U(D54G1D)y+[![!.!#!,

This article is by Peter Baker,Helene Cooper and David E.Sanger.

WASHINGTON — PresidentObama announced on Friday thathe had ordered several dozenSpecial Operations troops intoSyria for the first open-endedmission by United States groundforces in that country, deepeningAmerican involvement in a warhe has tried to avoid for morethan four years.

While the deployment wassmall in scale, it was large in im-portance for a president who hadrefused to commit Americanground forces inside Syria be-yond quick raids. White House of-ficials said the troops would ad-vise local forces fighting the Is-lamic State and not play a directcombat role, but they left openthe possibility of sending more inthe future.

The escalation came justweeks after Russia inserted itselfinto the multisided civil war tosupport President Bashar al-As-sad, bombing opposition forces,including some supported by theUnited States. Although not char-acterized as a response, the dis-patch of American troops furthercomplicates a kaleidoscopic bat-tlefield with varied forces andsometimes murky allegiances.

The move was meant to bolsterdiplomatic efforts by Secretary ofState John Kerry, who on Fridayreached an agreement in Viennawith countries with opposingstakes to explore “a nationwidecease-fire” and ask the UnitedNations to oversee the revision ofthe Syrian Constitution and thennew elections. The accord repre-

sented the first time all the majoroutside participants had agreedon the start of a political processto bring the war to an end.

But a truce remained elusiveand the president’s militarymove was the latest incrementalstep into the expanding conflictin Syria and next-door Iraq. Onceintent on just using American air-power to help local forces on theground, Mr. Obama has now sent3,500 American troops to Iraq. AnAmerican soldier was killed in acommando raid last week, thefirst such casualty since the fightagainst the Islamic State beganlast year.

The troops heading to Syriawill number “fewer than 50,” theWhite House said, but Pentagonofficials said even those numberswould be useful in coordinatingefforts with Kurdish forces. Re-publicans argued it was too littleand too late to make a meaning-ful difference, while some Demo-crats said it pushed the UnitedStates further down a slipperyslope into a hopeless war.

The White House insisted thiswas not a case of mission creep.“The mission has not changed,”said Josh Earnest, the WhiteHouse press secretary. “Theseforces,” he added, “do not have acombat mission.”

“The responsibility that theyhave is not to lead the charge totake a hill, but rather to offer ad-vice and assistance to those localforces about the best way theycan organize their efforts to takethe fight to ISIL or to take the hillinside of Syria,” he said.

But the definition of combathas shifted since the United

U.S. Troops Sent to Syria

To Aid Forces Fighting ISIS

Deepening Involvement, President Orders

Commandos toAdvise Local Groups

Continued on Page A9

ABD DOUMANY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Activists said government strikes killed dozens of people in Douma, a Damascus suburb that is held by the rebels. Page A9.

Fatal Attack on a Syrian Marketplace

By RACHEL L. SWARNS

NEWARK — The green wel-come sign hangs in the front doorof the downtown branch of Hud-son City Savings Bank, New Jer-sey’s largest savings bank. Butfor years, federal regulators said,its executives did what theycould to keep certain customersout.

They steered clear of black andHispanic neighborhoods as theyopened branches across NewYork and Connecticut, federal of-ficials said. They focused on mar-keting mortgages in predomi-nantly white sections of subur-ban New Jersey and Long Island,not here or in Bridgeport, Conn.

The results were stark. In 2014,Hudson approved 1,886 mort-gages in the market that includesNew Jersey and sections of NewYork and Connecticut, federalmortgage data show. Only 25went to black borrowers.

Hudson, while denying wrong-doing, agreed last month to paynearly $33 million to settle a law-suit filed by the Consumer Finan-cial Protection Bureau and theJustice Department. Federal offi-cials said it was the largest settle-ment in the history of both de-partments for redlining, the prac-tice in which banks choke offlending to minority communities.

Outlawed decades ago, redlin-ing has re-emerged as a seriousconcern among regulators asbanks have sharply retreated

Long Banned,Mortgage Bias Is Back as Issue

Continued on Page A3

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

NEWTON, N.H. — WhenCourtney Griffin was using her-oin, she lied, disappeared, andstole from her parents to supporther $400-a-day habit. Her familypaid her debts, never filed a po-lice report and kept her addictionsecret — until she was founddead last year of an overdose.

At Courtney’s funeral, they de-cided to acknowledge the reality

that redefined their lives: Theirbright, beautiful daughter, just20, who played the French hornin high school and dreamed of liv-ing in Hawaii, had been kickedout of the Marines for drugs.Eventually, she overdosed at herboyfriend’s grandmother’shouse, where she died alone.

“When I was a kid, junkieswere the worst,” Doug Griffin, 63,Courtney’s father, recalled intheir comfortable home here in

southeastern New Hampshire. “Iused to have an office in NewYork City. I saw them.”

Noting that “junkies” is a wordhe would never use now, he saidthat these days, “they’re workingright next to you and you don’teven know it. They’re in mydaughter’s bedroom — they aremy daughter.”

