thursday, may 2, 2024
N • New chair
SU has named James Haywood Rolling Jr. as the new interim chair for its African American Studies department.
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120 years
C • Suit up!
Onondaga Historical Association’s new exhibit features 120 years of Syracuse sports unforms from various local teams.
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Following similar demonstrations at universities across the country, SU and SUNY ESF
encampment in support of Palestine.
Several dozen members of the Syracuse community began setting up tents in SU’s Shaw Quadrangle Monday morningBy Anish Vasudevan editor in chief
Content warning: This article contains mention of antisemitic language.
Ahmad Zatar, a local Palestinian-American, heard about the start of Syracuse University’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment through text threads two days ago. After learning about Wednesday’s pro-Israel demonstrations, Zatar arrived on campus with a keffiyeh tied around his head and a Palestinian flag around his neck. He extended a pole to hang another flag high above the Shaw Quadrangle.
“I feel very powerful holding it,” said Zatar, who lived in Palestine for six years. “There’s all types of people here. Different nationalities, different backgrounds, different identities. They’re all here in solidarity, standing for one thing and one thing only. All we want is peace with what’s going on over there, that’s all we ask for.”
At roughly 10:40 a.m. Monday, several dozen members of the Syracuse community, including SU and SUNY ESF students, faculty and locals, began setting up tents in the Shaw Quad. At approximately 10:40 p.m. Wednesday, roughly 70 tents are set up in the Shaw Quad with 60 protestors.
Students for Justice in Palestine and the SU Palestine Solidarity Collective at 2:07 p.m. Wednesday.
“We, members of the Syracuse University community, are mobilizing today in solidarity with tens of thousands of Palestinians massacred by Israel’s ongoing ethnonationalist genocidal war in Gaza, Palestine,” the post reads. “We urge Syracuse University to take immediate and concrete actions that reflect our ethical commitments and responsibilities.”
The “official demands” include a call for SU to “publicly support a permanent ceasefire in Palestine,” full disclosure about the university’s funds to Israel and its subsidiaries as well as the amnesty of protesters. The fifth demand also ensures the protection of academic freedom.
We’re going to be here until our demands are met, until the suffering in Gaza stops.
Adeline Spallina-Jones encampment organizerThe group confirmed to The Daily Orange that it is in talks with university administrators and currently has legal counsel in place. They also have no intention of leaving until their demands are met.
“We’re going to be here until our demands are met, until the suffering in Gaza stops,” one organizer, Adeline Spallina-Jones, said.
Following the beginning of the encampment, SU’s GSE released an email statement to The D.O., writing that it was started “in protest of Syracuse’s complicity in the genocide and slaughter of millions in Palestine.” The group initially listed seven demands in its email statement but cut it down to six in an Instagram post by
“Ultimately we’re here until the university hears the will of its students, which is overwhelmingly in support of disclosure and divestment,” said SJ, a member of the protest who has stayed all three nights and chose to only share their initials.
Throughout Monday and Tuesday morning, multiple organizations on campus released statements of solidarity for the encampment, including Syracuse’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, Faculty for Justice Palestine SU and the executive committee of SU’s American Association of University Professors chapter.
“We are particularly impressed the protestors at SU have placed protecting academic freedom at the core of their demands, as the AAUP believes this vital principle, so central to University life, is under attack both at SU and across the nation,” the executive committee wrote.
SU’s Student Association also unanimously passed its “Resolution in Solidarity with Syracuse University Encampment and Condemnation of Antisemitism” at its Monday meeting. The resolution called for students to have permission to openly “express discontent” and condemned “hate of any kind,” which includes “antisemitism, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim speech” on campus.
free
S • Rising star Page 16
In her first season in the National Women’s Soccer League, former Syracuse goalie Lysianne Proulx has shined with Bay FC.
About 100 pro-Israel demonstrators gathered outside Ernie Davis Hall Wednesday around noon for a walk to show “solidarity with Israel” in response to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the lawn of the Shaw Quadrangle.
The group first walked along Waverly Avenue before moving up past the Hall of Languages toward the quad, where it was met by people at the encampment silently holding signs behind fences that the Department of Public Safety set up earlier that day. From the beginning, organizers encouraged the group to remain peaceful and avoid interacting with protesters in the encampment.
“We’re here to be peaceful,” said Mia Gottesman, a freshman at SU and organizer of the demonstration, before the group began its walk to the quad. “We’re here to show our support, to stand with Israel. Nothing, literally nothing else besides that.”
On Monday, around a dozen Syracuse University and SUNY ESF community members established a Gaza Solidarity Encampment, calling for university divestment from Israel amid the ongoing IsraelHamas war. The size of the encampment has grown over three days to approximately 70 tents set up as of Wednesday night.
I’m very proud to be Jewish today, every day, but even more so today.
Mia Gottesman su freshmanAs the pro-Israel group walked through campus, they carried Israeli flags and signs with pictures of kidnapped Israelis and slogans like “Protect Jewish Students,” “Never Again Means Now,” “Our Love is Stronger Than Your Hate” and “Bring Them Home.”
As they reached the opposite side of the quad to the encampment, the demonstrators joined hands in a large circle and began singing, dancing and chanting “Bring them home” and “Am Yisrael Chai.” The group dispersed at about 12:45 p.m., but Mendy Rapoport, a rabbi with Chabad Jewish Student Center, stayed behind with members of the group to perform the Shema prayer.
“I’m very proud to be Jewish today, every day, but even more so today,” Gottesman said. “To see how every single person here just connected, touched and to get in a group to sing and dance showed (we aren’t) scared to just show face and be together.”
Participants in the pro-Israel demonstration said they wanted to show solidarity with Jewish people experiencing antisemitism as a result of the ongoing war in Gaza. Gottesman said she wanted Jewish community members to come together to connect and celebrate their identity.
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The best quotes from sources in today’s paper.
NEWS
“We’re not here to cause violence or cause issues. We’re here to draw attention to the horrific actions that are happening to people in Gaza.” — Adeline Spallina-Jones, an organizer of SU’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
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“Sports are such an important component of the community and the generational passing down of team loyalties and the memories.” — Robert Searing, creator of the OHA’s Syracuse sporting uniforms exhibit.
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“It is possible to advocate for Palestinians and criticize the Israeli government without threatening the safety of Jewish students.” — SU student Ianne Veta
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SPORTS
“An opportunity like Bay FC was something (I’d) been waiting for since I finished college, so I had to take it. It was an obvious choice.” — Lysianne Proulx, former Syracuse women’s soccer goalie.
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Noteworthy events this week.
WHAT: Public Freestyle Skate
WHEN: May 3, 12 to 2 p.m.
WHERE: Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion, 511 Skytop Road
WHAT: Pet Therapy
WHEN: May 3, 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
WHERE: Barnes Center at The Arch, room 103
WHAT: iSchool Research Fest
WHEN: May 3, 12 to 3 p.m.
WHERE: Hinds Hall in the iCafe
Several community members called on Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh to veto a proposed amendment to the city’s Citizen Review Board legislation during a Wednesday morning public hearing.
The revisions, which were passed by the Syracuse City Common Council in a 5-4 vote on April 22, alter the leadership selection procedures within CRB — a local police watchdog and auditing entity. Under the amended legislation, the Common Council will select an administrator for CRB from three recommended candidates, while the city clerk will oversee its staff. Attendees said they feared the change would decrease citizens’ role in monitoring law enforcement.
Following the council’s approval of the amendment, Walsh has 30 days following the bill being presented to him to decide whether to pass or veto the changes, he said. The mayor said he hoped the mandatory hearing would help him determine the “appropriate solution” to concerns about the board’s operations.
“(CRB) is not operating to its fullest potential,” Walsh said. “I’m going to take my time and make sure I get it right … (but) I don’t intend on running down the clock.”
CRB failed to meet the six-person attendance quorum at five of its 16 monthly meetings since the beginning of 2023, which has prevented discussion of cases, syracuse.com reported earlier this month. The board also failed to release its annual report in 2023 and held only one misconduct hearing despite receiving over 80 officer treatment complaints, according to syracuse.com.
The forum featured approximately 15 speakers, most of whom were leaders across local community groups, including the New York Civil Liberties Union. 4th District Common
Councilor Patrona Jones-Rowser, who voted in favor of the amendment, also gave remarks during the hearing.
Though almost all speakers recognized the ongoing issues with CRB’s operations, they argued that granting the council increased power over the board undermines the “citizen-led” nature of the initiative. They said the decision felt “rushed,” and that the council should have collected community feedback on potential improvements to CRB before introducing legislation.
“When you have an oversight such as Common Council, if they were doing the job, then we wouldn’t be here,” said Jacqueline LaSonde, a member of the Southside Coalition
for Equity and Justice. “We should’ve had a chance to be heard.”
As a retired police officer, LaSonde emphasized the importance of an outside citizen-run organization dedicated to monitoring law enforcement agencies instead of allowing them to “police themselves.”
She said instead of giving itself leadership over CRB, the council should evaluate and address its administrative oversight procedures for the board.
LaSonde also said she believes that the Council’s public discussions surrounding the amendment were “not accessible” to the public, as many occurred on weekday mornings during traditional work hours.
The council discussed the CRB amendment at 12 p.m. during its April 22 study session, according to its website. The subsequent regular meeting, where councilors approved the legislation, began at 1:00 p.m.
“We are the constituents. (Common Council) hasn’t come to us, and that’s a problem. Don’t be about us without us,” LaSonde said.
Since the Council’s approval of the amendment, Walsh said the Mayor’s Office has received several messages from community members. Barrie Gewanter, who previously spoke out against the CRB legislation amendment to The Daily Orange, said she delivered paper copies of letters calling for Walsh’s veto directly to him.
Throughout her remarks, Gewanter outlined some of the board’s ongoing issues, many of which were also featured in an April 19 syracuse. com article. She described how CRB has not been “fully staffed.” According to the city of Syracuse’s website, CRB currently has two vacant seats: one appointed by the mayor and another appointed by Syracuse’s 4th District Councilor.
Some positions have also not been reappointed, as three board members are currently serving a second consecutive term.
Gewanter, also a former CRB member, made several suggestions to improve the board outside of what is suggested in the amendment. She urged the mayor to consider alternative suggestions, such as creating consequences for board members who don’t attend meetings and holding public hearings prior to introducing legislation.
“CRBs are not a solution for all police-community relations issues or all police misconduct issues. No CRB in the country can do that,” Gewanter said. “They are a piece of the accountable matrix … these amendments will not fix any of the problems.”
jmboehni@syr.edu @juliaboehning
Syracuse University’s Graduate Student Organization passed a resolution in support of student protestors and their right to freedom of speech on campus during its Wednesday meeting. The bill also condemns antisemitism and all other forms of hate speech.
