March 9, 2016

free WEDNESDAYmarch 9, 2016high 67°, low 50°

N • Sweet emotionDacher Keltner, a psychologist who helped develop Pixar’s “Inside Out” characters, presented the first University Lecture of the semester on Tuesday. Page 3

P • Suffragette citySU professor Sally Roesch Wagner studies the history of the women’s suffrage movement through the eyes of the suffragists themselves. Page 9

S • UnfazedFifth-year senior Michael Gbinije isn’t paying attention to any outside distractions as his college career nears its end. SU takes on Pittsburgh on Wednesday at noon. 6

t h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t u d e n t n e w s p a p e r o f s y r a c u s e , n e w y o r k | dailyorange.com

By Annie Palmer development editor

Inside Manley Field House, student ath-letes weave in and out of computer labs, just across the hall from Director of Ath-

letics Mark Coyle’s office and steps away from weight rooms, gym floors and fields.

The building is like the Pentagon of Syra-cuse University’s Athletic Department — a headquarters for more than 100 daily tutor sessions, practices and administrative opera-tions. It’s also a site that many members of the SU community continue to keep their eyes on.

In March 2015, the NCA A released a 94-page report detailing numerous instances of misconduct into that department. A mul-tiyear investigation uncovered drug policy violations, abuse of benefits and academic misconduct, among other infractions. In all, it caused the NCAA to deduce that SU did not have control over its athletics department.

SU was handed sanctions that included a 5-year probation, scholarship reductions, vacation of wins and a 9-game suspension for men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim.

At Manley Field House, there’s a tutor avail-able for every student athlete, and officials are more committed to compliance with NCAA

bylaws than in years before. But back on Main Campus, some questions about SU Athletics’ rela-tionship with administrators and faculty endure.

Athletes’ days are jam-packed and demand-ing, said Steve Ishmael, wide receiver for SU’s football team. At the Stevenson Educational Center in Manley, tutors, administrators and academic coordinators help him with big picture things, like his schedule, and smaller details, like the proper place for a comma in his essay.

But there are limits to how much tutors can help Ishmael and the other student athletes. Over the course of its investigation, the NCAA discovered multiple cases of academic miscon-duct. A paper written by Fab Melo was submit-ted for a grade change with citations added by an administrator. In another instance, a tutor gave false accounts of how many hours three football players spent at an internship.

Tommy Powell, assistant provost for student-athlete development, redesigned SU’s academic services for student athletes when he came to SU in 2013. He increased the number of tutors from 35 to 140 and added more academic coordinators to the Stevenson Center, increasing the levels of oversight throughout the program.

The process of ensuring compliance starts from the bottom-up. Tutors have to document sessions with student athletes, and coordina-tors review those forms to compile reports. Powell then looks over those reports for any issues and later meets with the vice chancellor and provost, who sends a report to the chan-cellor and the Board of Trustees.

Powell uses the reports from coordinators, as well as other records, to track all student-athletes’ grade point averages, percentages of degree completion and other benchmarks set out by the NCAA. The benchmarks make up student-athletes’ academic progress rates, which determines whether athletes are on track for 5-year degree completion.

Currently, all teams have at least 94 percent success rates, according to a Feb. 17 University Senate Committee on Instruction report. This metric does not account for graduation rates.

“All that flows into making sure our student

By Michael Burke asst. news editor

One morning when Justin Robinson was 7, he woke up his mom on her birthday to surprise her with break-fast he had made himself — break-fast that included a side of biscuits.

There was only one problem: Yasmin Florence, his mother, knew they hadn’t had any biscuits in their Atlanta home.

“So I asked him, ‘Where’d you get biscuits from?’ He said, ‘Mama, I made them.’ From scratch! And I couldn’t even do that,” Florence said.

It was a reminder to Florence that Robinson, even at a young age, had a love for food and cooking. And that was only one of several passions that filled Robinson’s life before the Syracuse University senior died unexpectedly Sunday at his home. Robinson, whose friends described him as an always-cheerful person,

By Brett Samuels senior staff writer

When Kent Syverud took over as chancellor of Syracuse University, he inherited an NCAA investiga-tion looking into wrongdoings in the school’s athletics department.

He was aware of the situation when he applied for the job, and spent time learning about the investigation before officially starting his position in January 2013. But it would be another two years before the process that began in 2007 finally drew to a close.

“My main concern about the NCAA investigation was how long it took,” Syverud said in an interview on

Loved ones remember Robinson

ncaa investigations

Syverud reflects on sanctions

SU senior had passions for cooking, music, travel

Chancellor talks NCAA investigations 1 year after sanctions were imposed

Officials talk holding SU accountable for student athletes’ academics

see syverud page 6see student athletes page 6

see robinson page 8

illustration by devyn passaretti head illustrator

HIT THE BOOKS

105The number of tutors for student athletes

Tommy Powell, assistant provost for student-athlete development, has added

to the Stevenson Center since he came to SU in 2013

2 march 9, 2016

a.m. p.m.noon

hi 67° lo 50°Danielle Bertolini staff writer

Syracuse University FIXit’s Twit-ter account isn’t full of tweets on how to fix a sink or install cable on a TV. Instead of infrequent posts about housing maintenance, @SUFixIt is an account brimming with positivity, color and inspira-tional quotes.

Chrisy Brooking, a mainte-nance administrator for FIXit, runs the social media account along with a team of dispatchers at the Housing and Food Ser-vices Maintenance Zone. W hen FIXit joined Twitter in 2012, Brooking said it had a clear plan for content.

