N • Professors’ plea
SU professors are calling on administrators to “stand firm” against the Trump administration’s push to limit academic freedoms.
Page 3
Contagious creativity
Christine Lane, a SU alumna, is remembered for her warmth and strong relationships
C • Meet the Mets
Diamond Baseball Holdings acquired the Syracuse Mets in December. Mets GM Jason Smorol says little will change.
By Henry Daley asst. news editor
In 1999, Doug Lane snuck into the Boston University boathouse with his roommate to watch the Head of the Charles rowing competition.
Inside, he met Christine Lane, who was dressed in a “classic 90’s post-college” baggy sweater and chunky black boots.
Out of 40,00o people in the crowd, Doug was instantly attracted to Christine, but felt too shy to ask her out. After the race, Doug’s roommate got Christine’s email address. Before long, they were dating.
collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside of Washington, D.C. Her 16-year-old son Spencer also died in the crash. The two were returning from a development camp after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships ended.
Her energy was amazing, like sparkling, and everyone loved her, and her laugh was just contagious.
Leah Johnson
christine’s college roomate
“When I started spending time with her, she was always very driven. There was always something to do,” Doug said. “We’re going to go do this activity, or we’re going to work on this project for the apartment, or what have you.”
Christine, a 1997 Syracuse University graduate, died on Jan. 29 when an Army helicopter and an American Airlines jet
Born in Cranford, New Jersey, Christine earned a degree in communications design from SU before moving to Boston, Massachusetts, where she married Doug. Years later, the two adopted Spencer and their other son, Milo. Doug said while he and Christine were engaged, she made all their wedding invitations by hand, decorating them with elaborate embossing. She even made handmade soap for each of the guests at their wedding.
He said that her attention to detail allowed her creativity to flourish, and fueled her moments of spontaneity.
“I used to call her ‘Do-It-Yourself Conrad’ because she just refused to let anyone do anything that she could do better,” Doug said. “She was always just
S • Family ties
Mileena Cotter’s relationship with her older brother, who has won an NHL Stanley Cup, helped shape her into a freshman star.
Page 12
on campus
Students condemn DOEd shutdown
By Duncan Green news editor
Sophie Engels was assigned to report on the U.S. Department of Education for her global marketing strategy class this spring, closely following the Trump administration as it began efforts to dismantle the department.
As the Syracuse University sophomore examined the complexities of federal financial aid, research grants and the billions of dollars supporting academic institutions at all levels, she struggled to express her feelings in words.
Everyone in America, regardless of class and regardless of national background, deserves the same level of education that I got.
Margaux Blin su junior
“It’s completely ridiculous,” Engels said.
Since President Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin the complete removal of the department last Thursday, many SU students have shared Engels’ sentiment, voicing widespread concern about the future of academic financial aid and access to research programs. In the order, the president instructed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “facilitate the closure” of the DOEd to “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
An SU junior studying biology, who asked to remain unnamed due to retaliation concerns, said they and most of their friends rely on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and other forms of federal aid to attend school. With the funding cuts, they fear they will lose the ability to pursue an education. Several other students also expressed concern about paying for school. Without aid, attending SU cost $88,560 for undergraduates living on campus in the 2024-25 school year, according to the university’s website.
Eighty-one percent of SU students depend on some form of financial aid, totaling $498 million, according to the university’s website. Thirty-five percent of them rely on federal aid. USA Today
Christine Lane’s college roommates remembered their time living together and described her as a creative spirit and dedicated friend. courtesy of jen imbaro
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WEATHER
COMING UP
Noteworthy events this week.
WHAT: OttoTHON 2025
WHEN: Saturday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
WHERE: Schine Student Center, Goldstein Auditorium
WHAT: SU Department of Drama: What The Moon Saw
WHEN: Saturday, 8 p.m.
WHERE: Syracuse Stage/Drama Theater Complex
WHAT: Women’s Empowerment Brunch
WHEN: Sunday, 1–4 p.m.
WHERE: Barner-McDuffie House
Faculty letter encourages SU to ‘stand firm’ against Trump
By Duncan Green news editor
As of Wednesday evening, over 130 Syracuse University faculty and staff members have cosigned a letter sent to SU administrators, urging the university to “stand firm” and resist the Trump administration’s demands on academic institutions across the United States.
The letter follows Columbia University’s decision to comply with the president’s demands on Friday.
SU professor Harriet Brown, the letter’s lead author, said she grew increasingly anxious as she watched Columbia “cave” to the White House. Desperate to take action, Brown decided to author a letter to SU’s chancellor, provost and board of trustees, encouraging them not to comply with the administration’s demands.
“If the federal administration is coming for institutes of higher education, agreeing to a long list of demands will not stop them,” the letter reads. “... on the contrary; these actions are likely to damage the university, perhaps irreparably.”
Following its Friday decision, Columbia announced it would create a new internal security unit consisting of 36 “special officers” responsible for arresting and removing people from campus, the New York Times reported. The university also banned students from wearing masks in “disruptive settings” on campus — a hallmark of nationwide college protests over the past year — and said it will adopt a formal definition of antisemitism.
Brown, who teaches magazine, news and digital journalism, said her colleagues at Columbia have been “distraught” over the university’s new plans. Initially, she sent the letter to a few colleagues, who signed and distributed it further.
SU Chancellor Kent Syverud responded within 15 minutes of receiving the letter, The Daily Orange confirmed.
“Thank you Harriet. Received, read, and will share with our board. I’m grateful for this work” Syverud wrote.
Margaret Susan Thompson, a SU history professor and signee of the letter, said she appreciated the chancellor’s acknowledgement, but challenged the university’s repeated commit-
ment to “adhering to the law” as it faces pressure from federal agencies.
Thompson grew up during the Red Scare and Civil Rights Movement, and watched her father, then a professor at the University of Florida, face backlash for supporting and advocating for academic freedom. She said she never imagined she’d see similar threats to universities to the ones her father encountered.
When her father advocated for racial equality and desegregation in the classroom in the 1960s, Thompson noted that, by the legal standards of the time, his actions were “illegal.” As she prepares material for her courses on right-wing extremism and women’s history, Thompson said she remains aware that some federal agencies view her teaching as unimportant — or even as violations of the law.
“What does (Syverud) consider the law in this case?” Thompson said. “Because President Trump has signed so many executive orders, does he regard those as the law? Many of them, quite frankly, are unconstitutional.”
At these pivotal moments in history, Sarah Pralle, an SU political science professor, said fear and uncertainty are normal. Brown emphasized this, adding that authoritarian governments often use fear to suppress academic institutions.
Pralle, who teaches a course on social movements, said the demands placed on Columbia and other universities highlight the extent Trump is willing to go to control discourse in higher education. The “chilling effect” of intense police presence and government oversight on students’ right to protest, Pralle said, is typical in similar historical moments.
“It’s really a part of their playbook,” Pralle said. “... any institution that’s still committed to telling the truth, they go after.”
Thompson said the letter is a commitment from faculty to face these pressures together, and encouraged a similar commitment from administration. With a unified effort, she said the university will have a better chance at standing up to Trump’s demands, should he
turn his gaze to SU. On Jan. 24, The Chronicle of Higher Education listed the university as a “possible target” for federal investigation.
“We appreciate our colleagues’ commitment to Syracuse University and, more broadly, higher education,” Sarah Scalese, an SU spokesperson, wrote in a Wednesday evening statement to The D.O. “As Chancellor Syverud and Provost Agnew have reiterated in various forums, the University remains focused on advancing its academic mission, upholding its core values, and being welcoming to all.”
SU is not included in the Office of Civil Rights’ investigation of 60 universities for alleged “antisemitic discrimination and harassment.” On March 6, the university informed students and faculty it will review SU programming and curriculum for compliance with federal diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility regulations.
“We are not going to do some of the things you’re seeing elsewhere,” Syverud said during last week’s University Senate meeting. “So we’re not going to have large-scale layoffs. We’re not going to have across-theboard hiring freezes. We’re not going to have deep budget cuts or other drastic measures in graduate programs.”
Syverud also acknowledged the difficulty of predicting the federal government’s next steps, but told senators he expected to provide a more comprehensive update once SU’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion completes its reviews.
Amid this uncertainty, Brown said solidarity between universities and professors across the country is crucial to the success of their movement. After sending the letter to colleagues at Boston University, Brown said they’ve been inspired to draft their own.
Pralle also hopes for widespread unity among professors. She said without large-scale efforts to resist Trump’s orders, the federal government will be able to “pick off institutions one by one.”
“What we have to do as professors is not back down,” Thompson said. “We should be able to count on the university administration standing behind us, not necessarily agreeing with what we say, but agreeing with our right to say it.”
digreen@syr.edu @duncanigreen
‘Latinas in Media’ addresses barriers in the media industry
By Harry Kelly staff writer
Jade Aulestia, a Syracuse University senior, said that while diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility were frequently discussed in media and academic spaces, these conversations rarely led to meaningful change.
This observation led Aulestia, president of the SU Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, to help organize and moderate Wednesday night’s “Latinas in Media,” panel event, featuring five Latina media professionals.
The women, four of whom are alumnae of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, discussed the barriers they’ve faced across the journalism, public relations and photography industries and offered advice for students entering communications professions. The event was hosted in collaboration with SU’s Student Association and was part of its Multicultural Week programming.
“My four years here, there’s never really been an event like this,” Aulestia said. “In terms of Women’s History Month and Multicultural Week, we were like, ‘Latinas in Media is really cool.’ Combining two different groups of minorities and having them all represented was really nice.”
Throughout the event, panelists also acknowledged the challenges of organizing a DEIA-focused event amid the Trump administration’s ongoing pressure campaign to remove DEIA initiatives from higher education.
One panelist, Isabel Sánchez, a reporter for NBC10 and Telemundo 62 in Philadelphia, said it was inspiring to hear from her fellow Latinas in a space like Newhouse, especially as an alumna, despite the ongoing DEIA backlash.
“When diversity is being looked at as something terrible, having the space to have conversations like this is really important,” Sánchez said. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, look at me. Poor me. I’m a little brown girl.’ It’s about my experiences (that) might be different. So
having the space to talk about them, I think is really helpful.”
While their experiences varied, the panelists discussed similarities in their careers, especially regarding the challenges of being taken seriously in spaces dominated by white and male coworkers.
Mimi Alas, a content producer and entertainment journalist, described her path to finding her voice as an immigrant from El Salvador while navigating the pressures of securing stable work in the United States to maintain her visa. But last year, however, marked a positive shift in her attitude.
“I was like, ‘Whatever, I’m just going to speak my mind,’” Alas said. “I think that you can speak your mind and say what you want to say without crossing boundaries, without disrespecting people. And I feel like that has helped me to now be more comfortable with who I am.”
Despite these challenges, the panelists also reflected on their major career successes.
Domenica Martin said she had been passed up for promotions and fair compensation while her white and male coworkers advanced, which she described as challenging.
When she spoke to her boss about her concerns, she said she got a sarcastic response in return: “Why don’t you start your own company?”
Martin took her boss’s advice and has since started her own public relations firm. She said she was satisfied proving her doubters wrong.
Estheralice López recalled feeling immense fear after switching her major from health and exercise science to photography while studying at SU. She got emotional recalling her mother’s faith in her throughout the whole transition.
She is now an assistant photo editor at the National Geographic Society, which she said validates her mother’s support.
Arlety González, an award-winning journalist, echoed this sense of pride, highlighting her opportunity to cover the U.S.Mexico border during an election year. She encouraged other Latinas to have faith that, with
hard work and dedication, they too can achieve their professional goals.
“I always say … if they don’t let you through the door, then just find your way through the window,” González said.
Luisana Ortiz, a former president of SU’s NAHJ Chapter and one of the panel’s student organizers, said hearing the panelists’ highs and lows was validating as a Latina who has struggled to retain her identity at SU. She said it was especially meaningful as someone hoping to follow in their footsteps in the media industry.
While recognizing the event as an opportunity to highlight Latinas in a predominately white field, Ortiz said it was an important demonstration of the many different forms success can take. Aulestia expressed
hope the event will continue to inspire future generations and support the growth of Latina members in the media.
“I just hope (students) are seeing themselves in our panelists and are seeing that representation … and that there’s someone out there that looks like you and is looking out for you at every step of the way,” Aulestia said. “And for those that don’t see themselves, (they can) see that these people are just as cool and be a part of helping with that representation.”
Disclaimer: Luisana Ortiz formerly worked as an
flynn ledoux illustration editor
A panel featuring five Latina women in the media industry discussed barriers and successes they’ve faced in their careers on Wednesday night. henry zhang staff photogrpaher
‘Decoding Deception’ provides tools to navigate AI world
By Arabella Klonowski asst. copy editor
Syracuse University’s Regina Luttrell and Jason Davis led “Decoding Deception,” a discussion unpacking the rise of generative artificial intelligence and its responsibility for widespread disinformation, Wednesday evening. The event is the second in SU Vice President for Civic Engagement and Education Gretchen Ritter’s Life Together Series.