The resolution, titled “A Resolution in Solidarity with Syracuse University Protesters, Support for Free Speech and Condemnation of Antisemitism,” was passed 27-8 with two abstentions. GSO senators debated the legislation for approximately 30 minutes before it was eventually passed.
“(GSO) feels it is important to stand by protecting the first amendment rights of students, including graduate students’ right to peacefully assemble and protest,” GSO President Daniel Kimmel said. “We hope that we can always come together as a community and uplift each other.”
The passing of the resolution comes on the third night of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on SU’s Shaw Quadrangle. Other student organizations, such as SU’s Student Association, have also passed legislation and released statements in support of the student protestors.
After GSO leaders read the resolution, senators discussed its multiple proposed provisions. A majority of their debates centered around three clauses, all of which discussed the organization’s stances on the relationship between “anti-Zionism” and “antisemitism.” The clauses read as follows:
• “Whereas, Zionism and Judaism are not the same.
• Whereas, conflating Zionism and Judaism treats Jews as a monolith and therefore is antisemitic.
• Resolves, the GSO rejects the notion that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”
Discussion over these clauses revolved around how comfortable graduate students were with the verbiage of these statements. Senators emphasized how similar protests across the country, as well as the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, are “rather sensitive topics” for the SU student body.
The organization proceeded to discuss the definitions of each term, weighing the potential effects these clauses may have on students. GSO also debated whether these clauses were necessary to include in the resolution.
“My dad was a child Holocaust survivor, which is why it is extremely difficult for me to see this language,” Senator Liza Rochelson said. “I want us to think really long and hard about the ramifications of what we’re putting down in this resolution.”
Rochelson also told the assembly that she believed that the language about anti-Zionism and antisemitism could “spur antisemitism,” and that while protecting freedom of speech was a responsibility of the GSO, they also had to be careful of “speech that infuses people to become angry and hate others.”
Another senator, who did not introduce themselves by name, argued that not offering distinction between the terms anti-Zionism and antisemitism “is more hurtful to Jews than anything else.”
Joseph Beckmann, a GSO senator and the only listed author of the resolution, echoed this sentiment, saying that it was “crazy” for people to assume that the two terms meant the same thing.
“I struggle to look at this and think ‘this is going to alienate people’ when we say these two different things are different,” Beckmann said. “It would make more people comfortable to have (the clauses) in there.”
Throughout debate over the resolution, the assembly did not discuss the SU graduate student who was dismissed from the encampment on Shaw Quad after it was revealed that they had posted antisemitic statements on social media. The individual was one of the protest’s organizers, another organizer told The Daily Orange Wednesday morning.
“I don’t know anything about the situation,” Beckmann said. “That’s why it wasn’t included (in the resolution.)”
The Palestine Solidarity Collective at SU shared via Instagram that it “unequivocally denounces past remarks” made by the graduate student who was dismissed.
SA President German Nolivos and Vice President Reed Granger issued an email to the student body on Tuesday, stating that the association “strongly condemns hate speech” and that they do not support targeted harassment. They also said that they only support protest efforts that are “free of hate.”
Kimmel said that they do not know of any future statements from GSO about the gradu-
ate student’s involvement in the encampment or their prior antisemitic statements.
“The GSO has a long tradition of standing by the students’ right to protest and that is no different in this matter,” Kimmel said. “What we’re trying to do is build community instead of division.”
Other business:
The senate passed a resolution allocating a $4,000 salary to future GSO parliamentarians and president pro tempores. This comes after a study found that current senate executives spend an average of six hours on their senatorial duties a week, Kimmel said.
GSO also passed a resolution to “establish an oath of office and code of ethics” for future senator members. President Pro Tempore Roger Rosena said that, as senators, they need “standards to uphold.”
Prabin Shrestha was elected to an at-large position on the GSO Senate during Wednesday’s meeting. He will have voting privileges starting in next week’s meeting, Internal Vice President CJ Arnell said. digreen@syr.edu
Syracuse University’s African American Studies affinity group held its first virtual meeting Wednesday at 8 p.m. with 85 alumni, students and faculty attendees. The group discussed the current state of the department and planned for its future for more than two hours.
The affinity group was formed at an April 11 meeting over concerns about the university’s handling of the AAS department, which has not had a chair for the entirety of the spring semester.
Earlier this Wednesday, James Haywood Rolling Jr., an arts education professor, was named interim AAS chair. Department faculty were notified of the decision during a meeting with Behzad Mortazavi, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, that morning.
“The bad-faith operations of Syracuse University have been very explicit and very disrespectful,” said Danielle Taana Smith, a professor in the department. “The most recent example: the department’s faculty were summoned to a meeting early this morning with Behzad Mortazavi to be informed that professor James Rolling, our colleague, has been appointed as the interim chair of the department.”
AAS faculty said they had “no previous knowledge” of Rolling’s appointment. They also said they were given less than one day’s notice for the meeting and expected it to center around future discussions about finding a chair. Faculty were “stunned” about the announcement, as administration had “never met with (them) to discuss this.”
Joan Bryant, associate professor of AAS, said Rolling emailed department faculty saying he was asked to serve as chair “last week.”
Bryant said AAS faculty with Gwendolyn Pough, the associate dean of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility of Arts and Sciences, two weeks ago. Bryant mentioned that she listened to a recording of the meeting before the affinity group met and said that, at the meeting, faculty were told that Arts and Sciences was “in conversation” with a potential outside chair.
When Smith asked for faculty to be part of the conversation before a decision was made, Pough asserted that the conversations were in “early stages,” Bryant said.
At their Wednesday morning meeting with Mortazavi, AAS faculty asked why they were not included in the decision-making process.
Without African American Studies, the most exploited and marginalized groups at the university will not even get to learn where they’ve come from.
Brian Cohen sustudent
“When we pointed out the disrespect, the lack of transparency and the lack of faculty governance, the dean responded that he had to act quickly because the semester is ending,” Smith said. “We know that the real student for this hasty decision is that alumni and students are expressing outrage for arbitrary and capricious treatment of the department.”
Neither Rolling nor Mortazavi were present at the affinity group meeting.
Attendees of the affinity group meeting said the new interim chair appointment was a result of their work — sending letters to administration, calling the university multiple times daily and publicly expressing concern.
“It is because of our work … that today they appointed a new chair of the department,» said Horace Campbell, professor of AAS and political science. “This was only done to preempt what we are discussing in this meeting … I want us to be aware of the machinations of the university.”
Michelle Walker-Davis, who holds three degrees from SU and first graduated in 1982, read through a series of issues that the AAS department sent in a letter to administration in 2020. The list was updated in 2024, and faculty have been “trying to push the university” to meet its demands, which include the following points:
• Department chair process must involve the department
• Supporting curriculum
• Replacement of faculty
Create a pathway to pay increases for tenure and promotion for professors who have “extraordinary service loads”
The demands also include addressing structural racism, lack of transparency, safety and the campus climate at SU. AAS faculty also called for the university to enroll “considerably more Black and brown students.”
AAS faculty’s list requested that the university hire a departmental librarian and 12 part-time instructors for the 2024-25 academic year due to several faculty going on leave. They requested three additional teaching assistants as well as a resident advisor to be assigned to the department.
The list also called for the establishment of an endowed postdoctoral faculty fellowship and for the university to “revive and authorize” the search for visiting professorships — which was “supposed to start in spring 2020,” said S.N. Sangmpam, professor of AAS and political science. Faculty also requested that the university create two endowed professor positions in AAS.
Faculty also said they have discussed potentially “forming alliances” with other departments and professors that have been “disrespected” by the university, such as the Human Dynamics departments of the David B. Falk College of Sport and SU’s social science Ph.D. program.
After the April 11 meeting, a group of undergraduate students compiled a list of five concerns regarding AAS. Brian Cohen, an undergraduate student in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, read the list to the affinity group. The students’ concerns are as follows:
1. An inability to promote a “full menu” of classes due to lack of faculty.
2. A lack of respect for the department through a lack of resources, such as teaching assistants and chairs.
3. Neglect of the department by the university puts undue stress on AAS faculty members. AAS faculty are reported to be feeling ill and emotionally impacted by the “stress of being in an unsupported department,” Cohen said.
4. The absence of an AAS department chair, even after faculty unanimously nominated a candidate. This point will be updated in light of Rolling’s chair appointment, Cohen said.
5. Discouragement of enrollment in AAS courses from academic advisors in other colleges. There have been many reports of non-AAS faculty members discouraging students’ enrollment in AAS courses, Cohen said.
The student attendees of the April 11 meeting developed a statement in tandem with
their list of concerns, which Cohen recited at the Wednesday meeting.
“Without African American Studies, the most exploited and marginalized groups at the university will not even get to learn where they’ve come from and furthermore, where they can go utilizing learned concepts such as Pan Africanism and direct action,” Cohen said.
Cohen also mentioned the fact that SU openly highlights that it is “fully committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive and respectful campus community, not only in vision but in practice,” as SU’s website states.
“We cannot allow the university to continue exploiting students of color by using pictures of them to advertise the school as ‘diverse’ online, while not supporting programs that critically examine the impact racial capitalism has had on the organization of our society,” Cohen said.
The students’ statement mentioned a national trend of curriculum restrictions to education that “questions racism and structural oppression,” noting that some academic institutions have collapsed multiple departments into a single “ethnic studies” department.
“We cannot allow a trend of censorship to continue to poison the intellectual life of Syracuse University,” Cohen said.
Hiring an interim chair is the “bare minimum,” AAS faculty said at the meeting. Bryant said she thinks university administration is assuming that faculty “won’t say anything” and that the university is attempting to control its optics by appointing an interim chair whose appointment will start in one week.
Bryant said “it’s too late” because the work that AAS faculty will do for the remainder of the semester and afterward is work they will “continue to do without pay.”
“I will not be surprised if next year, in two years, maybe in six months, if we are back here discussing the same problem. The way the new chair was appointed tells you the full story. It is a story of total lack of respect for this department,” Sangmpam said. “Unless the university respects this department, nothing will happen.”
DISCLAIMER: Brian Cohen was previously a columnist for The Daily Orange and Ahna Fleming is on the writing committee for his magazine, “Tender.” He does not influence the editorial content of the News section nor did he influence the editorial content of this article. arflemin@syr.edu
James Haywood Rolling Jr., an arts education professor in Syracuse University’s School of Education, has been named the interim chair of African American Studies, Behzad Mortazavi, dean of SU’s College of Arts and Sciences, told department faculty Wednesday.