“Everything that we deal with is very negative. Any time a student calls us, there’s a problem,” she said. “So we thought it would be nice to put positivity back out there.”

Posting at least once every two hours of the workday, the account is filled with tips, reminders and

positive messages that encour-age students to make the most out of life. From messages such as “Look to continually challenge yourself,” to reminders to fill one’s gas tank to recipe tips, Brooking said @SUFixIt aims to be both helpful and inspiring.

“It’s meant to be a motivator,” said Brooking. “When we see these

re-tweets and these likes, it makes our day.”

The pictures and content post-ed by FIXit come from a variety of sources both on and off of the Internet. Many of the messages come from books, including Ste-phen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and sev-eral texts by Dale Carnegie.

While students seem to enjoy the tweets, Brooking said the account also gets a lot of atten-tion from parents, especially in the case of a power outage or Orange Alert. The Twitter account will post updates and respond to ques-tions as they come in, providing a platform that is both immediate and convenient.

However, Brooking said it’s not just students and parents who appreciate the tweets, but also the employees posting them.

“You can be in a really cranky mood, but you have to keep post-ing positive things,” said Brook-ing. “Ten minutes later, you forgot what you were miserable about.”

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The Daily Orange is published weekdays during the Syracuse University academ-ic year by The Daily Orange Corp., 744 Ostrom Ave., Syracuse, NY 13210. All con-tents Copyright 2016 by The Daily Orange Corp. and may not be reprinted without the expressed written permission of the editor in chief. The Daily Orange is distrib-uted on and around campus with the first two copies complimentary. Each addi-tional copy costs $1. The Daily Orange is in no way a subsidy or associated with Syracuse University.

All contents © 2016 The Daily Orange Corporation

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Administrator runs SU FIXit Twitter accountWORK wednesday | chrisy brooking

CHRISY BROOKING works both as a maintenance administrator for SU FIXit and is the creative mind behind the motivational tweets FIXit sends out throughout the day eddie natal staff photographer

INSIDE N • Suit dropped The Syracuse Common Council’s lawsuit against Mayor Stephanie Miner’s computer policy was recently dropped.

Page 7

S • The quiet one SU defender Jay McDermott plays alongside Brandon Mullins and Nick Mellen. His style makes him a good fit.

Page 16

dailyorange.com @dailyorange march 9, 2016 • PAGE 3

Congress campaignCongressional candidate Steven Williams will speak at Syracuse University about campaign finance reform on Wednesday evening.See Thursday’s paperN

N E W S

@BCCEatSUTo commemorate Justin, BCCE invites anyone who so desires to participate in our prayer call tomorrow at 7am.

Whiz quizTo help you pass your current events quiz, The D.O. News Department compiled the top news stories from the past week.See dailyorange.com

By Tara Tolton staff writer

To solve the issues of racism, inequality and poverty, Dacher Keltner said, more compassion is needed. That’s the central argument of Keltner’s work: A more compas-sionate society is a better one.

In Hendricks Chapel, the packed pews of Syracuse University stu-dents and professors and Syracuse locals listened to Keltner, a profes-sor at the University of California, Berkeley and a human emotion researcher, talk about compassion on Tuesday night. Keltner was the first speaker of the spring 2016 Uni-versity Lecture series.

In his work, Keltner disputes that people are inherently self-

interested and instead shows that individuals thrive and are sus-tained through compassion, sym-pathy and goodness toward others.

Keltner, who advised the direc-tor of Pixar’s “Inside Out” on how to accurately portray emotions, said these traits are not only for the good of individuals, but for society as a whole. The more compassionate people’s communities are, he said, the better people will do as a society.

To Keltner, there is more to this than just the political or scientific aspects. From a social standpoint, Keltner said studies show inequal-ity has toxic effects on societies, such as decreasing life expectancy and the quality of one’s living.

Some audience members said they had never heard of the sci-

ence of compassion, while oth-ers said they came because they believed the idea was important in the context of the United States’ current political atmosphere.

In a brief social experiment during the lecture, attendees were asked to make two noises: the sound of interest and the sound of compassion. When the crowd vocalized compassion, a resounding “aw” filled Hendricks.

This challenges the Hobbes-ian view — named for the 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes — that says man’s life is all but “nasty, brutish and short,” Keltner said. He instead raised the idea that compassion is nec-essary to communities because it inspires, increases altruism

and spreads generosity on online social networking.

Keltner also discussed the communication of emotion through non-verbal cues, such as facial expression and touch.

Matt Russel, who works for the Contemplative Collaborative at SU, said this was particularly interesting because the organi-zation’s members “generally see compassion as new movement,” adding that Keltner “made it clear that compassion is fundamental to our species and our being.”

Keltner added that there are positive effects of non-verbal cues in classrooms and on teams.

Research shows that girls are five times more likely to try hard

By Jacob Gedetsis social media director

Syracuse University’s University Lecture Series once brought stu-dents from local school districts to campus, but that relationship has faltered in the last decade.

Students from local districts — including the Syracuse City School District, the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District and the Jamesville-Dewitt Central School District — would get bused to SU to see University Lecture speakers present. The university

once offered funding for the buses, and the local schools were able to secure grants to aid in transporta-tion, but both sources of funding have “dried up,” said Esther Gray, who ran the lecture series until her retirement in December.

