the committee felt DPS showed little interest in actually investigating possible instances of discrimination, Abogado said. “(That) meeting was less of a collaborative discussion and more of a way for them to prove it wasn’t true or defend themselves,” she said.

The committee analyzed recorded interactions DPS had with students on South Campus to see if officers had shut down more parties attended primarily by students of color than those attended mainly by white students, Hudson said. The committee was only given access to two weeks’ worth of recorded DPS interactions with students and found no evidence of discrimination, she said.

Analyzing the recordings was “the only concrete thing” the committee was able to achieve, she said.

After months of inaction and the department’s mishandling of racist incidents and student protests, Hudson said she felt that her time would be more valuable supporting the protesters. The committee, she said, wasn’t achieving what it had set out to accomplish.

“We expected so much more,” Abogado said.

pre-semester testing requirement, but she admires how the school has handled the pandemic overall.

“I feel comfortable on campus. I don’t feel any particular danger like I do anywhere else,” Lang said. “I’m happy, but there were a few hiccups along the way.”

SUNY-ESF also moved some classes online and adopted a hybrid course model, with classes alternating between remote

and in-person instruction. The college also reduced seating capacity in labs, student centers and libraries.

Donnella Monk, a senior environmental studies major, said SUNY-ESF hasn’t accommodated students who are taking classes remotely.

She chose to take all her classes online due to pre-existing health conditions, but she had to drop a required course because the profes-

sor didn’t allow her to take the course fully online, according to her emails with SUNYESF faculty.

“As an environmental major, I feel like we should be considering all environments when we’re dealing with safer students,” she said.

About 200 SUNY-ESF students chose to take courses fully online this semester, Wasiel said.

anxiety, especially when they notice that COVID-19 infections and deaths are rising in the country, Luo said.

“I believe most of the parents feel the same way,” he said.

WeMedia Lab, an extension of SU’s media department that serves Chinese students, is trying to mitigate international students’ concerns over the WeChat ban, said Yuyue Wang, president of WeMedia Lab. WeMedia Lab believes the ban will not influence SU’s official subscription to the app, and there won’t be any difficulties for SU students, Wang said.

Ze Zeng, vice president of WeMedia Lab, said that most of the concerns WeMedia Lab has heard from the international student community are about how the university is going to protect students if the Trump administration expands the ban.

Still, some international students said the Trump administration’s decision to ban WeChat made them feel unwelcome in the U.S. “Banning WeChat makes me feel (like I’m) being rejected,” Chen said.

The Trump administration signed an executive order on Aug. 6 imposing a partial ban on the Chinese communication app.

sarah allam illustration editor

We were supposed to be an advisory committee and everything we did was reactionary Kate Abogado former co-chair of the students of color advisory committee

mlberenb@syr.edu

madityler0701@gmail.com

akweiss@syr.edu

OPINION

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PAG E 5

aug. 31, 2020

personal essay

What my 14-day quarantine at the Sheraton Hotel was really like

By Nathan Fenningdorf columnist

A

fter spending months isolating at home, the last thing I expected when I returned to Syracuse University was to be stuck alone in a room at the Sheraton Hotel for 14 days. Now, as the first week of quarantine has (slowly) passed, I have gotten a better sense of the protocols and safety precautions that SU is using to combat the spread of the coronavirus while also experiencing the consequences of quarantining on campus.

But first, a little more about my time at home before returning to Syracuse. Since one of my family members is immuno-compromised, March through May was spent at home without seeing friends or extended family or going to the grocery store, instead relying on Amazon deliveries and local restaurantsturned-grocery delivery services. So when SU announced we would be coming back to school in August and shared the precautions that would be part of university life, I was, frankly, elated. The announcement also prepared me well for what came next.

Unfortunately, my second day on campus, I came into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. I followed the

COVID-19 Response Checklist as SU directed. Within minutes of discussing my exposure with a worker at the Barnes Center at The Arch, a medical transport van was waiting outside my dorm to take me to the Sheraton. I was given a key to my room, and without any face-toface interaction, I was in my hotel room, where I have remained since.

SU representatives or Onondaga County officials did not contact me during the first three days of quarantine, leading to major concerns for my family and I. Without being given any instruction or rules, I was very much in the dark on what was expected of me in quarantine. Since those first three days, I have received contact from SU representatives who have been friendly and helpful.

The food that the Sheraton provides has exceeded my expectations.

With that being said, I’m lucky to not have any dietary restrictions; others may have had a much different experience with the food service in quarantine. I get three meals delivered to my door daily. When I ran out of snacks, I called my SU representative and requested more, which were delivered right away and were high-quality.

The consequences of quarantining at SU have been somewhat serious, especially through the first

Students who come in close contact with a person who tests positive for COVID-19 must go through a 14-day quarantine at the Sheraton Hotel. nathan fenningdorf columnist

week of classes. With campus-wide Zoom outages and no ability to attend class in person, I was completely out of the loop for at least two of my classes throughout week one. After spending months away from my friends, I have still been unable to see a majority of them on campus, adding to the negative aspects of quarantine.