Ritter said the lecture provides valuable insight into methodology for AI detection and management in media. After the discussion, she called on the university to continue offering the series going forward.
“For people to be well-informed citizens, they need to be able to understand whether or not this information that they’re receiving is reliable,” Ritter said. “We’re living in a moment where we know that there’s a lot of unreliable information out there, and it’s one of the things that tends to feed political polarization, which is, in a democratic society, very problematic.”
She also said there is a “real need” for the program given the increasing popularity of generative AI.
Luttrell, an associate professor of public relations, and Davis, a research professor, work as co-directors of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications’ Emerging Insights Lab, which observes and analyzes the presence of AI within media. Their research served as the basis of the presentation, challenging audience members to think critically about AI while remaining mindful of their own media consumption.
Luttrell said she’s noticed a shift in her students’ attitudes toward AI, as they were initially hesitant to use it in the classroom. She and Davis both agreed that the integration of AI within society, and academia in particular, is one of the “fastestmoving” advancements they’ve ever seen.
Trump order
By Julia Boehning and Arabella Klonowski the daily orange
“It reminds me a lot of when social media came out and social media was part of the classroom and now there isn’t a class that doesn’t incorporate some form of social media,” Luttrell said. “I think there’s always a phase of adoption. You have the really early adopters, and then you have those that are going to wait it out. I think some faculty are just at the end of waiting.”
A central focus of Luttrell and Davis’ research is the difficulty of recognizing AI use. To demonstrate, they asked attendees to tell the difference between a series of AI-generated images and authentic photographs, along with a poem written by a well-known poet, compared to an AI version where the software was asked to mimic the writing style and cadences of the original author.
Supported by their previous research, Luttrell and Davis found that the untrained human eye has about a 50% success rate in identifying
images or text modified by AI. An AI computer software, such as the one at Emerging Insights Lab, has approximately a 95% success rate of correctly detecting altered media.
Ananya Das, a former BBC journalist and current SU master’s student, said in India, the overwhelming presence of misinformation and disinformation “changed the conversation” about media.
Das, who lived in India before coming to SU to study international relations, said she believes the rest of the world should focus on misinformation, especially considering a lack of global AI regulation.
“(AI) is getting increasingly more sophisticated in terms of technology, but I would still like to believe that human beings are smarter than AI,” Das said. “I think this kind of technology in the wrong hands is also very concerning.”
Luttrell and Davis encouraged users to instead adapt to using AI themselves and looking critically at everything in the media.
To increase AI detection, Luttrell and Davis recommend that people make an effort to educate themselves on where AI content may appear.
“Trust in media over the last several years has really deteriorated, and so I think sometimes we don’t actually stop and fact check ourselves, because we just automatically assume if something is part of that little filter bubble that we’re in,” Luttrell said.
Newhouse Dean Mark Lodato attended the event and echoed Ritter’s sentiment, saying the school will continue to support similar efforts to minimize the impacts of misinformation and disinformation and pointed to the importance of “informed communication” in today’s society.
Despite conversations regarding the harm of AI use, Davis emphasized how crucial it has become in the new media age.
“Generative AI is going to accelerate all the people who have it and have it as a tool, compared to people who are going to be unable to access it, and therefore becoming both a victim of not having that skill set and a victim of not being able to sort of tell when it’s being used against them,” Davis said.
Davis referred to this as the “digital divide,” highlighting an accessibility gap between those able to familiarize themselves with AI and those who remain in the dark about its presence due to a lack of resources.
Luttrell added that while AI began as a free tool, the divide Davis referred to will only grow as paywalls begin to limit its access.
“That last mile with AI is something that people continually don’t want to talk about, because it’s the expensive mile, but it’s the one that matters,” Davis said. “And it’s not solved yet, but I hope we get it right this time.”
akklonow@syr.edu
dismantling DOEd leaves education uncertain
During his second campaign, President Donald Trump repeatedly asserted plans to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education — a goal many education policy experts and economists dismissed as unlikely.
That changed last Thursday.
Trump’s March 20 executive order pledging to dismantle the department was unprecedented, leaving its potential effects on K-12 and higher education uncertain. By Tuesday, multiple groups — including the American Association of University Professors and the N.A.A.C.P. — had filed two separate lawsuits challenging his decision, The New York Times reported
The White House has not clarified how it plans to redistribute the department’s responsibilities, which include the oversight of federal financial aid programs and data collection, or how it will implement these changes.
Syracuse University and other colleges, whose students receive billions in aid and grants annually, could face major shifts depending on how — and if — the transition unfolds. The changes threaten funding for student aid and research.
“Ever since the Department of Education came into being during the Carter administration, people have talked about abolishing it, and it’s never come close to happening,” Sandy Baum, a higher education economist with the Urban Institute, said. “I don’t think anyone foresaw the speed and the draconian nature of the cuts that are being implemented.”
Baum described the potential ramifications of the DOEd’s elimination, as well as Trump’s other attempts to change higher education through his policies, as “a big question mark.” Because congressional approval is needed to close the department, she said it’s difficult to predict exactly how these changes would come to fruition.
One of the department’s most significant responsibilities within higher education is its annual distribution of $120.8 billion in student loans, grants and work-study funds. That’s in addition to its oversight of the at least $1.5 trillion in student debt that American borrowers owe in total. On Friday, Trump announced the U.S. Small Business Administration will take over these responsibilities.
Thirty-five percent of SU undergraduates received federal student loans in the 2022-23 academic year, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, which the DOEd also oversees. During
the 2022-23 academic year, 82% of SU students were awarded “some form of financial support,” including both federal and university-sponsored aid, according to SU’s website.
Around 17% of SU undergraduates are also eligible for Pell Grants, federal aid awarded to students displaying “exceptional financial need,” according to the Federal Student Aid website.
Sean Drake, an assistant professor of sociology at SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said one of the largest ways the SU community will be impacted is through the proposed elimination of those private loans, Pell Grants and other forms of scholarships.
As of February, a U.S. appeals court has also temporarily blocked the department from allowing borrowers to enroll in repayment plans — specifically, former President Joe Biden’s income-driven Saving on a Valuable Education program.
“I’m very concerned that the cost of higher education, which has already gone up a lot in the past few years and even decades, will go up more or that a higher percentage of that cost will be borne by families now that they don’t have that support anymore,” Drake said.
Baum said if the transition to SBA control doesn’t go smoothly, the consequences could be “problematic” for students collecting financial aid or paying back federal student loans, citing last year’s issues involving the rollout of a new Free Application for Federal Student Aid application.
Along with dismantling the DOEd and terminating over 1,300 of its employees, Trump has also issued a number of executive orders targeting higher education institutions for their diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility practices.
On Feb. 14, the DOEd released a “Dear Colleague” letter which referred to DEIA policies at educational institutions as “discriminatory” and gave schools 14 days to end them. After the letter’s release, Trump threatened to pull federal funding from schools that continue these practices.
A month later, his administration launched an investigation into over 50 private and public universities, which he alleged used “racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities.”
An independent audit obtained by ProPublica found that SU received over $250 million in federal funding from June 2022 to 2023, including money for financial aid and research grants. SU is not one of the universities currently under investigation, but in late January, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported it was listed as one of 131 colleges subject to potential
scrutiny due to its status as an institution with an over $1 billion endowment.
“The short term impacts to public universities are probably going to be worse, so Syracuse may have a little bit more of a buffer being a private research university,” Drake said. “But there are government contracts that Syracuse and most research universities have, and so a lot of those are in jeopardy.”
In response to Trump’s anti-DEIA orders, SU announced in a March 6 email that its Office of Diversity and Inclusion would lead a review of existing DEIA programs and make “immediate changes” in compliance with federal law. During a March 19 University Senate meeting, SU Chancellor Kent Syverud said the university will comply with the developing law, but believes its existing programs “do not discriminate against any group.”
previously partnered with the U.S. Agency for International Development and relied on federal funding, Theoharis said. Following Trump’s order, the program lost its funding and is now unable to function, he said.
“One of the reasons that so many people from around the world come to the United States is for our higher education system, and we’re seeing a moment where we are trying to destabilize and fundamentally dismantle that,” Theoharis said. “We will not be the leader of the world in terms of innovation, research and all kinds of things that come out of a productive higher education.”
Theoharis, Drake and Baum all said they expect universities may begin to take legal action against the administration because of its sweeping restrictions. Several institutions, such as Harvard University, have increased their lobbying efforts amid Trump’s second campaign.
During the height of the 2024 U.S. presidential race, SU’s lobbying expenditures amounted to $430,000, according to data from OpenSecrets. This figure is over three times larger than SU’s spending during the previous presidential campaign cycle.
One of the DOEd’s most significant responsibilities is distributing roughly $120 billion in student loans, grants and work-study funds to college students annually.
As part of its review, SU said it would focus on the language used in university communications. Syracuse.com found in a Feb. 24 article — released between the DOEd’s letter and SU’s statement — that the university had removed multiple references to the word “diversity” and an image of a pride flag on the ODI’s website. The Daily Orange confirmed this claim.
Syverud also said he hopes SU will not need to make any “knee-jerk responses” about its DEIA initiatives, referencing Columbia University’s decision to comply with the Trump administration’s demands related to student protesters. Before Columbia complied, the president threatened to cut $400 million of its federal funding after alleging its response to a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus was antisemitic.
Although the SU undergraduate community has yet to see a direct campus impact following the order, George Theoharis, a professor of educational leadership and inclusive education, said graduate students are noticing changes in their research programs.
An SU graduate program working to institute special education systems in Uzbekistan had
SU spent $130,000 on lobbying in 2019 and 2020 combined, $100,000 in 2016, $280,000 in 2012 and $270,000 in 2008.
On March 1, the university also registered an additional lobbyist, Deidre Stach, with the U.S. Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives, according to activity logged on the Senate’s Lobbying Disclosure platform. Stach will work on “issues related to higher education,” according to the registration form.
In a Feb. 4 campus-wide email, Syverud wrote that SU’s government relationship team is in “close communication” with its federal delegation in response to the executive orders.
Theoharis said much of what the Trump administration is currently pushing for within both K-12 and higher education is a continued overstep of the executive branch’s power and will require challenges from an outside agency. He also said that even if courts overrule Trump’s executive order, the layoffs he enacted will still severely disrupt the department’s function.
Drake echoed this sentiment, adding that the excess of executive orders could also be a political move aiming to surprise both the agency and the American public, even if the threats end up not amounting to anything.
“If success is shrinking opportunity, if success is just supporting the status quo in terms of … diversity on campuses, if the goal is to have less of all of that, then, sure, you can be successful without a Department of Education,” Drake said. news@dailyorange.com
Wednesday’s discussion explored generative AI’s role in misinformation and urged critical thinking and media literacy in response to its rise. ella chan asst. photo editor
evolving and exploring new ways to express herself creatively.”
Christine’s closest friends from her days at SU also remembered her for her independence and artistic touch.
“I still have a hard time expressing in words what she meant to me,” Jen Imbaro, Christine’s college roommate, said. “It’s just flashes of how much in my life she was. She was there to take pictures of my baby. She was my maid of honor. She was there when I bought my wedding dress, and I was there when she bought her wedding dress.”
Imbaro, who also graduated with a degree in communications design, said she first connected with Christine during their sophomore year at SU when the two worked on a group project together. Her “epic creativity and craftiness” struck Imbaro, and they bonded during the late nights spent completing the project.
The next year, when Imbaro needed a fourth roommate and Christine was looking for an apartment, living together was an obvious choice.
“She was always really good at befriending people and just kind of being all in on a friendship, or doing whatever people needed from her,” Imbaro said.
She also said Christine’s creativity became evident when they lived together. The two would often go to JOANN Fabrics so Christine could sew festive curtains to decorate their apartment windows for every holiday.
Imbaro recalled another class project, where the two designed the logo and signature packaging design of an imaginary business. As a fan of baked goods, Christine insisted on developing a bakery.
One morning, after the two stayed up late working on the project, Imbaro planned to help Christine carry the materials to class and set up the project. But when she woke up, Christine had already set it up, cleaned the kitchen and decorated three cakes.
“Around that time, I started calling her Martha Stewart’s niece,” Imbaro said. “I come down into the kitchen groggy, and she’s all dressed and ready to go.”
Leah Johnson, who was roommates with Imbaro and Christine at SU, said she loved watching the two complete their arts projects. She said they never made her feel left out, as the three were always together.
Johnson said she often bonded with Christine over their love of sports — particularly at SU. When the men’s basketball team went to the Final Four in 1996, the two went to the airport to congratulate the team after their win.
