As Frank Malfitano traveled the country working in the music industry, he saw dozens of murals on the sides of buildings in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit. The murals honor significant people in the cities’ cultures and histories, and he wondered if Syracuse could have one, too. When the pandemic shut down music festivals, he got to work turning a mural into a reality.

Malfitano began meeting with artists and sponsors to bring his idea into existence. After months of planning, it was finalized — a six-story mural honoring four Syracuse basketball legends on East Onondaga Street in downtown Syracuse.

“(Murals) are a prominent part of the landscape. They become a part of the fabric of the community,” Malfitano said.

The project has received strong support from the Syracuse Common Council and multiple corporate sponsors. The plan features four trailblazers of basketball from Syracuse: WNBA superstar and Syracuse native Breanna Stewart, Syracuse University’s Manny Breland and Syracuse Nationals champions Earl Lloyd and Dolph Schayes.

The four athletes all represent different struggles that face our society, Malfitano said. Breland and Lloyd experienced racism at SU and in the NBA, respectively. Schayes was one of the most notable Jewish athletes of his day and dealt with anti-Semitism in his career. And Stewart is facing sexism as one of the world’s most notable female athletes today.

“We’ve seen a renewed wave of misogyny and anti-Semitism and racism, and we can never progress as a city until we get rid of that,” Malfitano said. “We need creative ways to address it, and that’s what I love about (the mural).”

Breland is a Syracuse native and was one of the first Black players to be on scholarship for SU basketball in 1953. As a senior, he led the Orange to their first NCAA tournament in 1957, where they advanced to the Elite Eight. He later became the first Black varsity high school basketball coach in New York state and a principal in the Syracuse City School District.

Schayes played alongside Lloyd on the 1955 Syracuse Nationals championship team. Throughout his career, he was named to 12 All-Star games, received six All-NBA First Team selections and later coached the Philadelphia 76ers. His son Danny played basketball at SU in the late 1970s and was drafted in the first round by the Utah Jazz in 1981.

Lloyd was the NBA’s first Black player in 1950. The Virginia native played most of his career with the Nationals and won an NBA Championship in 1955. He became the NBA’s first Black assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons in 1968 and later served as the Pistons’ head coach for the 1971-72 season. Both Schayes and Lloyd are members of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Stewart graduated from Cicero-North Syracuse High School in 2012 and won AP Player of the Year three times at UConn. She won four consecutive NCAA Championships with the Huskies and two WNBA championships in 2018 and 2020. She was also named a Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 2020 because of her outspoken support for social justice causes.

“What those four people we’re going to honor exemplify about Syracuse is resilience and grit, persevering through a lot of difficult times but being triumphant in the end,” said Common Councilor Pat Hogan, of the 2nd District. “That’s what a lot of people in the neighborhoods here have done over the last year, and that’s always been the Syracuse spirit.”

Malfitano enlisted Los Angeles-based muralist Jonas Never, who’s painted several murals of athletes, for the project in Syracuse. Never’s photorealistic style is what made him stick out, Malfitano said.

“Several years ago, I think the first thing I saw by him was a mural he did of Kobe Bryant, and I thought, ‘This is our guy,’” Malfitano said.

Malfitano wants to start the project in July, but that relies on funding. He estimated the total cost of the project to be about $150,000, with a potential $75,000 commitment from the city. The council passed a funding resolution unanimously last week, but it still needs approval from Mayor Ben Walsh.

The mayor’s office has some reservations about the funding, however, citing that the council did not specify where the $75,000 would come from. Syracuse Chief Policy Officer Greg Loh said that the administration is listening to community input and that the mural could be a “positive addition” to the downtown landscape.

The project has also received private support from local business and organizations, including SU. Malfitano is still looking for more sponsors to help cover the cost, especially if the funding from the city doesn’t pan out.

Malfitano wants the mural to be the first of a series of murals in the city. He wants to showcase Syracuse’s notable figures of all backgrounds and make the murals an inspiration to those who see them.

“I hope (people) look deeper into the stories of these four individuals and realize that there’s a thread here that connects all of us and that Syracuse has played a major role in social justice,” Malfitano said.

The goal of the project is to use public art as a tool of unity, Malfitano and Hogan said. It would also draw people to downtown and revitalize the community both aesthetically and economically, Hogan said.

“This is probably one of the most important public art projects ever considered by the city of Syracuse,” he said.

The city of Syracuse will commit $75,000 to the creation of a six-story mural featuring four Syracuse basketball greats after the Common Council unanimously approved the expenditure Monday, pending the mayor’s approval.

The mural will feature WNBA superstar Breanna Stewart, Syracuse Nationals champions Dolph Schayes, Earl Lloyd and Syracuse University basketball player Manny Breland. Los Angeles-based sports muralist Jonas Never, famous for murals of Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods, has agreed to paint the artwork. It’s expected to be painted in late summer.

Frank Malfitano, founder of the Syracuse JazzFest and organizer of the mural project, said the mural is a way to address social justice issues such as racism and anti-Semitism.

“We’ve seen a renewed wave of misogyny and anti-Semitism and racism, and we can never progress as a city until we get rid of that. But I think we need creative ways to address it. And that’s what I love about the mural project,” he said.

Lloyd became the first Black player in the NBA in 1950 and won an NBA championship with the Syracuse Nationals alongside Schayes in 1955. Schayes, who was Jewish, faced anti-Semitism during his NBA career. Breland was one of the first Black scholarship players on SU’s basketball team and later became a Syracuse educator and school principal.

Malfitano said this mural could be the first of many in downtown Syracuse. Councillor Pat Hogan, of the 2nd District, supported this idea.

“I think people are eager to get out and see stuff. And certainly, as downtown starts to open up again, I could see people driving down and taking a look at some of the murals we’re going to have,” Hogan said. “I think it’s just something that public art is such a key thing for, the vibrance of the city.”

SU is one of the private supporters of the project, though it’s unclear how much the university has pledged to donate. Malfitano has also received assurances of support from New York state Assemblywoman Pam Hunter and Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli.

Other business

The council also approved the lease for the Tech Garden property on Harrison Avenue to CenterState CEO, which will use the city property to house startup businesses. The council previously held off on approving the lease, seeking clarifications about revenue sharing for the building’s proposed event space.

The building will be leased for 20 years with $1 of rent per year. CenterState must maintain the building at its own cost and will not share any excess revenue with the city.

At-large Councilors Michael Greene and Ronnie White voted against the lease. Greene said that CenterState’s unwillingness to negotiate with the council on revenue sharing, despite receiving public support, lost his vote.

“The real issue is that CenterState fundamentally believes that the taxpayers that own this facility should not be entitled to any revenue whatsoever,” Greene said. “For as long as this mindset prevails, nothing will get better in Syracuse. It’s time for the city to become an equal partner with the business community in central New York.”

The Common Council also approved the Syracuse Emergency Pandemic Plan, which provides a framework for city departments on how to react to any pandemics in the future. Gov. Andrew Cuomo required every New York municipality to make emergency pandemic plans.

A police detail will be placed at the Skyline apartments on James Street after a series of crimes in the building. Councillor Joe Carni — who proposed the resolution and represents the 1st District, which contains the building — said the apartment “has been a problem as long as I’ve been (on council).”

Police will be stationed at the building from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily for the next six months at the expense of the building owner.

For Curtis Levy, the key to good vegan soul food starts with a great family recipe.

His family is from Wilmington, North Carolina — a region of the country known for barbeque. In the space of a former Subway in Armory Square, his grandmother’s recipe black bean soup steamed from a metal container.

The restaurant opened on March 5 and features vegan takes on a variety of classic soul food dishes like ribs, fried chicken and mac and cheese. There are also some Mexican options like vegan nachos and tacos. Levy substitutes meat with plant-based proteins such as seitan, which is made of wheat gluten, among other alternatives.

Levy’s restaurant also serves vegan ice cream and Italian ice. He began running his Italian ice cart, Razzle Dazzle Italian Ices, at downtown events in 2016 and moved that business into Destiny USA in 2018. In 2019, he opened a bakery called Our Neighborhood Chef next door to Razzle Dazzle.

Monajsia Adams has worked with Levy at both of his Destiny USA businesses since December, but started working at Our Vegan Corner this month.

“It’s been very busy in here, and everyone loves the Italian ice,” Adams said. “It was perfect for the warm weather we had earlier.”

