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Original Grain in downtown Syracuse is introducing Hip Hop Brunch, featuring live performances by DJs during its weekend brunch hours. Page 7
Syracuse University’s Student Association is helping to host Mental Health Awareness Week, which includes events such as therapy dog sessions and meditation. Page 3
on campus
Students divided over SU Greek life By Casey Darnell asst. news editor
Syracuse University students are divided over whether fraternities and sororities have a positive impact on campus life, according to the results from SU’s Greek life survey that were released Friday afternoon. About 48 percent of students who aren’t involved in Greek life said that fraternities and sororities don’t have a positive impact on SU, per the survey. The majority of students in Greek life said their experiences have helped them feel connected to SU and that their involvement has helped them make connections with other students. More than half of non-Greek respondents said they did not agree that fraternities and sororities promote the health and well-being of their members, and nearly 42 percent of non-Greek respondents said they don’t feel comfortable interacting with Greek life organizations and their members. The survey was first sent to undergraduate students during the summer as part of SU’s Greek life review, which was announced in the wake of the Theta Tau controversy last spring. Undergraduate students who were enrolled for the fall 2018 semester and had spent one fall or spring semester on campus were asked to participate in the survey.
3,820 Number of participants in Greek life survey SOURCE: SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
Respondents were given different questions depending on if they identified themselves as a member of a Greek life organization. About 48 percent of survey respondents said they were members of Greek life. More than 97 percent of students in Greek life said they agree that their organizations helped them interact with other students. About 40 percent of non-Greek respondents said they did not feel students in fraternities or sororities socialized with people outside Greek organizations. More than half of nonmembers said they disagree that “fraternities and sororities encourage their members to be themselves.” About 92 percent of Greek life members agreed with the same statement. About 86 percent of those in Greek life said they strongly agree that they see survey page 4
dailyorange.com
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Despite Syracuse football’s loss to Clemson on Saturday, the Orange still showed signs of growth. The D.O.’s beat writers weigh in on how important the game was for SU. Page 12
#METOO
SERIES
Outnumbered
One year after #MeToo, women engineering students say they still feel left out in the classroom Story by Haley Robertson asst. feature editor
Photo by Alexandra Moreo senior staff photographer
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s the only two women aerospace engineering majors in their class, seniors Bridget McDonough and Kayla Simon said they have been outnumbered by men in every engineering classroom since their freshman year at Syracuse University. Aside from adjusting to demanding classwork, McDonough said the greatest challenge was overcoming the fear of not being “as good as all the guys.” She even remembers feeling too intimidated to raise her hand in class. Even in her senior year, the classroom dynamic hasn’t changed. “It’s really intimidating sometimes to say something in class because it’s like you don’t want to be seen as dumb,” she said. This Friday marks the one-year anniversary of the #MeToo movement sweeping across the United States, and today, women students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science grapple with the effects of working in a men-dominated industry. In spring 2018, about 25 percent of undergraduate students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science identified as women, said Maria Marceau, director of records and study abroad at the college. The school’s faculty also includes fewer than 35 women, out of the 95 full-time faculty members. Mechanical engineering senior Ivy Christensen said she’s only had one woman engineering professor. She has noticed students treating Michelle Blum, her only woman professor, differently than that of her men counterparts. She said in one class, students began
kayla simon (left), ivy christensen and bridget mcdonough are pursuing engineering careers in a men-dominated field.
booing and yelling from the back of the classroom when Blum announced an assignment. “I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like this where people were blatantly disrespectful to a professor,” Christensen said. “We have another professor who’s very strict and he’s a male, and that would have
never happened in his classroom.” After telling a classmate that she felt confident she had aced a test, Christensen said that classmate, a man, replied by saying that wasn’t possible — his male friends said they thought they had failed.
see engineering page 9
on campus
ABC News anchor speaks at 1st Be Well Expo By Colleen Ferguson asst. news editor
Longtime ABC News anchor Dan Harris gave the keynote speech at Syracuse University’s Be Well Expo in the Carrier Dome on Sunday, sharing the benefits of mindfulness and HARRIS meditation with
a crowd of thousands of students, nearly 15 years after he experienced a panic attack on air. The first-ever expo was part of a series of events scheduled for SU’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Harris told audience members about how the panic attack impacted his nearly 20-year career at ABC, both professionally and personally. Within the first few minutes of his talk, his 2004 newscast was played in front of the entire Dome crowd.
Attendees watched the panic attack — one Harris said he’s watched and rewatched numerous times. “I’ve seen that clip a thousand times, and it sucks every time,” Harris said once the clip ended. He said he was so entrenched in a workaholic mindset that he never saw an issue with his increased anxiety and stress at that point in his life and for several years after. “I firmly believed that every success I was achieving was directly
correlated to the intensity of my anxiety,” he said. Harris had previously volunteered to go overseas and cover the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Coming back home after the adrenaline rush of war reporting, he said, is part of what caused him to fall into a depression. He began to self-medicate with drugs like ecstasy and cocaine, he said. Eventually, Harris began see harris page 4