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TUESDAY
april 3, 2018 high 41°, low 40°
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 • ReZone Syracuse
Residents discussed a sprawling plan to change city zoning requirements during a public forum Monday at Nottingham High School. Page 3
O • Get out the vote
dailyorange.com
P • Team players
Moderate columnist Daniel Loftus argues the costs of New York’s early voting plan are not worth the negative effects it could have on the electoral process. Page 5
Tim Green was an All-American football player at SU from 1982 to 1986. Now, he’s an author. He recently released a book he cowrote with Derek Jeter. Page 7
FRESH FACES
KAITLYN ELLSWEIG (LEFT) AND RYAN HOUCK would be Student Association newcomers if they’re elected president and vice president, respectively. The pair met through the SU Democracy Matters chapter. hieu nguyen asst. photo editor
KAITLYN ELLSWEIG
RYAN HOUCK
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
Ellsweig centers campaign on community engagement
Houck focuses on details of pair’s planned initiatives
By Colleen Ferguson
By Colleen Ferguson
aitlyn Ellsweig has been political for as long as she can remember. As a child, Ellsweig said she’d talk about politics with her grandfather, who was one of the only politically engaged people in her family. At 21, she’s still political. She’s launched a bid for Student Association president. And as president of the local Democracy Matters chapter, a nonpartisan political advocacy organization, the junior economics and political science double major remains as socially conscious as possible, even when considering decisions such as her recent haircut. She’s now sporting a shoulder-length bob. It’s the shortest haircut she’s had since she was 4. She chose to cut it off “on a whim” during Syracuse University’s Relay for Life cancer awareness event earlier this semester. “Everything that Katie does is pretty much dedicated to helping somebody else,” said Meg Burnard, Ellsweig’s campaign manager and close friend. “She wants to help people.” Outside Democracy Matters, Ellsweig is an EMT for SU Ambulance. She tutors kids as a volunteer at the Northside Learning Center. She’s been involved on campus since her freshman year, but this campaign is
etails are important to Ryan Houck. As an accounting and finance double major, he’s constantly “zooming in,” as he puts it, to focus on the small things. The sophomore is now putting that skill set to use in Student Association elections this spring. If elected, Houck would serve as Kaitlyn Ellsweig’s vice president. Ellsweig is a junior economics and political science double major. Houck said the pair’s openness to new ideas is a positive aspect of their campaign. Ellsweig and Houck currently spend much of their time bouncing ideas off each other about platform development and other campaign specifics, Houck said. The duo’s campaign manager, Meg Burnard, said she “referees them,” acting as the middleman when the two are too far apart. “I sit in meetings, and when Katie is dreaming up big ideas and Ryan is nitpicking the tiny details, I bring them both back to the middle where they meet,” she said. She added that, despite their differences in approach, Houck and Ellsweig balance each other out well. The two met during Houck’s freshman year through the local chapter of Democracy Matters, a
K
see ellsweig page 4
Even after 15 years, Kansas fans are “still bitter” about dropping a close national championship game to Syracuse in 2003 in the Superdome, 81-78. Page 12
student association
STUDENT ASSOCIATION ELECTIONS 2018
feature editor
S • Unfinished business
feature editor
D
see houck page 4
Presidential candidates face off at 1st debate By Catherine Leffert asst. news editor
Student Association presidential and vice presidential candidates squared off Monday night in the first election debate of the spring, discussing campus mental health resources and different diversity initiatives. The debate was moderated by Sophia Faram, chair of SA’s board of elections and membership committee. Kaitlyn Ellsweig, a junior economics and political science double major; John Jankovic, a sophomore political science and psychology dual major; and Ghufran Salih, a sophomore information and technology major, answered questions about their campaign platforms and detailed actions they want to take to address sexual assault at SU; the university’s diversity; and Invest Syracuse, a $100 million academic fundraising plan. All three presidential candidates stressed diversity as a major platform in their respective campaigns, highlighting different initiatives they want to implement. Ellsweig said that, as part of her administration, she and Ryan Houck, her vice presidential running mate, would want to better broadcast the existence of SA and its diversity affairs committee. Salih said that she and her running partner Kyle Rosenblum want to hold the administration accountable for promises they made, such as hiring a permanent chief diversity officer. That hire is listed as a goal by the Chancellor’s Workgroup on Diversity and Inclusion. Jankovic and his vice presidential candidate, Serena Fazal, said they want to build a coalition by partnering with organizations such as University Union, U100 and heritage organizations on campus to attend each other’s events as a strategy to increase diversity among various groups. The candidates also highlighted initiatives they thought were strong under the current administration, President James Franco and Vice President Angie Pati. Salih and Rosenblum said they wanted to build off of Pati’s idea of creating an on-campus peer listening service, allowing students to call or text a support line anonymously about problems they may be facing. Mental health issues are important to Houck and Ellsweig, she said, based on past experiences, and they want to promote SU to hire more counselors. Jankovic and Fazal, who were both volunteers on the SA relief trip to Puerto Rico over winter break, said they wanted to create an initiative for “international advocacy,” promoting see debate page 4