free
THURSDAY
march 18, 2021 high 43°, low 21°
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 • Debt relief
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is pushing President Joe Biden to use executive power to forgive $50,000 in student loan debt for every student borrower. Page 3
dailyorange.com
C • Shot of hope
The New York State Fairgrounds has transitioned from a summer hotspot into a vaccination site that draws people from all around the state. Page 7
S • Best season yet
Emily Engstler had an aggressive workout routine when she was home for the summer. Her heightened focus has helped push her to her best season yet. Page 12
on campus
Residents fight against vaccine inequality
Trustees look to diversify faculty By Sarah Alessandrini asst. news editor
QUONITRA BULLOCK said her fears about the COVID-19 vaccine’s potential side effects were outweighed by the “civic responsibility” she felt as a frontline health care worker to get vaccinated. elizabeth billman senior staff photographer
Only 7% of vaccine doses in the county have gone to Black community members By Gillian Follett staff writer
A
s New York state continues its rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, more people are becoming eligible to receive it. But in Onondaga County, like many places across the country, vaccine distribution hasn’t been racially equitable — and several local organizations are working to change that. During a Feb. 22 press briefing, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon announced that almost 85,000 county residents had received at least one dose of the vaccine. An overwhelming majority of these doses — 84%— have gone to
white residents, while the county’s Black population has received only about 7% of the vaccines, he said. McMahon acknowledged during the briefing that the current rate of vaccine distribution to Black communities is falling short. “Certainly, we’ve got a little bit of work to do,” he said. Denise Welch, the associate program manager for the Syracuse branch of the National Black Leadership Commission on Health, has been addressing racial disparities since the pandemic first hit the city last March. Welch and Marlo Judge, the organization’s senior outreach specialist, shifted the organization’s focus to ensuring that Black residents had access see vaccine page 4
to essential COVID-19 supplies, such as masks, hand sanitizer and informational brochures about the virus. “Our goal at first was to get to the underprivileged areas to provide them with COVID materials,” Judge said. “Outreach is very important. We’re going to where they are, instead of them having them try to reach us.” When vaccine doses started reaching the county, Welch knew it would be important to ensure the Black community in Syracuse felt comfortable getting it. She noticed that many people were wary of the vaccine, whether due to fear that the vaccine was developed too quickly or distrust stemming from systemic medical abuses against people
Syracuse University’s Board of Trustees in early March released its plan for increasing faculty diversity, which includes investing $50 million in faculty hiring and retention initiatives over the next 10 years. The Board of Trustees visited SU’s campus in February 2020 and met with 17 groups of students, faculty and staff, according to the report. During these visits, the board said it observed a lack of diversity within SU’s faculty. As part of the board’s strategic plan on faculty diversity hiring, SU will hire at least 70 additional faculty and 100 postdoctoral scholars from underrepresented backgrounds. The university will also spend $5 million on programs designed to retain faculty of underrepresented backgrounds and to help transform the culture at the school. Faculty of color at SU have said they would like to see the university do more to make the school a viable long-term workplace. The university will fund $40 million of the $50 million and will fundraise for the additional $10 million. In accordance with state, local and federal law, the funding will provide incentives for search committees, deans and department chairs to recruit a diverse candidate pool, rather than directly hire faculty of underrepresented groups. SU will evenly split the funding between search committees within its schools and colleges for three years. Departments will be able to hire faculty for about 15 new positions every three years, which will total to around 50 hires in the department over 10 years, according to the report. Deans and department chairs will likely use this funding to fill vacant faculty positions, according to the plan. Replacing vacant spots with faculty of underrepresented backgrounds will more rapidly increase faculty diversity, the board said in its plans. Last year, the university launched the Diversity Opportunity Hires Initiative to support its efforts to hire teaching and research faculty from diverse backgrounds through its Cluster see diversity page 4