“I remember feeling instantly comfortable with her,” Johnson said. “It was such a seamless friendship, and talking and relating to her was just so easy. She was so warm and funny.”
When they weren’t cheering on the university’s teams, Johnson fondly recalled the trio’s frequent trips in Christine’s “tiny, crappy Ford Escort.”
Johnson lived 15 minutes away from Christine’s hometown in New Jersey, so Christine drove her to and from SU during breaks. During their junior year winter break, the two returned home through a snowstorm even though their parents told them not to. Johnson said trucks flew by them while they carefully drove in the small car through the snow, but they bonded over the multiple hours it took to get home.
“Her energy was amazing, like sparkling, and everyone loved her, and her laugh was just
reported the Federal Student Aid Office and Office of Civil Rights — both part of the DOEd’s branch responsible for facilitating loans — will be most affected.
“(The department is) increasing interest, supplies funds (are) decreasing and just accessibility for people to loan forgiveness,” Rithika, an SU senior said. “... it’s outrageous.”
The biology student also said they’re worried the order could significantly limit research opportunities, reducing students’ ability to gain field experience while in school. As academic institutions across the country scramble to meet the new standards, many universities have cut large amounts of research funding from their budgets.
On Tuesday, the University of WisconsinMadison and University of Southern California both announced plans to restrict faculty hiring and review all capital projects, which may be delayed or discontinued, Forbes reported.
Other students pointed to Columbia University’s decision to comply with Trump’s demands after the president withheld $400 million in funding over the university’s handling of student protests of the Israel-
contagious,” Johnson said. “She was just an amazing person.”
Christine’s sister, Kathleen Wolfanger, also remembered driving to and from Syracuse with her. She said Christine always wanted to go to SU and came to Syracuse for a six-week summer program in high school before applying for early admission.
While Wolfanger didn’t want to attend the university herself, she said Christine strengthened their relationship when they were away from home since it encouraged Wolfanger to visit her frequently.
“For me, as the little sister coming to her school here, that was really when our relationship and sisterly bond started,” Wolfanger said.
“Syracuse University holds such a special place for my family, because we made really, really good memories here together.”
When Wolfanger came to visit, she would also spend time with Christine’s friends. She tagged along with Johnson to her classes and ate in the dining halls with Christine and Imbaro.
“Those friendships that she made at SU, that really set the path for the rest of her life,” Wolfanger said.
During her time in college, Christine dealt with brain tumors, which Wolfanger said was difficult for her to process from hundreds of miles away. After seeing Christine’s resilience through the many hospital visits, Wolfanger later wrote her college application essays about her sister’s inspiring perseverance.
Despite her medical conditions, Christine graduated cum laude from SU. Wolfanger said that on the day of Christine’s graduation, she cried so much that their father only included graduation pictures without her at Christine’s celebration of life.
“I think I was the only one in my family crying,” Wolfanger said. “I was so proud of her.”
A decade after Christine, Imbaro and Johnson graduated, they all returned to SU in 2007 for homecoming weekend.
During their visit, the three took a photo of the brick on the Einhorn Family Walk they had inscribed with all their names the year they graduated. Johnson said she felt grateful the
Hamas war. Margaux Blin, an SU junior studying biology, said Columbia’s decision highlights the growing influence of the White House in academia.
“This isn’t really something that’s ever been done before, and I think that it’s going to be used as a means of control,” Blin said.
Engels echoed this, but added that it extends to all levels of education. In her free time, Engels works for SU’s Career Center, where she said she regularly interacts with local public schools that rely heavily on government aid. She said she’s concerned for the future of these districts.
“In a place like Syracuse, we have so many kids who already just don’t even get access to after school clubs and activities because there’s not enough staff and not enough funding for those kinds of programs,” she said.
Other students shared concerns about the ability of their hometown public high schools to support the local community. Avery Nash, an SU sophomore, said cutting federal spending from her high school in New Jersey goes against taxpayers’ interests. She said she expects the quality of her former school’s education to diminish.
Blin said she worries for her teachers and all educators who are now losing access to benefits and critical funding for their curriculum. She said she wasn’t surprised when she learned about
three of them decided to buy the brick before leaving. Her family takes a picture with it every time she visits.
“Every time that I’ve gone back to school since then, I always find it and take a picture. I have a picture of my kids right next to the brick when I took them to see it when they were younger,” Johnson said. “It’s a symbol of the three of us together for all those years. The two years that we lived (at SU) together, it’s just the best memories of my life.”
With many fond memories of central New York, Wolfanger moved back to Syracuse in 2022. She had worked with her husband in the Hudson Valley for 15 years when he was given a promotional opportunity and three relocation options, one of which was Syracuse.
The decision was easy.
Wolfanger said it was “crazy” she ended up back at Syracuse after being so resistant to attending SU herself, but as she reminisced on her memories of games at the JMA Wireless Dome, she hopes to give her kids the same experience.
the order last week, as it is “in line” with the rest of Trump’s agenda. Still, she fears students of all ages will suffer.
“Everyone in America, regardless of class and regardless of national background, deserves the same level of education that I got,” Blin said. “It’s important for the future of the workforce, some of whom are going to be in government, which will benefit from that level of education as well.”
The department spends over $850 billion annually on K-12 public education, according to data from the U.S. Education Data Initiative. In his order and throughout his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump advocated for drastically reducing these costs and shifting decision-making for funding distribution to state governments.
Under the order, administrative, budgetary and legislative proposals will now fall under the supervision of the Office of Management and Budget, which oversees all federal agency spending.
One student, who also chose to remain unnamed, called the administration’s intentions dishonest, arguing that states already have significant decision-making power in classrooms. They said the order’s true intention is to weaken public education.
“Nobody ever expected that this tragedy would happen,” Wolfanger said. “So I feel thankful that I’m still here, and that I’m close to the place that was really special and that my kids will get to experience that.”
Despite living so close to the school where she and Christine made lifelong memories, Wolfanger said her sister’s death is a loss she feels every day. She said their bond grew even stronger after they both started families and became mothers, relying on each other for everything.
Wolfanger’s kids, who affectionately knew Christine as Aunt CC, might keep her in Syracuse for the foreseeable future, she said. With an aunt that went to SU and a father that graduated from SUNY ESF, Wolfanger said her kids could easily end up enjoying the same college community Aunt CC did.
“It feels like I have 100 reminders a day that she’s gone,” Wolfanger said. “(An) obituary, it’s never going to be long enough to capture all the stories and all the things that she meant to us.” hdaley@syr.edu
According to a DOEd website, education is “primarily a State and local responsibility.” The Daily Orange confirmed this language has remained unchanged since before Trump took office in January.
Engels said moving this power to the states shows that national decision-makers need to conduct more research to fully understand the importance of the programs and initiatives the department funds. She said this lack of understanding extends to many people in America.
“People already have this built into their system, very rich public school areas don’t even realize that they’re getting that kind of privilege,” Engels said. “I feel like it’s just a lack of information and miseducation.”
Rithika echoed Engels’ point, expressing frustration over the public’s lack of understanding about the department’s national impact.
“People are totally reliant on (DOEd), and I don’t think (they) know what the department does for you,” Rithika said. “You actually do need it.
Henry Daley, Shivika Gupta, Madeline Goodheart, Arwen Parmelee and Arabella Klonowski contributed reporting to this article digreen@syr.edu @duncanigreen
christine lane poses in her college car. Leah Johnson said she, Christine and their best friends made frequent trips around Syracuse and ventured through memorable winter storms in Christine’s “tiny, crappy Ford Escort.” courtesy of leah johnson
jen imbarado, pictured on the far left, was struck by Christine’s “epic creativity and craftiness” after late nights working on class projects. courtesy of jen imbaro
CULTURE
Diamond deal
Diamond Baseball
Holdings bought the Syracuse Mets. Sources say
the team will still operate the same in 2025.
By Eliana Rosen asst. digital editor
The Syracuse Mets have been a mainstay of the city’s culture since their 1934 inception as the Syracuse Chiefs. It’s why Diamond Baseball Holdings CEO Peter Freund called the team a “gem.”
Still, the team’s ownership has been tumultuous over the last century. The Mets have been affiliated with nearly a dozen Major League Baseball teams in that span, forcing constant change within the organization. Now, the ownership is switching again.
By Ria Vij contributing writer
Lexie Schneider rarely went to the gym out of a fear of being judged for her lack of fitness knowledge. She would follow trends and look up workout videos on YouTube, not understanding why she didn’t look like the people in the videos. Now a regular gym-goer, she attributes her physical and mental results to Syracuse University Girl Gains.
DBH announced an agreement in December to purchase the Syracuse Mets, currently the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets, along with the franchise’s Double-A affiliate, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. The conglomerate now owns 42 Minor League Baseball teams, over one-third of all MiLB teams.
Still, General Manager Jason Smorol said the new ownership, which takes over for New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, won’t impact how he’s run the team for 14 seasons. DBH has stressed the team is a GM-driven organization, he said.
“There’s been a lot of changes, but overall I’m still the GM and my job is to run this team to the best of
“I was a little worried because I’m not skilled in the gym,” Schneider, treasurer and fundraising chair of SU Girl Gains, said. “But once I found out the whole purpose (of the club) was to teach women how to be comfortable in the gym setting and empower them to do their best, I was like, ‘This is way more up my alley.’”
Originally founded at San Diego State University in 2020, Girl Gains is a women’s weightlifting
organization that aims to empower women in fitness spaces on college campuses. The organization aims to promote women weightlifting and encourage women to feel strong and beautiful in a community free of judgment.
Girl Gains was brought to SU in 2023 by co-founders Hannah Kudlacz and Reva-Varma Kulkarni. The co-founders hope to continue the mission of Girl Gains through SU’s chapter.
my ability, for the business and for the community,” Smorol said. “We’re just gonna keep on keeping on and put on a great show.”
Rick Burton, an SU sports management professor, said the partnership is a vote of confidence in the team’s current leadership.
“They believed it was a really well-run organization, and that Jason Smorol would be just the guy to run the franchise as well for them as he had been running it for Steve Cohen,” Burton said.
As a part of DBH, the Syracuse Mets now have increased access to other MiLB teams. They’ve
see mets page 9
The SU organization hosts a range of events, from open gym sessions and speaker panels to hot girl walks, all centered around building strength, confidence and community. Inspired by the national organization and her own experience as a beginner, Hannah Kudlacz, president of SU Girl Gains, wanted to create a supportive space for women to learn, grow and feel empowered in environments that often feel daunting.
“The gym can be such an intimidating space for women, especially when you’re a beginner and you don’t really know what you want to do,” Kudlacz said. “I wanted to replicate the support I got from my sister and best friend for other girls.” That emphasis on mindset and support carries into the leadership culture behind the scenes. During the fall 2024 semester, Kudlacz and other girls in the club would meet
emma lee contributing illustrator
Seydou Diao’s grillz balance function, design
By Naomi Campbell inclusive journalism fellow
Seydou Diao unlocks his iPhone for one reason.
Not to respond to text messages or check the time, but to check his clients’ customized grillz orders. Everything from studded gems to dental equipment to textbooks lie on his desk.
While some dorms or student apartments may have TVs, PlayStations or even Sephora products scattered across the room, both Diao’s living room and bedroom have transformed into a grillz business.
“I used to always see grillz in the media,” Diao said. “The oldheads with the single gold cap in their teeth, I used to always think that was cool.”
Diao creates custom grillz from the comfort of his own apartment. His grillz designs range from single tooth caps to some that include the Chanel logo. All of his orders are made through his Instagram account, @imakegrills. When he’s not creating grillz, he’s a mechanical engineering student at Syracuse University.
Diao’s mother, Sandy Lawrence, a user experience designer, is familiar with the mechanical spirit. Lawrence described her father as someone who tinkered around in their garage to fix things. She thinks her son picked up the design gene from her dad.
Diao’s interest in grillz goes back to his childhood. As a kid, Diao was involved in robotics and enjoyed doodling in his sketchbook, so it didn’t surprise Lawrence that he wanted to make grillz.
“He was always mechanically inclined to see how things are done and figure some things out,” Lawrence said. “When he decided to do mechanical engineering, it wasn’t far off.”
When he saw actor Luka Sabbat flashing a detailed design of the Last Supper, he was inspired to start his own grillz-making business. Diao began his grillz venture after his summer 2023 internship fell through.
Lawrence remembers her son’s first summer making grillz for customers. Every week, friends and people referred to Diao came by their house to get molds and designs.
Diao received funding through Invent@SU and used the money to build his business. He researched the proper dental equipment to use while balancing academics. Diao didn’t want to jump into orders and go in not knowing anything. So, for a year, he balanced school with trying out grillz on his friends.
The first set of grillz Diao ever made was for a friend’s birthday, but they didn’t fit. Diao uses past design flukes like these to improve future molds.