Some activities I have been doing to keep busy include taking my classes virtually, watching the NBA, “getting fresh air” by opening my window a crack and breathing out of it, working out (barely), FaceTiming friends and making music. While I have certainly found myself in an unfortunate situation, I can’t complain about being at the air-conditioned Sheraton, receiv-

ing three meals a day and not having to pay for anything.

SU is obviously still trying to work out the kinks in the operation, but for having limited time and limited resources, it has created a viable plan for controlling COVID-19 on campus that looks out for both students and staff at the university.

finance

Smart Money: Avoiding debt and easy tips to start budgeting

By Andrea Lan columnist

D

o you want to budget and manage your money more effectively? The key is not to approach these tasks as mathheavy chores, but rather as behaviors and actions that can be easily and unconsciously integrated into your life once formed into habits.

The average United States household carried $6,849 in credit card debt in 2019. Why does this matter? Credit card debt is the most common and easiest type of debt to owe — 55% of Americans have this debt — and it accumulates based on your actions. Credit card debt also has some of the highest interest rates, with an average annualized interest rate of 17.89%. This means that, assuming you don’t accumulate more debt during the

year, you will be paying about an additional $1225 per year on interest alone.

Most of us have or will incur additional debt on top of this through student loans, mortgages or car loans.

A lot of these debts are unavoidable.

However, credit card debt is something that you can control and get ahead of before it snowballs. Budgeting is an easy and free way to take control of your finances and avoid unnecessary and expensive debt.

As you begin this exciting chapter of freedom at Syracuse University, the responsibility of money management will likely fall on you and will leave you thinking, “Where do I begin?” Budgeting is the foundation of financial freedom and the first step in building economic wealth; it’s also easier than you might think!

Start by gaining an understanding

of your basic income and expenses: 1. What are your weekly expenses? Estimates are fine — as you become more conscious of your spending, you will gain a better understanding of your spending habits. Expenses can include food, entertainment, laundry, transportation, textbooks, basically anything that you spend money on regularly. I recommend that you set aside any money you save at the beginning of each budget cycle rather than saving whatever’s left at the end of the week. Let’s be real: if there’s money left over at the end of the week, it will probably go toward a venti macchiato instead of your savings account.

2. What are your incomes? This can include wages from any on-or off-campus jobs, allowance or money saved up for the semester.

If you are using money that you

saved, be sure to divide it so it can last you through the semester.

3. Add up your expenses and incomes. Is your income able to cover your expenses?

While keeping a record of your budget will help you, forming responsible spending habits is the most important and effective way to improve your finances.

Your incomes and expenses are constantly changing as a student, especially in such an uncertain environment as today’s.

Maintaining and following a rigid budget takes a great amount of time and discipline. If you already have responsible spending habits — from making timely credit card payments to limiting egregious spending — budgeting can be seamlessly integrated into your lifestyle.

If you’ve incurred burdensome expenses related to food, housing,

transportation, medicine or tuition due to the COVID-19 crisis, please fill out the CARES Act Funding Request or the International Student COVID Emergency Relief. The Office of Financial Literacy typically recommends that students maintain a personal emergency fund of $500.

Should there ever be an early closure of the university, having money saved up to cover moving and travel costs will be helpful.

As always, my fellow Smart Money Coaches and I will be available throughout the semester for virtual one-on-one sessions to guide you through any budgeting, saving, investing or student loan questions you may have!

Andrea Lan is a junior finance major. She is a Smart Money coach in the Office of Financial Literacy. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at alan01@g.syr.edu.

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Opinion now accepting personal essays

By Nick Robertson and Emma Folts the daily orange

T

he Daily Orange Opinion section wants to publish your perspective! We’re now accepting personal essay submissions from members of the Syracuse University and Syracuse communities.

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CULTURE

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PAG E 7

aug. 31, 2020

Until next year

Although the New York State Fair was canceled this year, the fairgrounds have hosted drive-thru events and drive-in movies, where attendees can still enjoy fair favorites such as funnel cake.

corey henry senior staff photographer

Fair cancellation upends vendors’ livelihoods

By Sydney Bergan, Mandy Kraynak & Christopher Scarglato the daily orange

F

or the past three years, Josephine’s Glazed Doughnuts owners Gentry and Emily Miller have taken the 10-hour drive up to the New York State Fair from their last stop in West Virginia.

But this year, there was no trip.

Despite being based in Indiana, The Millers would normally be traveling across the country, going from fair to fair for 10 months, and along the way make their stop in New York. Their concession stand would be at the New York Stair Fair right now for its fourth year while they serve up humongous doughnuts to flocks of people.

But due to the cancellation of multiple fairs

this year, including New York State’s, things have changed.

“We’ve lost everything. Our entire season is gone. There is no revenue,” Gentry Miller said.

This year marks the first year that the New York State Fair has been canceled since World War II. And the first time that Dave Bullard, the New York State Fair marketing and public relations manager, has ever taken a vacation during fair week.