In addition to completing a graduate fellowship in AAS while he was a student at SU in the 1980s, Rolling has served as “an affiliated AAS faculty member” since 2020, Mortazavi told staff in an email obtained by The Daily Orange. His appointment, which starts on May 8, will last for two years.
On Jan. 12, AAS faculty were notified via email that the department would not have a chair for the remainder of the semester after the department and university failed to reach an agreement about appointing Herbert Ruffin, an AAS associate professor. He previously held the position from 2016 to 2020.
The announcement sparked concern about the future of the department among AAS faculty and staff, as well as students and alumni.
In the email, Mortazavi highlighted Rolling’s experience founding the 4A Arts & Creative Literacies Academy and securing a multi-million dollar grant for the university’s Lender Center for Social Justice. From 2021 to 2023, he also served as the president of the National Art Education Association.
In addition to his capacity as interim chair, Rolling will “continue his commitment” to the School of Education, the dean wrote.
“I’m confident that this unique blend of leadership experience, interdisciplinary scholarship and academic and alumni affiliation make Professor Rolling an exceptionally qualified person to lead our Department of African American Studies,” Mortazavi wrote.
kschouin@syr.edu @Kyle_Chouinard
Syracuse Hillel released a statement on Instagram Tuesday morning writing that several Jewish students spoke during the SA meeting about feeling unsafe and frustrated in response to the encampment. Also on Tuesday, a group of SU parents released a public letter “denouncing a Hitler praising organizer” of the encampment.
The letter claimed graduate student Aziza Zahran has tweeted under the account @IsisLayla2, and references three tweets, which are now deleted, from November 2012: one calling for “death to Israel, death to Jews” and another stating “I wish Hitler would have finished what he started.”
Zahran addressed the protestors at the encampment Monday and was involved with a demonstration in front of the James M. Hanley Federal Building on Jan. 27. SA released an email statement denouncing an SU graduate student due to past “antisemitic remarks.”
“Our solidarity with the encampment does not implicate solidarity with the hateful rhetoric of this individual,” SA’s Tuesday statement reads.
Spallina-Jones confirmed the graduate student is no longer at the encampment. SpallinaJones also said the group created a “coalition of Jewish people” after the “onslaught of tweets” were brought to the public. The coalition makes sure Jewish members of the encampment have a space to decide if speakers are actively spreading a message they all agree on, Spallina-Jones said.
There are multiple groups within the encampment, including a negotiating one, but the leadership is overwhelmingly communitybased, Spallina-Jones said. Spallina-Jones said the encampment holds two daily meetings for the whole group.
Spallina-Jones also encouraged anyone having concerns about antisemitism to visit and talk to the many Jewish members of SU’s GSE.
“Over half the people on this encampment are Jewish themselves, including myself,” Spallina-Jones said. “We think that it is incredibly problematic to use our religion that is based on love and unity for one another to justify this kind of violence.”
At around 7:40 p.m. Tuesday, roughly 70 people within the encampment took part in an “untraditional” Havdalah, a Jewish ceremony marking the end of specific high holidays and Shabbat.
Olivia, a graduate student at ESF who identified as an Ashkenazi Jew, and Jess, an SU faculty member who called themself as an “Ashkenazi Jew of heritage,” marked the end of Passover with the event. Neither Olivia nor Jess gave their last names while speaking to the group.
“For us, this is religious observance,” Spallina-Jones said. “Yesterday was the last day of Passover, and I don’t think there’s any better way to celebrate a holiday in which we are celebrating our freedom from persecution and our
“(I wanted) to just feel what all the Jewish people are feeling together in unity,” Gottesman said. “We’re standing together with whatever’s happening on campus to feel more like we are still here and to show that we are not going anywhere.”
Several demonstrators expressed that the campus has felt “isolating” since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Rafaela Torossian, freshman founder and president of SU’s chapter of Students Supporting Israel, said the walk aimed to “unite the community” and show Jewish students that they are not “alone on campus.”
Torossian, who also helped organize the walk, said that this feeling of isolation has only worsened since the start of the encampment on Monday.
“It’s hard to see these encampments on campus that say ‘From the River to the Sea,’” Torossian said. “It means they want to wipe Israel … so seeing that people want to wipe me out on campus signs, that sounds terrifying.”
On the other side of the quad, members of the encampment stood watching, silently holding signs. Adeline Spallina-Jones, a participant at the encampment who is Jewish, said the proIsrael demonstrators were allowed to be there to exercise their free speech. She said she and other Jewish people at the encampment wanted to stand in solidarity with Palestinians.
“It’s our job to be here,” Spallina-Jones said. “We think that it is incredibly problematic to use our religion, that is based on love and unity, to justify this kind of violence.”
Gottesman and Spallina-Jones both said they had slight concerns that the opposing side would attempt to instigate conflict, but neither had the intention of sparking that themselves.
And Wednesday’s demonstration was peaceful — on opposite sides of the quad, the two groups barely interacted. Spallina-Jones said she felt compelled to support the cause in the encampment as a Jewish person.
freedom from slavery than to be here and fight for the freedom of persecution and enslavement of other people.”
At noon Wednesday, roughly 100 pro-Israel demonstrators walked from Ernie Davis Hall, down Waverly Ave. and then up to the side of the quad opposite the encampment. The demonstrators sang, danced and chanted “Am Yisrael Chai” while some people in the encampment held up signs and faced them.
Neither group made direct contact with each other throughout the afternoon. A graduate student, who requested to stay anonymous, said the group is there to support Palestine and not engage in anything that may potentially turn violent.
“They can be here and they can express their opinion, but they’re going to be gone in two hours,” Spallina-Jones said.
Most of the group dispersed from the quad around 12:45 p.m., though Mendy Rapoport, a rabbi with Chabad House Jewish Student Center, stayed behind with members of the group to perform the Shema prayer.
Since the start of the encampment, Spallina-Jones said most of the conversations with administration as well as SU’s Department of Public Safety have been “tight-lipped” and that the group is still in the process of communication with the university about their demands.
A member of the encampment’s media team also said they haven’t felt threatened in any way by DPS or the Syracuse Police Department, but they’ve had meetings about the possibility of police presence based on law enforcement’s response to other encampments nationally.
Part of the communication with the administration came on the first day of the encampment, when DPS Chief Craig Stone and other administrators distributed a document containing SU’s campus disruption policy. Among those is the prohibition of “banners, signs, or flyers, or verbal statements that constitute harassment.”
The university administration asked the encampment to take down a sign that they deemed threatening, and the group complied. In response, SU’s GSE released a statement, which addressed the “racist character” of a campuswide email sent by Senior Vice President and Chief Student Experience Officer Allen Groves Monday and confirmed the sign said “intifada.”
Administrators first asked community members to take down a sign with the word “intifada” during a “study-in” at Schine Student Center last December. After that incident, a university spokesperson wrote in a statement to The D.O. that SU respects students’ right to peacefully assemble and protest “up to the point when speech or conduct threatens our students’ wellbeing and violates University policies.”
“It was only when other students reported feeling threatened by displayed flyers stating ‘globalize the intifada’ that the University was required under its policies and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to engage,” the spokesperson wrote.
“Intifada” translates directly to “shaking off” in English but is typically used to mean “uprising.” Spallina-Jones said that the administration attacking their language is a “classic deflection tactic” and calling “intifada” antisemitic shows an “inherent lack of understanding of different cultures and languages.”
“Our language is much less important than our message,” Spallina-Jones said.
The message right now is to advocate for peace, Spallina-Jones said, in a way that aligns with the group’s civil rights. SJ said SU’s GSE is a diverse group of people who
are all there with one mission, putting “community care and disability justice in action on our campus.”
The graduate student said student advocacy has been at the forefront of crucial movements across history and this is a chance for students to learn in spaces outside of the classroom.
“We’re not here to cause violence or cause issues. We’re here to draw attention to the horrific actions that are happening to people in Gaza,” Spallina-Jones said.
asvasude@syr.edu
@anish_vas
“We feel that it is part of our religious duty as Jews to be here, but at the same time they’re allowed to be here as well,” Spallina-Jones said.
In her opening statement at the walk, Gottesman told demonstrators to not “yell or curse” at people in the encampment, including a graduate student organizer who previously made antisemitic comments. The graduate student is no longer in the GSE, an organizer told The Daily Orange Wednesday morning.
Caleb Slater, a demonstrator and Senate candidate for New York state’s 48th district — which encompasses Syracuse — said the group’s goal was to show through a non-violent demonstration that the Jewish community is not going to let an encampment “harass” or make students “uncomfortable.” He described the past antisemitic behavior by the organizer who has been removed from
the encampment as “intolerable” and “outlandish,” citing past tweets they have made.
“What brought me here today is to stand with the students who feel like their education is being harmed and that are feeling harassed or threatened by the actions of the radicals that are perpetuating a genocide of Jewish Americans and Jewish people,” Slater said.
Tal Yechezkell, sophomore Israel co-chair for Syracuse Hillel, said the walk shows how Jewish students on SU’s campus and campuses across the country can unite “quickly and strongly” together.
On April 17, students at Columbia University began their “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the university’s campus in New York City. In response to legal action taken
against protestors at Columbia, college students across the country have begun to hold their own encampments.
Yechezkell, who said he has friends on the front lines in Israel and a friend who is currently being held hostage by Hamas, said it has been sad to see what has been going on around campus. The walk was intended to show how they are “strong united” as one Jewish people and Israeli nation, he said.
“I’m not here to hate. We’re here to just show that we want our fathers, our sisters, our brothers, our kids … and our soldiers back home,” Yechezkell said. “That’s what we’re here to do and that’s what I took away from this, how much light we brought to this campus after a few days of darkness.”
The Onondaga Historical Association showcases Syracuse’s sports history through various teams’ merchandiseBy Aiden Stepansky Asst. sports editor
A uniform set and megaphone from the 1909 Syracuse University crew team are at the forefront of an Onondaga Historical Association exhibit. A few steps to the right, and you’ll find a complete kit for a team that also has Syracuse across its chest, this one 114 years older — the Syracuse Mets 2023 uniform set.
“Sports are such an important component of the community and the generational passing down of team loyalties and the memories,” said Robert Searing, an OHA curator of history and the exhibit’s sole creator.
The OHA’s new exhibit, “Suit Up! A Look at Syracuse Sporting Uniforms Through the Years,” opened in March 2024. Flooded with sporting memorabilia, the displays feature mementos from the collections of Syracuse professional teams like the Crunch and Mets. The exhibit brings together Syracuse sports fans and museum-goers on an adventure through the history of sports uniforms.