“It was just a lot of trial and error,” Diao said.
Diao’s customers come first in his design process, even though the process is complicated. He spot checks every set of grillz so he can be as accurate as possible the first go around.
His interest in mechanical engineering and the skills he learned along the way help him with his design process. Diao purchased dental equipment like caster sets, impressions and polishing tools to create his grillz sets. He enjoys finding the balance between design and functionality.
While Diao likes receiving specific orders, freestyling designs for grillz based on customers’ ideas comes naturally to him. Some of his favorite orders include a full set with a green enamel design and a silver intricate spiked design.
“I like when people come to me with inspiration, when people come to me with a general idea of what they like and I am able to play with something based on that concept,” Diao said.
You have to be willing and invested enough in your idea to put the money in and take the time.
@imakegrillz creator
It isn’t just about creating a customized piece. For Diao, the customer’s reaction to the design makes the product worth it — it’s like something “they only imagined on paper.” It brings Diao joy to see the reactions of his customers because every piece is distinct, tailored to the customer.
When Diao created a set of grillz for a childhood friend who’s now a DJ, his clientele increased. More friends came his way, and his clientele became more diverse.
His setup in his apartment entices new clients, too. When he posts his setup on Instagram, people see the professional dental equipment strewn across Diao’s desk.
“I guess it’s seeing somebody working on their craft and dealing with their metal feels like something official and I feel like that draws a lot of people in,” Diao said.
John Ayoola Fadugbagbe, an SU senior studying political science, met Diao his freshman year through mutual friends. Fadugbagbe was impressed with how Diao used his mechanical engineering skills to create grillz. As a fellow creative himself, Fadugbagbe wanted to support his friend.
“I see him more as a family now than a friend. He is like my brother,” Fadugbagbe, a fashion designer, said.
Fadugbagbe has purchased 12 custom grillz sets from Diao, and the excitement he feels every time he receives an order matches his response to the first set he ever got from Diao. One of his favorites is a silver design that has his nickname, “FADUG,” engraved on the mold. This set is also featured as Diao’s Instagram profile picture.
Seeing the final product was a “full circle moment” for Fadugbagbe. Diao was able to bring his friend’s design to life.
“He sketched every single design, he did all of the casting himself and it was just so impressive to see how far he has come and how he had an idea of making grillz,” Fadugbagbe said.
Steven Morales, a senior studying economics at SU, is Diao’s roommate and a close friend of 10 years. He has his own custom grillz, a silver 6-piece bottom set, made by Diao.
Like Fadugbagbe, Morales is inspired by Diao’s work ethic and commitment to designing grillz. Assisting Diao with his business venture is important, but helping his friend is what really matters to Morales. He sometimes checks to see if the molds are in good condition and fit the customers accurately.
“I’ll go into his room at 2:00 a.m. and he will be in complete silence working on grillz,” Morales said. “When he has orders, he is determined to finish them.”
Being his roommate, Morales sees Diao’s business trials and triumphs firsthand. Sometimes Diao is overwhelmed by the bulk of orders, until he remembers why he started making grillz in the first place.
Running a business and being a student can be challenging, but Diao tries to be realistic about his future goals. He knows he can be ambitious while also being mindful of areas where he can improve.
“You have to be willing and invested enough in your idea to put the money in and take the time,” Diao said.
Diao enjoys making grillz, but he hopes to land a job in mechanical engineering post-graduation. Though engineering and grillz seem like two different worlds, Lawrence believes Diao can have the best of both worlds by becoming an engineer and still running his grillz business.
“I just hope that he just gets to pursue it (mechanical engineering) and then continues with the artistry of doing grillz on his own time,” Lawrence said.
Fadugbagbe emphasized how important it is to have a friend like Diao who also works in the creative and entrepreneurial space. He’s excited for Diao’s future.
“It inspires me to keep excelling and to keep working on my own thing,” Fadugbagbe said.
For Fadugbagbe, grillz represent more than just jewels for the teeth.
“It ties into cultural representation and grillz, it’s just recognition of the beauty behind Black culture, the connection it has with our own individual identity, like artistic expression,” Fadugbagbe said.
Morales believes that Diao’s grillz business allows customers to feel comfortable in a style they might have never worn before, and Diao knows what types of grillz are best for someone. Morales said that Diao’s designs can help to normalize grillz through a college audience.
From Diao’s designs of the continent of Africa to the Nike logo, grillz are a form of creative expression for him to share a message.
“This is a way of storytelling via mouth art. It’s an opportunity to elevate what it is and own the narrative of what you’re trying to do, and make it classy, make it flashy.” Lawrence said. “However you want to do it.” ncampb03@syr.edu
Y2KAGE
Are you looking for a time machine to the turn of the millennium? Look no further than Thursday night at Cage. The student-run venue is hosting their second show of March. Latex Digital and Troy Connor will be spinning. Show up wearing your best 2000s digs or don’t show up at all.
WHEN : Thursday at 10 p.m.
WHERE: DM @cage_collective on Instagram for address PRICE: $7 presale, $10 at door
Ryan Holweger Album Release Party
Ryan Holweger is an Americana singer-songwriter originally from Minneapolis, MN. He was the frontman for several alternative country bands before relocating to Syracuse, and is now a solo artist. Join him for the release party of his new album, “The Golden Paper Flower,” with special guests Midnight Jack and Brian Thomas & The Strikes. Get tickets online.
WHEN : Friday at 8 to 11 p.m
WHERE: Funk ‘n Waffles PRICE: $10
Just Joe
Joe Altier is a singer-songwriter and one-man band from Syracuse. He began playing the piano at 5 years old, learning from his mother. Artists like Frank Sinatra and Otis Redding inspired him. Altier was previously the lead singer of the rock band Brand New Sin, who created WWE wrestler Big Show’s theme song, “Crank It Up.” The event is free.
WHEN : Saturday at 6 p.m.
WHERE: McGraw Box Brewing PRICE: Free
Join Sydney Irving at The Whiskey Coop for an afternoon of food and acoustic performances. Irving has a distinct sound, emulating a mix of rock and folk music. From Syracuse, Irving has pursued music since she was 13, when she was given her first guitar. Now, with five albums out, the budding artist is worth a listen.
WHEN : Sunday at 12 p.m.
WHERE: The Whiskey Coop PRICE: Free
Wind down at the end of the week with the sweet lull of jazz music. Hosted by Melissa Gardiner, the event is free and open to all ages. Attendees are encouraged to take part and jam with the house band.
WHEN : Sunday at 3 to 5 p.m.
WHERE: Funk ‘n Waffles PRICE: Free Jazz Jam
Sydney Irving
SU senior Seydou Diao designs grillz while balancing his studies. All of his orders go through his Instagram account, @imakegrills. collin snyder staff photographer
Seydou Diao
Fragile Cat revamps vintage scene with menswear, 2000s finds
By Irene Lekakis asst. culture editor
Going from friends to business partners isn’t always a smooth transition. In fact, it’s often not recommended. But for Alexandria Penak and Johnny Cavzola, they couldn’t imagine an alternative.
“We were just talking about it together and we’re just like, ‘Should we go in on this together?’ And we said ‘sure’ so that was really it,” Cavzola said.
Since The Cherry Pit closed, former owner Alexandria Penak and her friend Johnny Cavzola are planning a grand opening for their vintage clothing shop Fragile Cat in the McCarthy Mercantile next month. Penak and Cavzola combined each of their personal brands, Street Cat Vintage and Fragile Threads, to create Fragile Cat.
The duo hopes to expand on the foundation The Cherry Pit offered with their own flair and new offerings.
Michael John, McCarthy Mercantile’s founder, calls the space an “anti-mall.”
“You could walk down there on a Saturday afternoon and stumble downstairs and be like ‘Oh, it says more vendors downstairs. I’m gonna check it out,’” John said. “And then there’s 11 local restaurants doing $2 samples with a DJ in the corner.”
McCarthy Mercantile has come a long way since John first discovered it. With each of The Cherry Pit’s owners putting in their hard work and dedication, it’s become a place that people want to visit, he said.
While Penak is accustomed to the world of vintage from her work with The Cherry Pit, Cavzola is also a veteran when it comes to fashion and entrepreneurship. He started out selling sneakers and flipping thrifted streetwear. His friends were inspired by thrift culture, and he saw potential in it. Not long after, he was hosting vintage pop ups and helping out around the mercantile.
For Cavzola and Penak, the choice to combine businesses was a no-brainer. Their brands fit well together, sharing an Americana workwear vibe with a mix of styles from the early 2000’s, Cavzola said.
“To see the new partnership form down there, (Penak) coming with the experience from before and (Cavzola) bringing some new energy to the table, it’s really good,” John said.
Cavzola is also bringing in men’s clothing, which The Cherry Pit only had a limited selection of. While Penak hopes to see familiar faces carry over from The Cherry Pit, she also aims to expand a new customer base with men’s streetwear offerings.
“(We’re doing) anything we can really think of that will get more of Syracuse down here and connected,” Penak said.
To make the store’s environment more attuned to the Fragile Cat brand identity, Penak has collected various items that match its aesthetic. She hopes to incorporate displays and fixtures that can hang clothes or showcase shoes.
“I look for pieces that are kind of unique and catch your eye that I can display certain things on,” Penak said.
Penak sources most of the clothes for Fragile Cat through her trips around New York and Pennsylvania. Anytime she gets the chance, she looks for good thrift finds. When Penak was in Brooklyn recently, she used the opportunity to pick up some new vintage pieces.
In their partnership, Penak handles the finances and documents sales as they come in. Cavzola has the connections and people skills necessary to expand the new business.
The other businesses in the mercantile also rely on and help build each other up. Thrifting’s popularity with Generation Z has contributed to these brands’ success.
“Younger students and clientele are the ones interested in thrifts and slow fashion more than ever,” John said. “It’s helped some of those small businesses downstairs start to grow and give them an opportunity to do what they love.”
John promotes shops like Fragile Cat and the others in the mercantile on social media. He said being part of the mercantile takes the stress off these entrepreneurs, many of whom are working part-time, by offering low rent levels and shortterm leases.
Penak and Cavzola have taken advantage of this safety net, keeping the store open four days a week as they explore the world of fashion business.
Beyond the grand opening set for next month, with plans for a DJ, bar service and vintage clothing piles, Penak and Cavzola want to deepen their connection with the Syracuse community. They plan to host more pop ups and thrift exchanges in the future.
Along with changes in Fragile Cat, the mercantile itself will be expanding 2,000 square feet, adding a flower shop and a cafe. John hopes this will be an even bigger draw for customers to discover stores like Fragile Cat.
“My favorite thing is whenever someone finds something that they really love, when I see their reaction and their smile,” Cavzola said. “That’s just like a sense of fulfillment for me.”
iclekaki@syr.edu
rené vetter cartoonist
julia english cartoonist
Vacuum?
andrew berkman cartoonist
Fragile Cat is a vintage store located in the McCarthy Mercantile in downtown Syracuse. Although the store hasn’t had an official grand opening yet, it is currently open and invites new customers to the space. collin snyder staff photographer
The Salon creates cozy home for slam poetry, literature lovers
By Christian Figuereo contributing writer
“I’ve made countless friends just sitting in rooms with other writers, and community is more important now than ever,” Dayna Roberts, a sophomore creative writing major, said. “It’s easy to feel alienated in a world so divided. Finding a place to express yourself is almost a necessity.”
The Salon is a slam poetry and spoken word venue created by Audrey Weisburd, a senior television, radio and film major who was inspired to create this space by historical literary salons. She said the name originates directly from the Gertrude Stein salon, where the writer welcomed artists such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso to her Paris apartment. The Salon held its first reading event last month.
Weisburd’s main push to open a space like this stemmed from her experience with the campus magazines Zipped, Moody and Perception, as well as her work with the student comedy venue The Playground and co-founding Matchbox Films, a university art-house film production club.
“I’m very passionate about helping other people tell their stories and bringing communities together to do so,” Weisburd said. “I always just thought that kind of exchange of ideas and meeting of minds of all the poets and the authors was just such a romantic time that kind of stood alone.”
Weisburd thought about the ways The Salon could provide that kind of space for students. She was inspired by her work from The Playground to make the space come to life. The Salon, located in a home off of Comstock Avenue, features cushions on blanketed wood floors, comfortable couches, warm lighting and light snacks.
The Salon’s set-up consists of various students presenting two poems each: one poem they haven’t written that resonates with them and
always connected with and learned from other clubs, but now they bounce ideas off outside teams more regularly, Smorol said.
The Mets are using this new relationship to gain insight on what’s worked for others, and let other minor league teams be the guinea pigs when trying out new tactics. For example, they’re trying out a new technology to streamline their social media content, Smorol said. If it works for them, other teams can easily implement the same strategy.