“We work all year for this. It’s the thing we work hardest on, and to not be able to do it is sad,” he said. “We certainly understand and agree with the reason why because our foremost concern is that everybody who comes to the fair goes home safe and sound. So with that in mind, we understand, but it doesn’t make it any less melancholy for us.”

This year’s fair was supposed to span 18 days

instead of the normal 13 and was set to have lower admission prices so it could be financially accessible for more people.

Next year’s fair will run from Aug. 20 to Sept.

6 and will be the “absolute best ever,” according to Bullard.

But the cancellation of this year’s fair didn’t come without its negative effects. The New York State Fair has an economic impact of approximately $100 million, Bullard said. In 2019, Spectrum News reported that 1.3 million people went to the fair and spent an average of $77 per person, generating around $100.1 million.

“That’s a lot of jobs, that’s a lot of people making improvements to their homes or buying cars,” Bullard said. see fair page 8

slice of life

SU alumna creates web series about millennials, Gen Z

By Violet Lazarus

contributing writer

The line between Gen Z and Millennials is blurred for a lot of “cuspers,” or people who don’t exactly know where they fit within generational categories.

Caroline Maguire, a Syracuse University graduate of the Class of 2020, is no exception to this uncertainty. Born in 1997, she falls on the spectrum of people born between 1993 and 1997, right between the mark of the Millenial and Gen Z generations.

Through “The Cusp,” a web series on YouTube, Maguire explores the dynamic of feeling left out of a

particular generational group. The series, which launched July 31, deals with problems that some modern 20-somethings face, including being worried about one’s social media presence or feeling unaccomplished compared to younger individuals.

“I’ve always been really interested in generational differences and how that affects people’s personalities,” Maguire said.

Maguire wrote, directed, edited and starred in the three-episode web series. She plays the role of Pat in the series, which also stars SU grad Daniel Preciado as Chris. The pair clumsily and embarrassingly make their way through their last year of college as best friends, both

CAROLINE MAGUIRE (LEFT) AND DANIEL PRECIADO are co-stars in the web series. courtesy of caroline maguire

acknowledging their refusal to grow up but ultimately making peace with it.

In episodes one and two, Pat and Chris encounter members of Gen Z, who are younger than they are.

The duo view the Gen Z members as more successful than themselves in different ways.

Maguire uses comedy to communicate the uncertainty she and her peers experience.

“I wanted to really capture the panic I was feeling,” she said.

She produced “The Cusp,” her nearly completed senior thesis, before SU ended on-campus instruction in March due to COVID-19. She see web

series page 8

8 aug. 31, 2020

dailyorange.com culture@dailyorange.com

from page 7

fair

While there won’t be live music from bands such as REO Speedwagon this year, the fairgrounds will not be completely vacant.

At Orange Lot Madness events, visitors can enjoy fair classics such as funnel cake, blooming onions and other fried foods. The Villa Pizze Fritte, The Butcher Boys and Big Kahuna’s are some of the vendors participating in drive-thru events at the fairgrounds.

These events also feature free drive-in movies, including films like “Groundhog Day,” and “Dirty Dancing.” “The Binge,” a film from Syracuse-based studio American High, premiered at a drive-in screening at the fairgrounds on Thursday and was shown again the next night.

Syracuse University sophomores Leah Buxbaum and Kat Davey attended the premiere of “The Binge.” It was the first time that the two students had ever been to a drive-in movie. Buxbaum said she loved the film, which featured actors from “Booksmart,” one of her favorite movies.

Davey has never been to the New York State Fair before, so it was also the first time that she saw the fairgrounds themselves. “(The attendees) just wanted to be able to have some fun at a local spot. It’s a really big place, so you can socially distance and still have fun,” she said.

Following the screenings of “The Binge” on Thursday and Friday nights, a performance from Metallica was shown on the drive-in from page 7

web series received funding for the project through the SOURCE grant, a cross-disciplinary grant through the university.

She worked on the project alongside her faculty advisor, Tula Goenka. Goenka and Maguire worked on a proposal for the idea in 2019, and Maguire finished the script when she was in the Newhouse in LA program.

When it came time for her to film “The Cusp” in the spring of 2020, she already had a

Onondaga County 4-H held virtual fair activities for 4-H club members, as well as an in-person dairy clinic. courtesy of onondaga county 4-H

screen at the fairgrounds on Saturday night.

Youth involved in 4-H have also found ways to adapt and maintain some elements of the fair despite its cancellation. The Onondaga County 4-H program hosted a 4-H Virtual Fair Activities program as well as Virtual Project and Animal Shows, the group wrote in a Facebook post.

Many of the 4-H club members worked on their projects throughout the whole year and kept track of their progress in project books,

said Cindy Albro, the Onondaga 4-H program coordinator. The 4-H members were upset to learn that the fair, which serves as the culmination of their work, was canceled, so the Cornell University Cooperative Extension staff put on a virtual fair for them, Albro said.