Gray’s retirement shook up how the lecture series is organized, and as this transition in leadership progresses, some are calling for a reestablishment of the once strong partnership between SU and local school districts.

Barbara Stripling, co-chair of the recently created University Lecture

advisory committee, said she thinks a reestablishment of relationships with the school district would be “extremely valuable.”

She said members of the com-mittee have spoken about oppor-tunities to engage the local com-munity, and the idea of connect-

ing with school children has been discussed. She said there may be interest in bringing the speakers to the schools or bringing back busing to the university.

Dacher Keltner, the first speak-er in the spring 2016 lecture series, visited Eagle Hill Middle School in the Fayette-Manlius Central School District on Tuesday before his lecture, an arrangement Gray set up before she retired.

Stripling said no formal deci-sions or timetables for a revived partnership have been set so far,

university lecture

Speaker explains science of compassion

university lecture

SU, district partnerships falter amid cuts

see keltner page 6

see partnership page 8

DACHER KELTNER, the director of the Social Interaction Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, spoke in Hendricks Chapel Tuesday about the importance of compassion as part of the spring 2016 University Lecture series. liam sheehan asst. photo editor

12The number of University

Lecture speakers that have spoken at Eagle Hill Middle School in the Fayetteville-

Manlius Central School District

Here is a round-up of the biggest news stories happening in the world:

WORLD

POSSIBLE KILL United States officials announced on Tuesday that the Islamic State’s de facto minister of war may have been killed on Friday after a U.S.-led airstrike in Syria. Although U.S. officials expressed optimism about the strike, they acknowledged the results of the operation were still being reviewed. source: the new york times

CLOSING DOWN Slovenia will require that all migrants crossing its border have valid European Union visas as of midnight on Tuesday. The move will effectively shut down the main migration route from the Balkan region to western Europe. source: the associated press

BUSINESS

GETTING SAUCY Chick-fil-A is making some changes to its sauces. The chain will be modifying its barbecue, buttermilk ranch and buffalo sauces to smoke-house barbecue, garlic herb ranch and zesty buffalo, respectively. A sweet-and-spicy Sriracha sauce will also be added to the menu. source: business insider

U.S.

CRUZIN’ The brother of former presidential candidate Jeb Bush, Neil, joined Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) finance team for the 2016 presidential race on Tuesday. Neil’s decision to join Cruz’s campaign makes him the first Bush to join a presidential campaign after Jeb’s departure from the race. source: the washington post

REST IN PEACE An American graduate student from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, was stabbed to death in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Taylor Force, the student who was killed, was in Israel to study global entrepreneurship. source: the guardian

SCIENCE

MOVING FORWARD Toyota announced on Tuesday that it is developing a wearable device to aid blind and visually-impaired people, giving them greater mobility. No release date for the gadget has been set yet. source: bbc

POLITICS

UPSET WIN In an huge upset for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won the Michigan primary. source: the associated press

news to know

$

While it’s important for universi-ties to lobby for financial aid legislation, it’s ultimately up to state and federal lawmakers alike to make higher education oppor-tunities a reality for all students. Acting U.S. Secretary of Edu-cation John King Jr. plans to urge Congress to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act on Wednesday at the Digital Harbor Foundation Tech Center in Baltimore. The call comes after SU officials also pressed lawmakers to revive the program, which expired in September, in a lobbying report for the third quarter of 2015. The $1.1 billion-dollar act includes funding for the Federal Perkins Loan Program, which provides low-interest federal loans for students with “excep-tional financial need,” accord-ing to SU’s report. Under the program, eligible undergraduate students can borrow up to $5,500 dollars a year at a 5 percent inter-est rate. Graduate students can also receive up to $8,000 per year. The Perkins Loan Program — and in turn an important stride for college affordability — has been swept aside for months. And when policies of this kind provide about 25 percent of SU’s under-

graduate students with essential aid, it is critical that the federal government does everything in its power to being the legislation back as soon as possible. The failure of federal offi-cials to reauthorize the legisla-tion not only limits opportuni-ties for future students, but also places limitations of those who are currently enrolled. Students with existing Perkins loans are only eligible for addi-tional loans for the course of col-lege careers as long as they remain at the same school and do not change their major, as reported by USA Today. But students who count on these loans shouldn’t be forced to pursue an area of study because they can’t afford to attend school at all otherwise. Those who are opposed to the reauthorization of the Perkins legislation have cited fiscal stress and the excessive involvement of the federal government in funding education as concerning. But when more than $1 billion in aid for 500,000 college students nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Education data, on the line, the government should work to uphold these opportunities rather than push them to the bottom of the agenda.

editorial board

Perkins loan program should be reauthorized


OOPINION

liberal

Citizen efforts should augment policy

We often look to govern-ment bodies to create change in our commu-

nities. But maybe it’s time to real-ize that it really does take a village. The New York state Comptrol-ler’s office recently conducted an audit on regional homeless shelters. Most of them were noted as having shoddy living conditions: moldy, noncompliant with fire safety rules and overcrowded. Two shelters in Syracuse were even shut down for operating without state certification. But it’s not what you’re thinking. Despite the potential reaction that these organizations were operating unethically without governmental approval, it could be argued that the shelters were actually working in favor of the public, considering that with a state license comes greater restrictions and the inability to accommodate more people. In situations like these, it seems the government’s blessing is given the utmost authority when it comes to how we assess the actions of institutions and people. However, as we see in this case with homeless shelters, it is the actions of caring citizens in the best interest of those they serve — regardless of legality. And in this spirit of emphatic char-ity, communities should step up to address the issues, including homelessness, that governments have not confronted satisfactorily. The state government has tried to address these problems through recent executive orders from Gov. Andrew Cuomo which include increased funding for affordable housing and augmenting incentives for the private sector to use its reach in aiding the poor. And while the state’s presence in the discussion is important, as citizens, it is our job to ensure that the results of these talks come full circle on a local basis. “The government has already shown that it is not inherently efficient in solving these problems over the long term,” said James Taylor, the program director of Catholic Charities of Onondaga County, which operates one of the shutdown shelters, in an email. “The community should help by advocating for it’s most vulner-able and disadvantaged members whenever possible.” The power of community