Levy is a reverend and started his businesses to help fund his nonprofit, Last House on the Block Ministries, which provides temporary housing for people returning from incarceration and those dealing with substance abuse or homelessness.

He moved to Syracuse in 2010 and decided to found Last House on the Block Ministries in 2012 after working with a similar for-profit transitional housing business in Wilmington.

“Coming to the city, I couldn’t get funding, so as a reverend I just had to find a way to make sure what I was doing would work,” Levy said. “I’m a visionary, God gave me the ability to do, so when it comes to me, I draw it and put it into place.”

The pandemic closed many restaurants around Syracuse, but opened up the real estate for Levy’s new restaurant. After he temporarily closed his Destiny USA businesses due to COVID-19, Levy and some friends built a food truck out of a U-Haul serving Italian ice and vegan soul food, a preview of Our Vegan Corner’s menu.

But Our Vegan Corner appeals to a wider customer base than just vegans.

To Levy, the key to attracting the sometimes-tentative non-vegan audience is with smiles and lots of free samples. People are always amazed when they taste his fan-favorite ribs and find out that they’re meatless, he said. Eating vegan isn’t all about taste, but health, too.

“I try to educate people on the healthy parts of (eating vegan),” Levy said. “It changes some people’s lives, but it also helps people look at things differently.”

Syracuse’s Common Council unanimously adopted the Syracuse Police Reform and Reinvention Plan on Monday, over a month after it was first put on the council’s agenda.

The plan details changes in the Syracuse Police Department’s hiring process, response to calls and community outreach, among other changes. After comments from the public and council, Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens presented updates to the original draft document, creating an oversight committee and a more concrete timeline for implementing the changes.

Despite improvements to the plan, councilors Ronnie White and Khalid Bey expressed concerns about accountability.

White, an at-large councilor, said he believes the current plan is much better than the plan originally presented to the council, but implementation and oversight of the plan will be the true measures of its success.

“I challenge all of us on this body to ensure that this document doesn’t become just another hollow promise, and that we hold the police department administration accountable for reform that this plan purports to accomplish,” White said.

New York state hasn’t yet set up concrete methods to hold police departments accountable for upholding the plans that the state requires. Bey, also an at-large councilor, expressed uncertainty about the measures in place to ensure the reform plan is fully executed after it is submitted.

“I’m certainly not satisfied with what we have going forward. I can appreciate the fact that it was stated to be a live document, but it doesn’t have any real impact on state law, so I don’t know what it does for us,” Bey said.

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said in a statement after the plan’s approval that the police reform process in the city is ongoing.

“Our work will be implemented with transparency and involve the partnership of the community we serve,” Walsh said. “Chief Buckner and the members of the Syracuse Police Department have been implementing changes since the chief arrived and they are implementing more changes each day. We know that what we do together today will have a lasting impact on the city and its residents.”

The plan must be signed by the mayor and submitted to the state by April 1 to comply with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order on police reform.

Other business

The council delayed approving legislation on the development of the Tech Garden on Harrison Street due to concerns over revenue sharing. The city-owned building would be leased to the CenterState CEO and would serve as an incubator for tech startups downtown.

At-large Councilor Michael Greene, citing concerns that the lease agreement with CenterState has not been released to the public or to all council members, decided to hold the vote until a future meeting.

The council approved a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to hire firefighters. The city will hire 12 firefighters, with the first three years of their salary and benefits paid for by the grant.

A number of city infrastructure projects are also moving into the planning phase, including the North, South, East, West Interconnect Project, at the cost of just over $230,000 to the city after federal reimbursement. The project will upgrade traffic signals at 46 intersections throughout Syracuse and connect them with the City Traffic Control Center. CCTV cameras will also be installed at some of the intersections.

The city of Syracuse has released an updated version of the Syracuse Police Reform and Reinvention Plan, using feedback from the Common Council and the community to add commitments.

Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens and Syracuse Police Department Chief Kenton Buckner discussed the changes at the Common Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting Wednesday.

“The Common Council has really held our feet to the fire,” Buckner said. “We’ve had some tough conversations along the way, but I think we all should feel good about where we are today.”

The changes in the updated draft document focus on expanding measures of transparency and accountability. Here’s a breakdown of the updates:

Oversight committee

Owens announced that the city will establish an oversight committee with the goal of tracking the progress of police reform and ensuring that police follow through with plans effectively.

The eight-member committee, which Owens will chair, will consist of Councilor Chol Majok, of the 3rd District; Ranette Releford, administrator of the Citizens Review Board; and a law department representative. A representative from the SPD chief’s office will also serve on the committee alongside three members designated by the mayor’s office, Common Council and Owens.

“Next week, there could be a new law that comes through New York state or the federal government or locally that could affect the plan positively or negatively, and (the job of the committee) is to keep our heads around that as well,” Owens said.

She noted that the committee will also analyze and vet potential changes to the plan as time goes on. The committee will begin work by April 30.

The reform plan has also been updated to include specific deadlines for its goals.

Alternatives to police response

The plan elaborates on alternatives to policing models that the city is looking into, focusing on models for 911 response. The city has reached out to Broome County to investigate its model for response, which was one of the recommendations of the Onondaga County Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative, Owens said.

Michael Greene, an at-large councilor who is running for mayor as a Democrat, asked if police response is needed in cases where social services may be better suited to handle the calls.

“In a scenario where there’s an individual sleeping on a park bench, should that even go to the police at all?” Greene said.

Buckner reiterated that police officers would “more often than not” respond to mental distress calls alongside or in place of mental health professionals, but the city is working with 911 dispatchers to prioritize sending mental health professionals to callers when needed, he said.

The police chief also committed to implementing all aspects of the Right to Know Act by April 1 and publishing the first quarterly report required by the act, which will outline the number of searches conducted by SPD, this summer.

Six months after the formation of Syracuse University’s Student Activism Engagement Team, the team is focusing on building trust with the student body, meeting with student organizations and overcoming skepticism from student activists.

In response to protests on campus last academic year, SU formed the team in August 2020 to “support and engage student activism.” Members of the team hope to act as a liaison between students and administration for student groups with concerns about university policy or actions.

Made up of 10 members — including Student Association President Justine Hastings, administrators, faculty and staff — the team meets weekly to discuss how best to encourage student activism.

Christabel Sheldon, director of the McNair Scholars Program, protested while at SU in the 1990s. She wanted to get involved with the SAET to help her students who are involved in student activism.

“Last year, a number of my students were in leadership positions of #NotAgainSU, and I realized that I understood the student perspective, but I wasn’t involved in the conversations with administration,” Sheldon said. “I felt that this would be a way to have a better understanding of that so I could have better conversations with my students about decisions being made.”

Since the beginning of the fall semester, the team has tried to build trust with students. Many student activists are not willing to reach out to the SAET because of its relationship with SU administrators.

#NotAgainSU protesters — who twice occupied SU buildings to protest the university’s response to racist incidents and its treatment of students of color — were unresponsive when Hastings contacted them on behalf of the team, she said. #NotAgainSU has since decided to not work with SU administration in any capacity, citing SU’s “complete unwillingness to care for and listen to Black students,” as well its “violent treatment” of protesters.

“I don’t think anyone should do what they don’t want to do, especially given (#NotAgainSU’s) past negative experiences. I completely understand if #NotAgainSU organizers or other student activists do not want to work with the team,” Hastings said. “It’s our responsibility to build that trust with students.”

Hastings said many of #NotAgainSU’s demands have been ignored by administrators. SU has agreed to and completed progress on several demands and is still working to address others. The university rejected calls for university officials to resign, for DPS to be disarmed and for SU to state that the university is complicit in white supremacy.

SAET’s work is more than just having conversations with student organizations, as they have been doing in recent months, team members said. It also involves hearing concerns from student activists and bringing them to administrators. The team has already been successful addressing student concerns and avoiding protest when possible, said associate professor Brice Nordquist.

“All the messages I received from university administration have been definitely inviting of perspective and feedback,” he said.

To Nordquist and Sheldon, SAET’s role isn’t to negotiate between students and administrators but to encourage activism.

“We are very aware as a group of the risk of institutional co-opting,” Nordquist said. “We’ve been very cautious about being available, making sure we are open and encouraging dialogue, but at the same time letting student groups of activists do their thing. We don’t want them to feel like they have to check in with us.”

Hastings is the only student on SAET, through her role as SA president. She wants more students on the team and has asked SU to add the Graduate Student Organization president to the team starting in the fall.

