Editor’s picks: The top news stories of 2023
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This year in news featured global events coming to campus through discussions and conflict over academic freedom, unionization and affirmative action. The year also featured massive developments in university and local infrastructure, from climate goals to Micron Technology.
Check out the list below for some of the news section’s top stories of 2023:
Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor
After hundreds march to support Palestine, Ritter, Groves address ‘reprehensible behavior’ from protestor
Around 200 protesters marched through Syracuse University’s campus on Nov. 9 in support of Palestine, calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Students, faculty and staff marched from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs to the National Veterans Resource Center with a stop outside Crouse Hinds Hall to specifically “call out” Chancellor Kent Syverud and Provost Gretchen Ritter.
“The inaction of Syracuse University against these hate crimes outraged the student body as it outrages us now to see them say nothing to address the atrocities being committed against the Palestinians in Gaza,” a speaker in front of NVRC said. “They give the cold shoulder to so many of their students in a time of tremendous grief. Their silent support of ethnic cleansing, genocide, Islamophobia, and racism, and to that I say, not again SU. Never again SU.”
During the demonstration, one of the speakers specifically named a series of Jewish organizations on campus, calling them “complicit” in genocide. The speaker criticized the organizations for helping buy, pack and ship medical and household supplies to Israel.
Ritter and Senior Vice President Allen Groves sent a campus-wide email writing that the speaker’s behavior put “a group of our students, based on their identity, at risk of harassment, retaliation and potential violence.” They wrote that the university was investigating the statements and was working to identify the speaker.
Daily Orange File Photo
SU review of legacy admissions to be finalized
Following the United States Supreme Court ban on affirmative action admissions — policies that legally allowed universities and colleges to consider race as part of a holistic admissions process — in June, Syracuse University said administrators are examining its legacy admissions policy.
The university also said diversity will remain a core focus in admissions policies moving forward and is conducting a careful review regarding legacy admissions.
“Still, we are examining our current practices and their outcomes to ensure that we continue to uphold our longstanding commitment to cultivating a diverse and inclusive campus community,” the statement read.
Chancellor Kent Syverud, Vice Chancellor Gretchen Ritter and Vice President of Enrollment Services Ryan Williams wrote in a Sept. 5 statement regarding its review that all students “proceed on a level playing field through the admissions process.”
In a University Senate meeting in September, the Senate discussed changes to the admissions process, including a new application question. Provost Gretchen Ritter said the question aims to maintain a diverse student body.
Meghan Hendricks | Photo Editor
One year later: SU students, professors reflect on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
March 2023 marked the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As many Ukrainians have historically come to central New York, several members of the Syracuse community deeply felt the impacts of the war.
“I always knew being Ukrainian was a big part of my life, but I don’t think I realized how big of a hole there was until it wasn’t there,” Syracuse University Ukrainian Club member Anna Salewycz said. “Especially when the war broke out, I just felt very isolated and alone, because there is a Ukrainian community here, but it’s just so different from what I grew up with.”
Several students and professors at SU found comfort in supporting Ukraine on campus and connecting with other Ukrainian organizations and other college campuses across the country.
Bridget Overby | Presentation Director
In ASA’s one-year window, over 3,000 civil suits filed
People filed over 3,000 civil lawsuits under the Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year window for sexual abuse survivors to file civil lawsuits in New York state that would have previously fallen outside the statute of limitations.
Over 100 lawsuits named New York state universities as defendants, with nine specifically naming Syracuse University as a defendant. Three of the lawsuits where SU was a defendant were related to Conrad Mainwaring, a former SU employee and graduate student who allegedly sexually abused male students in the fall of 1982.
“It’s very hard as an 18 or 19-year-old away from home for the first time to understand what’s happening, to have the support network and feel safe to report the abuse,” said Beth Fegan, a class action attorney for the FeganScott law firm. “They don’t have the framework and the experience to know what’s right or wrong or to feel safe and come forward.”
Joe Zhao | Assistant Photo Editor
Changes in the Remembrance program bring scholars closer to Pan Am victims
For the 35th anniversary of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, Syracuse University made several changes to its Remembrance Scholar Program, which scholars said made them feel closer to the victims they represented.