“It’s nationwide, and we just have a lot larger group that we could always call on,” Smorol said. “Now we can talk to 41 teams and see how things are going there.”
The Mets pride themselves on prioritizing fan experience, Smorol said. They offer discounts on food and tickets to make the games more affordable for fans, add entertainment acts and firework displays during their “little Broadway show” between innings.
This won’t change under new ownership.
at her apartment and discuss how to grow the club. This was also a time when the girls bonded and talked about their days.
Those intentional efforts to build community have paid off. The impact of the club is already visible; after last semester’s involvement fair, nearly 70 new members showed up. Kudlacz and others had to pull chairs from other rooms to meet the demand.
Casey Keller You kind of have to go into it with the attitude of, ‘I deserve this space, I deserve to be here,’ just as much as anyone else.
su junior
Schneider handles both finances and fundraising, two essential functions for making events like vision board nights, guest speakers and club formals possible. She said fundraising is more fun than financing because she gets to organize merchandise drops and have special speakers
one original piece. Weisburd opens each event by giving a few words and thanking everyone for coming. Poets introduce themselves and then dive into their spoken word.
Max Dickman, a sophomore visual communications major, emphasized how necessary outlets like The Salon are for creatives and writers.
“At both events, I gained new perspectives on life experiences, and simply enjoyed beautifully written poetry,” Dickman said.
Venues like The Salon encourage cleverness and rapport within creative communities, Roberts said.
Roberts was initially terrified throughout the process of creating her set at the prospect of being vulnerable in an unfamiliar setting. But, with support from Weisburd and the participants, she felt at ease reciting more of her pieces.
“I just needed a way to step into a poetry salon without fainting,” Roberts said. “The Salon made me feel ready to do so.”
“After 12 seasons here, I look for the same thing,” Smorol said. “I want our fans to be happy. I want us to fill the stadium. I want our players to enjoy their time here. I want us to fulfill our promise of being the most amazing show on dirt.”
Freund echoed this sentiment. He said the Syracuse Mets’ dedicated fanbase made the team an appealing minor league purchase. The company aims to attract even more fans and continue the team’s affordable priorities.
“Few teams across MiLB have their roots as deeply entrenched in their community as Minor League baseball does in Syracuse,” Freund said in an email statement to The Daily Orange. “That strong connection with the community is priceless, and we value it immensely.”
Burton said clubs that partner with DBH could lose their distinctive qualities and become just a number, as DBH owns 42 total teams. The Syracuse Mets are now one of 13 Triple-A teams owned by DBH.
Burton feels people may worry that a big company like DBH may care less than an owner, like Cohen, whose public perception is tied
attend events. Among those events, vision board night is a club favorite.
“You get to put all your goals down and see what you’re gonna take off by the end of the semester,” Schneider said. “I keep mine somewhere I can see from my bed. It’s a constant reminder.”
The club also has collaborations with other student organizations like SU Skateboarding Club. Kudlacz said while mixing fitness with fun and new experiences keeps members engaged, specifically collaborating with SUSC pushes the girls out of their comfort zones.
For many members, what sets SU Girl Gains apart is its non-judgmental, welcoming approach. Casey Keller, a junior in SU Girl Gains, shared those sentiments. One of the main reasons Keller got into weightlifting was her prior experience from high school.
Now, Keller tries to help her friends and others get comfortable in the weight room, especially those who may feel intimidated.
“You kind of have to go into it with the attitude of, ‘I deserve this space, I deserve to be here,’ just as much as anyone else,” Keller said.
Schneider said the community is based on the support they give each other. They want each girl to become the best version of themselves — the real goals aren’t just physical, but a “lifestyle change.”
Inclusivity and representation are also fundamentals of the club’s mission. The most important thing for Kudlacz is that the club showcases people of all body types and ethnic backgrounds.
Through The Salon, Dickman’s been able to strengthen relationships with attendees and discover new connections with fellow poets. The welcoming crowd made Dickman feel like he could express complex and intimate emotions, knowing they would handle his material with care.
“I felt excited to try something new, and proud that people were going to take the time to value my personal experiences and level with me for a couple of minutes,” Dickman said.
Roberts and Dickman both said spaces like The Salon don’t exist in their hometowns. They’re excited about the addition of The Salon to SU’s community, especially since spaces like this force people to be present during an era where people are easily distracted, Roberts said.
Dickman has found an entirely new support system through the venue, where he can receive opinions on his work, hear insightful advice and build relationships with new people.
Weisburd is currently completing her final semester at SU. She hopes the venue will leave its mark on the Syracuse community.
“I want to show the Syracuse community how many people have the same shared interest and passion in poetry and writing,” Weisburd said.
Weisburd doesn’t want The Salon to stay within the university’s boundaries. She wishes to coordinate events for The Salon at venues in the Syracuse community and beyond so she can continue to make an impact.
“I think that the overall environment loosens people up in a way that’s very special,” Weisburd said. “Just having popups at different apartments and creating and cultivating, creating spaces that way, I think it’s the best part of life, truly.”
rvij01@syr.edu
to the success of the New York Mets and their other minor league teams he still owns.
“With the Syracuse Mets being owned by a conglomerate, there’s a little less of that ego factor involved, because Diamond is a little bit faceless,” Burton said.
He said, however, he hopes the fans don’t feel this difference. Smorol added DBH sees all 42 teams as distinct and isn’t assuming the same strategies will work for each team.
“I think they view us all as snowflakes,” Smorol said. “We’re all very similar, but we all have individual markets. Just because we do something in Rancho Cucamonga doesn’t mean we have to do it in Syracuse.”
The team has a long history of ownership. The New York Mets bought the thenSyracuse Chiefs in 2018, purchasing the team from the Community Baseball Club of Central New York Inc. and rebranding them as the Syracuse Mets.
Now under DBH ownership after switching from numerous Major League affiliations, the team will remain the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets, despite no longer being owned by the team.
The new ownership can benefit both parties, Burton said. DBH is looking for a return on its initial investment, and the Syracuse Mets receive support from the company, Burton said. The ownership can cut down everyday costs for the team by buying materials in bulk for multiple squads.
As a result, the Mets now have increased resources from the large conglomerate, Smorol said. He said the increased materials can be overwhelming, and the team is being careful of how much it’s using as they prepare for the 2025 season. For now, the Mets have begun making small changes based on recommendations from DBH, using it to update outdated practices such as email blast systems.
Despite these small changes, though, Smorol said he hopes this season feels the same for players, coaches and fans.
“We’re still going to be the Syracuse Mets,” Smorol said. “When I spoke to Diamond Baseball Holdings, I said, ‘My job was to be the least of the New York Mets’ worries. Now our job is to be the least of your worries.’” ehrosen@syr.edu
Looking forward, both Kudlacz and Schneider are hopeful. They envision partnerships between the club and gyms, wellness brands and other organizations. For Kudlacz, fitness is framed as a full experience that goes beyond physical appearance.
“It wasn’t even about what my body looked like,” Kudlacz said. “It was just the feeling that I get every single time — finishing a really hard workout, or just showing up for myself. That in itself changed the game for me.” rvij01@syr.edu
SU senior Audrey Weisburd created The Salon, a slam poetry venue, for students to express themselves and have a creative outlet. ella chan asst. photo editor
Members of SU women’s fitness club, Girl Gains, pose together. The club aims to create a safe space and community for women gym-goers. ella chan asst. photo editor
OPINION
Passivity on social issues lacks empathy, abuses priviledge
By Gray Reed columnist
As a senior now, it’s clear I’ve matured considerably over the past four years.
With graduation looming, I can’t stop reflecting on my earlier years at Syracuse University. When I was 18 years old and living in Sadler Hall, I lacked a sense of purpose and was satisfied with being a mere witness to life.
Now, at almost 22, life couldn’t feel more different.
I don’t seem to go a day without expressing an opinion on something. I now understand the importance of researching how to work against the outcomes of the newest executive order or analyzing its impacts with my friends.
I’ve learned the gravity of the space I occupy in this world, and as I observe its evolutions, I’ve grown to realize I can’t take my own relative safety for granted. I recognize my duty as a human to speak out and work to protect those who are most vulnerable.
With the realization that not everyone thinks the same way as me, I’ve struggled to grasp what I see as a lack of empathy among the general population. It may be naive of me to assume the best in people, but it certainly stings each time I realize Generation Z doesn’t realize the impact our voices have on the common
good, and how easily people are convinced not to speak out at all.
But in our current political and social climate, solidarity among everyday people is a necessity.
With President Donald Trump’s administration’s attacks on transgender rights, efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, limitations on press access and a litany of other offenses, it’s clear no one’s safe — unless, of course, you’re a rich, straight, white man.
To protect ourselves and the people we hold dear, it’s important to make our stances on controversial issues known. Doing so empowers others to follow suit, which ultimately fuels the movement to push back against Trump’s ideology.
It’s vital to provide reasons for those who disagree to further educate themselves and learn how to see the value in opinions that don’t necessarily align with their own.
But I’m aware this is all much easier to say in writing than it is to put into action. For some, speaking out may put them in harm’s way or cost them opportunities necessary to survive. As seen in cases like Mahmoud Khalil’s, engaging in activism under this administration can threaten a person’s immigration status and put them at risk for deportation if they aren’t a U.S. citizen.
This is why it’s crucial for those of us with privilege — who don’t have to risk being deported or losing a job — to speak out while we still can.
Continuing to exist in a passive mindset and function under the misconception that “it’s only politics” completely disregards the real humanitarian consequences these policies and actions have on everyone, not just disadvantaged communities.
We live in a society that actively discourages us from thinking for ourselves, leaving many to forget it’s even an option. Capitalism inherently encourages a self-oriented mindset and tells us it’s our duty to look out solely for ourselves.
By this notion, it makes sense that those with privilege often lack the inclination to speak out, especially if they aren’t yet feeling the effects of current politics. People don’t want to push against the status quo if it’s not harming them directly.
But that’s exactly the mentality we need to break free from. What many fail to understand is that all of our lives are interconnected, and soon, these current policies will impact you, too. Money and social standing can only protect a person for so long.
Above all, empathy shouldn’t be an afterthought. It feels disheartening to need to spell that out, but genuine compassion from
others feels hard to come by nowadays. Showing support for people in need shouldn’t be transactional; it must be motivated simply by morality and a social obligation to take meaningful stances.
Part of practicing empathy is teaching and guiding others to resources they might neglect on their own. Sharing information on how certain policies are impacting others, as well as further educating yourself on subjects you may not be well-versed in, facilitates conversation and has the power to bridge gaps.
Even talking to others around you who seem to be unaware of current events is a simple yet powerful way to maintain greater dialogue in the public consciousness.
It’s been easy for some students to say they haven’t felt the impact of most policies over the past years, but under Trump, this reality is ending for all Americans.
This is your wake up call: the time to speak up is now, especially if you’re in a position of privilege. If not for yourself, take a stand for those currently being impacted around you.
Gray Reed is a senior majoring in magazine, news and digital journalism. Their column appears bi-weekly. They can be reached at greed04@syr.edu.
Universities bend to Trump’s agenda against student rights
By Isabel Melendez-Rivera columnist
University administrations are making decisions that irreparably damage their relationship with students, failing to protect them from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on their campuses.
Meanwhile, higher education administrators across the U.S. have positioned themselves as oppressors of their own students and staff, enabling President Donald Trump’s administration to deport those who have criticized Israel’s violence as well as anyone they choose to label as a nationalsecurity threat.
Academic institutions now appear willing to accept demands from the Trump administration and continue to ignore and punish student protesters’ calls to end the war in Gaza and the institutions’ complicity in the conflict.
Namely, Columbia University recently accepted a set of directives from the White House to begin negotiations for reinstating $400 million in federal funding that Trump removed earlier this month. As part of its concessions to Trump’s demands, Columbia also recently deployed 36 campus police officers with the authority to arrest students.
In response to reports of ICE’s presence on Columbia’s campus, the university issued a statement on March 10 confirming the reports and stating that it has adhered to the law and will continue to do so.
Syracuse University’s Department of Public Safety outlined its own protocols for how campus employees should act if federal law enforcement, including ICE, enter campus.
DPS Chief Craig Stone advised all administrative and front desk assistants at SU to notify a supervisor before complying, who will then refer DPS to authorize any exchanges.
Columbia’s statement came shortly after federal immigration authorities arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until December, on March 8. They said the arrest was based on a U.S. Department of State order to revoke his green card, according to the Associated Press.
Khalil served as a lead negotiator for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student organizations advocating for Palestinian liberation. Fellow protestors praised his skill in de-escalating tense situations, and he earned a reputation as a principled and strategic organizer on campus.
Allowing the Trump administration to target, arrest and threaten a key facilitator of communication between the university and protesters with deportation risks irrevocably reshaping the relationship between the university and its students.