“While I feel like every time I contribute something it is heard and greatly considered, I would like there to be more students,” Hastings said.

In the spring semester and summer the team hopes to touch base with more student organizations that may have concerns and explore holding open forums with students to gauge their priorities.

“It may take a while to develop trust, but we believe in doing the work,” Sheldon said. “If we continue to do the work and we’re open and transparent with the students, eventually they’ll come around.”

Syracuse’s Common Council on Monday delayed a vote on a draft of the Syracuse Police Reform and Reinvention Plan until next week. The 76-page plan outlines steps to reform the Syracuse Police Department’s hiring process, response and community outreach, among other changes.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo mandated reform and reinvention plans in June for every municipality in New York state in response to nationwide protests against police brutality. Cuomo required each area to submit finalized versions of the plans to Albany by April.

The city of Syracuse collected recommendations from the Onondaga County Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative, a set of committees made of local law enforcement, community activists and residents. The collaborative created a set of recommendations for every municipality in the county to use in their respective plans.

“(Our priorities are) increasing trust with the community (by) making sure the Syracuse Police Department is reflective of 21st century best practices, making sure that we have accountability and making sure that we have transparency,” SPD Chief Kenton Buckner said in an interview with The Daily Orange.

In June and July 2020, Last Chance for Change marched for 40 days throughout Syracuse to advocate for police reform, LCFC and 13 other organizations created the People’s Agenda for Policing. This includes passing the Right to Know Act and mandating body cameras for on-duty officers.

The city plan combines responses to demands activists made last summer with new recommendations. Here’s a breakdown of what it addresses:

Community outreach

To increase trust between the police and community, SPD plans to hold press briefings about “critical incidents” involving the police and will publish additional department policies on its website. SPD will also publish an annual use of force report starting in January 2022.

The plan also outlines a cadet program with Public Service Leadership Academy at Fowler High School to fast-track qualified students into the police force. Fowler has the highest rate of poverty of any high school in the Syracuse City School District, and the program plans to target those most overlooked by traditional recruitment. Graduates of the program would be provided interim employment and training until they can take the civil service exam to become a police officer.

Social service professionals in policing

Activists nationwide have advocated for deploying social service professionals to mental health crises instead of police officers. SPD’s proposed model doesn’t do this but instead would expand the department’s Crisis Intervention Training program to include more officers.

Currently, only 60 of 369 SPD officers are certified in crisis intervention. Under the new plan, the department would expand certification to 25% of the force and train all new cadets as well. CIT training includes information about responding to post traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, substance abuse and suicides.

The response has received criticism from activists and legislators alike.

“(CIT training) is really important as a part, but as a standalone, you cannot ask police officers to be mental health providers,” said Mary Kuhn, an Onondaga County legislator who represents a portion of Syracuse.

Kuhn is a member of the Alternatives to Policing subcommittee for the county collaborative and is a retired clinical social worker. She pointed to a recent event in Rochester when police responding to a 911 call handcuffed and pepper sprayed a 9-year-old girl after she threatened to kill herself. No mental health professionals were present at the scene.

Syracuse’s plan also commits to creating a 911 response diversion program for incoming mental health-related calls but does not provide a specific outline. Kuhn said the county collaborative committee recommended a model similar to the one present in Broome County, where Binghamton is located.

The Broome County model outlines a protocol to determine if police response is needed for a mental health crisis call, and dispatchers have the option to connect callers with mental health specialists over the phone or arrange for the caller to be taken to a mental health facility.

“We are dealing with the aftermath of a systemic problem. But before you deal with the systemic problem you have to deal with what’s on the ground,” Kuhn said.

Police in schools

SPD is also reevaluating the role of police officers in schools.

Activists, including those from the Syracuse Police Accountability and Reform Coalition, have called on SPD and SCSD to remove officers from schools. They’ve expressed concerns that the presence of law enforcement increases the number of young people who enter the criminal justice system for minor offences.

Although the plan does not commit to removing self-regulatory organizations from schools, it outlines a way to collaborate with SCSD to create a model for SRO deployment.

Use of force policy

SPD released a new use of force policy for public comment in October 2020. It outlines new limits on how officers can interact with suspects and people in custody and bans chokeholds, firing on moving vehicles and using any force as a form of retaliation or punishment. It also limits the use of no-knock warrants, which allow law enforcement to enter a property without immediate prior notification to residents.

“This new policy will ensure that no-knock warrants are not used unless they are thoroughly and carefully reviewed at the highest level of SPD,” the plan states.

The draft use of force policy also outlines an emphasis on de-escalation and reporting of instances of force being used. SPD plans to implement the new policy in 2021, according to the reform plan.

Attention to marginalized communities

The city plans to negotiate with SPD’s union to implement financial incentives for officers proficient in a second language. It also requires SPD to implement tools, such as a translation app, to better interact with individuals with communication disabilities.

SPD recently implemented a new policy to improve interactions with transgender and nonbinary people. It acknowledges that transgender people are disproportionately the victims of crimes and outlines specific policy to ask for and use a person’s pronouns.

Diversity in hiring

As of January, only 10% of SPD officers were Black and 17% were women, according to the plan. In accordance with the mayor’s executive order, SPD has committed to making the force more representative of the Syracuse community.

SPD is in talks with the police union to require that all new hires be Syracuse residents. Some activists have said that officers may not feel a direct connection to the community they serve if they don’t live in it. The plan also calls for the involvement of a community interview panel in the hiring process for all officers.

Criticism

Despite fulfilling Cuomo’s requirements, some activist groups, like SPAARC, have criticized SPD for not addressing some issues they deem critical.

“The budget of SPD has not been changed at all by this plan,” SPAARC activist George Kunkel said. “The accountability process has not changed at all, and we are seeing real-time representation of the fact that the union can stop any sort of change from happening, even as small as passing out business cards.”

The Right to Know Act called for officers to hand out business cards containing identifying information, but their distribution just began after months of delays from the SPD union.

Buckner said he isn’t concerned about the influence of the union over reform efforts.

“While some feel like the union has been a barrier to rolling this out, if you look back to the protest period, pandemic and now reform, this is the first thing the union has formally asked for, and we thought it was a reasonable request,” Buckner said.

The reform plan also doesn’t lay out new policies about the Citizen Review Board, a civilian oversight board that reviews complaints against SPD officers and recommends action. CRB recommendations are not binding, and SPD does not have to follow them.

As part of his executive order last summer, Walsh instructed SPD to improve relations with the CRB and take their considerations into account more when investigating misconduct. SPD committed to reviewing CRB recommendations before deciding on the outcome of misconduct investigations. The reform plan does not list new policy or action beyond what is stated in the executive order and in SPD’s prior response.

“When you talk about accountability, you have to talk about it in terms of what we haven’t done yet,” SPAARC activist TJ Davis said. “This plan doesn’t include anything we haven’t done yet.”

If the council votes to approve the plan, it will then be certified by the mayor and submitted to the state by April 1.

Visit SuicideIsPreventable.org to learn about the warning signs for suicide and find local resources in your county. If you or someone you know may be at risk, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 for immediate help.

Syracuse’s Common Council delayed a vote on a draft of the Syracuse Police Reform and Reinvention Plan at its meeting Monday.

The plan outlines the Syracuse Police Department’s efforts to enact reform in hiring, policy, community relations and other areas. The council considered 47 resolutions total Monday, more than normal due to a three-week break in meetings.

The council approved an SPD cadet program in partnership with CNYWorks. The cadet program will provide employment and training to high school graduates before they can take the police officer civil service exam at 20 years old. CNYWorks will provide a $150,000 grant for the program, which is also outlined in the reform and reinvention plan.

Approving the reform and reinvention plan is required as part of an executive order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which mandates that every municipality in New York state submit a policing plan to the state government by April 1.

The council held a public hearing on Feb. 18 to receive comment on the plan, which has received criticism from activists for not introducing enough new ideas. SPD Chief Kenton Buckner said he welcomes the feedback.

“It’s always a good thing when the community has a say in significant activities that are going on in the city,” he said. “To be able to hear from them directly on the plans which have included them as we develop this draft, that’s always important.”

Once the plan is approved, it must be signed by Mayor Ben Walsh before being submitted to the New York Division of the Budget.

Other business

The council also delayed voting on an initiative that would lease property at the Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse, at 235 Harrison St., to CenterState CEO to house startup businesses. The $1 per year lease would be 15-years-long, with renewal options every three years. CenterState promotes entrepreneurship and business innovation in central and northern New York and has a history of developing business spaces in the city.

