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dailyorange.com
Each year University Union organizes the annual Juice Jam Music Festival. The students who run UU take up to four months to organize the event with nearly 100 active members. Page 7
Experts on crowd control and stadium safety weigh in on the Carrier Dome’s new clear bag policy that’s being introduced at sporting events this fall. Page 3
IN THE HUDDLE SEE INSERT
senate
Professor criticizes university decision
Turning the page
By Daniel Strauss asst. copy editor
Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud announced last week that SU won’t make a public commitment to not invest in private correctional facilities despite calls from the University Senate, Student Association and Graduate Student Organization. The Senate, SA and the GSO all passed resolutions during the 201718 academic year calling on the university to “publicly commit to not investing directly in for-profit prison companies and their major suppliers now and into the future.” In a September letter addressed directly to Janice Dowell — a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ philosophy department who has spearheaded calls for the divestment commitment alongside a group of faculty — Syverud said the university wouldn’t make a public commitment to not invest in private prisons. illustration by audra linsner asst. illustration editor
New forum aims to unify first-year experience, address ideas from global perspective By Daniel Strauss asst. copy editor
E
very new student on Syracuse University’s campus this fall is enrolled in SEM 100, a five-week seminar designed to confront implicit bias and promote health and wellness and communication skills. Students will begin the course in late September, about five months
after the initial suspension of the Theta Tau fraternity, which was eventually expelled for the creation of online videos showing members engaging in behavior Chancellor Kent Syverud has called “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities.” Amanda Nicholson, SU’s assistant provost and dean for student success, said the unified first-year experience
was already being planned prior to the Theta Tau videos, but the release of the videos accelerated its campuswide introduction. Planning for the updated first-year experience began in November 2017, Nicholson said. The book, Trevor Noah’s memoir “Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood,” was chosen in March 2018. see forums page 4
crime
3rd suspect arrested in SU dorm burglaries By Catherine Leffert asst. news editor
A third person was arrested in connection to reported burglaries at two Syracuse University dorms in August, accordHOLLINGTON ing to a Syracuse Police Department press release
Wednesday night. Akil Hollington, 24, was arrested for 15 counts of burglary in the second degree and two counts of falsely reporting an incident in the second degree. GEREMIA Two other people — Abraham Mestre, 19, and
Peter Geremia, 17 — were arrested last week on the same charges. None of the three men were SU students. On Aug. 27, fire alarms were reportedly pulled in Lawrinson and WatMESTRE son halls and unlocked rooms were burglar-
ized, according to a campus-wide email from SU’s Department of Public Safety at the time. The fire alarms were reportedly used as a distraction so that people could enter rooms and take items such as laptops and cell phones, SPD said. SPD and DPS collaborated on the investigation. ccleffer@syr.edu @ccleffert
We’re not just hoping our university will commit to divestment, but that ... they’ll do so publicly so that we can inspire other universities and entities that have large endowments Janice Dowell su philosophy professor
“Given our robust sociallyresponsible investing policy and practices the Committee will not make public declarations about any individual prospective investment, including — but not limited to — private prisons,” Syverud said in the letter, which Dowell said she received about 30 minutes before the Sept. 5 Senate meeting. The group of faculty raised concerns over the treatment of prisoners and the role they say private prison facilities play in contributing to racial and economic inequality. They initially asked the university if it had any direct investments in for-profit prisons, specifically whether or not the university endowment owns stock in a major facility operators such as see divestment page 6