free
WEDNESDAY
feb. 28, 2018 high 60°, low 36°
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 • Quirky competition
P • Community leader
A partnership between SU’s School of Design and an invention incubator called Quirky was recently held to brainstorm ideas for new party-planning products. Page 3
dailyorange.com
Van Robinson has been a prominent figure in Syracuse for decades, serving as president of both the city council and the local NAACP chapter. Page 7
S • Pure point
After spending two seasons not playing at junior college, Syracuse point guard Tiana Mangakahia has a chance to be the best in the country at her position. Page 12
GROWING INFLUENCE IVMF team expands veterans policy research, connects with powerful federal agencies Story by Sam Ogozalek news editor
F
$49 $26 MILLION
MILLION
Amount of sponsored awards for IVMF research in the last three budget years
Amount of external revenues allocated to the IVMF throughout 2018
source: university senate committee on budget and fiscal affairs
Illustration by Ali Harford presentation director
ederal government policy research has been an increasingly important part of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families’ portfolio, employees said. The IVMF, a major nonprofit based out of Syracuse University that’s recognized as one of the United States’ premier veterans research organizations, has recently expanded its connections with powerful federal agencies as part of a development of its policy work in Washington, D.C. Members of the IVMF’s research team met with federal officials for a meeting in Washington at the beginning of February to discuss a finalized report for the independent Office of Personnel Management agency, employees said. OPM manages the federal government’s civilian workforce. “We’re hopeful to continue to influence policy and practice,” said Zachary Huitink, a D’Aniello Family postdoctoral research fellow at the IVMF. “Whether it’s through a presidential executive order or congressional legislation.” A final draft of the report was released in mid-December. An interim report for an expansive OPM study was published more than a year ago by the IVMF, Huitink said. Some of that report’s recommendations were included in legislation sponsored by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) during the 115th Congress’ session, Huitink said. The report found a “clear opportunity for improvement and increased inter-agency learning” to sustain or enhance gains in the employment of veterans by the federal government. Heitkamp’s Senate legislation would require federal agency offices to “enhance employment opportunities for veterans,” records show. Veterans made up about 30 percent of the federal workforce in fiscal year 2015, according to OPM. With the veterans institute expanding its staffing size, according to a University Senate budget report published last Wednesday, members have developed a new focus on policy research, Huitink said. That development has taken place in the last two-and-a-half years, he said. Chancellor Kent Syverud, in a December interview with The Daily Orange, said IVMF research has contributed to SU’s designation as a Research 1 university. see ivmf page 4
university politics
Administrators host grad student health insurance forum By Charlie Sawyer staff writer
Graduate school administrators held an open forum on Tuesday to discuss ways to improve transparency regarding Syracuse University’s plans to modify health insurance for graduate fellows and assistants. Peter Vanable, associate provost for graduate studies and dean of the university’s Graduate School, spoke during the event in Lyman
Hall. Only two students attended the forum. “We see graduate students as integral to our success as a research university,” Vanable said. “I’m staking my success as dean on these initiatives.” In a previous interview with The Daily Orange, Brian Hennigan, a Ph.D. geography student, said he has to pay $1,600 of his monthly $5,000 income for his health insurance. Syracuse Graduate Employees
We see graduate students as integral to our success as a research university. Peter Vanable associate provost for graduate studies and dean of su’s graduate school
United, a campus organization that hopes to form an employees’ union, wants the administration to pay the entirety of student employees’ health insurance. Hennigan is a leader of SGEU. About 1,200 graduate students work in teaching or research positions at the university. Vanable said he would like to present health insurance policies offered by SU upon admission, in the future, to improve transparency and make offers to graduate students
more competitive. In 2015, the university attempted to move graduate student employees from the employee health insurance plan to the student plan, SGEU wrote in a letter to the editor to The Daily Orange. The university’s Graduate Student Organization, in response, voted to censure the administration. During the listening session Tuesday, Associate Dean of the see forum page 4