The council approved funding for summer job programs for young people in partnership with Cities for Financial Empowerment and the Onondaga Earth Corps. The CFE program, which costs $100,000, will provide financial education and experience with financial institutions. CFE furthers financial independence by increasing municipal engagement to improve the financial stability of low and moderate income households, according to its website.

The OEC program, which costs $13,000, will run the “Park Corp” and “Clean Streets Crew” programs, which is part of the city youth employment and service program. Students will be hired to clean and maintain city streets and parks, and the program will provide income to young people during the summer.

Syracuse’s Common Council unanimously passed a resolution providing additional mental health training to Syracuse Police Department command staff at its Monday meeting.

The resolution calls for Ronald Fish, the clinical director at Psychological Health Care, to train the police department’s command staff to identify officers who may be facing mental health issues and assist them in getting professional help.

Emergency service workers experience significantly more trauma in their careers than civilians do on average, said SPD First Deputy Chief Joe Cecile.

Fish is a Liverpool-based psychologist who specializes in workplace trauma for emergency service workers and is a board member of the Trauma Resource Institute. The training, which is scheduled for this month, will cost the city $2,250.

The council also announced a virtual public hearing on SPD reform efforts. The meeting, which will be at 5 p.m. on Feb. 18, will focus on proposals made in the Syracuse Police Reform and Reinvention Collaboration Plan, a 76-page document outlining initiatives to reform the department.

The plan incorporates Mayor Ben Walsh’s executive orders on police reform and council resolutions, such as the Right to Know Act, in addition to new ideas. It was written by a committee of law enforcement professions from around Onondaga County with community input.

Common Council delayed the decision to approve a draft of the plan until a later meeting.The draft will then be open for public comment before being adopted by the council and Walsh. The council must approve a final version of the plan April 1, as required by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s police reform executive offer.

Other business

The council also approved a grant proposal to the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation for renovations to Westmoreland Park. The $50,000 grant proposal would be used to resurface and remodel the park’s basketball courts. According to the foundation, which works with children in the central New York community and provides support for cancer research and advocacy, the grant will be considered for approval during budget meetings in June.

The council also granted more than $100,000 to the Syracuse Financial Empowerment Center, which provides free financial counseling to Syracuse residents.

Residents can receive assistance with personal finance goals, managing loans, debt and information concerning federal stimulus checks. Due to COVID-19, the center is operating its services virtually via Zoom, WebEx, WhatsApp, phone and email.

The council also granted permission to Syracuse University and utility provider Enwave Syracuse to construct two underground water pipes on Henry Street, East Raynor Avenue and Irving Avenue on the west side of SU’s campus. SU must pay an annual fee of $12,231 to operate the pipes.

The Syracuse Common Council approved over $300,000 in federal grants for new police and fire equipment at its meeting Monday.

Of the grants — which the council passed unanimously — $173,000 will go toward police equipment and $125,000 toward fire equipment.

New equipment for the Syracuse Police Department includes $75,000 toward SWAT team equipment and protective security detail training and $53,000 toward new body armor for the department’s Public Order Unit — officers tasked with handling protests in the city. An additional $50,000 will be spent to build a fence around the Townsend Street police station’s parking lot.

Fire Department funding will be used to purchase new thermal imaging cameras to identify people inside burning buildings when there is no visibility. The department’s current inventory of cameras are at the end of their operational lives, according to the Syracuse Fire Department.

Both the police and fire equipment grants come at no cost to the city, and are entirely paid for by federal and state governments.

Some council members initially had concerns about the police grants, given the recent passage of the Right to Know Act and continued pressure from city residents to reform SPD. As part of an executive order, the department in September published an inventory of its military-grade equipment, which includes jackets, backpacks and a $658,000, multi-ton mine-resistant vehicle acquired through a military surplus equipment program.

Council President Helen Hudson noted in the council’s Jan. 21 meeting that the grants could be seen as “divisive to the community.” However, an increase in visits from politicians to the city of Syracuse has made additional protection training necessary, according to Joe Cecile, first deputy chief of police.

Councilor-at-large Ronnie White also raised concerns about the grants, pointing out that the wording of the resolution was vague.

“It was pretty telling that when I asked (Cecile) to give a breakdown (of specific equipment), they weren’t exactly willing to say publicly what they were asking for,” White said. “I certainly intend to follow up to figure out what secret technical things they have going on that they didn’t want to say publicly.”

The body armor, Model L5 Personal Protective Equipment from Nagashi Protective Clothing supply, will cost approximately $1,300 per officer and will include full upper body protection as well as boots and gloves, according to the resolution. The new armor will go under public order officers’ clothes and make them look less threatening and militarized when deployed, Cecile said.

“At the end of the day, when it’s not really costing the city anything, as long as we’re asking the right questions and keeping track of what they’re doing with (the equipment), there’s nothing wrong with going ahead,” White said.

Other business

The council also approved over $700,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide direct financial assistance to qualified Syracuse residents to help pay for rent and other housing costs. The city received the funding through a federal block grant as part of coronavirus relief aid. This is the third and final round of funding from HUD under last year’s coronavirus relief bill.

Councilman Pat Hogan withdrew a resolution to recharacterize “care homes” in Syracuse zoning law, citing threats of lawsuits against the city from local nonprofits. “Care homes” is a vague term that makes it easy for large nonprofit organizations to open large facilities in neighborhoods without input from the community, according to Hogan.

The Syracuse Common Council passed an ordinance Monday that will begin the process of redrawing council districts in the city.

An independent commission of citizens will redraw the city’s five council districts, with a final plan set to be approved and implemented by May 1, 2022. The ordinance expands and amends the city’s current redistricting procedure, which has been in place since 1960 and does not account for the division of local neighborhoods.

The ordinance, introduced by Councilor At-large Khalid Bey, passed unanimously.

“I hope this legislation serves as an example to legislative bodies in this area, specifically the county, to put the power in the people’s hands,” Councilor At-large Ronnie White said.

The Redistricting Commission will consist of 14 residents, according to the ordinance. The first eight will be chosen at random from a pool of qualified applicants and the final six will be selected by the commission to ensure racial, ethnic and gender diversity.

The commission members will be unpaid, and the application window will be open until at least March 31. All commission members will be selected by July 31.

Members of the commission will draft new borders for the council districts that will be geographically compact and approximately equal in population and will minimize the division of local neighborhoods. The commission will also use the boundaries of existing electoral precincts and geographic boundaries, when possible.

At least one public hearing will be held in each current district before a draft redistricting plan is created. There will be two more public hearings before that plan is presented to the Common Council.

At Monday’s meeting, the council also approved a $1.6 million federal block grant that will help the city “prevent, prepare and respond to the novel coronavirus as soon as possible.” Councilor Latoya Allen, who represents the Syracuse University neighborhood in District 4, introduced the ordinance, which passed unanimously.

Allen said the city appreciates the federal funding but urged the area’s congressional representatives to get the funding to the people who need it most.

Twenty-three Syracuse University instructors are among more than 2,000 political scientists from across the country who’ve signed an open letter calling for President Donald Trump to be removed from office.

Two doctoral candidates, one postdoctoral fellow and 19 professors from SU have signed the letter as of 4 p.m. Friday, calling for Trump to be removed through the impeachment process or by invoking the 25th Amendment. The call comes after an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, which Trump incited.

The signatories of the letter claim that Trump’s actions “threaten American democracy.” The group cites the president’s baseless claims that the November election was stolen and that he has encouraged state legislatures to ignore their states’ votes and change their Electoral College delegates in his favor.

They also cite Trump’s recent phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, during which Trump pressured Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes,” after the state certified its election results in favor of President-elect Joe Biden.

“Our profession seeks to understand politics, not engage in it, but we share a commitment to democratic values,” the letter reads. “The President’s actions show he is unwilling or unable to fulfill his oath to protect and defend the Constitution.”

Syracuse University graduate Jeremy Edwards first took the oath of office when he began an internship in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York during his senior year at SU.

He has taken the oath three times since, and its principles have guided his career from the U.S. Supreme Court to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. Now, the Syracuse native is the African American media director for the Democratic Party of Georgia, and he’s working to elect two senators in the state’s runoff election on Tuesday that could sway political control in Congress.

“(The oath) is something that has really stuck with me throughout my career,” Edwards said. “I want to serve the public and work as hard as I can to uphold the values enshrined in the Constitution.”