Participants at the weekly virtual sessions learned about topics such as beekeeping and bird watching. At one session, a 4-H member gave a virtual tutorial on feeding baby goats.

script and a cast.

“I think that’s what really helped make it what it is, because she was ahead,” Goenka said.

The majority of the series was filmed before students were sent home. Only one scene had to be re-written and shot after spring break.

Saachi Jain, a junior film major in SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, worked as the cinematographer for “The Cusp.” She and the rest of the cast and crew quickly found themselves deeply invested in the project. The series started to feel like a passion project for her, even though it was Maguire’s thesis.

“(Maguire) highlighted a certain sense of self-questioning and struggle in between the lines and in the nuances,” Jain said. “She just perfectly encapsulated what it’s like to be on the cusp of something.”

Jain and Maguire would sometimes meet for a small amount of time between classes, trying to squeeze work in for the project whenever possible. The eight-person crew would sometimes film for entire days on the weekends.

Even though the series was written before the COVID-19 pandemic, the humor, nuances

Another one of the 4-H programs, the Virtual Project and Animal Shows began with an inperson dairy clinic, where participants learned how to show a calf.

With the lifting of some COVID-19 restrictions, the fairgrounds also were able to host horse shows in the Colosseum as well as weekly Red Cross blood drives, Bullard said.

The fair generates 80% of the fairgrounds revenue while other events run by promoters who rent the grounds generate the other 20%, Bullard said.

In order to keep people engaged, the New York State Fair social media accounts have been hosting various contests and virtual events. This includes a butter sculpting contest in which participants are encouraged to create a butter sculpture with up to five pounds of butter to commemorate the annual butter sculpture made by the American Dairy Association North East.

The official ADANE butter sculpture will be shown in a live-streamed video. In addition, they are hosting an event called “three for four” in which participants receive four fair tickets for the 2021 season if they visit three of the fair’s vendors establishments and upload the receipts, Bullard said.

“I’m not an epidemiologist so I’m not going to predict the flow of anything,” Bullard said.

“I will simply say if the fair happens it will be the absolute knockout best fair we’ve ever delivered. We’ve been working hard on it, we’re going to put more of everything and more new things then we’ve ever done.” culture@dailyorange.com

of the characters and timeless themes of being stressed college seniors looking into the unknown hold more relevance than ever. Jain credits Maguire’s writing to the charm and universal accessibility of “The Cusp.”

But to Maguire, she wrote what she knew about and was interested in.

“It came from my fascination with Gen Z but also my disillusionment of not identifying with millennials,” Maguire said. “Who are these people? And we’re just confused; I think that’s what I settled on.” velazaru@syr.edu

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From the

stage dailyorange.com @dailyorange aug. 31, 2020

Dance groups alter formats

(FROM LEFT) KEARA BLANTON, TRE BURROWS, ASAJAHNIQUE COLLINS AND KIARA RICE are members of Creations Dance Company, one of the several SU dance groups that are turning to outdoor rehearsals as well as virtual auditions and events. Danceworks, another student dance group had its last in-person performance last March.

corey henry senior staff photographer, courtesy of erik liu

Campus dance groups are planning virtual performances and outdoor rehearsals

By Matthew Nerber contributing writer

D

anceworks co-producer Connor Muldoon’s last normal day before the coronavirus pandemic was the day of The Spring Showcase, the organization’s biggest event of the year.

The showcase, held in March, would be the organization’s last performance held in person.

Like most registered student organizations at SU, Danceworks, a student-run dance organization, has had to regroup for the fall 2020 semester and come up with an entirely different playbook.

Auditions, rehearsals and performances that would normally take place in person have become largely virtual, said Chandler Plante, director of Danceworks. She’s taking classes remotely and running the dance group from her home in Tucson, Arizona.

For any rehearsal or performance taking place in person, Danceworks will enforce maskwearing, social distancing and strict limits on room capacity.

“Dance typically requires people to be in close proximity because of formations,” Plante said. “It sometimes involves partner work.

So we’re, at this point, still searching for the safest options.”

During a normal fall semester, Danceworks would be busy planning SU’s Homecoming, an event that typically takes place in

September or October.

With in-person performances largely postponed due to state and university social distancing guidelines, Homecoming will likely be a virtual event. Other dance organizations will submit videos of dance numbers to be streamed online, Plante said. “(With Homecoming) we invite all the different dance organizations on campus to perform,” Plante said. “So we’ve had to get creative with that, too. This is so different from anything we’ve ever done.”

The amount of communication between the numerous dance organizations on campus is also different this year, said Miles Johnson, cochair of Raíces Dance Troupe, a Latin-based group that traditionally participates in Danceworks’ Homecoming event.

Johnson and co-chair Kaithlyn Atty created “The Thinking Ahead Committee,” for all dance organizations on campus to share ideas and information throughout the fall semester.

“There are a lot of what-ifs,” Johnson said.

“There is just a laundry list of questions that we had to answer. This year it’s very important that (the dance organizations) are unified in thought in some sense.”

