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dailyorange.com
Daily meditation sessions at Hendricks Chapel offer students the opportunity to cope with the stresses of college life and explore their spirituality. Page 9
Two Washington Post journalists who investigated allegations against Roy Moore in 2017 spoke on campus Tuesday about their reporting process. Page 3
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SU women’s ice hockey defender Allie Munroe has focused on the small failures in her career. But now, the pieces are in place for her to succeed. Page 12
Chain reaction
(FROM LEFT TO RIGHT) SIMONE BURNS, OLIVIA FLORES, LLUVIA LOPEZ GARCES, ARVIN LIN AND KYRA THOMAS stand in front of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Flores left the school because she felt too underrepresented there to stay. laura oliviero contributing photographer
Women engineers of color call for further representation at SU By Diana Riojas
digital copy chief
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livia Flores received a greeting card the summer before she arrived at Syracuse University, in 2017, with a photo showing smiling women of color in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. It read “Women Lead.” Flores remembers being relieved. She grew up on Chicago’s South Side, on 71st street. She was excited to study aerospace engineering with women who looked like her, hoping to someday work for NASA. Walking into her “Introduction to Engineering and Computer Science” class last fall, though, Flores was one of only four women of color in her class. By midsemester she was one of three, after a student left the college. In recent interviews with The Daily Orange, some women engineering students of color said they often feel underrepresented and lack support in the college. During forums held after the release of the Theta Tau videos this spring, students spoke about what they consider a lack of diversity at the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Flores said she has experienced “hundreds” of microaggressions at the college, including being called “taco” by a male classmate. She decided to leave the school due to a lack of support there, Flores said.
Several students said they didn’t know much about the college’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, but they thought the college needed to hire more women in the college. They said they sometimes feel pressured to represent their race or ethnicity. “Especially being Latino, it can be daunting,” said Lluvia Lopez Garces, a sophomore civil engineering major and treasurer for SU’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. “Sometimes I do feel like I have to be careful with what I say because I am representing everybody else, as well. But I also take on the challenge.” Kyra Thomas, a sophomore computer science major, said she hasn’t had a black woman computer science professor in school. Hiring more black women as computer science professors would help ease tension and create more representation, Thomas said. Arvin Lin is in Thomas’s class and major. Two weeks ago, she almost wasn’t — she emailed Susan Older, program director of electrical engineering and computer science, to tell Older she was thinking about leaving the computer science major. Lin identifies herself as Asian-American. She finds comfort in being able to turn to Older, who ultimately encouraged Lin to continue her studies. Older sees her potential already, Lin said. “It’s really refreshing to hear it from a woman in the field because especially for (computer science), you don’t see a professor as a woman,” Lin said. When Theta Tau, a professional engineering fraternity, was suspended and
city
see engineering page 4
on campus
Carrier Dome roof plans approved SU updates sexual harassment policy By Casey Darnell asst. news editor
A new roof on the Carrier Dome is one step closer to reality. On Tuesday night the Syracuse Planning Commission approved Syracuse University’s plan to replace the 37-year-old covering. The new roof — part of SU’s $118 million project to renovate the Dome — will be a flexible “cable-
truss” structure that’s more stable than the current air-supported roof. Pictures released by SU show that part of the roof will be semitransparent, providing natural light for the facility. The university announced in May that it planned to add air conditioning, WiFi capabilities, new concessions spaces, a vertical hung scoreboard and improved sound and lighting systems at the
Dome. The roof replacement and other renovations are expected to be completed by fall 2020. A steel crown-truss structure will be built on top of the existing concrete ring wall of the Dome, according to SU’s application to the commission. The original project plan for the Dome was approved in 1979 and construction was finished in 1981.
see dome page 4
By Colleen Ferguson asst. news editor
Syracuse University has launched mandatory yearly sexual assault training for all employees, SU announced Tuesday, after new statewide policy guidelines recently went into effect.
The guidelines were announced last week. Changes made to university policy are meant to comply with the new regulations, according to SU. Policy changes include a more detailed description of resources available beyond those at the see policy page 4