In his present role, Edwards tries to reach out to the state’s Black community to drum up support for Democrats in both runoff Senate races. It’s a two-part job, he said — getting Democrats out to the polls and involved in campaigning and also luring undecided voters to the Democratic ticket.

The Senate is currently divided, with Democrats holding 48 seats. If both Democrat Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock win their elections Tuesday, Democrats will take the Senate for the first time since 2012 and hold both houses of Congress and the presidency.

“Given the way that our political system is set up, if we don’t control the Senate, that can really hamper President Biden’s ability to create lasting and meaningful change,” Edwards said.

Edwards didn’t intend to work in campaign politics. He originally wanted to practice law — he followed a pre-law track and joined the mock trial team while at SU — but changed his mind after taking CRS 360, a two-week Maymester course focusing on political communications, during his final semester.

The course consists of two parts: one week on campus in Syracuse and one week meeting with communication professionals in Washington, D.C. The intensive course is designed to immerse students in the political communications industry, according to its instructor, Lynn Greenky, an associate professor at SU.

“My purpose is to teach the theory but also show how it comes out in practice,” Greenky said. “We see the faces of Washington, but their offices are run by people the same age as (my students). All they have to do is try and they can get in there, and Jeremy is a perfect example of that.”

The two-week course completely changed the trajectory of Edwards’ career, and Greenky could tell. Edwards’ class was one of the first groups of CRS 360 students she taught, and his drive to find a job in D.C. stuck out to her, she said.

In the years since, Edwards has welcomed classes of CRS 360 students into his own workplaces in D.C., giving to them some of what he experienced in 2013. The course was not taught in 2020 and will not be taught in 2021 due to COVID-19, but Greenky plans to teach it again in 2022.

After graduating, Edwards worked for three years in the U.S. Supreme Court with the Marshal’s Office. He then returned to the Department of Justice to work as a paralegal. He took a job as a press assistant in the same division a year later, solidifying his move from law to communications.

In D.C., Edwards would organize get-togethers with SU alumni for football and basketball games, and he often attended karaoke with fellow alumni and friends, said Mahlet Makonnen, an SU alumna and Edwards’ mock trial teammate.

“If there’s one word to describe Jeremy, it’s magnetic,” Makonnen said. “Both in his personal and professional life he brings 100%, and I saw that early on.”

But that also led to internal conflict with his DOJ work. A changing executive branch after the 2016 election meant a changing atmosphere in the department, Edwards said. He became disillusioned with the rising influence of partisan politics in the department and the increasingly destructive policies pushed by President Donald Trump’s administration, such as separating migrant children from their parents and attempting to defeat the Affordable Care Act in court.

For Edwards, upholding the values of the Constitution meant leaving his job at the DOJ and working more directly in politics.

“I remember seeing what was happening, not just at the DOJ … thinking of that oath I had taken and just being so disturbed,” Edwards said. “I thought to myself, ‘what can I do to correct this, to restore this institution that I revered previously?’ And to me, that was getting into the fight more directly and going to Congress.”

He took a job as the communications director for Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), falling in love with the political side of communications. He was driven by the same push to advocate for what’s best for the American people and felt he could make the most impact in campaign politics, he said.

In late 2020, after returning home to Syracuse due to the COVID-19 pandemic and still working for Rush, Edwards had an opportunity to move South and work for Biden’s presidential campaign as its press secretary for Georgia. Understanding the importance of this election and how crucial Georgia would be, he agreed.

“Given the stakes of everything going on, I felt compelled to use the skills I had gained in my comms career and apply that to trying to win this election,” he said.

As part of his work, Edwards organized and attended campaign events throughout the state and often worked directly alongside Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris when they were in Georgia. His work paid off, and the Biden/Harris ticket carried that state by a slim margin, the first Democrats to do so since former president Bill Clinton in 1992.

In December, he returned to Georgia to work as the African American media director for the Democratic Party of Georgia — it’s a different campaign, but one that is equally important, he said.

Edwards no longer works directly with candidates. Instead, he organizes on the state-wide level for them, reaching out to media outlets and scheduling interviews, especially in the Black community.

And with the runoff election just a day away, Edwards will once again see if his work will pay off.

“There’s an excitement about what’s possible here in Georgia,” he said.

Eli Lesser walked into a Los Angeles sports broadcasting camp wearing a gray sweatshirt and a Dodgers cap. The then-14-year-old saw dozens of kids just like him, wearing the same thing.

“Everyone wanted to be the next Vin Scully there,” Lesser said. “I tried to talk a little soccer and no one was talking about soccer. I was bummed out by that. So going into the next year at that camp I went in saying, ‘I want to drive this, I want to be different from everyone else there.’”

That’s when Lesser, now a sophomore at Syracuse University, started This Week in MLS, an Instagram account he’s run for over five years. Now, with over 4,800 posts and over 45,000 followers under his belt, he’s expanding his content from Instagram graphics to video.

With the 2020 season wrapping up in mid-December, Lesser spent the fall semester creating his own video content for Instagram, which includes post game reactions, analysis and predictions. He also has plans to launch a YouTube channel in early 2021. For Lesser, This Week in MLS is the foundation for his future career aspirations: working as an MLS sideline reporter or television host.

“Everybody that knows him, knows what he is capable of doing,” said Jerry Reynoso, a host of 110 Football, a show Lesser works on. “He’s the Adrian Wojnarowski of MLS.”

As a high school student, Lesser published Instagram graphics and stories nearly daily during MLS season, covering breaking news and highlights. He later hosted a weekly podcast that delved into the same topics alongside more opinionated content. The podcast had a solid viewer base and received positive feedback, so he started bringing the same analysis and opinion to Instagram.

Entering his freshman year at SU, Lesser was worn out by the constant grind of graphics and news posts multiple times a week. The Instagram content hadn’t changed for over four years — it took hours of work per post and wasn’t enjoyable, he said. Difficulties adjusting to college in fall 2019 only compounded that distaste.

“I didn’t think it was worth my time,” Lesser said. “But I told myself that I had to post something because it’s This Week in MLS, and it’s my dream and I have to keep it going.”

Lesser found respite in the nationwide quarantine. With plateauing audience growth due to unknowns about the start of the 2020 MLS season and a canceled internship with For Soccer Ventures, Lesser took the opportunity to shift his content after SU sent students home in March. He realized that creating flashy Instagram graphics and top-10 posts wasn’t the kind of experience that’d benefit his future career. Drawing inspiration from other MLS content creators, he knew the next step for This Week in MLS was clear: video.

“I was at my worst point right before quarantine started,” Lesser said. “It was really a cleansing experience for me.”

Standing in front of a camera isn’t as easy as audio-only podcasts and Adobe graphics, Lesser said. But despite the time-consuming nature of video content, the change revitalized his love for covering the game.

“I am so much happier with what I’m producing now, I’m actually enjoying it and it’s brought very great opportunities my way that I wouldn’t have had if I kept with graphics,” he said.

He started using Instagram’s IGTV feature to push video content in June. The content is similar — MLS news, analysis and projections — but also features plenty of jokes. Lesser opens videos with jokes and memes to connect with his audience and keep them around, he said, even if they don’t always get the biggest laugh.

He also joined 110 Football, a YouTube and Instagram show focused on LAFC, as a national MLS correspondent. There, he’s gaining more experience with video content and being in front of a camera. Lesser produces MLS news segments for the show in an LA-based studio and covers topics outside of the LAFC sphere alongside co-hosts Connor Kalopsis and Reynoso. Both recruited Lesser because they were fans of Lesser’s work at This Week in MLS.

“We felt like, wherever we put Eli at first, he would be phenomenal at his job,” Reynoso said.

During the offseason, Lesser talked about trades, signing and predictions on 110 Football ahead of the 2020 season. But due to the overlap of much of the MLS season and the fall semester, Lesser produced many of his segments remotely from his Booth Hall dorm room. The show provided him with the necessary equipment to produce and edit segments from Syracuse, and Lesser’s Newhouse courses helped him develop the skillset to do it all himself.

Lesser plans to use that video production experience for This Week in MLS as well. After adding IGTV video content this summer, he’s working toward a full YouTube show in January, featuring interviews with players and debates with other MLS pundits. What are now two-to-four minute video clips on Instagram will soon be a lengthier weekly production.