By allowing Khalil’s removal, the administration is sending a clear message: they prefer giving up all opportunities for negotiation and communication with student protesters and comply with Trump’s agenda, rather than addressing the necessary changes.
CUAD shared a statement via Instagram on March 21 condemning Columbia’s behavior in this situation.
“Columbia’s refusal to divest from, and even doubling down on, the genocide of the Palestinian people these past 17 months has made its expected response to the Trump Administration’s ransom note incredibly clear,» the group wrote. «Columbia has no intention of defending its students or faculty from the government’s crackdown on Palestinian activism; instead, it actively joins hands with the fascist state to sell out its community.”
Last spring, Syracuse University students formed a Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the Shaw Quadrangle. The group called for SU to divest from Israel and support a ceasefire in Gaza.
In response to the encampment, local and national politicians used rhetoric that rings similar to Trump’s current stance on college protests; then-Congressman Brandon Williams told organizers to “get the hell out” on X, while Republican Senator Josh Hawley tweeted to “jail the lawbreakers” and “send the (National) Guard.”
On Monday, the Trump administration called Columbia’s response to government demands for tighter campus protest rules a “promising first step” toward regaining federal grants and contracts.
As college campuses are no longer “protected” from federal law enforcement inquiries, the new institutional compliance with ICE and the Trump administration fuels even greater tensions and widens the gap between colleges and their students.
On April 30, 2024, a group occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia, leading to a standoff with police and dozens taken into custody. A few days prior, over a hundred arrests at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California were reported along with the use of gas against people protesting for Gaza at Emory University.
These
combine
These incidents combine to illustrate the disturbing escalations and crackdowns between student-led pro-Palestinian protests and law enforcement throughout the U.S.
Amandla Thomas-Johnson, a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University, told Al Jazeera that the administrative actions taken in the last year to punish peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters are helping the Trump administration target students more viciously.
Treating Khalil as a dangerous criminal shows a complete disregard for his humanity and a denial of his right to due process.
This conversation is no longer solely about the First Amendment or the distinction between public and private institutions; it’s about recognizing the willingness of educational institutions to put their own faculty
and students at risk, allowing the government to strip students of their human rights in sacred learning environments.
On Wednesday, ICE agents detained Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts graduate student from Turkey. Ozturk was one of the authors of an opinion piece published last March in Tufts’ student newspaper, which criticized the university’s leadership for their response to protests and demands from student activists.
ICE has come after students and professors alike, including Ranjani Srinivasan, Momodou Taal, Rasha Alawieh and Yunseo Chung, leaving them scrambling to avoid unlawful deportation.
These students and professors were part of institutions that have preached diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility practices and human rights for years. Yet, they now willingly bend to Trump’s targeting of foreign nationals. This is a betrayal of the very values American higher education once claimed.
In the face of on-campus arrests by ICE, deportations and other threats to their community members, university administrations have become bystanders, remaining silent and complicit as the relationship between institutions and their students and faculty continues to deteriorate.
The question remains if it will ever be possible to reconcile these events, considering the harmful implications of these universities’ silent submissions.
This key moment ultimately signifies an irreversible fracture in the trust between universities and significant parts of their communities. It’s especially vital that students continue to hold their administrations accountable when human and student rights are at stake.
The Palestinian cause has exposed a deeper issue within the American higher education system. Now, the solution will require not just reform, but bravery, resistance and sacrifice.
Isabel Melendez-Rivera is a junior magazine, news and digital journalism major. She can be reached at iamelend@g.syr.edu.
COTTER CONNECTION
By Zak Wolf
senior staff writer
Mason Kohn’s wardrobe doesn’t resemble a prototypical law-school nerd. Rather than sporting dress clothes or a suit, Kohn goes with an ultra-casual look. Every day, he walks to class at UCLA’s School of Law in a T-Shirt and shorts — typically representing his former teams, Syracuse or Tufts — while a pair of flip-flops completes his look.
Kohn’s outfits often draw puzzled looks and even snide remarks from his more formally dressed peers. It’s not something Kohn is overly concerned about, since his decision is rooted in simplicity.
“I’m going to be in a suit probably every day once I graduate for like 10 years, so I’m gonna take advantage of when I don’t have to wear dress shoes while I can,” Kohn said. The basic wardrobe decisions lead to Kohn’s unassuming nature. It’s
easy for those who know his background as a former Division I athlete to write him off as a simple-minded jock. Those judgments are muted once they realize Kohn finished top of his class during his first semester. After spending last season as Syracuse’s faceoff specialist, Kohn embarked on a radical change of scenery by enrolling at UCLA. Grueling workouts became full-day study sessions, and rather than watching film, he now reads about
Mileena Cotter watched her brother hoist the Stanley Cup.
Now, she’s fulfilling her own title
aspirations.
By Matthew Gray senior staff staff writer
Mileena Cotter and her brother, Paul, who is six years older than her, often played miniature hockey in their basement growing up.
The games lasted hours. Neither was satisfied until a winner emerged.
As the only sibling without hockey experience, alongside her middle brother, Jack, Cotter was thrown in goal. Paul peppered her with shots and regularly bent the rules.
“(Paul) always told me, ‘Once you make five saves, you can go upstairs,’” Cotter said. “Of course, the fifth save wouldn’t count, and he added another one so we had to keep going.”
The siblings’ connection through sport helped Paul become a Stanley Cup champion throughout his ongoing fouryear NHL career and shaped Cotter into a starting lacrosse midfielder at Syracuse as a freshman. Cotter said childhood contests with Paul helped her develop into a standout high school player, setting a record in the state of Michigan with 472 goals in 49 games.
Motivated by Paul’s success in professional hockey, Cotter is breaking out in her first season at SU, ranking fourth on the team with 12 goals.
Growing up in the hockey hotbed of Canton, Michigan, Cotter seemed destined to join her brothers on the ice. While Paul and Jack developed their skating through travel play, hockey camps and one-on-ones, Cotter was unsure where she belonged.
In fifth grade, she discovered lacrosse through her nanny, who played at Concordia University. She was hooked immediately.
“I remember my brothers were waking up for 5 a.m. private (hockey) lessons before school, so I was ready to do that with my lacrosse (training),” Cotter said.
Cotter joined local club Monarch Lacrosse during middle school, where she was guided by head coach and founder Greg Courtier. Like he’d done with Northwestern phenom Izzy Scane, a two-time Tewaaraton Award winner, Courtier helped mold Cotter into an all-around offensive threat.
When Cotter joined her high-school team, the Salem Rocks, as a sophomore after losing her freshman season to COVID-19, her training with Courtier translated to dominance.
“I watched her for 10 minutes and thought to myself, ‘This is crazy!’ I mean, her moves are so good, she makes goalies fall down,” Salem head coach Damien Butler told Social House News on June 3, 2024.
Between each school year, Cotter never took summer vacations. Instead, she traveled to Maryland to further sharpen her skills on another club team, Sky Walkers Lacrosse.
While Cotter continued to impress, the pressure to sustain her success began to weigh on her. Paul, then days away from making his NHL debut, helped his sister manage the stress. Even as a member of the American Hockey League’s Henderson Silver Knights at the time, Paul always provided her with advice.
cotter page 15
cases that shape the United States’ judicial system. So far, Kohn’s excelling. He finished with strong grades in the fall and this summer, he’ll work for Norton Rose Fulbright, one of the world’s top law firms. Practicing law is in Kohn’s blood. His mother, Susan Nahama, and father, Drew Kohn, both have over two decades of experience working as litigators, so enrolling in law school was always in the back of Kohn’s mind.
Growing up, he was extremely opinionated and never afraid to discuss current events, Nahama said. Whether it’s political discourse or business talk, Kohn’s typically the most informed one in the room.
“(It’s) always in a good and respectful way, but he has always been a guy who had his own ideas about how to do things and how he wanted to do things,” Drew said.
Syracuse midfielder Mileena Cotter’s relationship with her brother Paul, who plays for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, helped shape her into becoming a star freshman. aaron hammer staff photographer
men’s lacrosse
2026 recruit Steven Pickard Jr. honed o-line skills in Atlanta
By Timmy Wilcox senior staff writer
Steven Pickard Jr. discovered a new home in summer 2023.
The offensive lineman had seen Velocity Athlete Development, a training center just outside Atlanta, Georgia, on his X feed. Despite Velocity being five hours away from the ninth grader’s home in Charleston, South Carolina, Pickard Jr. decided to try it.
“I remember seeing a lot of college o-linemen, and they even had some NFL guys in there at the time,” Pickard Jr. said. “It was just a playground full of o-linemen.”
After nine consecutive days of training at Velocity in 2023, he practiced there for 55 days straight the next summer while staying in a hotel with his father, Steve Pickard Sr.
His relentless training at Velocity’s indoor weight room and field, focusing on his technique, footwork and strength, helped him improve his pass-blocking and recruiting stock. On Jan. 25, Pickard Jr., a three-star guard at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, committed to Syracuse, becoming the eighth recruit in SU’s 14th-ranked 2026 class, per 247Sports.
Before transferring to IMG ahead of his junior season, Pickard Jr. was in a run-heavy offense at Philip Simmons High School in Charleston. Pickard Jr. said he needed to grow his pass-blocking skills.
That’s when Pickard Jr. discovered Velocity. When he first got to the facility, Pickard Jr. weighed about 270 pounds. But he wanted to take football more seriously.
“I just really wanted to get better,” Pickard Jr. said. “And that’s when I was first realizing I had the frame and that I had potential and that I could really go somewhere in football.”
Pickard Jr. said Velocity coaches taught him how to kick-step properly, what to watch for in onrushing defensive linemen and when to shoot his hands.
After the training, Pickard Jr. returned to Philip Simmons for his sophomore season at 315 pounds. His work showed, helping the Iron Horses win their first eight games and go 10-2.
“I was putting dudes on the ground, and I actually knew how to play the game better than I did (before),” Pickard Jr. said. “That coaching helped me so much.”
Following his sophomore year, Pickard Jr. announced his transfer to IMG. But he had to wait to move in, since IMG was a boarding school. So, he stayed in Atlanta.
While staying at his hotel, he and Pickard Sr. flew or drove to camps throughout the summer. Pickard Jr. trained six days a week and devoted one day to stretching.
In between the two-hour training sessions, Pickard Jr. ate his favorite meal — 1.5 pounds of chicken, rice, corn and barbecue sauce — as he looked to add more muscle, he said.
By staying consistent, Pickard Jr. felt he was getting better, and Velocity’s technology backed up his feeling. His coaches used measurables to tell him where he improved and muscle groups he could focus on.
Then, he combined the body training with on-field work by dissecting film from his camps. Pickard Sr. shared videos he took on his phone with Luke Schultheiss, Velocity’s director of athlete development, who helped Pickard Jr. prepare for his next camp. Velocity also had a live video feed so Pickard Jr. could review a rep in real time before doing another.
“It definitely helped, and I felt like I was getting better every week and learning so much more football knowledge than I had before,” Pickard Jr. said.
Pickard Sr. noticed a significant improvement from his son, too.
“He became more fundamentally sound,” Pickard Sr. said. “We talk a lot about being bigger, faster, stronger. He definitely made progress during that time frame, and it really prepared him for another level of football that he experienced at IMG.”
After 55 days in Atlanta, Pickard Jr. went home for about five days before moving into his dorm at IMG and starting practice the next day. He slotted in immediately as the starting left guard on IMG’s White team, which competes on a regional scale. Still, Pickard Jr. stayed close with Velocity coaches. Every Sunday morning, he called Schultheiss to review film of IMG’s previous game and prepare for its next opponent.
“He treated it like an absolute pro,” Schultheiss said. “(He) was able to handle his academics, was able to handle football, film, everything else.”
In early October 2024, Hurricane Milton struck Florida, forcing Pickard Jr. to fly to Atlanta to train at Velocity again. He trained there before school resumed, and he helped IMG finish the season 9-3.
After visiting Syracuse for its victory over Miami on Nov. 30, 2024, Pickard Jr. visited SU again on Jan. 25. At an SU men’s basketball game against Pitt, head coach Fran Brown and now-general manager Thomas Caporale offered Pickard Jr., and he accepted on the spot.
“(His commitment to SU) really just goes to a testament of how hard Steve worked for that, and he had his mind set on one goal and was able to achieve that,” Schultheiss said.
With one more summer before joining Syracuse as an early enrollee in December
2025, Pickard Jr. is going back to Velocity to get bigger, faster and stronger, Pickard Sr. said. He’s aiming for a spot on the IMG National Team, the highest of its three squads, and IMG offensive line coach Chris Parker expects him to make the jump, syracuse.com reported.
Once Pickard Jr. completes his senior season and signs his letter of intent, he’ll get to sign a flag that will hang on the walls of Velocity. Schultheiss said it will serve to inspire future players.