Raíces has been in close contact with the Office of Student Activities, and SU administration has been transparent about what is possible in terms of in-person activities, Johnson said. Most rehearsals will take place outdoors, if weather permits.

The dance troupe plans to hold auditions online soon, Atty said. Raíces will provide videos of dances to auditioners, who will then tape themselves performing the choreography and send it back to the group.

The collaboration between dance groups has been inspiring, said Asajahnique Collins, coordinator of Creations Dance Company, SU’s oldest student-run dance organization.

The dance groups share a commitment to continue bringing dance to the campus community, Collins said, but she’s looking forward to the day when operations can return to normal.

“We are waiting for the time we can be back together,” Collins said. “The artform of dance is really about relationships. Your relationship with the music, your relationship with (the other) dancers. It’s difficult to have (that) with six feet between people.”

For now, the dance organizations are making the best of the options available to them.

But the overall uncertainty leaves more questions than answers, Muldoon said.

Nothing will be able to replace the feeling of being in front of an audience and working intimately with other dancers, Collins said.

“For me, when I’m on the floor, I wanna feel the vibration of the music, I wanna feel the people who are next to me,” Collins said.

“I want to vibe off of that, and really create something that can’t be done over Zoom.” mjnerber@syr.edu

•

PAGE 9

10 aug. 31, 2020

dailyorange.com sports@dailyorange.com

volleyball

SU volleyball begins 2020 season with experienced roster

By Roshan Fernandez

fall, here’s a complete breakdown of the 2020 roster and what to expect from Syracuse.

After an injury-plagued start to 2019 led to four losses in Syracuse’s first five conference games, the Orange recovered with a five-game winning streak in late October and early November.

Polina Shemanova was the driving force during the Orange’s best spell of the season, which included five-set wins over Boston College and Louisville. Shemanova led the Atlantic Coast Conference in points, points per set, kills and kills per set. Then a sophomore, she was named ACC player of the week for three consecutive weeks.

But for the Orange’s season, that wasn’t enough.

After making it to the NCAA tournament in 2018 for the first time in program history, Syracuse (12-13, 9-9 ACC) turned in a middling season plagued by injuries and inexperience. The Orange couldn’t seem to overcome early season woes, and their season turned into an unexpected “developmental year,” outside hitter Kendra Lukacs said.

This year, due to the ACC’s coronavirus schedule adjustments, SU is set to play a shortened season with 10 conference games. With 11 of the Orange’s 13 players returning this

Who’s back

In 2019, the Orange’s roster was young — nearly half the roster spots were filled by freshmen, and Aliah Bowllan was the only senior regularly in the starting lineup. Now, with the Orange returning five of their six regular starters, expectations should be higher.

Sophomore Marina Markova, who suffered a season-ending finger injury in mid-October, finished the year with the second-most aces per set in the ACC (0.46). Early in the season, she led SU in service aces and had the eighth most in the country. The outside hitter also found success at middle blocker during SU’s spell of blocking struggles.

Setter Elena Karakasi recorded 804 assists last season, and barring a few mishaps in her first season as a starter, she was perhaps the Orange’s most consistent player.

Now a junior, Shemanova is coming off a 2019 season where she finished fifth in the nation for points per set and broke the Syracuse record for most kills in a single game (36) against Louisville on Nov. 3. Though she lacked consistency early

Who’s gone

from page 12

“In Hamlet’s soliloquy, your eyes are just trained on Hamlet. You’re following his every word and his every move and his every action.

I think a no-hitter has that sort of feel as a lead and a drama.”

Benetti was thankful to be at the ballpark this time. He called Korean Baseball League games for ESPN in May while the MLB delayed its season, and the work reminded him of covering games in the minors that sometimes had low-production broadcasts and smaller crowds.

When the MLB returned at the end of July, Benetti began calling games from his usual booth on the South Side of Chicago. For him, road games felt closer to normal than the White Sox’s scheduled 30 home games this season.

“There aren’t fans trickling in and the smell of Italian sausage isn’t there and the grilled onions,” Benetti said. “It’s Twilight zone-ish to be in the ballpark where you’re used to having fans and they’re not there.”

Usually, Benetti forgot about the empty stadium, like during Tuesday’s no-hitter. But a couple of weeks ago, the White Sox hit fourstraight home runs, a feat only done 10 times in the majors all-time. It was 85 degrees and sunny, and Benetti kept picturing how the ballpark would’ve reacted.

“There have been people who’ve said to me, ‘I would have had like four dozen people here,’” Benetti said. “That makes me sad, like I hate that. I think tapping into that understanding and knowing that there are people out there who really want nothing more than to be there — they’ve gotta be mentioned.”

his eyes. The Las Vegas Golden Knights radio broadcaster couldn’t look away from the puck anymore because he was focused on three 60-inch television feeds.

Because of their distance from the team’s bubble in Edmonton, D’Uva and his broadcasting partner Gary Lawless usually have to operate with an 11.7 second delay. If there are errors — which sometimes happen, though most viewers are unaware — they’ll improvise on the fly.

