free
thursday
nov. 6, 2014 high 50°, low 39°
t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k |
N • Talking points
Experts weigh in on what the results of the 2014 midterm elections mean for Syracuse and for the country going forward. Page 3
P • Breaking barriers
dailyorange.com
Peter Verheyen, a librarian and research analyst at SU, lived in West Berlin from 1984–87. In 1989 he returned to help tear the Berlin Wall down. Page 11
S • Shine on
Syracuse’s Darius Kelly is a regular safety until the Orange rolls out its third-down Okie package and he becomes a quarterback- confusing “star” hybrid player. Page 20
dat rally
Chancellor discusses demands Syverud, students can’t reach resolution at sit-in By Justin Mattingly asst. news editor
siriki diabate left the Ivory Coast, his home country, because it was breaking out into a civil war. After he moved to the Bronx, New York, he found football, became a player and now a coach for Syracuse. frankie prijatel asst. photo editor
unfinished journey After leaving a war-torn Ivory Coast, Siriki Diabate dreams of going back By Jesse Dougherty sports editor
S
iriki Diabate and his mother stood in the outdoor marketplace across from her home in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and watched as up to 18 people were slain in the street. He looked across at the city’s French bookstore. The owner was being beaten while products were ripped off his shelves. The marketplace was ransacked as the scene turned into a riot. Just minutes ago, the city was as innocent as Siriki’s 10-year-old eyes. That night a law was put in place that kept everyone in Abidjan indoors after dark for at least two weeks. The Ivory Coast was on the doorstep of a civil war that would tear the country at its seams and Siriki was growing up at the center of it. “It was no way for a child to live,” Siriki, now 23, says wincing. “No way at all.”
••• Siriki has a lot of homes. The first is Korhogo, in northern Ivory Coast. There he lived with his grandmother and sisters for the first 13 years of his life. The next is the Bronx, New York where his mother Sanogo Korotoume and sister, Djara, moved in with Siriki’s father, Souleymane 10 years ago. The most recent is Syracuse, where Siriki is a graduate assistant for the Orange football team after playing two years at middle linebacker in 2011 and 2012. He didn’t make the NFL as a player after transferring to SU from Nassau (New York) Community College, but his ability to motivate young players at Syracuse has given him a foot inside the door of college coaching. Every step draws him further away from the Ivory Coast, the home he thought he’d never leave. He interned with the Buffalo Bills coaching staff this past summer and during Syracuse games he sits in the booth with SU defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough. He smiles when he says he could be the first Ivorian head coach in the NFL. “There were times along the way that I thought it may have been easier if I just stayed in the Ivory Coast and dealt with what was going on,” he said. “But then I think that I’m supposed to be here sharing with these young guys.” And many around him don’t know what it’s taken to get there. “They don’t need to, because I know,” he said. ••• For kids in Korhogo, life revolved around soccer. The daily break from class between noon and 1 p.m. was see siriki page 16
Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud and Bea Gonzalez, dean of University College, met with members of THE General Body Wednesday night in the lobby of CrouseHinds Hall to discuss certain parts of the group’s list of grievances. Representatives of THE General Body, Syverud and Gonzalez discussed seven separate issues in the meeting, which lasted for around an hour and 15 minutes. The issues discussed were:
WHAT IS THE GENERAL BODY?
A coalition of student organizations at SU that is aiming to educate and inform other SU students on the list of grievances and campus issues. source: the general body website
— Retaliation toward protesters — The changes to SU’s mission and vision statement — The closing of the Advocacy Center — Changes to the POSSE program — Search for an Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator — Problems with mental health services on campus In total, 14 members of THE General Body represented the group. Other protesters surrounded the meeting place, offering snaps of approval when certain topics were discussed. SU students who were not able to get into Crouse-Hinds because the space had reached maximum occupancy lined the windows outside the building. They also tapped on the
see meeting page 5