“I want it to be entertaining, like the videos on my page,” Lesser said. “I want it to be high quality because the idea is to either sell it, or sell me to someone.”

Quarantine gave Lesser the chance to revamp the account and rediscover his passion for the MLS, he said. He may not be the next Scully, but it’s exactly what Lesser wanted This Week in MLS to be in the first place — a place to jumpstart his career.

“Twelve months ago, I would have thought I’d fail at everything,” Lesser said. “I thought I was leading myself to a path of nothing. What this summer did for me is flip that around … (Now) I want to do everything possible to ensure that I will get to the top.”

Over a month after Election Day, the race for New York’s 22nd Congressional District still isn’t decided.

Republican challenger Claudia Tenney leads Democratic incumbent Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-Utica) by 12 votes in a district with over 147,000 registered voters. While the final result of the election is still unknown due to legal challenges, Tenney has turned a 9-point deficit in polls into one of the tightest congressional races in the country.

Closer than expected

The only poll of the district, a Siena College/Syracuse.com poll taken between Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, gave Brindisi a 9-point lead that included a margin of error of 5 percentage points. Even including the margin of error, the poll was off by at least 4 points of the true result, as the candidates are now close to tied.

Kristi Andersen, a professor emeritus of political science at Syracuse University and a resident of NY-22, said the polling error falls in line with those seen around the country. Changes in response rate made it difficult to accurately poll a representative sample of the population.

“Many people are unwilling to respond to those taking polls, but up to this point, it didn’t look like there was a partisan difference,” Andersen said. “But this year, that’s what it looks like happened.”

Republicans — especially those who support Trump — are less likely to respond to polls due to the party’s popular anti-establishment rhetoric and distrust of the media, Andersen said. This contributed to polls, including the NY-22 poll, favoring Democrats in races which were in reality much closer than they seemed, she said.

Split-ticket voters, who voted for Joe Biden for president but also for Republicans down the ballot, could also explain why Tenney did better than polls anticipated, Andersen said.

“Democrats lost a lot of seats which they had won in 2018,” she said. “In 2018, there was so much anti-Trump feelings among Democrats and Independents, but they couldn’t take it out on Trump, so they voted against people like Tenney. But in 2020, they could vote against Trump and take out their unhappiness at the Trump era, but they could still split their ticket.”

More expensive than ever

The two candidates spent a combined total of nearly $26 million on the race, which includes funds spent by outside organizations. While Brindisi had the upper hand in spending in 2018, outspending Tenney by just over $2 million, the figures were nearly even this time around.

When combining the amount spent by outside organizations and fundraising by candidates, Democrats had $13.32 million in the race compared to Republicans’ $13.01 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

This is significantly more than Syracuse’s NY-24 congressional race, another close election. In that race, which was between Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) and former SU professor Dana Balter, outside organizations spent $11.56 million in total.

While both Brindisi and Tenney had about the same amount of money in the race, Brindisi raised more directly for his campaign and Tenney had more help from outside spenders. Brindisi won the direct fundraising race by just over $2 million ($5.46 million to $2.05 million), whereas Tenney received $3 million more in outside support ($10.96 million to $7.96 million).

This disparity continues when looking at the largest donors from a geographic standpoint. While all of the 10 most common zip codes for direct donations to the Brindisi campaign are in New York state, only five of Tenney’s are. The other five zip codes were spread around the country, from Washington, D.C. to Arizona.

All negative, all the time

Differences in fundraising were most apparent in negative ad spending, as significantly more money was spent on negative ads than positive ads. Organizations supporting Tenney spent $3 million more on negative ads than Brindisi’s supporters did.

The cable company Spectrum was a hot topic in many of the ads for both campaigns. Tenney accused Brindisi of taking money from the company while it raised its rates in central New York, something Brindisi’s campaign claimed was misleading. At the same time, Brindisi disparaged Tenney for taking campaign donations from the company.

With over $17 million in outside funding of negative ad campaigns between both candidates, voters were bombarded by accusations from both sides.

Where to go from here

NY-22’s mass of contested ballots and communication difficulties combined for a perfect storm of problems that created the month-long election, Andersen said. While the district is an extraordinary case, it shows that New York’s policies on mail-in ballots may be flawed, something that can be improved with experience moving into the next election cycle, she said.

“In New York, we’ve never had very good laws regarding (mail-in voting),” Andersen said. “Counties can do what they want, and this is totally a good illustration of that. The state needs to get its act together.”

Despite that, mail-in voting isn’t going anywhere, Andersen said.

“It’s better to offer people a broader range of opportunities in voting” Andersen said. “One day of voting on a Tuesday was fine in farm communities in the mid-19th century, but it’s not working for us today.”

Still undecided

Although Tenney held a 28,422 vote lead on Election Night, counting over 50,000 absentee ballots from the district gave Brindisi a slim lead weeks after Election Day. Over time, as more disputed ballots have been processed, Tenney has come out with a 12-vote lead.

The legal challenges around the race, decided by New York State Supreme Court Judge Scott DelConte on Dec. 8, ensure the race will go undecided for even longer. The judge ordered that all previously uncanvassed ballots, approximately 1700, be canvassed and that the eight district boards of elections in NY-22 fix all errors in their counting processes. Canvassing ballots determines if they are valid and should be counted.

Five of the eight counties have begun the recanvassing process as of Tuesday. A final result may not be known until mid-January or even February, according to Josh Rosenblatt of WBNG in Binghamton. New York State Courts take a recess from Christmas until New Years, delaying further legal challenges.

DelConte placed the blame for the delay in results on the eight boards of elections, which he said failed to follow state election law. Both candidates believe that they will still win the election once all valid ballots are counted, according to their statements to WBNG.

The Syracuse University community is in mourning. In the last month, we have tragically lost three bright minds, two in the last week alone. We must take time to grieve, care for one another and reflect on the lives of Bridget Lawson, Trevor Pierce and Jack Lundin.

This year, mourning is more difficult — and more common — than ever. But in a time of such deep grief and unimaginable loss, the SU community has found ways this week to honor and remember the lives of these three students.

The Daily Orange Editorial Board commends the students who have created a memorial to Trevor, as well as the more than 100 students who paid their respects to him Wednesday night. We thank those who have shared kind words and memories of Bridget, Trevor and Jack and have supported and cared for their loved ones.

We must also acknowledge the humanity and kindness of the students who provided comfort to Trevor in his final moments. You are the best among us.

Our great loss has emphasized the ties that we have with one another, whether we’re studying in Syracuse or across the world. Given the circumstances of this semester, a mass vigil for Bridget, Trevor and Jack isn’t possible. But that doesn’t mean they are forgotten, or that we cannot grieve.

In such a difficult time in our university’s history, supporting and reaching out to one another is crucial — and the SU community has already done so with great compassion. Many professors have been exceptionally understanding and kind to a student body in shock, and the university has provided ample professional resources to those who need them.

Through these tragedies, we can gain the strength of a community united in celebrating life and in helping one another.

The D.O. Editorial Board extends our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of Bridget, Trevor and Jack, and we encourage everyone in our community to seek out help when needed. For students in grief, resources are available at the Barnes Center at The Arch, Hendricks Chapel and the Dean of Students Office.

Barnes Center at The Arch: Students can access confidential counseling support 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling (315) 443-8000.

Hendricks Chapel: Students, faculty and staff can reach Hendricks Chapel at (315) 443-2901 or contact the chaplains for support.

Dean of Students Office: Students seeking additional support can reach the Dean of Students Office Monday through Friday by calling (315) 443-4537.

Five weeks into the fall semester, Syracuse University’s coronavirus prevention policies seem to be effective. As of Wednesday, 27 students in central New York currently have the virus, and 127 are in quarantine. But even though SU has so far prevented a COVID-19 outbreak on campus, we can’t let our guard down now.

SU’s COVID-19 testing policies have worked. By mandating that students participate in pre-arrival testing, the university identified cases of the virus before we arrived on campus in August. The university’s wastewater testing system has identified potential traces of COVID-19 in Ernie Davis, Sadler and Day halls, and the university has lept into action when needed to quarantine residents and prevent possible outbreaks.

Universities around the country — including the University of Alabama, the University of Notre Dame, Penn State and Indiana University — have seen massive outbreaks on their campuses. However, we can’t lose sight of our shared goal: staying safely on campus until Nov. 24.

