thursday, nov. 16, 2023
celebrating 120 years
N • Dorm details
free
C • Freshly baked
A week after SU’s Board of Trustees approved converting the Sheraton into a dorm, a spokesperson said it will primarily house second-year students.
As you prepare your Thanksgiving meal, consider making this delicious Rosemary garlic pullapart bread, for the whole family to enjoy.
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S • Prideful portraits Syracuse defensive back Isaiah Johnson is an artist off the field. In addition to drawing portraits, Johnson’s chest and arms are filled with tattoos that he designed. Page 12
on campus
on campus
At USen, Syverud puts safety over ‘freedom of speech’ MESA letter calls out SU admin By Roxanne Boychuk asst. news editor
During Wednesday’s University Senate meeting, Chancellor Kent Syverud said Syracuse University administrators are prioritizing student safety over free speech and academic freedom because of the Israel-Hamas war. “Our first priority has to be to all of our students. That’s not just the students we agree with or disagree with, but all of our students, and for me that responsibility to our students comes first, including over academic freedom and free speech,” Syverud said.
While he said he still believes academic freedom and free speech are important to maintain, he said the university must act when the safety of students is “significantly threatened.” Along with Syverud, Provost Gretchen Ritter also spoke about the war and Nov. 9’s pro-Palestine protest, saying that the campus is still upholding academic freedom. Conversations regarding the war took up much of Wednesday’s meeting. Toward the beginning of the meeting, Syverud called the IsraelHamas war a “humanitarian crisis,” saying that innocent Palestinians are being killed. He also acknowledged how many people across the
United States have been affected by the war directly and indirectly, whether by losing loved ones or receiving threats. At the Senate’s last meeting, Syverud said he wants to focus on inclusivity amid the war because of the wide range of views across campus. “Just to be clear, students are frightened and angry. They are frightened about antisemitic acts. They’re frightened about hostility to anyone who speaks up for Palestinians in Gaza,” Syverud said Wednesday. “They’re frightened about perceptions that law enforcement and the university are taking unfair sides or taking unfair steps.”
Vice Chancellor Ritter said many students have reported faculty and staff to either be disciplined or fired for expressing their opinions in the classroom, something she said the university has not and will not adhere to. Any bias complaints filed against faculty in classrooms will be dropped, she said. “Indeed, many of us administrators, deans and staff, have spent countless hours these last few weeks defending our faculty and departments, and we will continue to do so,” Ritter said. “But all of us, faculty included, be mindful of how we engage with our students as we endeavor to create safe and inclusive learning environments.”
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Next stage
By Dominic Chiappone asst. news editor
The Committee on Academic Freedom for the Middle East Studies Association of North America sent a letter Monday to Syracuse University leadership criticizing the university’s “failure to respond to a pattern of egregious threats.” MESA’s letter — addressed to Chancellor Kent Syverud, Provost Gretchen Ritter and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Behzad Mortazavi — condemned SU administrators for failing to uphold their commitment to academic freedom and to defend faculty sharing their “scholarly expertise” on the Israel-Hamas war.
The failure of Syracuse University’s leadership to speak out clearly and publicly against these threats is an abdication of professional and academic responsibility. MESA Letter
Syracuse Stage added the Archbold auditorium to their facilities in 1980. With Archbold and Storch, the Stage is able to put on complex mainstage productions. courtesy of robert lorenz
Bringing the art of theater to Syracuse for the last 50 years, Syracuse Stage collaborates with the local community By Kelly Matlock
asst. culture editor
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n any given day at Sy racuse Stage, undergraduate theater students may be rehearsing their lines while professional actors learn a scene in the room next door. At the Stage, for the past 50 years, amateurs and professionals have come together to take the audience somewhere new.
“It’s the ability of theater to do that, that makes it a very special place … I still have that experience when I go and walk into the audience and wait for that curtain to go up,” said drama department professor James Clark. “The lights go down and they go up and you’re transported to a different place.” This year marks 50 years since the opening of Syracuse Stage. Beyond its success with plays from Syracuse on Broadway, like “How to Dance in Ohio,” and a roster of successful alumni like Aaron Sorkin
and Vanessa Williams, the Stage has thrived over the past five decades with community engagement and university partnership. Joseph Whelan has been involved with Syracuse Stage for 29 years. He worked as the publications director and editor-in-chief of the newsletter and other writings before becoming the marketing editor. He has since stepped down from that position and is working to assist with events for the 50th anniversary. see 50 years page 7
“The failure of Syracuse University’s leadership to speak out clearly and publicly against these threats is an abdication of professional and academic responsibility,” the letter reads. “Intentionally or not, your silence conveys the message that you countenance the harassment to which they have been subjected.” The letter also called out the university’s decision to cancel a Middle Eastern studies scholar teach-in and to bar faculty members from using university communications channels to address the Israel-Hamas war. MESA specified two instances in which SU faculty members were “specifically targeted for harassment and threat of physical harm.” In an email statement to The Daily Orange, a university spokesperson said Syverud and Ritter addressed concerns related to the Israel-Hamas war during a Wednesday University Senate meeting. “The University has received many communications from outside organizations and individuals with deeply held perspectives calling on the University to take any number of actions,” the spokesperson wrote. MESA, a nonprofit association founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and education on the Middle see letter page 3