Along with professional sports teams’ artifacts, SU sports teams are represented, making the collection the premier location for SU sports nostalgia, Searing said.
Searing, who received an M.A. and Master of Philosophy in American History from SU, has worked for the OHA for seven years. In addition to his work at the downtown Syracuse OHA location, he’s worked on projects like the
Regional Aviation History Museum at Syracuse Hancock International Airport and the Brewseum at Heritage Hill — both part of OHA.
As an avid sports fan, the idea for the exhibit emerged from his love for collegiate and professional sports at Syracuse. Searing said he brought together lots of artifacts to tell the story of the sports community.
A Syracuse sporting uniform collection must feature SU memorabilia. Searing said he reached out to SU Athletics but didn’t hear anything back. So, he turned to the personal collector’s market along with the OHA’s collections.
Both a home and away jersey from the 1963 men’s basketball team, which featured Jim Boeheim and Dave Bing, are on display. The jerseys belong to center Chuck Richards, who played for Syracuse from 1963-65.
Not far from that is a football helmet worn by wide receiver Marvin Harrison in 1995, which OHA received via private collectors. Harrison is second in program history in receiving yards and touchdowns and after a prolific professional career, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.
In 2012, SU men’s soccer head coach Ian McIntyre gifted the OHA a 1993 jersey. Twelve years later, the orange Puma jersey with leaflets sticking out of an orange soccer ball is on display.
“It’s hard for some folks that aren’t involved or aren’t affiliated with the university to see a lot of this stuff,” Searing said. see merchandise page 10
While they were Syracuse University students, Grace Krichbaum and Dan Harris met in a class and immediately fostered a friendship over their love for music. Spending time together outside of the classroom exploring their passions was like “falling in love, platonically,” Krichbaum said. With the support of their other friends at SU, the duo ultimately formed their folk music band, Shallow Alcove. This weekend, the group will return
to Syracuse for a live performance at Spring Madhouse.
“Playing for SU students and the community means everything,” Harris said. “We started our first shows playing for our friends in basements, so it means a lot that kids that are at the age when we started are listening to our music and are showing up to see it live.”
On Friday, the Bandier Program is hosting Spring Madhouse, an entirely student-run performance at The Song & Dance to celebrate the school year’s end. The show will open with two student DJs, followed by
performances from Shallow Alcove and Picture Us Tiny. All of the event’s proceeds will go to a scholarship fund for Bandier students, which will help underprivileged students in the program gain full access to all the tools the program has to offer.
This year is the event’s debut. Sophomore Bandier student and Spring Madhouse organizer Romy VanAlmen said Professor of Practice
Michelle Santosuosso instructed her Bandier 245 class to execute a live show for their final project. The task applied their lessons from the
course, which focuses on touring and branding in the music industry.
Zach Broitman, another sophomore Bandier student, shared that Santosuosso asked each student what part of planning they were most interested in. She then separated them based on their responses and what she felt was the best place for them.
Teams included production, sound, brand partnerships, content, digital marketing and grassroots promotion.
While Santosuosso booked the event’s headliners, students enrolled in the required Bandier 245 class took
on the bulk of the project. Bandier sophomore Claudia Rivera said people don’t often realize how much work goes into putting on a full live show. While the show is smaller, people can still see the students’ efforts, Rivera said.
“This has been a six-week rollout of just constantly promoting from partnerships to the production team to grassroots,” Bria Lewis, a sophomore Bandier student and event organizer said. “We’re all kind of split up doing our own tasks, trying to sell as many tickets as possible and
‘Once’By Varsha Bhargava asst. copy editor
Rodrigo Escalante, the stage designer for “Once,” scattered instruments around the set as a reminder of the story’s musical theme. The cast’s 13 actors switch between several instruments throughout the show.
“There’s something very beautiful about this show that we don’t get to see often,” Escalante said. “There are actors, who are also musicians, that are playing the instruments — usually those roles are divided in musical theater.”
From May 1 to May 19, Syracuse Stage is performing “Once,” a musical that tells the unconventional love story of “Guy,” played by Joe Boover, and “Girl,” played by Ana Marcu. When his ex-girlfriend moves away and meets someone else, Guy decides to abandon music and love, but Girl, a spunky Czech woman, encourages him to keep singing. Artistic Director Bob Hupp said the group had been talking about performing the musical for four years, and this year, they finally made it happen.
It’s a different kind of love. What really makes it impactful is it’s a step above the traditional kind of love story. You hope that you can have that kind of relationship with someone in your life.
Robert Hupp Artistic DirectorHupp calls the musical a “true love story.” He said it was important for him to show unusual but real love stories on stage so that audiences could find hope along with the characters. Guy and Girl tumultuously find real love in each other, but in the end, Girl tells Guy to go back to his ex-girlfriend.
“It’s a different kind of love. What really makes it impactful is it’s a step above the
Multi-talented artists perform live instruments, act and sing in the production of “Once” at Syracuse Stage, running from May 1 to May 19. brycen pace staff photographer
traditional kind of love story,” Hupp said about Guy and Girl’s relationship in the musical. “You hope that you can have that kind of relationship with someone in your life.”
The musical is based on the motion picture written and directed by John Carney. The original story is set in an Irish pub, but Syracuse Stage’s story takes place in a music shop.
Escalante said his ultimate goal as a scenic designer is to maximize space. For this show, he focused on incorporating places for the actors to “inhabit” around the stage. In some scenes, the actors sat around the perimeter of the stage, on barstools and sofas, and played instruments while Guy and Girl sang duets around a piano in the center of the music shop.
All of the actors remain on stage throughout the entire musical. The Stage used a “unit set” for the musical, where everything for the show stays on the stage, and the furniture moves around the set to convey different settings. Escalante said he wanted to make sure every audience member had a good viewing experience.
“Depending on where you’re sitting, you see a different picture. Every seat is different,” Escalante said. “It’s not like when you go to the movie theater and everything has been framed with a camera and everyone sees the same thing.”
Melissa Crespo, the show’s associate artistic director, said some of the actors in the show
Finals week sucks. It’s a lot of stress, work and heartache (plus, you also have to deal with the reality of moving out of your dorm). Quite frankly, it’s all too much. However, something I’ve learned in my two years here at Syracuse is that finals week is much easier when you take some time to study.
Fun fact about me: I’m terrible at studying. Already this finals week, I’ve made a habit of watching videos of Sabrina Carpenter performing “Espresso” at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival while my assignment lies abandoned on another tab. What can I say? She’s a magical performer, but this doesn’t make for the most productive work.
If any of you also struggle with the monotony of sitting down and studying for tests or writing essays, I’ve come up with a few helpful methods. Some of them may sound a little bizarre, but just trust me.
This first one has been really helpful. So, basically, I’m a big “study with a friend” person. What I like to do is set my boyfriend up with a spray bottle and one of those apps that parents use to track their children’s internet activity. If he sees anything unrelated to the paper on climate change that I’m writing, he has to spray me like an angry cat until I start working on my paper again. This is effective and also hydrating.
Another tip I have is to set up a Pomodoro timer, which is where you work for a certain amount of time before taking a break for a small increment. Except, for every hour that you work, you have to do 50 sit-ups during your break. Instead of earning a reward, you have more motivation to get your work done. Let’s be honest, no one wants to do situps. However, if you’re easily distracted, like me, you may have a six-pack by the end of finals week. If you really, really want to get your work done, I recommend doing push-ups instead. This is based
Mudpit
Mudpit is hosting its last show ever Thursday from 2 to 6 p.m. The show will feature The Gritty Jawns and Troy Conner, along with a vintage stand and food. The darty will have free entry, but they encourage attendees to pay what they can. DM Mudpit for the address.
WHEN: May 2, 2 to 5 p.m.
PRICE: What you can pay
play up to six instruments throughout the performance. Hupp said Syracuse Stage tries to hire actors who are local or from New York, and it added an extra challenge to find actors who were also proficient instrumentalists.
“I’m just excited about the music. The music is beautiful,” Crespo said. “The music is so iconic — it’s been around for 15 years. The live music is unlike anything, and these actors are pretty phenomenal.”
Hupp said the biggest source of his pride was teamwork. Although he called Crespo the leader of the group, he also commended the complexity of the performers’ and designers’ work. He said the behind-the-scenes production has been “wonderful” and “collaborative.”
Syracuse Stage’s production of “Once” showcases the cast and crew’s multifaceted skill sets, Crespo said. Although some of the actors had performed the show before, Escalante said this version of the show is unique.
“The show highlights the fact that we can all come from different places and especially if we’re all feeling down… the music brings everyone together and it heals them,” Crespo said. “That’s a great reminder to audiences that there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, there’s hope. And it’s just gonna leave you feeling really good.” varshabharg@gmail.com
all you need
on the common knowledge that people hate pushups maybe even more than sit-ups.
My third tip also requires a friend. I go on Craigslist and post that I am searching for “The Scariest Man Ever.” When he responds, I get him to come to the library and stare at me the entire time I’m doing my work. Like, unflinchingly. Every time I start to get even a little bit distracted, he has to stare me in the eyes and menacingly break a pencil. His name is Rufus, and believe it or not, he’s actually quite a nice guy! Sometimes, I also get my work done by pretending that my professor has kidnapped
my mother and is holding her hostage until I turn in my paper. Every now and then, I even make a fake ransom note to strengthen the effect of the scenario. Could I have finished my work in the time it took me to buy a bunch of magazines, cut out letters from them and glue them onto paper? Like, probably. But I’m very aesthetic-oriented. That’s why I make vision boards. Guys, we’re almost done. So, let’s go out with a bang and invite random men from Craigslist to watch us while we do our work. Happy studying! sswells@syr.edu
The Song & Dance
Students in the Bandier Program and After Dark are co-hosting Spring Madhouse, a concert at The Song & Dance. Shallow Alcove is playing at the event. From upstate New York, the band sings about friendship to folk. The other artist, Picture Us Tiny, plays pop-punk music. DJs will also play at the event that celebrates the end of the school year.
WHEN: May 3, doors open at 6 p.m.
PRICE: $19.52
Destiny USA
Join Syracuse Orchestra and CNY Pride this weekend for a night of LGBTQIA+ music at their Pride and Joy concert. The orchestra is performing music by a variety of gay and trans composers like Tchaikovsky and Caroline Shaw, as well as allies like Madonna and Lady Gaga. There will also be drag performers. There will also be food from Three Lives.
WHEN: May 3 and 4, 7 p.m.