We’ve seen a recent spike in cases following Labor Day weekend, with quarantine numbers reaching the triple digits for the first time on Friday. Though SU’s prevention efforts and handling of previous COVID-19 scares instills confidence in our ability to remain on campus beyond week five, the university must communicate what proactive measures it’s taking to keep cases low as quarantine numbers reach record highs.

The university now says it has space for 300 quarantine and isolation units. The campus community hasn’t received any information concerning how many of the 127 students are quarantining in these units or in their own off-campus housing. All it takes is one cluster to multiply the number of students in need of quarantine. SU should tell the student body how close its quarantine and isolation units are to becoming overwhelmed, a situation that could mean the end of on-campus instruction.

As temperatures drop and the flu season begins, cold weather will push students indoors, where social distancing is more difficult than spacing out on the Quad. The university must reiterate to the student body how important their individual efforts are — and again recommend and provide alternatives to risky behavior.

SU’s communication so far fails to address questions students have had all semester: What will a campus shutdown look like? How will we get home? What if we don’t have a stable home environment? What if we can’t afford a plane ticket? Will our belongings be stored or stolen?

These concerns should not be left unaddressed while the possibility of a campus shutdown lurks in the back of our minds. Many students cannot afford another rushed announcement of a campus shutdown. Haphazard communication was understandable in March. Now, SU has a responsibility to prepare the campus community for all outcomes.

Along with increasing communication concerning the nearness of an outbreak and the logistics of a campus shutdown, the university should also address the existing flaws in its mostly effective prevention measures.

Some of SU’s policies regarding COVID-19 safety have gone unenforced. The Barnes Center’s Daily Health Screening Form is ineffective. There are no repercussions for failing to fill out the daily check-in form or neglecting to complete it at all, contrary to what the university stated when the form was rolled out.

If students know they can enter campus without notifying the university about their potential symptoms of COVID-19, they’ll be less inclined to follow any of the university’s other public health guidelines. SU is obligated to enforce the policies laid out months ago to assuage our fears about in-person instruction.

As more time passes, the SU community may feel as though outbreaks on campus are no longer a possibility. But the same dangers that have been with us the entire semester will only be compounded by the approaching flu season.

We are lucky. Sufficient planning combined with fortunate geography has kept away a large-scale outbreak on campus so far. We’ve made it through the first five weeks. Now the university needs to tell us how it will steer us through the next eight and a half.

Classes haven’t started yet, and we’ve already seen a party large enough to potentially shut down campus. Except this wasn’t a fraternity house or an off-campus party. Over 100 freshmen met in the middle of campus, only a few hundred feet from the Department of Public Safety’s headquarters.

It was only a matter of time before dozens of students would gather without masks, violating social distancing protocols in their eagerness to celebrate the new semester. What happened Wednesday night is the first of what will be many major gatherings on and around Syracuse University’s campus this fall.

About 20 minutes passed from when the gathering had “grown considerably” to when DPS dispatched officers to the Quad, according to a timeline from DPS. Syracuse University has over 1,000 cameras on campus — the Maxwell School even has a live Quad cam — but campus police could not prevent a party from forming in the most visible space on campus.

DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado said the department is taking “appropriate steps” to stop a similar gathering from happening again. The Daily Orange has asked what those steps are, and we have not received an answer yet. But it is too late. What little faith the SU community had in the administration’s ability to keep us safe, let alone keep us on campus until November, is gone.

If DPS cannot stop 100 students from holding a party on campus, The Daily Orange Editorial Board has no confidence in SU administration’s ability to maintain a safe campus environment with thousands taking in-person classes. We also have no faith in some of our peers’ willingness to follow social distancing and public health guidelines.

The country expects college students to fail this experiment of attending in-person classes during a pandemic, as Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie said in his campus-wide email chastising those who gathered on the Quad. We’ve already proved them right. So has the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. So has Penn State. So has Notre Dame.

When more than 100 freshmen gathered in the middle of campus, abandoning public health guidelines and leaving masks in their dorms, they endangered not only SU students, faculty and staff, but also the greater Syracuse community. Their actions were egregiously selfish, detached from reality and lacking in compassion.

In an effort to enjoy the college experience they were promised when deciding to attend one of the nation’s top party schools, the freshmen jeopardized what little of that experience is left for the rest of the student body. COVID-19 has limited nearly every part of the college experience, and students must now cling to what they can still enjoy at SU. Those on the Quad placed a night of spontaneous fun over the academic and social lives of thousands of students, many of whom haven’t even arrived on campus yet.

But these students cannot be the sole recipients of blame.

The response to the incident from SU and DPS leaves many questions unanswered. DPS was slow to respond to the gathering, especially given its close proximity to its offices. How that many students were able to leave their dorms and head to the Quad remains unclear. SU officials must take accountability for these shortcomings and immediately make changes to remedy them.

We’ve known, in the back of our minds, that resuming on-campus classes would be an unlikely, or at least temporary, scenario. We’ve joked — laughing instead of crying — about how long our semester of in-person instruction will last. By October? The first snowfall? The third week?

The full impact of the Quad gathering and of the delayed DPS response won’t be known until SU further updates its COVID-19 dashboard. But the gathering has revealed deep ineptitudes in both SU’s ability to prevent large gatherings and in our classmates’ maturity to care for themselves and others.

Classes begin on Monday. The flaws in our readiness to return to campus, revealed this past Wednesday, will be present then, too.

Syracuse University officials have had four months to plan the difficult task of safely bringing students back to campus for in-person instruction this fall. But less than a month away from the scheduled first day of classes, SU’s plans demonstrate a lack of preparedness and transparency that inspires little confidence in its ability to protect community members both on campus and in the city.

The Daily Orange Editorial Board asks SU administrators: If your infrastructure for preventing an outbreak is already weak, why bring students to campus in the first place and put them at unnecessary risk?

The university has a one-track mind, intent on hosting students for in-person learning despite clear health risks, all the while asking students to pay extra to partake in the risk only weeks before the semester is slated to begin.

To satisfy New York state’s travel restrictions, over 3,000 students from 31 states must quarantine for 14 days at their own cost before coming to campus — news that SU announced only weeks before move-in was scheduled. The university has made little effort to help these students outside of providing a selection of subsidized hotel rooms in the Syracuse area that charge on average more than $1,000 for a 14-day stay. First-year and incoming transfer students can quarantine in dorms on campus and have meals provided to them for a $1,000 fee.

Many students and their families cannot handle this additional financial burden, especially during a global pandemic that has put millions of Americans out of work. Administrators have also poorly communicated the financial resources available to students, including funding from the CARES Act. While the university has little control over the whims of government officials, SU should have offered to pay for on-campus quarantine housing from the very beginning rather than forcing students to make travel decisions contingent on aid they can’t be sure they will receive.

All of these communications came after SU’s deadline for paying its fall 2020 tuition of $54,270, which includes a $2,000-plus increase from the spring 2019 tuition. Offering online instruction with no tuition decrease pressures students to choose in-person courses, highlighting university leaders’ allegiance to profit over student wellbeing. Further, the university locked in students for the fall semester before they knew enough information to decide whether to take a leave of absence or pursue education elsewhere. This comes as no surprise when 65% of the university’s revenue in fiscal year 2020 comes from tuition.

To lessen the financial burden on the student body, SU must, at least, pay for the quarantine lodging of students who receive financial aid. Even if all of the approximately 3,000 students would qualify for such a measure, it would cost SU around $3 million. Considering the university’s combined $232 million budget surplus over fiscal years 2017 through 2019, $3 million for quarantine housing would be a drop in the bucket.

The national outlook on the COVID-19 pandemic has darkened since plans for returning to campus were first formed in early summer. A second wave of infections following re-opening campaigns in dozens of states has since killed thousands. SU was supposed to be prepared for all possible scenarios concerning COVID-19, and the Fall 2020 Open Working Group was supposed to create and communicate the university’s plans with students. Given the limited communications from the university as new developments unfold and generate countless questions, it’s fair to say the group has been ineffective.

The trend of rising virus cases, which SU has nearly ignored outside of its legal requirements to quarantine students, will only continue as students from all over the country congregate on campus. The university’s “Stay Safe Pledge” asks students to be “committed to keeping myself and the Orange community healthy and safe” and lists common measures to fight the spread of COVID-19, such as keeping six feet of distance from others and wearing face masks. But students alone can only do so much.

Bringing these people together into classrooms and residence halls imposes a massive, unnecessary health risk on the student body. The university has placed the responsibility of preventing an outbreak on its students instead of taking accountability for its stubborn insistence on holding in-person classes.