“We have rolled with the punches,” D’Uva said. “We think of radio as this theater of the mind. And just like any stage performer, you want to control the audience’s attention.”

Two years ago, D’Uva was one of 20,000 inside that stadium calling the team’s Stanley Cup run in its inaugural season. But the Golden Knight’s third-straight playoff run is not quite the same.

“The central dilemma of journalism is that you don’t know what you don’t know,” D’Uva said. “And I don’t know the things that I’ve missed by being remote.”

On radio, the natural soundtrack of pads hitting glass and sticks grazing sticks aren’t there for him to work with. More than ever, D’Uva has to focus on how a crowd might react to important moments when matches reach their apex, like when the Golden Knights won game two of their first round series in overtime.

The Golden Knight’s radio studio is nearly 1,500 miles from the site of Vegas’ playoff run. D’Uva doesn’t know where he’ll be next.

Depending on how far the Golden Knights go into the postseason, the team will make a decision if D’Uva and his crew will join the fanless NHL bubble in Edmonton, he said.

asst. sports editor

broadcasters a 40-footer near the end of the game — part of a 61-point effort — that hit the back iron of the hoop, hung for what Eagle said felt like 10 seconds, and went in.

“Somehow it went in, and as I exclaimed ‘RIDICULOUS,’ I looked around and realized there was nobody there to enjoy the moment in person,” Eagle said in an email. “Normally, when you have an incredible highlight like that, you pause and take in the ambiance.”

After 20 days in the bubble, Eagle is now preparing to call NFL games, as its season is slated to begin Sept. 10.

“The NFL will probably have a similar feel, though each venue may approach gameday differently,” Eagle said. “The TV presentation shouldn’t look very different from what fans are accustomed to, but the scene at the stadiums will be more sterile. I expect the broadcast setup to be nearly identical to what I experienced in the bubble, though until you’re actually in it, you never quite know.”

A NO-HITTER IN BASEBALL IS SACRED. That’s why Benetti, the TV broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox, and his partner Steve Stone reflexively stood up for the final out of a potential no-hitter from pitcher Lucas Giolito on Tuesday. He wanted to replicate “people at home at the very edge of their seats wondering what was going to happen,” he said.

Benetti was lost in Giolito’s eye. But even without fans, Benetti still felt the tension of the moment.

“If you think about it in a Shakespearian way, you think about a lead in a play,” Benetti said. from page 12

emerman technology hasn’t caught on in college football yet.

“The amount of tests that they’re doing is where my confidence lies, and I would hope that with efficient testing, two, three times a week from each school, that we can prevent anything bad from happening when we get down there,” junior safety Andre Cisco said.

The Atlantic Coast Conference will test athletes three times per week during the season, but issues remain, Larsen said. A recent Johns Hopkins study found a high rate of false negative results for pre-symptomatic infected people. Testing is crucial and can help identify from page 12

carrier dome conditioned as early as this fall, Sala said. Previously, the air conditioning units were not expected to be operational until May 2021.

Because the building was originally designed to have air conditioning, installing fans, coils and other equipment was straightforward, Sala said. The air filtration units have

LIVE FROM AN ABANDONED NHL DRAFT WAR ROOM, Dan D’Uva needed to retrain

on during the season, she made up for it in the latter half and the expectation is that she’ll only get better, Lukacs said last year.

The Orange lost libero Bowllan and Lukacs to graduation, but will return the remaining 11 players from last season.

Replacing the difficult digs that Bowllan made look routine will not be easy. She had 240 digs last season and averaged a team-high four per set, and served as “the leader of the defense,” assistant coach Derryk Williams said.

Sophomore Berkley Hayes is Bowllan’s expected replacement, but in comparison to her fellow sophomores, Hayes rarely saw the court in 2019 — she had 27 digs in 61 sets last year. Hayes has big shoes to fill, though she was relatively consistent during her limited playing time as a freshman.

When Bowllan missed nearly a month due to a right ankle injury, Lukacs filled in. Though she was only used sporadically throughout the season, she played a large role as a “senior leader” on the team, Williams said.

SU also added two new players to fill those roster spots, freshmen Lauren Hogan

SOME STADIUMS HAVE HAD THOU-

and Naomi Franco.

What to expect

With the offensive abilities of Shemanova, Markova, Ella Saada and an emerging Abby Casiano, paired with the growing chemistry the four have developed with Karakasi, SU will be a serious offensive threat.

The Orange already have a superstar in Shemanova, and so long as she continues to show up in the game’s most clutch moments, the Orange will continue to impress offensively.

When she gets into a rhythm, Shemanova is able to notch kills through as many as three blockers. “(You) cannot have five drivers in one car.

You know what’s going to happen, and (our team is) not an exception for this,” Head Coach Leonid Yelin said in 2019. “Shemanova is one who can make a difference and has to step up to the challenge that we have.”

