free
MONDAY
april 9, 2018 high 41°, low 27°
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 • Laws don’t apply
The U.S. Department of Education recently said state consumer protection laws don’t apply to student loan servicers under federal contract. Page 3
dailyorange.com
S • Jammin’ out
MYSLICE GUIDE SEE PAGE 8
Learn about the process behind the Carrier Dome’s conversion into a monster truck battleground ahead of the popular Monster Jam event, which is held annually. Page 16
Candidates Alumni petition to remove statue Two graduates met with SU leaders to discuss taking decline to down Jim Brown statue in light of controversial past participate in debate student association
By Sam Ogozalek news editor
city
Rental regulation concerns landlords By Bianca Moorman staff writer
All three pairs of Student Association presidential and vice presidential candidates last week declined to participate in an independent Daily Orange/CitrusTV debate that would have been held on Sunday. The candidates cited time constraints, previous commitments and, in one case, a section of the SA bylaws that requires “recognized student organizations” to propose debates to SA’s chair of the board of elections and membership “no less than one week prior to the debate being planned.” The D.O. is not a student organization or affiliated with SA, and did not request that the debate be held. CitrusTV, a registered student organization, partnered with The D.O. last spring to host a debate independent of SA. Kaitlyn Ellsweig, the first SA presidential candidate to announce a campaign, said in an interview with The D.O. Editorial Board on Saturday that she and Ryan Houck, her running mate, had busy schedules on Sunday, with prior commitments to different organizations. They made arrangements to make sure they could attend the debate, but Ellsweig said she then learned that Ghufran Salih, one of the other SA presidential candidates, wouldn’t be able to attend the debate. “We wanted to show that solidarity and that it wasn’t just one campaign pulling out, it was all of us just not being able to do it,” Ellsweig said. In an interview with the editorial board on Friday, SA presidential candidate John Jankovic said “we were very honest with the prior commitments we had.” Jankovic was the second SA presidential candidate to announce a campaign. Jankovic said his team had a busy schedule on Sunday. He also pointed to the section of the SA bylaws that requires student organizations to request in writing approval for a proposed debate. “You guys are independent which is great for media, but Citrus TV is not so we were not comfortable with that,” Jankovic said. Salih, the third presidential candidate to announce a campaign, in a text on Tuesday initially said she and her running mate Kyle Rosenblum would be available for a possible Sunday debate. But they realized their schedules would be just too hectic and decided to not participate, she said in the Saturday interview. sfogozal@syr.edu | @Sam13783
Landlords in Syracuse have had mixed reactions to a recent rental registry amendment passed by the city’s Common Council that will require certain landlords to allow interior code enforcement inspections of properties. The amendment, which will go into effect on July 1, won’t help with housing problems in the area, some landlords said. “The rental registry that they passed is totally missing the point,” said Donna Glassberg, who runs OrangeHousing.com, a property rental website. Under the amendment, landlords of homes with one or two families must submit to exterior and interior inspections by the code department every three years to be compliant with the rental registry, a list of one- and two-family homes. Previously, the rental registry only required exterior inspections every two years.
JIM BROWN, a Syracuse football icon, was recognized with a statue outside of Ensley Athletic Center on South Campus in 2015. josh shub-seltzer staff photographer By Stacy Fernández senior staff writer
Outside the Ensley Athletic Center is the frozen image of Jim Brown, midstride, with a football cradled in his left arm. The bronze statue, put up in November 2015, is a tribute to the hall of famer who once wore the legendary No. 44 jersey at Syracuse University. It’s also a statue two SU alumni are trying to remove. Samantha Skaller and Seth Quam, the two alumni, started their push to remove the statue in May, after learning of Brown’s controversial history that includes multiple accusations of sexual and physical assault. Brown was tried but never convicted of rape and assault in the 1980s. Skaller, former Northeast regional leader for the “It’s On Us” national sexual assault prevention campaign, and Quam, current Youth Outreach Coordinator for the Southwest Crisis Center, have asked the university to remove the statue and other visual representations of Brown. They have also asked SU to revoke his 2016 Arents Award, the highest alumni honor given by the university. Brown is known as one of the greatest football players in history. Beyond the game, Brown’s legacy is contentious. Brown, an activist, has been celebrated for his work with the black community. He founded the Black Economic Union to establish black-run businesses. He also launched Amer-I-Can, an organization dedicated to teaching life see statue page 6
We need students’ voices, we need administrators’ voices and we need Jim Brown’s voice, if he wants to provide it. Samantha Skaller syracuse university alumna
Some of the landlords do want to fix their houses, but (there’s) not enough skilled people in the area that know how to work on a house. Donna Glassberg
owner of orangehousing.com
Ben Tupper, a Sy racuse University-area landlord, said he believes the rental registry amendment will focus on decrepit houses on the South Side, Northside, Eastside and Westside. Tupper said he thinks that, even though the university area is not the focus of the amendment, some landlords are being negligent. “There are landlords in the university area that need to do a better job,” he said. “They will be targeted by this.” The text of the amendment does not note any particular focus areas in the city. Councilor-atlarge Khalid Bey proposed the amendment at a Jan. 31 meeting of the council. At that meeting, Bey said the change would help the city crack down on landlords who are “serially negligent.” see landlords page 6