PRICE: college students $5, adults $40
The 443 Social Club
Sean Chambers and the Savoy Brown Rhythm Section will perform at the 443 this weekend. The blues artist is critically acclaimed and has charted on the Billboard Blues Albums Chart. After Savoy Brown’s death, leader Kim Simmonds Chambers joined them and now they are coming to Syracuse. The show is currently sold out, but tickets are available via a waitlist.
WHEN: May 4, 7 to 9 p.m.
PRICE: from $33.77 on the waitlist
Saint Mary Ann Cope Parish
The Syracuse Pops Chorus is celebrating its 20th anniversary this weekend. The choir supports the central New York community with concerts and events. The concert is a nonprofit organization, so donations are encouraged. The singers were invited to Carnegie Hall for May 2025 and are currently fundraising for it.
WHEN: May 5 at 3 p.m.
PRICE: $17.85
The exhibit features more than uniform transformations that tell the story of the region’s teams. Within the collection is the interaction of the uniform and its history. Many of the displays feature images related to the items. Both work together to add a personal element to the piece of clothing.
Other displays include cleats from Ernie Davis and a game program from the 1960 Cotton Bowl between SU and the University of Texas at Austin. A special edition 1960 Sports Illustrated cover featuring a Syracuse football cheerleader gives an added boost of Syracuse spirit.
One avenue he wanted to add to the exhibit was the Syracuse Mets. The Mets, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets, came into existence in the 2019 season. But before the Mets were Syracuse’s team, the Chiefs ran baseball in central New York since 1934.
With the help of Syracuse Mets General Manager Jason Smorol and outside collectors, Searing features two Syracuse Chiefs jerseys
get different parts of the community active in the show.”
Jackson Velli, stage name Picture Us Tiny, will also perform this weekend. He graduated from the Bandier program last year and said SU was instrumental in developing Picture Us Tiny. For him, the community was great because it was like a support system that helped host shows and circulate his music.
“It’s very full circle to come back,” he said. “I haven’t been back since I graduated, so it’s going to be awesome seeing everyone.”
Bandier is a small major, so other people don’t always know much about what the students in the program do, VanAlmen said. She and her peers want to show that Bandier is a hands-on experience, and Spring Madhouse is an opportunity to show what they do with their studies.
The show is open to anyone, so the students hope to bring more of the Syracuse music scene outside of the campus and into the city’s broader community. Anjali Engstrom, a sophomore Bandier student and event
both telling a different story. A gray jersey with Syracuse embroidered in navy represents the Chiefs’ time as a New York Yankees affiliate. Just a foot to the right, a much brighter Chiefs jersey is displayed, this one a royal blue color from 1987, when the team served as a Toronto Blue Jays affiliate.
A reproduction of a 1934 jersey from the Chiefs’ inaugural season is fully on display on a mannequin, bringing out bright red pinstripes and red embroidering of Chiefs across the chest.
Because the Mets are the current team in town, it was important for Smorol to give as much as possible to represent their place in the community.
“If you’re going to have a uniform exhibit of local sporting teams, I think (The Mets) should be in there,” Smorol said.
The Mets gifted two entire uniform sets from the 2023 season. The white with blue pinstripes, and the black with blue lettering jerseys, are both on display. But with the Mets’ minor league team also comes creative theme night attire that the team occasionally takes on as alternate personas. And Smorol made sure to gift those as well.
organizer, said it’s good that the organizers are introducing some of the younger Bandier students to Shallow Alcove because many of them have never seen the group perform. Seeing SU alumni perform can inspire current undergraduates to imagine themselves in the future, Engstrom said.
“They just felt like a natural fit to be the headliners of the show,” she said.
Krichbaum grew up in Syracuse, but her group doesn’t always perform in the city, so coming back to play a show that her grandma can attend, along with all the people in the community who raised her, is special.
She is looking forward to inviting her chorus teacher from high school, her middle school band teacher and all the people who helped place the building blocks for her to be able to perform as a full-time career.
“I’m very excited to play for the Syracuse community because we’d be nowhere without it,” Krichbaum said. “We wouldn’t have any of the friends that we do. We wouldn’t have any of the inspiration that we do. To this day, it is just the most beautiful community.”
sfstewar@syr.edu
A case featuring six different renditions of the hat shows how the team has changed to match the occasion. Draped above the case are jerseys to match the respective theme night.
Central New York’s rich sports history also features one of the original six American Hockey League teams. The team is known as the Syracuse Crunch, the AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, professional hockey in Syracuse dates back to the Stars in the 1930s. In 1936-37, the Stars became the first team to win the Calder Cup, the trophy awarded to the winner of the AHL.
When asked by Searing to contribute to the exhibit, Jim Sarosy, the Crunch’s Chief Operating Officer, had one item in mind. It was a red, white and blue sweater with white stars percolating along the red top. On top of the thin blue stripe striking horizontally through the middle of the jersey, the word Syracuse. Just under it in large red text, it says “Stars. ”
“We take a lot of pride in carrying on that tradition and a lot of responsibility in making sure we do well by it,” Sarosy said.
The jersey worn in 2011 was a throwback to the originals, a part of the team’s short rebrand for the 75th anniversary. Accompanying Sarosy’s donation are a few other jerseys from other collectors. Some are from the early 2010s, while one is a 1998 jersey from the Crunch’s first year in Syracuse.
“It’s so critical that you not only get it right but that you represent the area, and you want something that people are proud of when they put it on,” Sarosy said.
Perched along the walls around the room are more information displays, one of which gives an oral history of Jackie Robinson’s visit to old MacArthur Stadium in 1946, just one year before breaking the MLB color barrier.
No matter the item, the exhibit connects sports fans of all ages, educating the youth while allowing older fans to reminisce, Searing said.
“It’s a win-win for us and fans of sports and museums,” Searing said. “You can come in and look at some really cool jerseys that might bring back a lot of nostalgia for people from grandparents to grandchildren.”
amstepan@syr.edu
@AidenStepansky
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Last week, I sat down at my family’s Passover seder. At the end of the seder, my family and I said what our ancestors and Jews around the world say: “ לְשָׁנָה
” (L’Shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim) meaning “next year in Jerusalem.” Next year, in our ancestral homeland, in our holy land.
Judaism and Israel are intimately connected. Zion – the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem – is mentioned in the Torah over 150 times. We pray facing Jerusalem. Our holiest site, the Western Wall, lies in Jerusalem. We have holidays based around Israel’s agricultural cycle.
The Jewish people pray and yearn for their safe return to the land of Israel. One is considered “spiritually raised,” by returning to the holy land. The list goes on and on.
Zionism, at its core, is the belief that the Jewish people have a right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland. To deny the connection between the Jewish people and Israel is to deny a fundamental aspect of Judaism.
Since the beginning of the diaspora – the dispersion of Jewish people outside of Israel –endless persecution and massacres have littered Jewish history. Whether it’s the Babylonians, the Roman Empire, across Europe, Morocco, Iran, Libya, Syria or Nazi Germany, antisemitism is one of the oldest forms of hatred.
Watching Jewish families endlessly flee has painstakingly and repeatedly proven that the Jewish people are not safe in the diaspora. The state of Israel acts as the single place on Earth with a guarantee that this government, these systems and these people will not turn on us — a safety all people deserve. To deny the Jewish need for Israel is to deny centuries of persecution and minimize the endless atrocities committed against the Jewish people.
Today, antisemitism has run rampant across universities in America. In support of Columbia University’s encampment, protestors at the University’s gates proclaimed outward support of Hamas, chanting “Hamas, we love you. We support your rockets too,” and “Hamas you make us proud.” Hamas is a recognized terrorist organization whose founding documents outline its goal to kill all Jews. They perpetrated the butchering, sexual assaults and massacre of Oct. 7.
On campus at Columbia University, an individual pointed a sign toward Jewish students reading “Al-Qassam’s next targets.” Al-Qassam is Hamas’s military wing. A Jewish student was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag and went to the hospital. A sign reading “Oh Qassam, oh beloved, we want to burn Tel Aviv” was written in chalk on UCLA’s campus. On campuses such as the University of Washington St. Louis and the University of Michigan, students chanted “Long live the Intifada.”
Protests like these are erupting all over college campuses and have been condoned by Hamas and the Islamic Republic of Iran themselves. We, as Jews, see the violence and extreme acts of antisemitism associated with these protests; yet, they are labeled “peaceful,” we are dismissed as “overdramatic” and told “it’s not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist.”
Students have claimed that Syracuse University should stand in solidarity with Columbia University, with the people who have committed and encouraged many of these atrocious and malicious acts of antisemitism.
SU Jewish Israeli student Kfir Shoham stated this is “disheartening, angering and worrisome. Standing with the protest at Columbia University is supporting protests that have actively put Jewish students and faculty at risk for their safety.”
Why, during wars with far greater losses, in the Congo, Sudan or the genocide in China, did these same students, who claim to care so deeply about human rights, say nothing? It is a blatant double standard watching these students remain utterly silent for every global atrocity until it is the single Jewish country on the planet defending its right to exist.
The correlation between pro-Palestine demonstrations on campus and antisemitic incidents is undeniable and in direct causation of one another. Former Columbia University student Khymani James, the spokesperson and leader of the Columbia University encampments, now expelled, has said the following: “Zionists don’t deserve to live comfortably, let alone Zionists don’t deserve to live,” continuing, “I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for those people (Zionists) to die.”
Across college campuses, we hear chants, “Say it loud and say it clear, we don’t want no Zionists here.” Yet, 8-in-10 American Jews state that “caring about Israel is an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them.” The term “Zionist” is synonymous with an overwhelming majority of Jews. To advocate for the death, exclusion or removal of an overwhelming majority of any minority group is unequivocally discrimination.
The encampments at SU, backed by our Student Association, have called to “enforce bans on student organizations fundraising to support genocide and war crimes,” according to a public statement posted on Instagram by the SU Encampment Group. This is a call to ban student organizations that have raised money for Israel, including Jewish communities such as Hillel, Chabad and every other Jewish space on campus.
Students have claimed that Syracuse University should stand in solidarity with Columbia University, with the people who have committed and encouraged many of these atrocious and malicious acts of antisemitism.
Ianne Veta israeli culture clubThe encampment speaker, Aziza Zahran, has repeatedly praised Hitler and called for the death of Jews. This does not promote peace nor encourage dialogue.
Demanding to ban all Jewish spaces and promoting a known Nazi sympathizer is irrefutably antisemitic. The embarrassing need to justify why only proves that too many are blind to their own biases.