Though there isn’t an NCAA tournament this fall, the Orange can be a very dangerous side, if they show up defensively. Following the unexpected rebuild in 2019 and barring another injury plagued season, Syracuse’s more experienced 2020 team should outperform last year’s. rferna04@syr.edu | @roshan_f16

SANDS OF FANS, THOUGH. This summer in Texas, SU senior Will Scott was the voice of Brazos Valley Bombers, one of the first collegiate leagues to continue amid the pandemic. In their first game at the end of June, 2,000 people were in the stands, he said.

“For me, it was surprisingly normal,” Scott said. “I didn’t notice any big differences. I didn’t have to wear a mask on air, and I was six feet from my analyst.”

Ballparks were filled at half-capacity, and as Texas’ case numbers surged at the end of July, Scott worried the playoffs wouldn’t go on. The Bombers didn’t record a positive test during their 30-game regular season, in which players were tested three times a week. But one team in the league was shut down before the playoffs because of an outbreak, Scott said.

“We were lucky,” Scott said.

Another SU senior, Cooper Boardman, had a similar experience in New York. Broadcasting for the All-American Baseball Challenge, a showcase league, Boardman wasn’t allowed on the field and was restricted to his own booth.

Boardman’s usual schedule — talking to players, arriving several hours early to prepare — was upended. The funniest part of the experience was watching foul balls, he said. Usually, dozens of people chase after the bouncing line drives in unison, hoping to bring a souvenir home. Instead, only a few chase after the balls, pausing when they get within six feet of each other.

“You’re constantly looking around if people are doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” Boardman said. “I’m pretty cynical, and honestly, at this point, how can you not be, but everybody was doing what they needed to.” kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman

cases, but perhaps not early enough. Even as athletes are required to test negative within three days of a game, a false negative would allow competitors to play with COVID-19, putting everyone involved at risk.

It’s a numbers game, Larsen said, and the probability of an athlete playing while being infectious is higher in a place with wide community spread, like Chapel Hill. The possibility of an SU athlete contracting the virus at an away game or a visiting player bringing it to Syracuse is real.

Liberty is scheduled to come to Syracuse on Oct. 17. The football program, which recently announced it will follow the ACC’s safety measures, previously tested only symptomatic athletes and staffers, which Director of Athletics

John Wildhack called “deeply troubling.” Inviting any heightened risk like that into the community would be irresponsible.

Syracuse Athletics has been taking the risks seriously. Strict health guidelines drove down cases during training camp.

Unlike several other schools, SU never had to pause voluntary workouts or camp because of case clusters. As a whole, the university’s 10 active cases in central New York and less than 1% positivity rate of COVID-19 on campus should be a negligible concern, especially compared to that of other schools.

But if there’s one thing this virus has taught us, it’s that sometimes it doesn’t matter how careful you are. The “Stay Safe Pledge,” which includes restricting students from traveling

outside central New York, is designed to keep Syracuse’s community safe. Of course, for football, and all college sports, to happen, athletes will be crossing state lines.

There are conversations to be had about the morality of placing athletes above citizens in regards to them being essential workers.

Those ideas become even more existential when framed around amateurism.

Regardless, SU football has valid concerns about traveling to away games, particularly in areas with rampant community spread. With the non-zero possibility that a player catches COVID-19, and infects students or faculty when they return to campus, maybe the rest of us should be, too.

been upgraded to meet the requirements and help combat COVID-19.

“We have an incredible capability to roll the air over the building multiple times an hour,” Sala said.

One of the most noticeable upgrades will be the four-sided, 62.5-by-20 foot video board directly below the new roof. Four additional 20-by-10 foot boards will also be added into the four corners of the Dome. The main video board

will be equipped with enhanced lighting and sound capabilities, which have been pre-aimed and wired.

But before the video boards, sound and lighting systems can be installed, work on the roof must be completed to make the Dome “watertight,” since that equipment can’t get wet, Sala said. Similar to 2019 upgrades at Iowa, BYU and Old Dominion’s football stadiums, the Dome will also feature new concession stands

and restrooms.

While the renovations are nearing completion, it’s still unclear when Syracuse fans will be able to experience the upgrades firsthand.

Gov. Cuomo announced in July that fans would be prohibited from college sporting events this fall, though Director of Athletics John Wildhack said SU would seek “further clarification” on the order.

dremerma@syr.edu

athamer@syr.edu | @alexhamer8

aug. 31, 2020 11

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Affordable Off-Campus Housing

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SPORTS

dailyorange.com sports@dailyorange.com

PAG E 12

aug. 31, 2020

football

Emerman: SU sports travel a problem

By Danny Emerman senior staff writer

photo illustration by nabeeha anwar presentation director

Sportscasters adjust to bubbles, COVID-19 restrictions 5 current and former SU broadcasters adapt to unique collegiate and professional games

By KJ Edelman

senior staff writer

T

his story is a preview of this week’s D.O. Sportscast, which is released every Tuesday. Listen to our past episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

When sports returned, most fans felt a bit of normalcy again. There were no fans, less travel and fewer games, but broadcasters still reeled audiences in.