When the nation’s long-run-ning war against drugs was de-

White Families Seek a Gentler War on Heroin

Continued on Page A12

By KIRK JOHNSON

SEATTLE — Pocahontas, Cait-lyn Jenner and Pancho Villa areno-nos. Also off-limits are geishagirls and samurai warriors —even, some say, if the wearer isJapanese. Among acceptable op-tions, innocuous ones lead thepack: a Crayola crayon, a cup ofStarbucks coffee or the striped-

cap-wearing protagonist of the“Where’s Waldo?” books.

As colleges debate the lines be-tween cultural sensitivity andfree speech, they are issuing rec-ommendations for Halloweencostumes on campus, aimed atfending off even a hint of offensein students’ choice of attire. Us-ing the fairly new yardstick ofcultural appropriation — whichmeans pretending for fun or prof-

it to be a member of an ethnic, ra-cial or gender group to which youdo not belong — schools, studentgroups and fraternity associa-tions are sending a message thatcan be summed up in five words:It is dangerous to pretend.

“If there’s a gray line, it’s al-ways best to stay away from it,”said Mitchell Chen, 21, a micro-biology major and director of di-versity efforts at the Associated

Students of the University ofWashington. The universityemailed to all students this weeka six-minute video of what not todo for Halloween.

There has already been onemajor cultural collision this weekthat fanned the flames: OnThursday, the University of Lou-isville in Kentucky apologized to

Costume Correctness on Campus: Feel Free to Be You, but Not Me

Continued on Page A15

GUIA BESANA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

After a $17.7 million restoration, the Rodin Museum will reopen in Paris on Nov. 12. Page C1.

Thinking of Rodin

By ASHLEY PARKER

Before the Republican candi-dates had even walked off theCNBC debate stage in Boulder,Colo., on Wednesday evening,their anger and frustration werepouring into public view, creatinga crisis for the candidates, theirparty and the television networkshosting this year’s debates.

And on Friday, the RepublicanNational Committee took action,suspending a debate scheduledfor Feb. 26 hosted by NBC Newsand its sister station, Telemundo.The move illustrated the party’sdistrust of the mainstream me-dia, its leading candidates’ pre-occupation with rebelling againstpower, and the tactical wagerthat Republicans can outmaneu-ver television networks depend-ent on record-breaking ratingsfrom this year’s debates.

The action came after a flurryof calls in which the candidates’representatives conveyed theirfury to party leaders over whatthey described as the hostile toneof the anchors moderating the de-bates.

“While debates are meant toinclude tough questions and con-trast candidates’ visions and pol-icies for the future of America,CNBC’s moderators engaged in aseries of ‘gotcha’ questions, pettyand meanspirited in tone, and de-signed to embarrass our candi-dates,” the party’s chairman,

G.O.P. Drops

Debate on NBC,

Citing ‘Gotcha’

Continued on Page A17

By MAGGIE HABERMANand NICHOLAS CONFESSORE

One of the wealthiest and mostinfluential Republican donors inthe country is throwing his sup-port to Senator Marco Rubio ofFlorida, a decision that couldswing millions of dollars in con-

tributions be-hind Mr. Ru-bio at a crit-ical point inthe Republi-can nominat-ing battle.

The deci-sion by thedonor, PaulSinger, a bil-lionaire NewYork invest-or, is a signalvictory for

Mr. Rubio in his battle with his ri-val Jeb Bush for the affections ofmajor Republican patrons andthe party’s business wing.

It comes as a major blow to Mr.Bush, who is seeing his once vig-orous campaign imperiled bydoubts among supporters, andwhose early dominance of therace was driven by his financialmuscle. Mr. Bush and severalother candidates, including Gov.Chris Christie of New Jersey, hadcompeted fiercely for Mr. Sing-er’s blessing.

In a letter that Mr. Singer sentto dozens of other donors on Fri-

In Blow to Bush,

A Major Donor

Chooses Rubio

Paul Singer

Continued on Page A17

Shaker Aamer, whose detention at theGuantánamo Bay prison in Cuba drewhuman rights protests, was freed after13 years in captivity. PAGE A14

NATIONAL A11-17

A Release at GuantánamoBeyond the elite runners at the NewYork City Marathon on Sunday, the par-ticipants will mostly be American mencloser to 40 years old than 30. PAGE D7

SPORTS SATURDAY D1-7

Profiles of the MarathonExperts question whether American se-curity is compromised when tech giantslike IBM have Chinese partners withclose ties to the military there. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-8

Scrutiny for Chinese Partners Three years after Hurricane Sandy, abattle over whether to use dunes to holdoff the tide has pitted neighbor againstneighbor on the Jersey Shore. PAGE A18

NEW YORK A18-21

Coastal Dunes Provoke a Fight Gail Collins PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

VOL. CLXV . . . No. 57,036 © 2015 The New York Times NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

Late EditionToday, intervals of some clouds andsunshine, high 56. Tonight, cloudy,low 49. Tomorrow, variably cloudy,a shower in the area, milder, high64. Weather map is on Page C8.

$2.50

METS THUMP ROYALS, 9-3, IN CRUCIAL GAME 3 WIN

C M Y K Nxxx,2015-10-31,A,001,Bs-BK,E2