Velocity shaped Pickard Jr. into a Division I prospect. He entered as an undersized lineman who lacked a full skill set. He left with a full arsenal of abilities that he’ll bring to Syracuse next season. “It really changed my perspective,” Pickard Jr. said. “It really helped me understand the game better and I don’t think I’d have as much good of an understanding as I do at the moment if I didn’t go to Velocity.” tswilcox@syr.edu @TimmyWilcox32
Josh Mulligan dropped out of college. Now, he’s a coach at SU.
By Quinn Postman asst. copy editor
After dropping out of Nazareth University (Rochester) at the end of his freshman year in 2010, Josh Mulligan’s life changed when he ran into his neighbor, John Miranda, at a Wegmans in Fayetteville. Mulligan was an “all-court” tennis player, according to Golden Flyers head coach Paul Waida. However, Mulligan struggled to balance tennis with academics and the social scene, which he said caused him to drop out.
He then returned home to East Syracuse to live with his mother, Amy Mulligan. He enrolled in Onondaga Community College but didn’t have a plan for life post graduation. That changed after hearing about Miranda’s volunteer work for Advocates Incorporated — which provides services for people with special needs in central New York.
Mulligan soon joined as a part-time mentor, which rekindled his passion for helping others that originally stemmed from playing tennis with his extended family and highschool teammates growing up. Fifteen years after dropping out of college, Mulligan’s now in his first year as volunteer assistant coach for Syracuse tennis, combining his passion for helping others with tennis.
“(Full-time tennis coaches) have your traditional, ‘I went to a four-year school where I played challenger tournaments, or I played on tour or I grew up at this tennis academy,’” Mulligan said. “For me, I’m a local guy. I’ve loved tennis since I started playing, and it’s just been where the opportunity has presented itself.”
At Nazareth, Waida remembers Mulligan listening to ‘Return of the Mack’ by Mark Morrison in the back of the bus, proclaiming it was his favorite song to the entire team. The head coach said it made him a memorable character. On the court, Amy saw her son thrive in the No. 1 doubles. But she knew something was off.
“I could sense Nazareth was not what he had thought it was going to be,” Amy said.
Instead of staying on campus during the weekends, Waida said Mulligan usually traveled back to East Syracuse to spend time with his relatives. Growing up, Mulligan formed strong bonds with his younger cousins, Nate and Damian Roberts, through playing tennis.
“There’s no memory without Josh or my older brother,” Nate said. “Whether it’s vacations, trips or summers doing absolutely nothing, it’s hard to think back to a time when it wasn’t us doing something.”
Mulligan, who began playing tennis as an eighth grader, first started taking lessons with Nate and Damian at Drumlins Country Club, where Syracuse plays. He quickly became the best player in the family, much to the chagrin of his aunt Mara, who was a domineering United States Tennis Association 4.0 player. Still, Mulligan took his cousins under his wing.
Because Damian was a taller tennis player, Mulligan told him to charge the net after his serve. Mulligan also worked closely with Nate, who couldn’t imagine how life would have been without his guidance.
As a result of the work he did with her sons, Mara knew Mulligan would thrive in high school at Christian Brothers Academy. In four years,
Mulligan became CBA’s program-leader with a 46-2 all-time record.
When Mulligan was a junior at CBA, twin brothers Colin and Matt Nardella first entered CBA in seventh grade, hoping to make the high school varsity team. According to Colin, Mulligan was the “big man on campus.” Any interaction with Mulligan was worthwhile for Colin and Matt, who both went on to play tennis in college.
When we started to put things together and think of who would be a good fit for our culture and team, Josh was definitely at the top of the list.
Younes Linam su tennis head coach
But Mulligan struggled to find the same connection with others at Nazareth because of the unfamiliar college environment. He needed to find his joy again, Mara said, leading to his decision to drop out.
“Having the courage to leave school and find his own way, you can call that being a college dropout, or you could call that being brave enough to realize that is not something that’s working for you and to go pursue other stuff,” Damian said.
A month after talking with Miranda in Wegmans, Mulligan became a part-time mentor at Advocates Incorporated while taking classes at OCC for his associate’s degree three days a week.
As a mentor at Advocates Incorporated, Mulligan worked with a mentee under a self-direction plan, which entailed relatives or friends of the client coming up with activities to achieve specific goals. One of Mulligan’s mentees was 5-foot-5, 320 pounds. Mulligan said they didn’t like where their body was at.
To achieve his mentee’s weight loss goal, Mulligan worked out and ate healthier lunches with them almost every day from 2014-19. Now, the mentee weighs 185 pounds and continues to stay in touch with Mulligan.
“I was a little lost in what I wanted to do at the time and just randomly bumped into (Miranda),” Mulligan said. “I started doing this, and it’s the best thing ever.”
In 2019, Mulligan became a full-time coordinator at Advocates Incorporated, where he helped pair mentees with mentors. Today, he’s an administrator who plans annual events like golf tournaments.
As he was finishing his degree in 2015, the director of the Manlius YMCA asked Mulligan if he wanted to be a part-time tennis instructor. Mulligan accepted and taught youth classes and private lessons until 2018. From 2018-21, though, Mulligan put tennis aside and worked solely at Advocates Incorporated full-time.
Then in 2021, Drumlins Country Club Tennis Director Marion Nies saw Mulligan
tennis
Syracuse 2026 commit Steven Pickard Jr. transformed his game while training at Velocity Athlete Development in Atlanta, Georgia. courtesy of steven pickard jr.
Syracuse snaps 3-game skid with 6-0 victory over Le Moyne
By Mauricio Palmar asst. digital editor
Following a series where Syracuse was outscored 33-1 by Clemson, it’s safe to say it desperately needed a reset away from conference play. Throughout the weekend, SU was dominated by the Tigers’ rotation, mustering up just one extrabase hit across three games.
Since entering conference play, the Orange have gotten accustomed to starting off on the wrong foot, scoring first-inning runs in just one of their nine Atlantic Coast Conference games. So, with a chance to get back on the right track against Le Moyne Wednesday, it was imperative that SU took the lead first and quickly.
It didn’t happen in the first inning. But when Taylor Davison came to the plate with the bases juiced in the second, she made sure Syracuse didn’t get off to a bad start this time around. Her ground ball found Dominique Rinaldi at second, whose throwing error scored both Laila Morales-Alves and Tessa Galipeau to give SU a 2-0 lead.
That advantage was all that Syracuse (2011, 1-8 ACC) needed, as it shut out Le Moyne (8-19, 1-5 Northeast) 6-0 Wednesday to snap its three-game losing skid. SU only registered four hits throughout the day, though pitcher Julianna Verni logged eight strikeouts in five innings to guide the Orange to victory.
At the outset, it looked to be another sluggish start for Syracuse. Gabby Lantier led off the inning with a strikeout, Jadyn Burney got out on a failed bunt and Taylor Posner struck out to end the frame scoreless.
But after Verni shut the Dolphins down in the bottom of the first, Syracuse entered the second ready to pounce on Le Moyne starter Nevaeh Ross. With one out, Galipeau started the inning with a walk, and she advanced to third after a single and a hit-by-pitch from Morales-Alves and Kelly Breen.
Davison’s aforementioned fielder’s choice plated two for the Orange, and she stole second soon after reaching. With Breen on third, Sophia Taliaferro stung a ground ball to shortstop, scoring Breen and tacking on a third run for SU.
Syracuse continued to threaten in the top of the third, with Posner reaching on a one-out walk and Angie Ramos following with a walk of her own. However, Posner got thrown out attempting to steal soon after and Ross forced Galipeau to fly out to end the rally.
Meanwhile, Verni continued to dominate. Besides a Rinaldi hit-by-pitch in the bottom of the fourth, SU’s ace was untouched across the second, third and fourth innings.
Her performance set the stage for Davison to tack on a couple more insurance runs in the top of the fourth. Morales-Alves led the inning off by drawing a walk, but she was quickly substituted out for pinch runner Lauren Fox.
men’s lacrosse
Then, Breen followed when she was hit by a pitch to move Fox into scoring position.
Unfortunately for the Orange, Fox got a little adventurous, attempting to swipe her first bag of the season on a steal of third. She was promptly thrown out by Elaina Kassap, while Breen took the opportunity to move up to second on the play.
With just one out on the board, Davison could’ve plated Breen with a single. But she did a little bit more than that. Still facing Ross, Davison crushed her first-career home run deep over the center field fence to bring the lead to 5-0 for Syracuse.
Once the Dolphins got to the fifth, they began to seriously threaten Verni for the
first time. Cianna Benamati broke up her no-hit bid with a single to third base, and she was promptly substituted for pinch-runner Alayna Bush.
Audrey Benderski struck out, but Bush quickly moved into scoring position by stealing second. Then, Bush stole third on a second Verni strikeout, giving Le Moyne a prime opportunity to get on the board.
But it never capitalized on that chance, as Verni quickly escaped the jam by striking out Gabriella Zarcone. Verni was replaced by Jackie Pengel after that frame, but it didn’t make a difference. The Dolphins wouldn’t notch another hit, and they only had two more baserunners throughout the rest of the game.
Heading into the seventh inning, the Orange didn’t need to tack on any additional runs to seal their 20th victory. But they continued to keep their foot on the gas against Le Moyne reliever Rose Nicastro, as Lantier led off the inning with a double into left field, only her third extra-base hit of the season.
Burney and Posner followed with a strikeout and popout, respectively, and it appeared SU wouldn’t notch an additional run to close the game. But when Ramos laced a ground ball to shortstop, Shannon Gavigan scooped it up and fired an errant throw to first, allowing her to reach base and scoring Lantier to wrap up Syracuse’s victory.
mjpalmar@syr.edu @mpalmarSU
Beat writers agree No. 8 SU will take down UVA in ACC opener
By Daily Orange Sports Staff
Gary Gait versus Lars Tiffany: a coaching matchup between arguably the sport’s best player and one of its most proven program leaders. While Gait still searches for his first national title as a coach, Tiffany already has two. But heading into the coaches’ fifth-ever meeting, their teams are in distinctly different places when it comes to their NCAA Tournament resumes.
Gait’s Syracuse is a lot closer to making a deep push in May, housing one of the most efficient offenses in the country. The Orange have won four straight games, in which attack Joey Spallina has taken his performance to a new level — currently ranking third in Division I with six points per game.
For Tiffany’s squad, the Cavaliers are having one of their worst years in recent memory. They’re floating one game above .500 and are struggling to maintain a top-flight offense without former star attackmen Connor Shellenberger and Payton Cormier. Though with this weekend’s matchup being the start of Atlantic Coast Conference play, both teams begin a mini-season of sorts to try and qualify for the postseason.
Here’s how our beat writers think No. 8 Syracuse (7-2, 0-0 ACC) will fare on the road against Virginia (5-4, 0-0 ACC) Saturday in its conference opener:
sports@dailyorange.com @DOsports
COOPER ANDREWS (6-3) “BREAKFAST
I am 21 years old. And I am not cultured enough to have ever watched 1961’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” So, here comes a ridiculous connection I’ll attempt to make sense of. Starting at 1 p.m. EDT Saturday, Syracuse will feast inside Lars Tiffany’s house — Klöckner Stadium — en route to an easy victory over Virginia. It’ll be a tasty late breakfast for the Orange.
Gait’s head-to-head record against Tiffany will move to 2-3. This isn’t the same Cavaliers team the lacrosse world is accustomed to. Their offense averages fewer than 12 goals per game, their scoring defense ranks toward the middle of the country and their goalie situation doesn’t exude confidence; Virginia switches between Matthew Nunes and Kyle Morris, who’ve both accumulated sub-.530 save percentages.
I’ll take the safe bet and assume the Orange won’t lay an egg Saturday. They’re better than that. Spallina’s having the best season of his career. They turn the ball over fewer than any team in the nation. John Mullen is all-out unstoppable at the faceoff X, leading the country with 136 faceoff wins. And Jimmy McCool has been reliable in the cage with a .590 save rate.
Syracuse is simply a nightmare for Virginia. I don’t envision UVA’s three-headed attack of McCabe Millon, Truitt Sunderland and Ryan Colsey matching the Orange’s unabating offense.
ZAK WOLF (8-1) SURVIVING A TRAP GAME
11, VIRGINIA 9
Make no mistake, this is a down year for Virginia. The Cavaliers have struggled to replace Shellenberger and Cormier’s production, and they’re on pace for their worst record since 2017. That’s exactly why this is a trap game for Syracuse.
The Orange’s final four games are against ranked opponents, making it easy to look past Virginia due to its poor season. But no ACC opponent should be taken lightly, especially a desperate one with nothing to lose. Virginia’s also not void of talent. Just because it’s underperformed this season doesn’t mean Millon, Sunderland and Colsey aren’t talented. And don’t put it past Tiffany to concoct a stringent game plan against SU.