action can be seen in different facets of local life in which isolated efforts from good Samaritans in Syracuse work toward the same goal of inspiring greater change. With 461 people displaced, according to the latest count by the Housing and Homeless Coalition of Syracuse and Onondaga County, so close to home, Andrew Lunetta, a Syracuse University alumnus, is one local man who has made it his mission to do what he can to combat the cycle of homelessness.

Lunetta started by creating daily “drop-in” hours at the Brady Faith Center downtown so that those who had been kicked out of shelters early in the morning had a warm place to rest and regroup. He then saw the benefits of a com-munity that provides stability for those without and created Pedal 2 Possibilities, a program that offers group bike rides for those who are homeless to promote strength and togetherness and gives frequent riders a bike to call their own. Clifford Ryan, another Syracuse resident, founded OG’s Against Gun Violence, an organization that works to prevent gun-related violence against youth. Ryan responded an issue that made waves in 2015, when someone was shot about every four days for the first seven months of the year, according to Syracuse.com. Ryan works alone on the streets in order to promote safety and has established himself as a mentor for troubled kids. It seems that when people are confronted with the task of help-ing others, especially those as mis-understood as the homeless, they feel obligated to eradicate entire issues like poverty. But Lunetta

and Ryan’s work shows that when a community reaches out, it just requires acceptance, togetherness and inclusion to touch lives that the government cannot. We need local efforts that foster growth and opportunity for everyone rather than one that tol-erates and funnels. The stand-up citizens going above and beyond are operating where the state has not yet reached on its long laundry list of issues to address. And when the government pro-duces policies that recognize this human element that is often lost between the lines of legislation, society can better address stigma-tized issues that are believed best kept hidden rather than acknowl-edged and resolved. This notion has been realized in the city of Ithaca, which is attempting to combat drug-related deaths by allowing for supervised legal heroin injection. The plan would ensure that the individual is treated immediately by healthcare professionals if something goes wrong. These facilities would not only be the first of its kind in the United States — the concept has proven to be very successful in Canada — but also one that creates a comprehensive rehabilitative retreat in response to a taboo topic. The line between how much of this responsibility should be on the government versus how much should be on the people is a fine one. Cuomo has hinted that the government would intervene to facilitate civilian involvement, and citizens should notice the popula-tions flying under the radar of those in power and work to do what we can within our own realms: at schools, local institutions, around campus or even at home. Furthering grassroots efforts is something that can help magnify these populations left unseen. We can start by helping those in our communities who need it to ensure that the gov-ernment we elect represents its constituents with a human lens: something that should be taken extraordinarily seriously.

Joanna Orland is a freshman newspaper and online journal-

ism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at

[email protected].

scribble

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JOANNA ORLANDNOTHING LEFT UNSAID

Too late to say sorryGeneration Y columnist Mark DiBona breaks down millennials’ tendency to associate Selena Gomez with Justin Bieber.See dailyorange.com

461The number of homeless individuals in Onondaga

County, according to the latest count by the Housing and

Homeless Coalition of Syracuse and Onondaga County

6 march 9, 2016 dailyorange.com [email protected]

86

athletes are meeting the NCAA require-ments to participate,” Powell said. “So when you see a student athlete out on the field on Saturday, there has been tremendous amounts of checks and balances to make sure that student can be on that field.”

Powell said it helps that his title has a focus on academics rather than athletics, because it shows the program is making strides to be more present on campus. He also meets regularly with Rick Burton, SU’s faculty athletics representative for the Atlantic Coast Conference and the NCAA.

Burton, chair of the Athletics Compliance Oversight Committee, which was created last year. Chancellor Kent Syverud established the committee in light of the sanctions, Burton said,

to work on “institutional protections to make sure that we are doing things the right way.”

Around the time the committee was creat-ed, he met with faculty to discuss the sanctions and how SU was working to move forward.

Faculty expressed concerns over trans-parency in the athletics budget, as well as SU Athletics’ role in relation to SU at large, said Joel Kaplan, associate dean for professional graduate studies in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

“…The administration continues to refuse to open its books when it comes to the athletic budget and instead continues to make the academic units fund athletics,” Kaplan said.

In 2015, the total athletics budget was between $60 and $70 million. Sue Edson, executive senior associate athletics director and chief communications officer at SU, said she couldn’t say how much of the total bud-

get is dedicated to student-athlete support services because SU is a private institution.

Robert Van Gulick, chair of the Commit-tee on Instruction, said his committee met with Powell at the end of the 2014-15 aca-demic year to talk about academic integrity, student-athlete support services and how faculty can be better informed about how

things work with student athletes. He said they were impressed by Powell’s efforts to bridge the gap between SU Athletics and SU.