These protests across campuses are a breeding ground for rampant antisemitism, villainizing the only Jewish country, encouraging violence under the guise of social activism and dehumanizing Jewish students through the word “Zionist.” When an overwhelming majority of Jewish students report feeling unsafe on campus, there is unequivocally a problem on college campuses.
Whether it’s Columbia University or here at SU, modeling a protest movement after an individual who is blatantly antisemitic and actively endorses violence should not surprise anyone when antisemitic incidents occur on campus. It is possible to advocate for Palestinians and criticize the Israeli government without threatening the safety of Jewish students.
For thousands of years, Jews were told to adhere to a certain standard in order to be accepted into society. We must worship idols. We must give up our traditions. We must hide our identity. Today’s antisemitism is no different as our peers demand that Jews must renounce our connection with the land of Israel.
Those who do so are tokenized and embraced. Those who refuse to give up this fundamental aspect of Judaism are labeled “Zionists.” Say what you mean. You mean Jews that don’t adhere to your standard.
You do not determine which aspects of my religion are good enough. You do not declare which aspects I should discard. I am the only person who dictates how I practice my Judaism. I will not give up my connection with Israel or Jerusalem, nor will I let your gross misinterpretation and mutilation of Zionism define what it means to me.
Zionism: the right for the Jewish people to have self-determination in their ancestral homeland. Zion: The land of Israel, the city of Jerusalem. I say what generations of Jewish people have said before me, what Jewish people around the world say now and what future generations will say, “
(Am Yisrael Chai), “The people of Israel live.”
This Letter to the Editor was written by Ianne Veta on behalf of the Israeli Culture Club. They can be reached at ilveta@syr.edu
First and foremost, I must remind us all that amid the meaningful activism taking place on American college campuses, it’s crucial not to lose sight of the pressing international issues that demand our attention. We cannot afford to shift our focus entirely inward from what is occurring in the Gaza Strip. Instead, we must continue lobbying for real change with a strong, united front to push for an immediate ceasefire as our number one priority. The toll on civilians living in Gaza is immeasurable, including the spread of infectious diseases, a dangerous lack of sanitation and dire malnutrition, stressing the critical need for humanitarian aid to be dispersed without being manipulated as leverage for military strategies and political gains. It’s imperative that we prioritize peace and the safety of innocent lives above all else. Let this serve as a reminder to continue to engage in dialogue, spread awareness about recent critical events unfolding in the region and further our own understandings to the best of our ability, because as Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
As a student at Syracuse University, the recent encampments have sparked a lot of reflection – parts of me are extremely prideful, while other parts of me are extremely apprehensive. As most empathetic individuals would, I too share the desire for a more just and peaceful resolution to this unfolding tragedy.
As much as I respect the right for students to peacefully protest and the right of assembly and free speech, I also find it crucial that we approach the demand list being presented to SU’s administration with a critical eye understanding what is truly feasible and how best to achieve meaningful progress.
The recent encampments on campus have ignited a conversation that, while necessary, risks becoming a shouting match if not treated with delicacy and respect. While the grievances
letter to the editor
voiced deserve attention, the methods employed and some of the demands themselves create a barrier to real progress. This isn’t about silencing voices – it’s about fostering an environment where reason and diplomacy can prevail.
Let us foster a space where diverse voices can be heard, where facts are valued over inflammatory rhetoric, where reason guides our actions.
Anonymous SU student
Firstly, let’s address the elephant in the room. The presence of an individual part of an organizing group with a documented history of antisemitism and incitement of violence is deeply troubling. Removing her from the premises was, in my opinion, a moral obligation of the organizers, as hate speech has no place on our campus and such rhetoric only serves to poison the well of productive dialogue. True activism thrives on open discourse, not inflammatory and violent attacks on peoples’ identities.
One concern is the communication around the demands. As much as I support open dialogue, some of the points seem unclear or based on misinformation. For instance, the demands to “disclose all funds to Israel” or “divest from companies that support the situation in Gaza” don’t quite reflect SU’s reality. Our university is a non-profit, and its investments are likely focused on generating returns to support our education as students and further academic research, not influence international politics.
However, transparency is important, and the university has made it clear that they have a review process in place for social responsibility concerns. As students, we have seven Student Representatives to the Board of Trustees, in which students can directly voice their concerns with a direct channel to university administration. If concerns raised are put in writing to the Chancellor, Senior Vice President and CFO, a thorough review will be conducted that can involve the Investment and Endowment Committee. Based on the assessment of the review, potential outcomes include communication with the external party, shareholder resolutions, proxy voting or disassociation from the external party, including divestment of the university’s investment in the external party. It is important that we voice our concerns out loud, but we must also document them thoroughly and follow established procedures to ensure they are heard and addressed effectively.
Similarly, calls to terminate all “study abroad programs to Israel” seem counterproductive to the demand of “protecting academic freedom.” Study abroad programs, even those in Israel, can provide learning experiences and opportunities for open dialogue and better intercultural understanding. Even in a political climate that I do not morally agree with, I believe that having multicultural ties as an academic institution is fundamental to equipping students with the knowledge and understanding to navigate a complex world.
The demand for reform within the Department of Public Safety to address racism and bias is one of the core functions of our existing Community Review Board. The CRB is responsible for reviewing appeals of civilian complaints regarding DPS officer conduct, reviewing and commenting on prospective new DPS policies, procedures and training and reviewing key community-facing functions of DPS. Thus far, not a single civilian complaint of this nature has reached the board this semester. While this
doesn’t negate the possibility of incidents of this nature occurring, what it does tell me is that we should all be actively encouraging the reporting, and proper documentation, of discriminatory behavior by DPS officers in order for it to be addressed properly.
There are, however, very feasible and attainable demands from the organizers of the encampment that I strongly agree deserve a platform. The university must advocate for a ceasefire and allow the formation of a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, upholding the principle of freedom of association, as long as the tenets and mission of the organization follow the Code of Conduct. The university can advocate for peace while ensuring freedom of association. The key to this lies in open communication between the organizers, the university and the entire student body.
As students, we yearn for a campus environment where our voices are heard and the Palestinian narrative is acknowledged, but we must do so in an effective and respectful manner. History is full of examples of diplomacy leading to positive change, from the resolution of the Cold War to the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa. Peaceful protest remains a right, but it should be accompanied by a willingness to listen and learn from different perspectives, because we must all be honest, avoiding conversation gets us nowhere. Shutting down opposing viewpoints, even those we find offensive, only deepens the divide. Imagine a world where every time we disagreed, we demanded the abolishment of the opposing group. That is a recipe for perpetual conflict, not progress.
Here at SU, we have a unique opportunity to set an example of building bridges, not walls. Let us foster a space where diverse voices can be heard, where facts are valued over inflammatory rhetoric, where reason guides our actions.
This Letter to the Editor was written by an anonymous SU student
First: Two-hundred and six days into the Israel- Hamas War, at Syracuse University’s Shaw Quadrangle, a few dozen students gathered with chairs and tents in solidarity with student protests happening across the United States.
Second: In response to the protest at Syracuse University, Representative Brandon Williams took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and declared: Demands? I don’t care what your demands are. Get the hell out of our community and never come back. Those are my demands. And the clock is ticking.
Third: Thousands of miles away, the State of Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared, “There are no half measures. (The Gazan cities of) Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat – total annihilation. You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
I was immediately taken aback. “Get the hell out of our community”? Who is he talking about?
My students? Me? These reckless comments are declarations that authorize violence – Williams asks us to set our neighbors apart as outsiders while Smotrich connects modern Palestinian cities to a commandment to obliterate a biblical foe. We find ourselves among politicians who, at best, don’t understand the gravity of their shouting, or at worst, don’t care who gets hurt. Even if it feels right, even if it’s what we heard on television or read while scrolling, we don’t have to go along with it.
I won’t get into the facts of this present moment. If you really want to know about the history of the conflict, you can seek out resources that aren’t reckless soundbites meant to activate partisan fault lines. If you really want to understand the perspectives on the conflict right now, you can click through jpost.com, haaretz.com and 972mag.com to read reporting that spans the political gamut.
Even if it feels right, even if it’s what we heard on television or read while scrolling, we don’t have to go along with it.
Nicholas Croce ph.d. candidateWhat is clear is that Smotrich’s words are unabashedly calls for violence, meant to activate far-right and fundamentalist interests while attempting to allay the pain of this tremendous crisis for Jewish Israelis. This is the moment Smotrich and his allies have been waiting for. In March 2023, in response to Smotrich’s call to “wipe out” the West Bank village of Huwara, Jewish Voice for Peace wrote, “If (Joe) Biden fails to take action at this moment, the U.S. will be fully complicit in the violence that comes next.” Students across this country are stopping. They are stopping to educate themselves, seek facts, consider complex histories, dream of more just tomorrows, mourn. I hope those who feel energized by Williams’ comments will stop to consider why.
Nicholas Croce is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Maxwell School. He can be reached at njcroce@syr.edu.
Syracuse University’s AAUP Executive Committee supports and defends students’ rights to free speech, free assembly and free expression in creating a peaceful Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the Shaw Quadrangle at SU. We realize that members of our university have varying positions on the wider issues in the Palestine-Israel conflict, but regardless of differences across campus, we are overwhelmingly united in defending the rights of students to speak, assemble and protest, especially in the face of the threats of police and state violence, political interference and suppression of free speech on other campuses across the United States. We are particularly impressed
...it is unacceptable for the university to wield unfounded charges of harassment against protestors as a silencing tactic.
AAUP Executive Committee ph.d. candidate
that the protestors at SU have placed protecting academic freedom at the core of their demands, as the AAUP believes this vital principle, so central to university life, is under attack both at SU and across the nation. We stand in solidarity with the April 24 press release “In Defense of the Right to Free Speech and Peaceful Protest on University Campuses” signed by many AAUP chapters across the country.
We urge the administration to adhere to the recommendations put forth by the American Civil Liberties Union in its Open Letter to College Universities and Presidents on Student Protests, which calls on universities not to “single out particular viewpoints — however
offensive they may be to some members of the community — for censorship, discipline, or disproportionate punishment.” We support the ACLU in defining “harassment” narrowly so as to avoid viewpoint censorship — it is unacceptable for the university to wield unfounded charges of harassment against protestors as a silencing tactic. We also call on the administration, in keeping with the ACLU’s statement, not to involve the police in matters of student protest “except as a last resort.”
This Letter to the Editor was written by multiple members of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Executive Committee. They can be reached at mthuber@syr.edu
No. 3 Syracuse starts its postseason on Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. The Orange finished the season with back-to-back conference wins over North Carolina and Virginia, giving them their most conference wins since 2018.
