thursday, nov. 9, 2023
celebrating 120 years
free
N • Gift of life
S • Seeing red
Gift of Life partnered with Syracuse Hillel, Alpha Phi Omega and others for a bone marrow registry drive this week in honor of Annie Eisner.
No. 18 Syracuse lost to No. 7 North Carolina in the ACC Tournament semifinals, barring the Orange from reaching its second consecutive title game. Page 12
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on campus
SU to convert Sheraton to dorm
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, professors have faced pressures from outside the university and TAs are unsure of how to proceed
By Stephanie Wright news editor
Professors and teaching assistants at SU are grappling with boundaries for classroom discussions and public statements as nora benko illustration editor the Israel-Hamas war continues. By Dominic Chiappone and Kyle Chouinard
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the daily orange
ately, Aevyn Barnett has been wearing a black ribbon. Barnett, a second-year master’s student and teaching assistant at Syracuse University, sees it as a less ultravisible way, compared to a yarmulke, of making his Jewish identity visible. The ribbon’s main function in Jewish culture, however, is to symbolize loss. “When you’re in mourning, it’s usually just (for) the immediate family, you wear a black ribbon for … seven days,” Barnett said. “I’ve been just wearing it full time because every time it would have been the end of the seven days, someone else dies.” Two of his cousins are in the hospital still being treated for burns from the initial early-October Hamas attack in Israel. A family friend’s two grandchildren were killed. Another more distant cousin, he said, died at the Nova music festival near the Gaza border. Before he left his apartment Tuesday morning, Barnett’s mother texted in his family’s group chat that a family friend’s body had been found. Still, he had to go teach. “You have to figure out how to separate those two parts of your life and leave that part at home,” Barnett said. “It’s difficult.” Tuesday marked one month since the Israel-Hamas war started. Since the initial attack, students, faculty and staff at SU have held three vigils across religious groups calling for peace. At the same time, tension has mounted on campus with multiple petitions calling for either the removal of a professor or the cancellation of an event. Professors and student teaching assistants have had to traverse the conflict in their own classrooms. While some have elected to not interact with the topic, other
professors and TAs have chosen to actively engage with it. Whatever their position, most told The Daily Orange the war has at least been in the back of their minds. On Oct. 7, Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed 1,400 people. In the attack, Hamas kidnapped 242 people and, as of Nov. 2, only four have been released. Soon after the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was officially at war in a televised address. Israel has bombarded Gaza since then, further isolating the territory which had been under a blockade for 16 years. Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed over 10,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. As of Nov. 2, the attacks have internally displaced an estimated 1.4 million people, according to the United Nations. UN SecretaryGeneral António Guterres called the situation in Gaza “more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity.” In the United States, the start of the war has been met with a drastic rise in both Islamophobic and antisemitic hate crimes, including cases at colleges and universities. An hour away from SU at Cornell University, Cornell student Patrick Dai allegedly posted threats online that he would kill Jewish students on campus. Dai will be in Syracuse on Wednesday for a probable cause hearing. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education urged colleges and universities to take immediate action amid an “alarming rise” of antisemitism and Islamophobia. SU Provost Gretchen Ritter said at the Oct. 25 University Senate meeting that while faculty do have the right to share their opinions on the Israel-Hamas war, addressing the conflict when it is not the topic of a class or through university channels like Listservs creates “an unfair power dynamic that can make some students feel unwelcome, unsafe or unsupported.” The American Association of University Professors at SU’s executive committee released a statement objecting see professors page 6
Syracuse University will convert the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel & Conference Center into an undergraduate student residence hall, according to a Wednesday news release. The complex will include nearly 400 beds, with construction set to start in summer 2024 and the opening set for fall 2024. The Sheraton will close following this spring’s commencement for construction, according to the release. “By converting the Sheraton into a residence hall, we are creating new housing opportunities that make it easier for our students, especially our first-year and transfer students, to acclimate to life at Syracuse, find their community and develop a sense of belonging,” Allen Groves, SU’s senior vice president and chief student experience officer, said in the release. SU originally bought the Sheraton in 2000. The conversion is part of SU’s Campus Framework, which is a 20-year plan to assess and improve the university’s space usage. “This includes renovating and repurposing existing space, procuring new space and working with community partners to identify opportunities for collaboration,” Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Brett Padgett said in the release. “The Sheraton presented an ideal opportunity to reimagine how our current space is leveraged and repurpose it to put it toward its best and highest use.” SU’s decision to convert the hotel came after a three-year housing review that found students wanted more housing options on North Campus. Last year, SU began housing students in the Sheraton. Around 200 returning students were moved to these locations from Dellplain Hall because more freshmen accepted admissions offers than expected. SU has also acquired several other properties surrounding North Campus in recent years, including on S. Crouse Avenue and Comstock Avenue, drawing concern from long-time Syracuse residents. Although SU has cleared multiple lots of property it has bought since 2019, a university spokesperson said the university had no specific plans for the properties in September 2022. Once the Sheraton closes, all of its staff will be offered positions at SU — many of which will be union jobs, the release said. People with reservations at the Sheraton after its set closing date will be notified by Sheraton staff. spwright@syr.edu
election day 2023
Election winners plan for new positions in Onondaga County By Roxanne Boychuk asst. news editor
On Tuesday, voters in Onondaga County elected a new slate of candidates for the upcoming term, with both new voices and familiar names collecting wins. Many of the
races are still too close to call, but some of its largest, such as County Executive, wrapped up early in the night. Incumbent Republican Ryan McMahon was reelected to serve another term as Onondaga County Executive over Democratic challenger Bill Kinne. McMahon is leading with
61.82 percent of the vote as of 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday. McMahon said he’s “ecstatic” to be in office again, and that his next steps are to begin investing in development across the county. “The voters last night delivered a mandate,” McMahon said of his victory. All five people elected to
Syracuse’s Common Council this cycle were Democrats, continuing their dominance in city government. Councilors Marty Nave, Patrick Hogan, Corey Williams, Patrona Jones-Rowser and Jimmy Monto were elected for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th districts, respectively. Nave
and Hogan ran unopposed while Williams fended off Woodruff Caroll and Jones-Rowser defeated Hasahn Bloodworth. While Monto currently has captured 82 percent of the vote, a write-in campaign for Jennifer Schultz has 17.56 percent of the votes. see wins page 6