free
MONDAY
april 12, 2021 high 52°, low 45°
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 • After the vaccine
SU students who have received the COVID-19 vaccine said they feel safer now that they have an extra measure to protect themselves from the virus. Page 3
dailyorange.com
C • Pack the pantry
S • Faceoff struggles
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The ‘Cuse Food Funder has already raised $7,000 for the Hendricks Chapel food pantry and will continue until April 23. Donations will help SU students in need.
Organizations expand access to menstrual products
SU faceoff specialist Jakob Phaup is having an up-and-down season. He drove to New Jersey last week to work with his coach and help snap out of his “slump.”
on campus
SU motion to drop lawsuits denied By Michael Sessa news editor
illustration by nabeeha anwar illustration editor
By Kailey Norusis asst. digital editor
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uilt, shame and fear are three emotions that Madeline Barrasso said women experiencing poverty feel when their access to menstrual hygiene products is limited. Barrasso, the program manager of I Support the Girls — an international organization that collects and distributes bras, underwear and menstrual hygiene products to women and girls experiencing poverty — worked with one woman experiencing financial abuse who had to choose between food and menstrual products, she said. Another woman wrote to Barrasso saying that she has been forced to use leaves instead of menstrual products because she’s homeless. Barrasso has also heard of women who use socks, napkins or one menstrual product for their entire period, which she said can result in bacterial infections and other health issues. Since March 2020, I Support the Girls has reported a 35% increase in requests for menstrual products and has collected and distributed over 2 million. The organization operates in at least 59 affiliate locations, including in Syracuse. “Periods don’t stop for anything,” Barrasso said. “They don’t stop for violence. They
The coronavirus pandemic has further restricted access to menstrual products in the city don’t stop for hurricanes. They don’t stop for poverty. They don’t stop for pandemics. They’re going to keep going. So, we need a safe and healthy way to create equal access.” Terri Lawless, the affiliate director of the I Support the Girls branch in Syracuse, said that it’s difficult for impoverished women and girls to improve their situations without the necessary feminine hygiene products. “If you are bleeding and have nothing to use, you can’t go to work,” Lawless said. Before the pandemic, Lawless began putting together a pilot program in Syracuse to place menstrual products in bathrooms. She’s heard people say that, if products are put out for anyone to take, they will be stolen by people who are not in desperate need of them. “If women or girls are stealing menstrual see periods page 4
hygiene products, they’re not stealing them for craft projects or not stealing them for making jewelry or anything like that,” Lawless said. “They’re stealing them because they need them.” When she was a school nurse, Lawless said she saw twin sixth graders take pads from the health office bathroom. She didn’t mind them taking the products because she knew they were in a tight situation. “They didn’t want to ask mom to have to start spending, you know, five or six bucks a bag on pads,” she said. The lack of access to period products disproportionately affects people who are low-income, incarcerated or homeless, said Breanne Fahs, a women and gender studies professor at Arizona State University and one of the authors of The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies, in an email. In the U.S., menstrual products, which are already expensive, also come with associated pink taxes, a term used to describe the inflated prices of products marketed to women as opposed to those marketed to men. NY state banned the pink tax in October, 2020. “Having subsidized or free menstrual products needs to be a big priority, and many governmental bodies are taking this up throughout the world,” Fahs said. In 2019, about 31% of the total population in Syracuse reported experiencing poverty,
An Onondaga County judge denied Syracuse University’s motions to dismiss two lawsuits involving sexual abuse allegations against former Olympic athlete and student Conrad Mainwaring. The two lawsuits, filed separately in the Onondaga County Supreme Court in February 2020, allege that SU “knowingly and willingly failed” to conduct proper investigations into credible claims that Mainwaring was abusing young boys in his dorm, where he worked as a resident adviser. In one case, SU tried to seek dismissal by arguing that the plaintiff, who was 17 years old when the abuse occurred in 1982, could not be protected by the Child Victim Act because he had reached the age of consent — an argument the judge rejected and called “misplaced.” In both cases, the judge denied SU’s motions to dismiss claims of negligence against the university. The judge also denied the university’s motion to dismiss allegations of negligent hiring, supervision, retention and training. The judge granted motions to dismiss claims against SU’s Board of Trustees, since the plaintiff did not specifically address the board’s role in the allegations. Per university policy, SU does not comment on pending litigation, said Sarah Scalese, senior associate vice president for university communications, in a statement. Mainwaring, who was an SU graduate student in the 1980s, has been accused of molesting multiple SU students during his time on campus, allegations that were first brought to light in an ESPN investigation. At least 14 men in the Syracuse area have accused Mainwaring of abuse, including at least seven who were local high school students at the time. From about 1980 until 1986, Mainwaring provided counseling, coaching and advice to student athletes, including high school students, in the city of Syracuse, the lawsuits state. It is unclear whether Mainwaring was ever contracted as a coach at SU. Plaintiff Robert Druger, a Camillus eye surgeon, is suing the Syracuse City School District and its Board of Education, in addition to SU. The other plaintiff, John Shapiro, from California, is also suing a Massachusetts summer camp where he interacted with Mainwaring. Druger, whose willingness to
see lawsuit page 4