SU’s three ACC victories helped it seal the No. 2 seed and a matchup with No. 3 seed Duke in the semifinals on Friday. The Blue Devils are coming off a 15-12 defeat to North Carolina in their regularseason finale, their second loss in three games.
Here’s how our beat writers believe No. 2 seed Syracuse (11-4, 3-1 ACC) will fare against No. 3 seed Duke (11-4, 1-3 ACC) Friday:
ZAK WOLF (10-5)
HISTORY DOESN’T REPEAT ITSELF
SYRACUSE 13, DUKE 15
My tagline can be interpreted in two ways. Syracuse’s last ACC Tournament win came against Duke in 2016 in the championship game. This season, the Orange also defeated Duke 10-4 on March 20. No matter which way you look at it, I doubt Syracuse will get past the Blue Devils.
When SU upset Duke earlier, reigning Tewaaraton winner Brennan O’Neill was held to just 1-for-11 shooting and two points. It was one of five times this season O’Neill was held under five points. I can’t see how O’Neill is kept that quiet for a second time.
The rest of Duke’s attack is potent as well. Six other Blue Devils have scored at least 15 points or more this season. There’s no reason Syracuse’s offense can’t keep up with Duke, butO’Neill will be too much to handle for the Orange this time around.
COOPER ANDREWS (10-5) WOMP WOMP
SYRACUSE 13, DUKE 16
At this point, it’s safe to say that Syracuse men’s lacrosse has emerged from the depths of mediocrity. Marquee wins over Virginia, Johns Hopkins and Duke proved it. Yet that March 20 victory over
helped her deal with pressure from opposing attackers. With Melbourne, Proulx started in 14 games and registered 50 saves, propelling it to the top of the league. Then her agent informed her of Bay FC’s interest.
“When I first got the call from my agent, I wasn’t too sure how to react to it,” Proulx said. “…It’s difficult for me (to) start something, drop it and move on to something different.”
During Bay FC’s recruiting process, Restrepo said Proulx’s quick feet and explosiveness stood
practice. But on gameday, Treanor elected to start Vandiver.
Early in the game, Vandiver established herself. At the 11:14 mark of the second quarter, Vandiver back-checked Tewaaraton winner Izzy Scane, causing a turnover for SU. In the fourth quarter, Vandiver took the ball from Northwestern’s Elle Hansen, helping lead Syracuse to a 16-15 win.
Going forward, she felt her confidence increase. On March 15, Vandiver tallied a gamehigh three caused turnovers, helping the Orange to a 9-7 win over then-No. 9 Loyola.
Her time at McDonogh prepared to make an immediate impact at SU, tallying 15 caused turnovers and 15 ground balls. She also started all 21 games.
“I was really used to the fast-paced style of play and practices being long and pretty brutal,” Vandiver said. “The fall of my freshman year, that’s exactly what they were. They were long and tough and I felt ready for it.”
In her sophomore season, she’s continued to build off her freshman campaign. Vandiver
out. Bay FC’s three other goalies offered different skill sets than Proulx, but Restrepo needed a faster and more experienced goalie. Proulx fit the mold.
After joining Bay FC in February, Proulx became the 16th goalkeeper in league history to record a shutout in her debut, defeating Angel City FC 1-0 on March 17. Proulx’s eight saves also tied the league record for stops in an NWSL regular-season debut, matching Adrianna Franch’s eight saves in her NWSL debut for the Western New York Flash in 2013.
“If you see (Proulx) play, she has this swagger that not many people have,” Restrepo said.
showed an increased awareness for the positioning of offensive players on March 23 against then-No. 9 Virginia. After Syracuse took a onegoal lead, UVA won the draw but Vandiver intercepted a pass from Madison Alaimo with 4:29 left. The interception slowed the Cavaliers’ late momentum and helped SU to a one-goal win.
As Vandiver’s playing time has increased at Syracuse, she’s made analyzing film a habit. Aside from her own, she breaks down Ana Lee’s games as well, providing a defensive perspective to help improve her sister’s skills, Ana Lee said.
Even though Vandiver and Ana Lee are each playing collegiately, their one-on-one battles continue to be a part of their training. They schedule their workouts to be 30 minutes, but they constantly push past their allotted time because neither sister wants to end the workout on a loss.
“That’s the competitiveness of it, that we obviously want each other to play insanely (well),” Ana Lee said. “We definitely like having more of that aspect, of having something to hold over each other in the best way.”
tswilcox@syr.edu
@TimmyWilcox32
ras and Saam Olexo to contain a dangerous Blue Devils attack.
“That’s something you can’t teach.”
Restrepo believes keeping Proulx levelheaded is the key to her success with Bay FC. The 25-year-old’s breakout debut game had many highs, so Restrepo said it’s essential to control her emotions and block out outside noise.
Bay FC is 2-0-4 and ranks 10th in the NWSL. Proulx, now the starting goalkeeper, has recorded 24 saves through five games thus far.
“This is the best collective team I’ve been on,” Proulx said. “(Bay FC) was the kind of opportunity that I was waiting for.”
the Blue Devils, a 10-4 result that marked Duke’s lowest single-game scoring total since 2012, still stands above the rest.
Based on recent history, though, I don’t see that happening again.
Ten first-half goals allowed in a loss to Notre Dame. A season-worst 18 goals versus Cornell, which used the production to come back from multiple seven-goal deficits. And to close the regular season, SU let in 17 goals to Virginia as its unabating offense was tasked with a monumental comeback effort.
Syracuse may have succeeded in surging late versus the Cavaliers, though the Blue Devils are a different animal. O’Neill, Josh Zawada and Dyson Williams are arguably the most lethal attacking trio in the country. If the Orange continue to let star attacks run rampant on them, chances of an ACC title appearance are limited. And unlike its first matchup against Duke, SU’s back end will falter and its offense won’t have time to pick up the pieces.
ANISH VASUDEVAN (12-3) 1ST TRIP, 1ST WIN SYRACUSE 14, DUKE 12
Who would have thought this would happen?
Not me. 2024 has been a year of firsts for head coach Gary Gait in his third season at the helm of Syracuse. His first five-game win streak. His first ACC Tournament berth. And, most recently, his first win over Virginia. So why not add his first ACC Tournament win?
The Orange have already shown their ability against the Blue Devils. Though the game itself was sloppier than most, a five-goal third quarter gave Syracuse a comfortable win over Duke. It was a grandiose achievement for Will Mark and SU’s defense, which held reigning O’Neill to just one goal on 11 shots.
Since the Duke game, Syracuse’s defense has been off and on. Mark made key stops when needed against the Cavaliers, but the Orange struggled while having to play a lot of defense against Cornell’s elite offense.They’ll turn in a good enough performance Friday in Charlotte, allowing their dynamic offense to put the Blue Devils away. sports@dailyorange.com @dosports
As she continues capitalizing on her opportunity with Bay FC, Proulx has her eyes set on the 2027 World Cup. Though she didn’t play in the 2023 World Cup, DeNoyer believes it’s only a matter of time before Proulx reaches the field with Canada.
“It’s tough in the goalkeeper position because only one goalkeeper plays,” DeNoyer said. “I know how hard she works in training and what she gives in training … The opportunity will come.”
ecstark@syr.edu @emmacstark
How Syracuse beats Duke Holding O’Neill to one goal simply won’t happen again. At least, it’s not likely. The key for Syracuse against Duke is shutting down its secondary options. If the Orange let O’Neill get his way and contains attackers like Dyson Williams and Josh Zawada, it could lead to similar success like the first matchup. A lot of pressure will be put on Syracuse’s long poles Billy Dwan, Riley Figuei -
Defensive stability will be key, but playing a full four quarters is crucial to SU’s success. The Orange have struggled to close out games this year. SU let a seven-goal lead slip against Cornell and almost blew comfortable leads against Johns Hopkins and North Carolina. In what will likely be a tight game, Syracuse’s fourth-quarter play will be the deciding factor.
Stat to know: 3 Since winning the ACC Tournament cham -
pionship in 2016, Syracuse has lost its past three ACC Tournament games, all of which came by just one goal. Starting in 2017, Syracuse fell 16-15 to North Carolina. Then, after finishing the 2018 regular season undefeated in conference play, it fell 11-10 to Virginia. The final game of the losing streak came against North Carolina in 2019. SU led by one heading into the fourth quarter, but the Tar Heels outscored the Orange 5-3 in the fourth, propelling them to an 11-10 win.
Player to watch: Dyson Williams, attack, No. 51
Coming off a 60-goal season, Williams hasn’t slowed down in 2024. In 15 games, the attack has recorded a team-high 44 goals, converting on 47.3% of his shots. With O’Neill as the focal point of the offense, Williams gets a lot of favorable looks with his off-ball cutting ability. Williams has scored a hat trick in 10 games this season, and tallied a season-high five goals on March 3 against Princeton. zakwolf784254@gmail.com @Zakwolf22
After domination from Syracuse starter Jessie DiPasquale through three innings, Cornell picked up its first hit in the top of the fourth on a triple by Lauren Holt. The ensuing batter, Maddie Ullensvang, sent a flyball to Madelyn Lopez in right.
After Lopez secured the flyout, Holt tagged up attempting to score. Though Lopez’s throw home was a perfect, one-hop throw, catcher Taylor Davison caught it on the bounce and applied a swift tag on Holt for the out, keeping SU’s shutout intact.
DiPasquale finished the final three innings with ease, walking just one Big Red hitter in the process to give Syracuse a trouble-free win.
After winning its series against No. 15 Virginia Tech, Syracuse (26-21, 7-14 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat Cornell (7-27, 4-14 Ivy League) in a single game Wednesday. The Orange blanked the Big Red 4-0 behind a complete game, one-hit shutout from DiPasquale. SU defeated Cornell for a sixth straight time and has shut it out the past four.
“Her focus was outstanding today,” Madison Knight said about DiPasquale postgame. “I think she did a really good job.”
Right out of the gate, DiPasquale shut down the Big Red in the top of the first. In the bottom of the frame, Vanessa Flores quickly put the Orange in front 1-0. With Angel Jasso sitting on third, Flores blooped a single to left, scoring Jasso.
SU continued in the second, beginning with a Taylor Posner single and an error by Ella Harrod on a hard ground ball from Rebecca Clyde. Davison grounded into a fielder’s choice, setting up Kate Dorazio in her first start of the season. She grounded to second to drive in Posner and Lopez followed with a rope to right field, bringing in Davison to extend SU’s lead to 3-0.
“Today I think our biggest thing was pitch selection and choosing good pitches to hit,” Clyde said. “I think it’s only going to be harder with FSU because they have girls that can throw up to 70 miles an hour.”