But he said he’d like to see more transpar-ency about what SU Athletics’ role is in rela-tion to SU, especially considering that the $16 million used for athletic scholarships comes from a portion of schools and colleges’ budgets set aside for financial aid, Van Gulick said.

If the schools and colleges contribute to the welfare of student athletes, Van Gulick said faculty deserve to know more about what’s going on in student-athlete support services and the athletics department as a whole.

“We’re trying to build some better bridges there … so that people could see this in a way where the two sides can work toward a com-mon goal,” Van Gulick said. “And that goal is the academic success of student athletes.”

[email protected] | @annierpalmer

Tuesday, naming the situation as one of four or five urgent matters he faced in his first year.

The NCAA released its report on SU on March 6, 2015. It detailed improper academic benefits, violations of the school’s drug policy and a lack of institutional control that had taken place over the course of several years.

Reflecting on the process about one year later, Syverud’s main issue was with the length of the investigation and the consequences that stemmed from its timing. While the roughly 8-year process concluded last March, he said the situation isn’t completely in the rearview.

A lawyer by profession with an expertise

in legal procedure, Syverud said his concern with the investigation was that punishments would be levied for actions that happened years ago against student-athletes “who were in preschool and elementary school when the matters occurred.”

“And there’s something profoundly unjust about that,” he said.

Many fans took issue for the same reason when SU announced a self-imposed ban in Feb-ruary 2015, about a month before the report was released. Syverud said it became apparent that SU’s arguments regarding appropriate penalties would be unsuccessful, and a postseason ban would be an appropriate penalty, as well as one that needed to be gotten out of the way.

“If we had not imposed a postseason ban

when we did, it’s highly likely we’d have a post-season ban that we’d be facing now,” he said.

Syverud added that the investigation was kept confidential from the majority of the community. As a result, he wasn’t surprised when many on campus had strong reactions to the infractions outlined in the report.

“Had I been on the outside and just read the report when it came out, I would’ve been upset, concerned and disappointed in my university,” Syverud said.

SU has corrected many of the problems that led to violations in the first place. Another con-sequence of the investigation’s length, he said, is that in many cases, the issues were resolved long before the report was even released.

Many of the penalties that the NCAA

doled out have been addressed over the past year through the appeals process. The uni-versity won back scholarships, Jim Boeheim was able to start his 9-game suspension earlier than originally stated and the school failed in its appeal of vacated wins.

But there’s still at least one visible mark left by the investigation, as the school remains on probation for another four years. Syverud said it’s important everyone real-izes what happened before can’t happen again, and that the consequences are severe. He said administrators aren’t proud of what was detailed in the NCAA report, but added that the university has moved on to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen in the future.

[email protected] | @Brett_Samuels27

problems on the board when given a pat on the back, he said. Additionally, the same studies show that non-verbal cues, such as high-fives and leaping chest bumps, lead to better teamwork and improved overall team performance.

If compassion is in fact evolutionary,

Keltner said there should be neurophysi-ological evidence to prove that it is part of the core construction of humans.

Recent studies may be proving this, Kelt-ner said. One study of students watching emotion-provoking images shows that, in response to compassion, a small part of the brain lights up near the base of the spine. As this is one of the first parts of the brain to develop, it shows that compassion may have

come early in the evolutionary track. As people evolved, Keltner argued com-

passion has, as well. He also argued that throughout history

there has been a reduction of violent crimes such as rape, domestic abuse and robbery, as well as an increase in an extension of rights that has decreased slavery and child labor laws and improved the treatment of those with mental illnesses.

There are six ways to move toward a more compassionate world, Keltner said. Of the six, some include deep breathing practices, embracing negative emotion and practicing kindness, gratitude and going outdoors.

He added that these methods have physi-ological benefits, too. Many of these practices reduce anxiety, increase brain and immune system function and may lead to a longer life.

[email protected]

from page 1

student athletes

from page 1

syverud

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keltner

how to complyThe Stevenson Center provides both mentors and tutors with compliance training. Training materials establish that it is against the institution’s policies and procedures for mentors and tutors to speak with a student athlete’s instructor, professor or coach. In their interviews, institutional staff members must acknowledge that accessing student athletes’ accounts is generally against the rules.

citydailyorange.com @dailyorange march 9, 2016 • PAGE 7every wednesday in news

TECHNICAL DISPUTEillustration by devyn passaretti head illustrator

City officials discuss dismissal of computer policy lawsuit against Miner administrationBy Haley Kim staff writer

A judge recently sided with Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner by dis-missing a lawsuit brought by the Syracuse Common Council against

her administration over a computer policy. The council sued the Miner administration

for a violation of separation of powers, accord-ing to the lawsuit. But Supreme Court Justice Hugh Gilbert dismissed the case because sep-aration of powers does not exist in municipal government, according to Syracuse.com.

Miner had shut off access to the council and city clerks’ computers because they did not sign a computer use policy, according to the lawsuit. The policy, the councilors argued, would have allowed the mayor to monitor the computer activity of the com-mon councilors, according to the lawsuit.

“The initial policy that was proposed by the administration was rejected by the majority of the councilors, and (they) indicated they would not sign because it was a line that they felt would be detrimental for the (mayor to cross),”

said Common Council President Van Robinson. Daniel Rice, a professor of law and public

policy practice at Syracuse University, said in an email that he agreed with the judge’s ruling.

