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One lawsuit related to the Theta Tau controversy has reached a ruling. Another lawsuit filed in federal court has not seen any legal action in months. Page 3
dailyorange.com
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Business columnist Paul Sujith Rayi encourages companies such as Bruegger’s Bagels to better protect customer data online. Page 5
The Onondaga Free Library recently launched its chapter of Girls Who Code, a national program that encourages careers for women in STEM fields. Page 7
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Former Syracuse football captain Derrell Smith makes viral cooking videos. Now, he’s a celebrity chef and entrepreneur for Tastemade, specializing in meatballs. Page 12
on campus
A YEAR’S
WORK Ben Walsh says team laid foundations for future success in first year as mayor
BEN WALSH said his administration has focused on fiscal sustainability, neighborhood stability and economic growth, constituent engagement and response and the delievery of city services. dan lyon asst. photo editor By India Miraglia asst. news editor
A You need to be sensitive to the people’s different realities based on where they’re at and where they’re coming from. Ben Walsh
mayor of syracuse
t the beginning of his first term in office, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh worked to create a “north star”: a vision that his whole administration could strive to move toward. He said that north star has helped keep him focused in his first year as mayor. “Our vision is for Syracuse to be a growing community that embraces diversity and creates opportunity for all,” Walsh said. Walsh, a Syracuse native and the first independent to be elected mayor in more than 100 years, said much of his first year in office was spent establishing building blocks that would encourage progress in the future. Those building blocks consisted of assembling a diverse administration and developing four main objectives: fiscal sustainability; neighborhood stability and economic growth; constituent engagement and response and the deliverance of city services effectively, efficiently and equitably. Much of the foundation building revolved around putting Syracuse in a position to achieve economic growth, Walsh said. Walsh’s first budget, which cut $3 million in projected spending and took $11 million from the city’s “rainy day” fund, was approved unanimously
and without change by the Syracuse Common Council. It included funding for a new class of police and firefighters and provided for an increase of security and maintenance in the downtown area, among other things. The budget held spending flat across all city departments for the mayor’s first year. Walsh said this set the right tone for his administration, and in December Walsh and County Executive Ryan McMahon collaborated to extend the current sales tax agreement, which Walsh said is one of the city’s biggest sources of revenue. But when U.S. Census data was released last fall, Syracuse “once again found itself on the wrong kind of (the) top 10 list,” Walsh said. Syracuse was ranked as one of the 10 poorest cities in the nation, and data showed that Syracuse lagged behind peer cities in areas that affect economic opportunity. “Rather than just throw up my hands or start to make assumptions about why we were where we were on that list, I challenged my team to really dig into that data and to try to understand what was really driving it,” Walsh said. Common Councilor Susan Boyle said Walsh’s administration has taken a data-driven approach that is part of a larger attitude of innovation. Data, being used to analyze problems
see walsh page 4
city
University neighborhood hit with 5 burglaries By Kennedy Rose news editor
A string of burglaries along Ostrom Avenue hit several houses and buildings owned by Syracuse University, including the LGBT Resource Center, during winter break. The Daily Orange was also burglarized. SU’s Department of Public Safety crime logs show four burglaries and one attempted burglary reported at four locations on Ostrom Avenue over the course of five days, between Dec. 26 and Dec. 30. Another burglary occurred
on Comstock Avenue in that time frame, per the crime logs. No arrests have been made in connection to any of the burglaries, Syracuse Police Department Detective George Hack said in an email. Investigations are currently underway by the SPD’s Criminal Investigations Division, Hack said. The LGBT Resource Center, located at 750 Ostrom Ave., was the site of a reported attempted burglary on Dec. 26 and a burglary on Dec. 28. Nothing has gone missing from the resource center, khristian kemp-delisser, director of the
LGBT Resource Center, said in an email. The resource center was still operating at 750 Ostrom Ave. at the time of the burglary, kemp-delisser said, but the center is relocating to Bird Library this year. The Daily Orange, located at 744 Ostrom Ave., was burglarized on Dec. 28. A small window on the building’s back door was smashed, which may have been used to allow entry, said Editor-in-chief Sam Ogozalek. Nobody was in the building at the time of the burglary, he said. The burglar or burglars stole a signed Buffalo Bills helmet, a
company debit card and General Manager Mike Dooling’s laptop. The burglar or burglars attempted to make a $6 purchase at an Auntie Anne’s Pretzel location with the card, Ogozalek added, among other things. All items were recovered and returned by DPS, Ogozalek said, and the debit card was canceled. Houses at 830 Ostrom Ave., 838 Ostrom Ave. and 821 Comstock Ave. were also burglarized. Residents of those homes could not be reached for comment. krose100@syr.edu @KennedyRose001
Syverud to detail Greek life review By Jordan Muller
asst. digital editor
Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud will provide an update on SU’s months-long Greek life review during an address to the campus community on Monday. The university launched the review of all fraternity and sorority policies, activities and culture after last spring’s Theta Tau videos controversy. SU has suspended or expelled five Greek organizations since fall 2017 for conduct violations that included hazing and threatening behavior, and four fraternities are currently under sanctions. Sarah Scalese, SU’s senior associate vice president for communications, said in an email that Syverud would provide an update on the review during his Winter Message on Monday at 3:45 p.m. She didn’t elaborate on whether the university would release a full-length report on Monday. Syverud initially said that the review and revision of the university’s Greek practices would be completed before the fall 2018 semester. In a December interview with The Daily Orange, the chancellor said he expected the results and recommendations from the review to be released before the start of the spring 2019 semester. The review has not been released as of Sunday night. Syverud announced the review one day after the university suspended the Theta Tau engineering fraternity for its involvement in the creation of videos the chancellor called “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities.” Theta Tau was permanently expelled three days after its suspension. SU suspended three other fraternities in the 2017-18 academic year prior to the Theta Tau videos controversy. The Delta Tau Delta fraternity was suspended in October 2017 for conduct violations that included hazing. The Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity was suspended in February 2018 for conduct that threatened the safety of a student participating in the Greek organization’s new member process. The Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity was suspended in April 2018 after a months-long hazing investigation. “I’m confident that we’re gonna have a much-improved Greek life as a result of the work that’s been done in the Division of Enrollment and the Student Experience,” Syverud said in December. “I think that it see greek
life page 4