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TUESDAY
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april 17, 2012
t h e i n de pe n de n t s t u de n t n e w spa pe r of s y r acuse , n e w yor k
INSIDENEWS
INSIDEOPINION
INSIDEPULP
INSIDESPORTS
Balanced budget The Student Association finalized
Primary purpose The remaining primaries before
Pure imagination Non-majors get the chance to
Out at home When Syracuse joins the ACC,
fall 2012 funding for student organizations at Monday’s meeting. Page 3
the presidential election create a new opportunity for student voters. Page 5
let their creative juices flow with an intro-level art class. Page
it’ll be the only school without a baseball team, and plans for one can’t get off the ground. Page 16
ATCH NEIGHBORHOOD WAT CH NEIGHBO
Part 1 or 3
The
economics of crime
Syracuse officials discuss how high poverty levels relate to increasing inner-city violence By Stephanie Bouvia
B
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
etween July and September 2011, the city of Syracuse saw more than 1,700 crimes total on the North, East, West and South sides of the city. These crimes include murder, non-
negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, larceny from a vehicle and motor vehicle theft, according to data on the Syracuse Police Department’s website. SPD officials keep track of crime rates in the different districts of the city and
SEE CRIME PAGE 6
DETAILING THE DISTRICTS
The Syracuse Common Council describes the city of Syracuse as being broken down into five districts: • The Syracuse Northside is made up of Teall Avenue, Grant Boulevard and Butternut Street. • The Eastside comprises SU’s main campus, Comstock Avenue and Westcott Street. • The Southside includes South Avenue, West Brighton Avenue and Midland Avenue. • The Westside is composed of West Genesee Street, Erie Boulevard West and West Fayette Street. • Downtown is made up of East Adams Street, Harrison Street and Lancaster Avenue. Source: Syracuse.ny.us
andrew renneisen | photo editor CHARLES SCHUMER, senator of New York, announces his support for a bill that would reduce student loan interest rate increases in front of the Hall of Languages on Monday.
Schumer plans to halt loan interest rate increases By Jessica Iannetta STAFF WRITER
Sen. Charles Schumer announced his support for a bill that would halt student loan interest rate increases on the steps of the Hall of Languages on Monday at noon. Unless a bill is passed, interest rates on federal Stafford loans will nearly double on July 1, rising from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. Stafford loans, offered by the
federal government, are given to students based on need and are not expected to be paid back while the student is in college or for a six-month period after. While the student is in college, the federal government pays the loan interest, according to an April 16 press release on Schumer’s website. Currently, 9,483 Syracuse University students and 965 State University of New York College of
Environmental Science and Forestry students have Stafford loans and would be affected by the increase, according to the release. Flanked by students and officials, Schumer said a college education is very important in today’s world and can lead to higher income and lower unemployment. However, financial obstacles are making it increasingly difficult for students to obtain a col-
SEE SCHUMER PAGE 6
football
Plans to build practice facility still stalled By Liz Sawyer NEWS EDITOR
Plans to construct a 100,000-squarefoot practice facility for the Syracuse University football team have been on hold for about a year, said Eric Beattie, director of campus planning, design and construction at SU. A competition was held in conjunction with the athletic department one year ago, in which three architecture firms based out of New York state presented design plans for an updated
practice facility, Beattie said. Bernheimer Architecture won the competition last year after presenting blue prints for a facility located about three miles south of Main Campus. Beattie said the project is not currently moving forward because officials in the athletic department changed their priorities from raising enough money to construct a new facility to focusing on improving the existing Manley Field House building instead. Some of the renovations to Manley would include
updating the locker rooms, he said. The firm proposed plans to build a top-of-the-line facility complete with light trusses erected every 10 yards and translucent wall panels to reduce energy. The current site is a cluster of practice fields and parking lots located west of a residential neighborhood and to the right of Manley, according to Bernheimer’s website. Architects were hoping to create an identity for a “middle campus,”
SEE FACILITY PAGE 6
photo courtesy of bernheimer architecture Bernheimer Architecture firm designed blue prints for a new practice facility for the Syracuse football team, which would be located three miles off campus. The project has been stalled for the past year.