Before leaving their homes, SU is asking students to take a COVID-19 test. University officials have claimed that one will be provided by mail, but officials have still not shared details days after they were supposed to be communicated. The university has given “hot” state students at most two weeks to return to campus, yet has not publicly communicated testing information to the larger student body.

While there can be no expectation for the university to monitor students while they quarantine in New York or other “cold” states, SU cannot expect students to fully comply with these guidelines. These safety measures can be very easily evaded, making the entire SU safety protocol not much more than wishful thinking.

While on campus, SU plans to use 200 rooms in the Sheraton Hotel to quarantine students who have or have been in contact with someone who has COVID-19. Students, faculty and staff should be skeptical of this plan for quarantine housing given the university’s mumps outbreak in 2017 affected more than 100 people on campus, including members of the varsity men’s and women’s lacrosse teams.

The university’s track record with outbreaks on campus begs the additional question: What happens when too many students get COVID-19? What if they need medical attention? While specific responses haven’t been communicated to students — again an example of the university’s poor communication throughout this process — one can assume the university’s burden would be placed on hospitals in the Syracuse area, sapping vital medical infrastructure away from the city.

SU administrators have already stated in virtual information sessions that the university would cancel in-person instruction and move online if its quarantine response infrastructure becomes overwhelmed. University officials have discussed this situation nonchalantly at times, with Terra Peckskamp, senior director of the Office of Student Living, telling students to pack light in case they need to leave on short notice.

An unsuccessful trial-run of in-person instruction does not only mean that students will leave campus before the end of the semester, and that SU may lose an additional sum of money. Any failure in SU’s plan could mean the deaths of students, faculty or staff members. The university’s haphazard communications and preparation — already a failure — do not reflect the severity of the circumstances.

In its attempt to ensure a safe learning environment on campus this fall, SU has outlined its plans for a revised Code of Conduct with severe punishments for those who do not abide by health guidelines. SU has offered little suggestions for safe social activity, only threats of disciplinary action. By threatening students who attend gatherings with suspension or expulsion, SU only pushes these inevitable gatherings further underground, where they can spread COVID-19 without anyone’s knowledge. As students will not come forward about such gatherings if it means potential suspension or expulsion, contact tracing efforts are almost impossible.

It is no secret that social activity is one of the main draws of higher education for many students. Instead of severely punishing students who will inevitably gather no matter the health risk, SU should instead embrace the same policies in place for alcohol safety. If a student becomes ill from alcohol poisoning and needs medical attention, students can seek help without fear of punishment, ensuring that everyone gets the medical attention they need no matter the legality of their alcohol consumption. By putting the same policies in place for COVID-19 and large gatherings, SU can more adequately use contact tracing to minimize the spread of the virus on campus when it does inevitably appear and, more importantly, can make at-risk students feel safe coming forward about possible infections.

SU must also communicate its processes and policies for every possible situation concerning COVID-19. What happens if SU cancels in-person instruction again? What if a faculty member gets sick and can no longer effectively teach? What happens to classes that require in-person instruction? By withholding this information, SU only makes it more difficult for students to focus on their education instead of the uncertainty of the pandemic.

Since university administrators seem bullishly intent on bringing students to campus for in-person instruction, it is their duty to ensure that the fall semester continues as safely as possible, and with no additional financial strain to students.

As millions of Americans take to the streets in mass protest against racial injustice and police brutality, it is important for institutions like Syracuse University to foster and support a community that fights against those same injustices. Chancellor Kent Syverud’s statement on Tuesday shows the university is somewhat willing to deal with the root causes of problems that our campus community has faced for years. But SU must do more.

The university’s response to racial injustice now is much less inadequate than in the past, diverging from a trend that continued through the protests of THE General Body in 2014, the Ackerman Avenue assault in 2019 and the #NotAgainSU protests in November and this spring. SU has a duty to uphold its commitment to better support and include its own Black community, an effort the university is now attempting to take seriously.

SU’s actions this week, however, do not excuse the university’s poor responses to racist incidents on campus. While the administration does “recognize the hate and terror” of racial injustice, it still chose to mistreat the mostly-Black #NotAgainSU protesters inside Crouse-Hinds Hall only a few months ago. The university blocked access to outside food, suspended many of the protesters and refused to sign their demands.

While officials admit that “each act of discrimination and violence carries with it a significant and sustained impact,” their statement fails to acknowledge the impact of the racist incidents and weeks of student protests that dominated the 2019-20 academic year.

While it’s important that the SU administration is finally addressing racism on campus with direct communication, many will find its statement hard to take at face value. A serious lack of trust between SU administrators and many students has formed after failing for years to direct attention to racism at the university. Now, the administration must not only fight to address racism on campus but also repair the trust needed to effectively foster the “Orange community” that SU desires.

The D.O. Editorial Board commends SU administration for clearly communicating its commitments to combat racism within the campus community. However, much more must be done to bridge the gap between the experiences of white students and students of color on campus.

SU administrators must officially acknowledge the importance of the #NotAgainSU protests, instead of avoiding direct references to the movement in its communications. Additionally, by failing to mention the actions of Last Chance for Change and #BlackLivesMatter during current protests in Syracuse, SU once again ignores the very same community that it so often claims to want to include and build upon.

The D.O. Editorial Board endorses and supports the work of #BlackLivesMatter nationally and Last Chance for Change in Syracuse. These movements represent the grassroots efforts needed to implement the far-reaching cultural change to mend the nation’s centuries-long discrimination against its Black population.

We commend the actions of the city of Syracuse and Mayor Ben Walsh for supporting the peaceful demonstrations and also listening to community members’ calls for change.

The D.O. Editorial Board encourages our readers to support these activist organizations for the betterment of our community:

• Black Lives Matter Syracuse, the local chapter of the national #BlackLivesMatter movement.

• Unchained, a Syracuse-based nonprofit that aims to dismantle the prison system.

• The Syracuse Chapter of the National Action Network, a civil rights nonprofit that works to advance a civil rights agenda that follows the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Black Leadership Association of Central New York, a Syracuse-based organization that endorses and supports political candidates who plan to fight racism.

• Central New York Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, a civil rights group working to defend the civil rights and values in the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution and the New York Constitution.

• Syracuse Police Accountability and Reform Coalition, a citizen-led collective that aims to reform the Syracuse Police Department to build trust within the community.

If you are unable to donate, or would like to help in other ways, visit https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

While the country appears to be under a dark cloud as Americans finally realize and begin to fight against the country’s rampant racial injustice and police brutality, movements like #BlackLivesMatter and Last Chance For Change prove that real change can happen in our country. SU should continue to support that change, both on and off campus.

Syracuse is no stranger to crises that have shaken the entire university community. In its 150 years, Syracuse University has united in the wake of tragedy and hardship, including the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing that killed 35 students and two world wars.

The university is now facing an unprecedented global health crisis — a critical moment for not only SU, but for schools around the world.

Coronavirus has nearly stopped the global economy in its tracks, forcing faculty, staff and students to stay home for the greater good. Through this shared strife we’ve seen the SU community come together in remarkable ways after months of conflict on campus.

The Daily Orange Editorial Board commends the university for keeping the campus community informed and demonstrating genuine concern for faculty and students’ wellbeing. In these rapidly changing times, SU has inspired confidence that it will make informed decisions moving forward.

The Forever Orange scholarship, which awards half the cost of tuition for an SU graduate program to graduating seniors, is a more financially accessible alternative to entering the currently unstable job market. The university also extended the pass/fail deadline for classes and provided refunds for housing and meal plans costs.

As students ourselves, we’ve seen how professors and peers have adapted to full course loads of online learning. Many faculty have gone above-and-beyond to support their students beyond Zoom lectures, offering necessary accommodations and support. We appreciate their effort to provide a quality educational experience despite the limitations of a virtual classroom.

Despite these actions, the SU community still faces difficulties. Many students are now left without sources of income while also worrying about their health. Students now have less access to mental health care. Students with disabilities have less access to university services. International students may be stuck under strict quarantines and regulations, negatively affecting their learning environment.

More challenges lie ahead as we look toward a fall semester still in limbo. It is crucial that SU maintains constant communication and continues to make an effort to ease the financial burden families are facing.

The Daily Orange, while independent from the university, is part of that vital communication. We will continue to document the lives of our community no matter what this year brings. Even if the SU community can’t be there for each other in person, staying connected will help us persist.