As players largely compete in empty arenas and stadiums due to the coronavirus pandemic, broadcasters’ narration of games has become more important than ever. Some have been forced to call games remotely, while others have been some of the only personnel allowed inside. They’ve had to adjust

their entire approach, but many haven’t even noticed.

“We’d better not complain or give a little bit less than our best because there are people watching for the first time,” MLB play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti said. “If you’re a baseball fan and you’re watching for the first time, you do not want to hear me complain about the monitor.’”

Current and former Syracuse broadcasters spoke with The Daily Orange about covering each major league that returned this summer, revealing how they adjusted to the new restrictions.

IN THE FIRST PROFESSIONAL SPORTS BUBBLE, Ian Eagle didn’t have the chance to go through his nor-

mal rounds of conversations with players, coaches and others in the media. He just kept his head down and went about his business.

“It was certainly different than anything I’ve covered in my 30 years of broadcasting,” he said.

Fifteen rows above one of the nearly-empty NBA courts in Orlando, plexiglass separated Eagle from his partner, Stan Van Gundy. Eagle initially thought he might’ve been detached from the action, but the level of play was “extremely high” and helped Eagle forget about his surroundings, he said.

In one of the first 10 games he called in the bubble, Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard hoisted see broadcasters page 10

su athletics

Carrier Dome renovations on track for opener

By Alex Hamer

asst. sports editor

Though the coronavirus pandemic shut down Syracuse’s campus in March, the $118 million Carrier Dome renovations have continued.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order on March 20 required all nonessential workers to stay home, but construction workers were not included, allowing renovations to the Dome to continue.

Syracuse Vice President and Chief Facilities Officer Pete Sala said at a press conference Aug. 7 that renovations remain on track for the Dome

to be operational for SU’s football home-opener against Georgia Tech on Sept. 26.

“I’m very confident,” Sala said.

“I’m watching what’s going up, I know when things are supposed to be in town in Syracuse. The workforce is very, very, very dedicated.”

The renovations, announced in May 2018, include accessibility measures to comply with guidelines from the Americans with Disabilities Act, improved WiFi and a four-sided video board in the stadium’s center. While other universities’ recent stadium renovations have focused on increasing

capacity, SU was able to modernize in different areas because the Dome already seats nearly 50,000 people.

The main priority ahead of the football opener is ensuring upgrades to the field’s surface are completed.

The track surface, which goes under the field turf, was in “pretty rough shape,” Sala said. Much of that has now been stripped away and is set to be levelled, with installation occurring in the last week of the project, Sala said.

The field upgrades are different from that of the University of Maine’s Alfond Stadium. The university plans to replace its 12-year-old turf

field. Field turfs typically last eight to 15 years, but heavy usage can also shorten their lifespan, Maine athletic director Ken Ralph said.

The Dome upgrades are similar to other schools in terms of air conditioning, however. Arizona State’s renovations to Sun Devil Stadium in 2019 featured additional air conditioning, while the University of Florida added air conditioning to its practice facility in 2015.

The installation was ahead of schedule as of Aug. 7, with about 80% of the work done. The progress will allow some sections to be air see carrier

dome page 10

After spending much of the summer in a safe, contained environment on campus, many Syracuse football players are worried.

Early in training camp, they sat out multiple practices to address health concerns associated DANNY with playing EMERMAN this season.

UBUNTU Chief among them was the idea of traveling to campuses where COVID-19 is more prevalent than in central New York and where it’s unclear how well their opponents are protected and handling the virus.

On Aug. 13, defensive lineman Josh Black said it’s the “biggest concern.” Defensive back Trill Williams didn’t rule out potentially sitting out a game if the Orange felt their opponent’s protocol was insufficient.

SU’s tour up and down the east coast begins in two weeks in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on a campus that recently reported a 31.3% COVID-19 positivity rate.

If the season persists through the pandemic, Syracuse will make three additional trips to hot states on New York’s travel advisory: South Carolina, Kentucky and Indiana. Athletes are right to be concerned — these road trips have the potential to put the whole Syracuse community at risk. “(The players’) safety depends a lot on what North Carolina and what the other teams are doing, and if there’s going to be a case on the other teams, which is highly likely given the transmission dynamics of the schools with the teams at risk,” David Larsen, an environmental epidemiologist and SU professor, told The Daily Orange.

“My primary concern is the Syracuse players bringing it back to our campus, which I think would be pretty probable,” he said.

The seemingly obvious risks of traveling may be overstated. Transmission levels in transit have been low, and hotels are generally safe, Larsen said. SU head coach Dino Babers said the traveling protocols emphasize staying as a group, limiting contact with the outside world and getting in and out as quickly as possible. No Magic City, no sneaking girls into the hotel.

Babers has compared the team’s traveling guidelines to a “contained bubble,” similar to that of the NBA. Larsen said it’s possible to create such an environment, as long as everyone involved is diligent in insulating themselves within the bubble.

Larsen iis less concerned about a player contracting COVID-19 on an airplane or in a hotel than he is with what happens on the field.

Players can’t socially distance or wear masks, and face shield see emerman page 10