“The judge may have relied upon an old 1942 NY case Laguardia v. Smith where the court found that the separation of powers did not apply to municipal government,” Rice said.

“This decision allows the administration to continue to strengthen our cyber security initiatives to ensure our network is appro-priately secured, as we were asked to do in an audit from the New York State Comptrol-ler,” Miner said in a press release.

Miner’s press secretary, Alexander Mari-on, said Miner was not available for comment.

The computer policy was first proposed in April 2015, according to the lawsuit. The council then proposed a modified version, but it was not accepted by the Miner admin-istration, and the computers were shut off in July 2015, according to the lawsuit.

The first lawsuit was filed shortly after, according to a September Syracuse.com article.

Rice said the reason the case was brought up was because the councilors were con-

cerned that Miner would have access to emails and confidential information.

“Many employers routinely require employees to sign an agreement similar to the one that the Mayor asked the Common Council to sign,” Rice said. “The difference in this case is that the common council-ors are not employees of the City but are elected officials.”

The city of Syracuse Department of Law prepared another modified computer policy agreement in August 2015, which the Council approved, according to the lawsuit. But in September 2015, an additional provi-sion was added by Miner’s administration that allowed the mayor to fire the Common Council, city clerks and their staffs for viola-tions of the policy, according to the lawsuit.

Robinson said a few councilors elected last November signed the modified agree-ment. He added that the council and Miner tried to work out an arrangement outside of court, but a full agreement between Miner and the entire council was never reached.

In September 2015, the council voted 5-4 to bring the issue to court again because

of the new provision. The second lawsuit, which was filed in December, asked for an injunction for the mayor to turn the com-puters back on, according to a December Syracuse.com article. The judge’s dismissal was a response to this lawsuit.

Robinson said the policy has impeded the council’s work.

“It has slowed us down and impacted our communications,” Robinson said. “Resolving some constituent issues … their complaints (that) could have been answered almost immediately would take a day or two days.”

Robinson said this lawsuit has had some effect on the relationship between the coun-cil and mayor, but it’s not something new.

“There are obviously differences between the entities, the administration and legisla-tive that happens daily, (on) all levels of gov-ernment,” Robinson said. “It has strained the relations to a degree, but there are still open lines of communication.”

Robinson said the council and its attor-ney are evaluating the judge’s response to make sure nothing was misinterpreted.

[email protected]


was also an avid traveler, had a devotion to music and prided himself on empowering other people of color.

Robinson frequently talked about his desire to open his own restaurant in downtown Atlan-ta sometime after graduating from SU in May, Florence said. He had become known within their family for his Jamaican food dishes, par-ticularly his specialty of jerk chicken.

His fondness for food was born around the age of 4, when he would only use the micro-wave at his then-home in Miami because “he couldn’t reach the stove,” Florence said.

It wasn’t long after that when he first picked up music in elementary school. He started by playing the clarinet and in high school, added the French horn to his arsenal, Florence said.

“He was always very musically-inclined,”

Florence added. When he came to SU, Robinson didn’t

continue playing instruments, but he dis-covered a way to express his love for music in a different form: as a member of the Black Celestial Choral Ensemble (BCCE), a gospel choir that sings at events on campus, such as the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebra-tion, and at churches in the city of Syracuse.

Robinson joined BCCE as a freshman and served as the leader of the choir’s tenor section as a junior, said Maya Lobban, the public relations chair of BCCE and a senior public relations major who was a close friend of Robinson’s. Robinson served as the group’s treasurer last semester.

In addition to BCCE, Robinson was a member of the Juvenile Urban Multicultur-al Program and the Multicultural Empower-ment Network — organizations at SU that, like BCCE, are tailored toward students of

various cultural and ethnic backgrounds. And Robinson made it a point to do what

he could to empower those students. Lobban said he worked part-time at Delta Airlines during breaks in the academic year and often shared insights about what he learned at the company with other minority students at SU.

“He wanted to make sure the people behind him knew those things before they left school,” Lobban said, “so when they left school, they weren’t like, ‘Oh man, what do I do now?’”

If Robinson didn’t open up his own res-taurant after college, he was going to contin-ue working for Delta and attempt to “work up the ranks” there, Lobban said.

She added that Robinson’s desire to keep working for Delta was inspired largely by his fervor for travel — Robinson visited every continent except Antarctica during his life.

“And he would always say that Antarctica was next,” Lobban said, laughing. “But I’d be

like, ‘With whose coat? It’s too cold.’” Lobban added that she would miss Rob-

inson for his ability to brighten others’ days, even when he wasn’t having a particularly good one himself.

Within the choir, Robinson often served as “comedic relief,” Lobban said.

“He would just say the funniest things,” she said. “He had all these catch phrases, like ‘Dass it!’ and ‘Sip yo tea.’ … He always left a smile on our faces.”

Vivienne Quow, another friend of Robin-son’s who graduated from SU last year, said Robinson had the ability to enter a room and immediately become everyone’s friend “because he was so energetic and ready to talk to everyone.”

“He was just an overall good person,” Quow said. “It’s hard to find anything bad to say about Justin.”

[email protected] | @michaelburke47

from page 1

robinson

as the committee has been preparing for the series without Gray’s assistance and is cur-rently finalizing speakers for the next series, but added that she plans to bring up the topic to the committee for further discussion.

