free
TUESDAY
march 20, 2018 high 36°, low 18°
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 • Rescue Mission drive
SU’s University College launched a collections drive Monday for Syracuse’s Rescue Mission, an organization that combats homelessness and hunger. Page 3
dailyorange.com
P • Real-life Clark Kent
O • Setting the standard
Bus driver by day and guitarist by night, Toronzo Cannon will bring his eclectic music, energy and soul to Syracuse this weekend at Funk ‘n Waffles. Page 9
Gender and Sexuality columnist Lianza Reyes explains how Dana Balter’s congressional run is paving the way for a revitalization of women in politics. Page 5
Sen. Chuck Schumer denounces tax bill
S • Motown man
Dave Bing was an All-American, Jim Boeheim’s roommate at SU and Detroit’s mayor. Now, he continues to support his alma mater. Page 12
student association
Students announce campaign for SA By Catherine Leffert asst. news editor
CHUCK SCHUMER, the Democratic leader of the United States Senate, denounced the Republican Party’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act during a rally organized by a national liberal group Monday outside of Syracuse City Hall. kai nguyen photo editor By Sam Ogozalek news editor
Chuck Schumer, the United States Senate minority leader, hopped out of a white GMC van on Monday outside Syracuse City Hall, grinning as he strode up to deliver a sharp rebuke of President Donald Trump’s administration and the Republican Party’s contentious Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Schumer (D-N.Y.), one of the Democratic Party’s leading critics of Trump, was flanked by a contingent of security aides as a crowd of about 30 central New York residents pushed together, straining to catch a glimpse of the senator during an anti-tax bill rally. The rally, one of several planned across the country, was organized by the liberal “Repeal the Trump Tax” group, which opposes the sprawling Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that narrowly passed through Congress late last year.
Democrats and some policy experts say the legislation disproportionately benefits “1 percenters” and corporations. “What does central New York prefer? Tax breaks for the wealthy or middle-class jobs?” Schumer said Monday, speaking into a microphone in front of a crowd of supporters. Rally attendees, some waving cutouts of Monopoly character Rich Uncle Pennybags’ face, yelled back: “middle-class jobs.” Syracuse, and other portions of upstate New York stretching from Buffalo to Albany, have lost thousands of manufacturing jobs since the 1990s with major companies like Carrier Corp. or Kodak moving operations abroad or simply downsizing. Schumer, along with other local politicians, said tax provisions in the GOP’s legislation benefit well-paid company executives and squeeze out average workers in Syracuse, who have already been hit hard by layoffs in a
Rust Belt-like area. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is the Republican Party’s major legislative victory of the current congressional cycle. The bill, which Trump signed in December, was fiercely opposed by Democrats. The bill cut the corporate tax rate significantly and will reduce the rate 3 percentage points per year from 2018 to 2022, among other things. A December analysis of the legislation by the Tax Policy Center found that the GOP’s legislation would also reduce federal revenue by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years. The policy center found that, on average, taxes would change little for lower- and middle-income groups by 2027. “The top 1 percent got a tax break, now they’re doing great. I don’t begrudge ‘em. But they don’t need a tax break,” Schumer said, though. Several local elected officials joined see schumer page 4
national
Educator trained at SU pleads guilty to sex crime By Michael Burke senior staff writer
Anna Stubblefield, a former professor at Rutgers University who received training from Syracuse University, pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of criminal sexual contact with a man who has cerebral palsy, according to media reports. STUBBLEFIELD St ubblef ield had previously maintained that
she received consent from the man by communicating with him using facilitated communication, a scientifically discredited communication method that originated at SU and has since expanded to other parts of the country. Advocates of facilitated communication say it allows people who are nonverbal to communicate by typing out words on a device, such as a keyboard, with assistance from an aid. But scientific testing has strongly indicated that, through a phenomenon similar to the “Ouija board” effect, aids unknowingly
control the words that are typed. Douglas Biklen, the former dean of SU’s School of Education, learned of the method in the late 1980s from an educator in Australia. He then brought the method to SU and ultimately established the Facilitated Communication Institute, now called the Institute on Communication and Inclusion. The institute still practices and promotes facilitated communication, now sometimes referred to as “supported typing.” Stubblefield was certified as a facilitated communication aid from the institute in 2008. The institute
instructs aids to “presume competence” in the individuals who are nonverbal, rather than testing whether they can communicate. Stubblefield now admits to having criminal sexual contact with a man, referred to as “D.J.” in court proceedings, after previously believing he consented to the interaction using facilitated communication. As she reached a plea deal Monday, Stubblefield acknowledged that the man was not legally able to consent. She was previously found guilty in 2015 on two counts of first-degree see stubblefield page 4
Two Syracuse University students who have never previously served in Student Association announced their candidacy for next year’s SA president and vice president positions on Monday evening. Junior Kaitlyn Ellsweig, a political science and economics dual major, is running for president. Sophomore Ryan Houck, an accounting and finance double major, would be Ellsweig’s vice president, if elected. The pair has three campaign focuses: empowering student voices, promoting diversity and advocating for student needs, Ellsweig said. One initiative they’d implement, if elected, is a set of engagement hours to foster awareness among students about what SA is, Ellsweig said. “Really, what I see this as is an opportunity to give back,” Ellsweig see candidates page 4
student association
Leaders discuss Dome idea By India Miraglia staff writer
Student Association President James Franco and Vice President Angie Pati at the organization’s Monday night meeting announced a possible plan to make the Carrier Dome “more open” to Syracuse University students. Options discussed included an end of the year event for seniors and time for students to participate in activities in the Dome throughout the week. “We wanted to make facilities more open to students,” Franco said. He also said there are great buildings around campus that students should have more access to. The Dome hosts about 300 events each year and five sports teams, so SA is trying to find ways to fit student events into that schedule, Franco added. Franco said a senior-focused event could resemble “Own the Dome,” an event in which incoming SU freshmen spend the night in the venue to meet some of their classmates. “It would be cool to start and end your time at Syracuse at the Dome,” see dome page 4