With that being said, Syracuse still wins this one, but it’ll have to sweat. The Orange just have too many ways to beat you. It starts at the faceoff X with Mullen’s ability to consistently get possessions. From there, Syracuse’s offense does the rest. Spallina and Owen Hiltz have been one of the deadliest one-two punches in the country this season, combining for 91 points, and their production will continue. Alongside them, I expect Michael Leo to have a big game after failing to record a point against Colgate.
Leo’s downhill speed and creativity will be important in what will be a tight game Syracuse ekes out.
A year after making the Final Four, Virginia is one game over .500 and sits outside the top 30 nationally in scoring offense, scoring defense and faceoff-winning percentage. SU, which is in the top six in the aforementioned categories, will outclass UVA Saturday, showcasing its advantage in all three facets of the game.
On offense, lionize Spallina. My fellow scribe Cooper did, not just because of his tonsorial choice of a mullet resembling a mane, but for his historic scoring day versus Colgate, dispelling any apocryphal internet narratives about his big-game pedigree. Left open at X, he conducted the offensive orchestra and slammed the door on a mini-Raider comeback with a fourth-quarter dagger. Every pass and shot was calibrated down to a micron — a pixelperfect symphony of destruction.
On defense, crown the Orange’s backline. They grounded Colgate’s high-flying offense, allowing just two first-half goals, helped by McCool’s career-high 18 saves. McCool showed he’s cooler than a bomb disposal expert under pressure, proving his benching against Harvard was an anomaly. UVA’s middling offense will be the latest to run into SU’s wall. And at the X, Mullen remains as reliable as a recliner. Every time he plants his foot to take a faceoff, it’s like stepping on the gas pedal of a Maserati, sending the Orange offense rocketing forward.
Try stopping him and the rest of the Orange, Virginia — you’ve got the same chance as a snowman in a jacuzzi.
Syracuse softball snapped its three-game losing skid with a 6-0 win over Le Moyne Wednesday. The Orange were propelled by starting pitcher Juliana Verni’s eight strikeouts across five innings pitched. angelina grevi staff photographer
NICHOLAS ALUMKAL (6-3) CAVALIERS CAN’T CONTEND SYRACUSE 13, VIRGINIA 6
Paul usually leaned on his experiences as a 2018 fourth-round draft pick by the Las Vegas Golden Knights. After getting drafted, Paul fought to solidify his spot on the Knights’ roster. Revolving between the Knights and their AHL affiliate throughout the 2021-22 season, Paul learned how to handle adversity, a lesson he passed to his sister.
“(Cotter) brings everybody around her to be better,” Paul said. “When you deal with adversity it’s hard to be able to continue to do that, but that’s just the type of person she is.”
Throughout their lives, Paul and Cotter kept tabs on each other’s games. On her recruitment webpage, Cotter placed a link to Paul’s first career NHL goal, captioning the clip “My Inspiration.”
Following her junior season, Cotter watched Paul’s Golden Knights capture the franchise’s first Stanley Cup on June 13, 2023.
As an undergraduate at Tufts — where he initially played hockey — Kohn studied international relations, though he still was interested in attending law school. That garnered separate reactions from his parents. Nahama warned Kohn about the stresses of being a lawyer, while Drew thought it’d be a good career path, yet they both respected whatever Kohn chose.
During the summer before Kohn’s sophomore year, he took the Law School Admission Test. Kohn prepared during the COVID-19 pandemic, and after scoring well, he kept his options open.
“I don’t think there was ever really like a, ‘Hey, you should do this,’ or, ‘It would be a good idea if you did this,’” Kohn said. “It was more me organically coming to the conclusion that I want to go to law school.”
During Kohn’s senior year, he applied to the top schools around the country, getting accepted to Georgetown, the University of Chicago and UCLA. Kohn picked UCLA in March 2023, due to receiving a substantial scholarship and being a Southern California native.
However, Kohn’s situation took a turn the next month. A year earlier, he’d switched from hockey to lacrosse, in which he was a high school All-American. Kohn quickly became one of the top faceoff specialists in Division III. In late April, Syracuse head coach Gary Gait offered him a scholarship, which he accepted.
After contacting UCLA, it deferred his admission by a year, allowing him to join SU. Kohn revamped the Orange’s faceoff unit, winning 58% of his attempts. He heavily considered returning for a sixth season but the prospect of reapplying for law school deterred him, and John Mullen emerged as a viable replacement at the X.
Before Kohn started law school, Nahama tempered his expectations. She warned Kohn he could be humbled — not for a lack of belief, as he’d always earned straight As — but she admitted her first semester in law school was a “wake-up call.”
She also recalled everything Kohn’s accomplished. As a teenager, he moved across the country to play junior hockey in Boston and Corpus Christi, Texas, chasing a pro career before committing to Tufts. Then came his smooth transition to lacrosse at Tufts and later Syracuse.
Cotter’s family spent a day with the Cup that summer back home in Canton. Paul also shared his accomplishment with the youth hockey players at his local Plymouth Cultural Center Ice Arena. The line to take a picture with the Cup went out the door.
“A lot of people don’t see the behindthe-scenes of it, but as a sister you do, and you see the hard times,” Cotter said. “Seeing him overcome that all and find such a great dream of his come true, it’s really special.”
So, when Cotter returned to Salem for her senior season, she had a newfound desire to win. She wanted to give Paul “a run for his money.”
Although the Rocks fell short, Cotter strengthened her resume. With her recordbreaking goal tally, she was named the 2024 USA Today Girls High School Lacrosse Player of the Year.
Cotter’s success has translated to Syracuse. Amid a young offensive group, she’s become
Everything Kohn tried, he was successful at. Nahama thought Kohn would finally hit a roadblock.
She should’ve known better than to doubt Kohn.
“I was like, ‘F*ck, no way,’” Nahama said of Kohn’s success. “We look silly, because my sob story to him was that it was going to be humbling, and he’s gonna get his first bad grade, and everything didn’t happen.”
The process wasn’t easy for Kohn. When he arrived on campus in August, he started a non-credit introductory course on law school fundamentals. From there, he tackled contract law, torts and civil procedure classes.
Despite the workload, Kohn enjoyed it. Reading about different cases and interpretations of the law fascinated him.
“It really is a subjective thing a lot of the time, and that, to me, is fun,” Kohn said. “It’s the most enjoyable school I’ve had.”
Kohn’s main challenge was he had no idea if he was actually doing well. In law school, final exams determine everything, and grades are curved against classmates, adding even more pressure.
He compared it to his first semester at Syracuse, when he rehabbed from offseason wrist surgery. Kohn was unsure if his injury was healing properly and dealt with the mental strain of the unknown. The same applied to law school. Hours of studying each week all led to a single four-hour exam. To Kohn, it felt like waiting five months for a game.
“It was the most prolonged period of time where I was completely invested in something without having any idea if I was any good at it,” Kohn said.
It was a stark difference from taking faceoffs, where Kohn received instant results. If he lost a rep, within minutes, Kohn could redeem himself. Mess up on a law school test, and months of hard work get thrown out the window.
Though Kohn knew he could retain information, he still felt nervous about finishing within the time limit. He remembers his professor saying before his first exam that students should type a 20-page response in four hours. Kohn, admitting he wasn’t a fast typer, worried he wouldn’t make the cut.
Kohn’s response ended up being 20 pages. Walking out of the classroom, he felt like he’d just played a full game, and all he could do was wait for the results.
a staple of head coach Kayla Treanor’s attack through her first 11 games, starting six.
“(Cotter) is such a tough player for us, and I think she just keeps getting better and better,» Treanor said. “She’s just been a great addition to the team.”
While now a starter for the New Jersey Devils, Paul still makes an effort to cross paths with Cotter. When they both have an overlapping break in their schedules, they’ll return home for a quick backyard lacrosse match. Few aspects of lacrosse translate to hockey. Still, the two work on technical skills.
“There’s obviously no lacrosse moves in hockey, so immediately my brain went to, ‘OK, let’s do the hockey moves in lacrosse,’” Paul said. “What that is, I don’t know yet, but hopefully we can figure something out.”
Since Cotter began her Syracuse career, Paul has tuned in for almost all her games. Between his practices, he makes sure to record Cotter’s most memorable goals on his laptop. He also likes to text Cotter videos of her occasionally missing open shots to give her a hard time.
After Cotter scored her overtime goal against then-No. 6 Stanford, Paul was upset he missed watching it live. But when he saw the replay later that day, he got chills.
“Hearing the coach talk about her after the (Stanford) game was so cool. Sometimes you don’t really realize that that’s someone talking about your little sister,” Paul said.
Just like her brother, Cotter now dons No. 47 every time she takes the field for the Orange.
The number isn’t just a nod to Paul’s, but it represents a standard to uphold. Cotter has learned what it takes to win a championship. Now, she wants to add her own accomplishments to her family’s trophy case.
“I give (my brothers) a lot of credit in my journey because I want to make an impact how they’ve made an impact,” Cotter said. “They’ve gone through so many different challenges, and all that’s done is really give me the motivation to want to do it myself.
mgray06@syr.edu
@ma77hew_gray
It turned out, just like with faceoffs, Kohn excelled in law school. His strong grades earned him a summer job at Norton Rose Fulbright’s Los Angeles office. The 10-week stint will help Kohn decide which area of law to pursue. He’s not set on anything, but he’s mainly interested in litigation and corporate transaction work.
Drew and Nahama both feel Kohn is best suited for a law career due to his competitiveness and ability to get his point across in debates.
“He terrifies me,” Nahama said of potentially litigating against Kohn. “He’s going to put in whatever it takes to make sure that he’s better prepared and a better advocate for his clients, despite the sheer will of the hours that he’s willing to put in.”
Kohn still has a long way to go before he’s a practicing lawyer. Currently, in his second semester, Kohn explained he has two types of days. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he starts with a 7:30 a.m. workout, then finishes his assigned readings before his first of three two-hour lectures starts at 11.
First is property law, then criminal, before Kohn finishes with constitutional law. On Mondays and Wednesdays, Kohn has one class — legal research and writing — from 9-10:30 a.m. Kohn spends the rest of his day doing research, writing papers and reading. He’ll face anywhere from 16 to 32 hours of required reading per week.
Still, Kohn found time to return to the lacrosse field with UCLA’s club team. While at Syracuse, he
received a text from Hayden Lechner, UCLA’s club captain, who played with Nate LeVine, a shortstick midfielder for SU. He also received similar texts from the club hockey coach, but declined both opportunities to focus on his studies.
Once Kohn settled in this spring, he reached back out to Lechner, eager to play. He only had one condition: he wanted to play attack. Lechner obliged, and Kohn had a blast, flying under the radar without any Syracuse gear. He scored seven goals in his debut, but his fun was shortlived, as he broke his hand a couple games later.
Kohn’s hunger to play never faded. National Lacrosse League teams have contacted him about playing next year once his final year of college eligibility expires, which he said isn’t out of the picture. In the fall, he often wondered what it’d look like if he stayed at Syracuse. That fire still burns whenever he watches SU or Tufts play.
“I don’t think there’ll ever be a time where it’s not weird (and that) I don’t wish I was out there in some way,” Kohn said.
For now, Kohn can only reminisce as he chisels his way through law school. He might not have the same prestigious academic achievements from undergraduate school as his classmates. Though one thing Kohn’s displayed in his life is that he should never be underestimated. zakwolf784254@gmail.com @ZakWolf22
running on his street. After talking to Mara, Nies contacted him about teaching part-time because Drumlins needed help with its program.
Mulligan had an urge to return to tennis. He got back to Nies immediately, and for the last four years, he’s taught classes at Drumlins at night. He’d often run into Syracuse head coach Younes Limam in the facility, offering his services if Limam needed help with SU’s squad.
After 13-year volunteer assistant coach Len Loppo stepped away from the team, Limam quickly asked Mulligan to take his spot. In August, Mulligan joined as a volunteer assistant before the Orange’s fall season.
“When we started to put things together and think of who would be a good fit for our culture and team, Josh was definitely at the top of the list, and we’re fortunate to have him,” Limam said.
Now with Syracuse, Mulligan is trying to get the best out of SU’s players. Just like he did with his cousins, former teammates and mentees at Advocates Incorporated.
“They work really hard, and it is tough sometimes because they’re good and they’ve been playing for a long time at a high level,” Mulligan said. “But, they don’t know everything. People still always need help.” qdpostma@syr.edu @quinnpostman_
After spending a season as SU’s faceoff specialist, Mason Kohn enrolled at UCLA’s School of Law to pursue a career in litigation. jacob halsema staff photographer from page 13 mulligan
After leaving the Nazareth men’s tennis team 15 years ago, Josh Mulligan returned to college tennis as a volunteer assistant coach for Syracuse. He’s currently amid his first year with the program. adeline taylor contributing photographer
Denmark’s Rudersdal Chamber Players