Michael Henesey, administrator for com-munications for SCSD, said in an email that the district would have high interest in rees-tablishing this relationship with SU, adding that “having the lecturers visit the schools and speak with students sounds awesome.”

Gray said creating close personal relation-ships with particular school members who are passionate about their kids is the only way to foster the development between SU and the local schools. The extra leg-work involved with bringing these groups together is a heavy load, she said, because the teachers

don’t get paid more to put these events on, and the committee has to ask speakers if they are willing to do something extra for free.

Despite budget cuts from both SU and SCSD, Gray said she continued working with the Fayette-Manlius district, because one teacher, Carol Borg, continued to reach out. Over the last 15 years, 12 University Lecture speakers have spoken at Eagle Hill Middle School, and Keltner makes 13.

Borg said she builds lesson plans in the summer around the speaker series. Her students read excerpts from the speakers’ books, research speakers’ biographies, write essays based on what they learned and pre-pare questions for the speaker’s visit.

Borg said she will never forget the 2012 visit from world-renowned author and environmentalist Terry Tempest Williams. When Williams spoke of her mother’s battle with cancer, Borg said she could “hear a pin

drop” in the giant auditorium at Eagle Hill. “It takes an individual teacher or indi-

vidual administrator to reach out, and with the pressures that most teacher and admin-istrators are under these days, no one is going to do this,” Borg said. “It takes a lot of effort, a lot of time and you don’t get paid extra for it. When you have New York state breathing down your neck, no one has time for it.”

She mentioned that one person, Carol Terry, did have time for it. It was her job. Terry retired in November 2011, but acted as the field coordinator for fine arts for SCSD. She would work with local school districts and cultural institutions to bring the kids to museums, galleries and speakers.

Terry orchestrated grant money and acted as a liaison between SU and SCSD. She called it a “once great partnership.”

“Once we established a good working

relationship, we had teachers and principals knocking at the door, asking ‘When can my kids go? When can my kids go?” Terry said. “We had the main factor, which was trans-portation. There were times when we had over 1,000 kids from the Syracuse City School District packed into Hendricks Chapel.”

The relationship ended for a variety of factors, Terry said. Funding for transporta-tion stopped, the then-superintendent left and she retired.

Terry added that kids not only learned from the speakers, but were able to experience what it was like to be on a college campus and see firsthand what higher education was like.

SU to many kids, Terry said, is a “mysti-cal place on the hill,” and with high school graduation rates hovering near 50 percent, she said it gave kids a chance to see what their futures could be like.

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from page 3

partnership

By Alex Erdekian asst. web editor

Sally Roesch Wagner has been arrested twice for civil disobedience while dressed up as suffragist

Matilda Joslyn Gage. Once, demonstrating at the

Seneca Army Depot to protest the sending of missiles to Europe, as a “birthing gift” to her grand-son. The next time, at the Nevada Test Site because they were test-ing nuclear weapons on Native American land. Both charges were dropped, ultimately.

Wagner, a Syracuse University adjunct professor at the Reneé Crown Honors Program, has been impersonating women’s move-ment leaders for 38 years. She started with Gage — Wagner’s historical hero and a suffragist from Fayetteville, New York, who was largely written out of his-tory — and 10 years later, she took on Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She has performed for a variety of audiences including kindergart-ners, the Nebraska and Missouri legislatures and Stanton’s great-granddaughter. Wagner has been involved in feminism and activ-ism since her college days.

Wagner’s first time pretend-ing to be Gage was when she was working on her doctoral disserta-tion — as a holder of a bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychol-ogy, she wanted to be able to walk around in Gage’s skin and better understand what made her tick.

“Sometimes what people are doing looks nuts from the outside, but it may make a lot of internal sense,” Wagner said.

She walked into a class she was teaching and asked her students what they would ask Gage if they had the chance. Their hands shot up, and instead of answering the questions by listing off facts, she responded to them in character.

The act was an instant hit and took off from there, with Wagner eventually performing at college campuses all over the country. She said the appeal of the imper-

sonation for students is the abil-ity to engage firsthand with the material. Instead of listening to a teacher repeat a script, by ask-ing an actor questions, students get to participate in retrieving a piece of history and own what they learn, Wagner said.

“As an activist, my interest is in telling the story and in inspir-ing through the story to change the world,” Wagner said.

There’s no way to know for sure what a feminist icon like Stanton would think about wom-en’s issues today, such as the pos-sibility of a woman being elected president, but Wagner allows the opportunity to ask her when she goes into character.

“Could a woman be president by 2016?” she repeated incred-ulously after being asked. “My dear, I can imagine there have been a dozen women presidents by 2016 … I myself announced my candidacy for Congress. And then Belva Lockwood actually ran in 1884. So,” she said with a chuckle, “I think your vision is very lim-ited my dear. I think by 2016, we will have seen a string of women presidents, and it will be so com-monplace that no one will even mention it.”

Wagner’s contributions to modern feminism include much more than her performances. She was one of the first women to be awarded a doctorate in women’s studies, which she received at the University of California Santa Cruz, and she founded one of the first women’s studies programs in the United States at California State University Sacramento.

It was her fascination with Gage that pushed her to transi-tion from the field of psychology to women’s studies. Wagner first learned about Gage through her mother, whose good friend was Gage’s granddaughter.

