SU reflects one year after Ukraine invasion Women’s Day keynote centers on digital age

By Brittany Miller asst. copy editor

When Gloria Somolekae lived in Kenya during her early 30s, women weren’t able to own residential property. The law assumed women would have husbands to house them.

Later, as she began her career as an activist, she formed a task force to push against similar discriminatory laws in Botswana. Somolekae said through her years of activism, one thing she can be sure of is that all women in all societies — whether through legitimate laws or social structures — have a shared experience of subjugation.

“Women suffer different forms of discrimination and disadvantage around the world,” Somolekae said. “It’s just a matter of degree and differences yet … many societies have got embedded biases against women.”

Somolekae, who received her Ph.D. in public administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in 1994, delivered the keynote speech for SU’s celebration of International Women’s Day on Wednesday in Goldstein Auditorium. The talk, entitled “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality: Challenges and Prospects,” centered on how girls and women can feel empowered in the digital age.

By Kendall Luther asst. news editor

Olecsander Taras Colopelnic vividly remembers holding back tears in his Spanish class on Feb. 24, 2022. That morning, Russia had invaded Ukraine after months of rising political tension surrounding Ukraine’s sovereignty.

“It was extremely surreal for me,” said Colopelnic, the president of Syracuse University’s Ukrainian Club. “That very quickly turned into that resolution, that resolve to do everything we can to support Ukraine.”

Last month marked the one year anniversary of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The invasion began with a series of missile attacks in locations near Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, with strikes quickly spreading across central and eastern Ukraine.

Colopelnic was born in Sighetu Marmatiei, a city located on the border of Ukraine, and came to America in 2012. He said that between the shock and resolve, sentiments of pain and difficulty blended into feelings of hatred for the invading force.

Recent United Nations Human Rights Office data confirms there were at least 8,000 noncombatant deaths and 13,300 injuries since Russia’s initial invasion, as of Feb. 21. On top of civilian casualties, there are at least 180,000 Russian and 100,000 Ukrainian military casualties, Norwegian Chief of Defence General Eirik Kristoffersen said in a January 2023 casualty update.

The war’s consequences have disproportion- ately fallen on Ukrainian citizens, said Brian Taylor, a professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs who teaches Russian politics. Data from the Center for Research and Analysis of Migration identifies that crimes of humanity, war crimes and genocidal acts have forced approximately 19 million citizens to flee the country.

Many of these refugees fled to Europe, but others claimed Syracuse and the central New York region as their temporary home.

“Ukraine has become one of the top incoming countries to the United States, and a number of them have settled in Syracuse, which also takes advantage of a historic population of Ukrainians that have lived and worked in the area for many decades now,” said Michael Williams, director of the International Relations program and associate professor with a research focus on international security in 20th-century Europe and Russia.

In March 2022, Mayor Ben Walsh and County Executive Ryan McMahon announced in a joint statement addressed to President Joe Biden that Syracuse and Onondaga County were “ready, willing and able” to welcome and resettle Ukrainian refugees in central New York.

“Communities like Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo historically have had large Ukrainian immigrant and refugee communities,” Taylor said. “There’s a strong Ukrainian community here with their own churches on the West Side, and lots of fundraising I know is going on in the local community to support not only the Ukrainian war effort, but also to support refugees from the war.” see ukraine page 4

New York has the largest population of Ukrainian people in the country, with over 140,000 people reporting ancestry, according to U.S. Census data from 2019. In 2022, central New York received 780 Ukrainian arrivals, and over the course of the fiscal year, Ukraine was among the top seven countries from which refugees settled in New York.

Many Syracuse organizations, including InterFaith Works of CNY and Catholic Charities of Onondaga County, have offered their support for the Ukrainian community. Events throughout the year since the invasion included a gathering in Feb. 2022 at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church to stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and fundraising events.

Events and efforts to support Ukraine have also occurred at SU. Colopelnic said that as president of the Ukrainian club, he’s worked to stay in touch with Ukrainian organizations on other college campuses across the country and in Canada. Among the schools, SU’s support efforts stand out, he said.

The day after the invasion, SU Chancellor Kent Syverud sent a campus-wide email condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and offering resources and services to students from the impacted regions.

Still, though he’s discussed academic and emotional support strategies with SU’s administration, Colopelnic said there’s more to be done.

“I’m not faulting anyone, but even all of us can always do more, right?” Colopelnic said.