DiPasquale sat down Cornell 1-2-3 in the third. Kylie Deeny followed with her first clean sheet of the afternoon, ending on a running catch against the wall in center field by Kate Callaway.
After DiPasquale escaped Cornell’s threat in the top of the fourth, Davison produced a one-
men’s lacrosse
out single for Syracuse, but Dorazio followed by grounding into a double play to end the inning.
DiPasquale bounced back from the fourth, striking out Hailey Pirkey and Sydney Stapf in succession before Lilly Travieso left the box too early. In the bottom of the inning, Knight continued her red-hot hitting, blasting a no-doubt solo shot to left field to give SU its first run since the second inning, and a 4-0 lead.
“I think earlier in the season, I really struggled with the pitch I wanted to hit, I fouled it off,” Knight said Tuesday. “I think I’ve done a good job (now) of seeing the ball I want to hit and putting it on the field.”
DiPasquale walked her second batter of the afternoon with two outs in the sixth, but the Big Red could not find a spark. In the bottom of the frame, Syracuse loaded the bases with one out. Yet, Galipeau popped out and Lopez flew out to end the threat.
DiPasquale waltzed right through Cornell in the seventh to finish off the complete game. She ended with eight strikeouts while walking just two over seven innings. Syracuse did enough to pick up the win, but there is still more to be done.
The Orange now turn to the weekend, where they face the defending ACC Champions and NCAA runner-ups in No. 14 Florida State. The Seminoles rank fifth in the country in scoring and sit atop the ACC standings.
“I think going into practice (Thursday), we’re probably going to see very hard pitching, and try to prepare for that and try to pick out good pitches to hit,” Clyde said.
SU has dropped its last 27 straight against the Seminoles, eight of which have been runrules. All-time, the Orange trail the series 2-31 last taking down FSU twice in 2005, when Florida State was not even in the same conference as Syracuse. The Orange have scored more than four runs in a game just six times over the 27-game losing streak.
FSU has relied heavily on its high-scoring offense this season. With Lindsey Hendrix’s domination against No. 15 Virginia Tech last weekend, there is a newfound confidence for SU.
“We all want to make the tournament more than anything, so we just know that we need to bring our A-game,” DiPasquale said. “So it’s just being hype and knowing that we are capable of doing it.”
nsjepson@syr.edu @nicholassjepson
After securing its most regular-season wins since 2017, Syracuse heads to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the ACC Tournament. SU sealed the No. 2 seed with a 3-1 conference record, only finishing behind Notre Dame, which went undefeated in ACC play.
Syracuse enters the postseason coming off two one-goal wins against North Carolina and Virginia. In Chapel Hill on April 13, SU led 10-4 before five straight goals from the Tar Heels made the Orange sweat late on, but they pulled out a 10-9 win. In its regular-season finale, Syracuse defeated Virginia 18-17. Trailing by three in the fourth quarter, SU scored four straight goals to come out with a win.
As they look to make their first ACC Championship game since 2016, the Orange take on Duke for the second time this season. The Blue Devils have one of the most potent offenses in the country, led by reigning Tewaaraton winner Brennan O’Neill.
Here’s everything to know about No. 3 seed Duke (11-4, 1-3 ACC) before it takes on No. 2 seed Syracuse (11-4, 3-1 ACC) in the ACC Tournament semifinals:
All-time series Syracuse leads 15-9.
Last time they played...
Just over a month ago on March 20, Syracuse welcomed then-No. 4 Duke to the JMA Wireless Dome for its first ACC contest. Benn
Johnston got on the board first for Duke, but Syracuse scored eight of the next nine goals to lead 8-2. From there, the Orange held on for a comfortable 10-4 win.
Owen Hiltz netted a hat trick, but Will Mark’s play in net led the way for SU. Mark registered 13 saves and a season-high 77.8% save percentage while holding the Blue Devils to their lowest-scoring total since 2012.
The Blue Devils report
Since its loss to Syracuse, Duke has seen mixed results. A one-goal win over Boston University followed a comfortable win over Denver, but the Blue Devils fell to No. 1 Notre Dame 15-12 on April 7. After defeating Virginia handily, Duke put in its worst performance of the season, falling 15-12 to North Carolina.
The focal point of Duke’s offense is O’Neill. His 67 points lead the Blue Devils and he always has the green light to let it rip from distance. O’Neill’s 153 shots are 60 more than the next closest player on the team. He will be a lot to handle but Duke has plenty of attacking depth, with six other players totalling at least 15 goals this season.
Along with its potent attack, Duke’s defense is no slouch either. Led by freshman Patrick Jameison in net, the Blue Devils allow just 9.87 goals per game — the second-best mark in the ACC. Though in recent weeks, Jameison hasn’t been as strong. Through Duke’s first 11 games, he held opponents to single-digits eight times, but has allowed at least 10 goals in his past four appearances.
14
Since graduating from Syracuse in 2021, Lysianne Proulx has shined playing in Portugal and Australia. Now, Proulx is making her mark with Bay FC in the National Women’s Soccer League. courtesy of usa today
Amid her debut season in the NWSL with Bay FC, Lysianne Proulx has become one of the league’sBy Emma Stark asst. copy editor
When Lysianne Proulx’s agent contacted her earlier this year about a possible transfer to Bay FC in the National Women’s Soccer League, she was skeptical. Proulx established herself as a starter for Melbourne FC in the A-League — Australia’s top division for women’s soccer — and was unsure about the transition.
But after meeting with Bay FC Goalkeeping coach Diego Restrepo and thinking further about playing in the NWSL, s he realized she couldn’t pass it up.
“An opportunity like Bay FC was something (I’d) been waiting for since I finished college, so I had to take it,” Proulx said about the move. “It was an obvious choice.”
Proulx excelled at Syracuse from 2017-21 and has since made a name for herself across multiple professional leagues. Following her college career, Proulx played for Torreense in Portugal before settling in Australia with Melbourne City FC. Proulx also began participating in Canadian National Team training camps in June 2022 before making its 2023 World Cup roster. Her performances culminated on Feb. 9 when Bay FC of the NWSL acquired Proulx for a record transfer fee for an outgoing A-League player.
Entering international soccer wasn’t foreign to Proulx. Before attending Syracuse in 2017, Proulx represented Canada in 2014 and 2016 in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and in the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. She also earned two Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football youth medals — gold at the U-15 level in 2014 and silver at the U-20 level in 2015.
women’s lacrosse
Though it took Proulx until her junior season to earn a starting spot at SU. Once given a consistent role, Proulx shined. The goalkeeper totaled the fourth-most saves (281), second-most saves per game (5.30) and seventh-most shutouts (eight) in program history. During her junior campaign, Proulx led the Atlantic Coast Conference in saves (96) before returning to the team for a fifth season.
“She was usually one of the last people to leave and would be working after practice too,” said SU women’s soccer assistant coach Brandon DeNoyer. “(Lysianne) was a leader by example. I don’t think anyone worked harder than her.”
DeNoyer stressed keeping his goalkeepers as sharp as possible on the field. Whenever he gave Proulx a pointer, she asked questions for clarification. If she saw something differently, they went over what made her most comfortable. Throughout their tenure together, DeNoyer molded Proulx into an elite shot-stopper.
After graduating from SU in 2021, Proulx returned home to recover from wrist surgery. Then, she earned a roster spot on Canada’s Women’s National Team after she was invited to its training camp in June 2022 ahead of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship.
The next month, Proulx signed with Portuguese club Torrense in the Campeonato Nacional de Futebol Feminino league. Proulx played 18 games with Torrense before joining Melbourne City FC in August 2023. Canada’s National Team later added her to its 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup roster.
After returning from the World Cup, Melbourne City FC head coach Aurelio Vidmar implemented a possession-heavy system for Proulx. She described the style as “the perfect fit” for her, which
At McDonogh School (Maryland), Coco Vandiver defended the country’s top lacrosse players both in practice and games. No. 1 recruit Kori Edmondson and No. 8 recruit Carolina Godine both were Vandiver’s teammates.
But outside of McDonogh, Vandiver first crafted her skills against her twin sister, Ana Lee Vandiver. Playing one-on-one against Ana Lee, now an attack at Elon, standing four inches taller than Vandiver, she learned to face players with a height advantage.
Now a sophomore at Syracuse, Vandiver has started every game on its defense since joining SU in 2023,
when she made the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman Team. In November 2020, Vandiver committed to Syracuse before even making McDonogh’s varsity team. While most of her club teammates had committed after having varsity experience, Vandiver was in the minority, feeling she had added pressure to prove herself, Vandiver said. Still, it was her competition with her sister that drove her most.
“When (Ana Lee) beats me, I’m not letting her get a goal off,” Vandiver said.
“I got in the habit of being able to get a back check off if a girl gets a step on me.”
In the spring of her junior year of high school, Vandiver made varsity. Initially, she didn’t receive much playing time, motivating her to improve.
During the offseason before senior year, Vandiver worked with local trainers to hone her speed and lacrosse-specific skills. Vandiver and Ana Lee also trained for a running test.
“She was a huge sponge,” said Taylor Cummings, McDonogh’s women’s lacrosse head coach and three-time Tewaaraton award winner. “She asked a ton of questions to our defensive coordinator and to myself. She asked a lot from the veterans on the team and she really just took all of the insight and lacrosse IQ.”
Cummings said Vandiver was used as a matchup defender who guarded each team’s top defender. The growth she made was immense, according to Cummings.
McDonogh faced Glenelg Country School and Vandiver was assigned to defend Maggie Weisman, the No. 4 recruit in the class of 2022, per Inside Lacrosse. Her assignments in practice against Edmondson, Godine and Ana Lee prepared her for the matchup.
“(Vandiver) wanted to have the top matchups and wanted to play against the best people in practice and in games because that pushed her to be better,” Cummings said.
As one of Gary Gait’s last recruits, Vandiver came to Syracuse without much of a relationship with new head coach Kayla Treanor, who became SU’s head coach in June 2021. But Cummings, who had played with Treanor on the United States National Team,
assured Treanor that Vandiver was a strong player.
When Vandiver joined Syracuse in fall 2022, she was anxious about playing at the collegiate level, Ana Lee said.
But Katie Goodale, then a junior defender on SU, made the transition to college easier for Vandiver. The pair broke down film and practiced footwork together to improve their fundamentals.
In the first game of Vandiver’s collegiate career, Syracuse matched up with then-No. 4 Northwestern. Leading up to the game, Vandiver didn’t expect to play much despite getting lots of playing time with the first team in see vandiver page 14