This year was the first year Remembrance Scholars were randomly paired with the victims they represent.
“It’s more special to pick someone random and still find connections with them rather than put a preference for someone,” said Hannah Starorypinski, a Remembrance Scholar and political science major.
The program also no longer included Jason and Eric Coker, two student victims who were discovered to have antisemitic materials in their archives. Instead, the program now includes a representative for the flight’s crew as well as the other passengers outside of the 35 connected to SU.
Stephanie Zaso | Digital Design Director
‘Dara’s inner circle versus everybody else’: How Syracuse University marketing turned toxic
After meeting throughout March and April 2021 to discuss the internal culture of Syracuse University’s marketing department, findings from 21 members were distilled into a 15-page document. Much of the report focused on Dara Royer, the university’s current chief marketing officer and her role in the dysfunction of the department.
Several employees have complained about Royer’s mismanagement of the department through internal letters and written memos to the SU human resources department, claiming Royer repeatedly criticized, micromanaged, bullied and targeted employees.
“SU marketing is the Dara Royer Show — it’s all about your ideas, what you like, what you want, what you approve,” former project director for SU Brittany Terwilliger wrote to Royer. “After being there for a few months, all of your benevolent words start to ring false.”
Leanne Rivera | Staff Photographer
SU moves up net-zero emissions target by 8 years
Syracuse University announced it will pursue net-zero carbon emissions by 2032, moving up its initial target date by 8 years. The announcement came alongside a new set of additional sustainability goals released April 6, which were agreed upon by the Student Association.
The university also created a Sustainability Oversight Council to oversee and audit the University’s Sustainability Management Office. The “ambitious” goals set a high standard for the university in terms of its climate action and commitment to creating a more sustainable campus, wrote Chancellor Kent Syverud in an SU news release.
“With the university’s commitment and collaboration of our students, these goals are not only achievable but will be realized by all of us and make Syracuse University a national leader in sustainability,” wrote David Bruen, SA’s then-president, in the release.
Maxine Brackbill | Photo Editor
SU graduate student workers vote in favor of recognizing SGEU as their union
In April, graduate workers voted 728-36 to officially recognize Syracuse Graduate Employees United as a union. The vote enabled SGEU to begin negotiations for collective bargaining with Syracuse University.
SGEU’s unionization campaign began in January in hopes of securing higher stipend pay, improved healthcare and better protections for graduate workers. SGEU’s next step was to form a commission committee to organize employees with representation from each of SU’s schools.
“Everybody here has been working their tails off in order to get to this point,” SGEU member Hayden Courtney said. “Just to see everybody’s face light up as soon as that number dropped, I think the gravity of it was felt by everybody.”
Stephanie Zaso | Digital Design Director
Micron announces 2024 start for construction on Clay semiconductor plant
Micron Technology announced in February it will begin construction on its Clay facility in 2024.
The semiconductor plant is anticipated to transform the regional economy, with a
study by Regional Economic Models projecting that the facility will add $16.7 billion in economic output and over $10 billion in real Gross Domestic Product over its first 31 years of operations.
“(Micron’s investment) will only increase the demand for talented workers across our region; this is why we are actively promoting opportunities for increasing diversity in manufacturing,” Amy Stage, Director of Apprenticeship and Workforce Development at The Manufacturers Association of New York State, told the Daily Orange.
Daily Orange File Photo
Columbus Monument Corp. will appeal ruling that would allow Syracuse to proceed with statue removal
After years of legal battles over the Christopher Columbus statue located in downtown Syracuse, the City of Syracuse is beginning the process of removing the statue.
State Supreme Court Justice Gerard Neri ruled in favor of the Columbus Monument Corporation in March, writing that the city did not have the legal authority to remove the statue. This decision was overturned by an appellate court in Rochester in July. Mayor Ben Walsh plans to replace the statue with a heritage and education site.
“Our goal has always been to create a public space that is welcoming to all and honors Italian American heritage,” Walsh wrote. “We can do both without holding on to a symbol of colonialism in the heart of downtown Syracuse.”