Wagner said she connected with Gage — who she described as “this woman I’ve been stalk-ing for the majority of my adult life” — most strongly because she

SALLY ROESCH WAGNER received a doctorate in women’s studies from the University of California Santa Cruz. She was one of the first people ever to be awarded this honor. Now she works as an adjunct professor in the Reneé Crown Honors Program at Syracuse University. drew osumi staff photographer

Editor’s note: In light of Women’s History Month, this four-part series looks into how Syracuse women have contributed to the fight for equality.


PPULP

IN CHARACTERWOMEN’S SERIES PART 3 OF 4

SU adjunct professor impersonates suffragist leaders to educate students

see wagner page 10

was ahead of her time and her ideas have had staying power. She cited Gage’s stance on abortion, which was extremely radical for the 19th century: “For a woman to birth an unwanted child is a crime against the mother and a sin against the soul of the child.”

When Wagner first arrived at SU as the Jeanette K. Watson distinguished visiting pro-fessor in women’s studies in 1997, she quickly became involved in Gage’s local history. Gage lived in Onondaga County her entire life and in her home in Fayetteville from 1854 to 1898.

It was Gage’s geographical ties that moti-vated Wagner to permanently relocate to Syra-cuse in 1999 and found the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation. In 2010, the foundation finished restoring Gage’s home into a historical land-mark. Since, Wagner has stepped down as the director of the Gage Foundation, and is now working on a project to digitize Gage’s writing,

making it accessible. The roots of Wagner’s passion for feminism

and activism go back to when she was a college student in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Wagner said many of the women’s issues she and her peers struggled with as a student in col-lege are still present as ever on campuses today, particularly sexual assault.

She said one of the ways her and her female friends coped with it was by having intimate discussions about their experiences being sexu-ally violated. These conversations empowered them, helping them find solidarity and under-stand that victims were not to blame.

“We realized that we weren’t messed up — we were messed over,” Wagner said.

She recounted a time in college when her and her female peers from a political club chose to confront one of their fellow club members for battering his girlfriend, who ended up hospital-ized. They publicly surrounded him, told him that they knew what he did, and said they would no longer be working with him.

In 2003, Gena Gompert met Wagner when she was at CSU Sacramento writing her thesis on activism in Sacramento in the 1960s. She interviewed Wagner for her thesis and collected even more stories showing Wagner’s boldness in confrontation.

Wagner told Gompert about when she and some fellow feminists protested professors who were approaching female students with

“A for a lay” deals by parading through cam-pus swearing, with some of them taping giant dildos to their heads. Gompert said she loves that Wagner fights serious issues with playful humor.

Throughout the years, Gompert and Wagner have maintained a close mentor-ship, and the two are planning to create a class on 1960s activism that could be taught at both CSU Sacramento and SU. The class would entail students collecting accounts and stories of activism from the ‘60s at their own schools.

Wagner has noticed a parallel in her own generation and millennials in terms of social activism.

“We pushed some of the barriers out of the way for you, and now you’ll have to push some of the barriers out of the way for your daughters and granddaughters,” Wagner said. “But you know how to kick butt just like we knew how to kick butt.”

[email protected]


Observation of Gravitational Waves From a Binary BLACK HOLE MERGER

FOR MORE INFORMATION

EMAIL: [email protected]

CALL: (315) 445-6200

This event is free and open to the public.

In the fall of 2015, scientists from the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) measured ripples in the fabric of spacetime – gravitational waves – arriving at the earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. Peter Saulson, Ph.D., who has been engaged in the search for gravitational waves for almost 35 years, will discuss what this spectacular discovery means.

Saulson served two terms as leader of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the main group searching for gravitational waves. He is currently the Martin A. Pomerantz ’37 Professor of Physics at Syracuse University, where he has taught for 25 years. Saulson is a graduate of Harvard University and Princeton University.

MONDAY,

MARCH 217 p.m.Panasci Family Chapel Le Moyne College

Saulson’s talk will be followed by a panel discussion.

Destiny USA

music

Vampire Weekend’s split makes way for chill, original music

When my father called to tell me about Rostam Batmanglij’s new single, “Woods,” I was immedi-

ately intrigued. My dad is the musical patriarch of my

family — like the Godfather, only tall, gentle and bearded — and he zealously raised me on a diet of Violent Femmes and Neil Young until he created the monster I am today.

He informed me that Vampire Weekend co-founder Batmanglij had left the band in January to start his own songwriting career, and had recently dropped “Woods.” I decided to give it a listen, mostly because I can’t ignore the Godfather. But it was also because I needed to know if Batmanglij leaving Vampire Weekend was actually awesome like my father claimed, instead of the disaster my panicked brain thought it might be.

By the first play, I was hooked. The song

is deeply bizarre but incredibly chill, a fantastical mix of cello, bongos and violin with Batmanglij’s voice layered through-out. It sort of sounds like Bombay Bicycle Club’s “Feel,” only sleepier. I totally loved it. It was nothing like Vampire Weekend, and that was probably the point.

So many bands have fallen into the trap of splitting up, only to create music on their own that sounds pretty much exactly the same. Gwen Stefani’s No Doubt break-up resulted in no change except the lack of a band. Paramore’s split resulted in two pop-punk bands, instead of one. And I remember when Fall Out Boy’s lead singer,

Patrick Stump, attempted a “solo” career that ended in inevitable flaming failure.

For me, Vampire Weekend was solely about “Diane Young” singer Ezra Koenig. Batmanglij never even crossed my radar. He was completely swallowed by the band itself — more of a collective than an individual, hidden beneath Koenig’s general magnetism and stage presence. But Batmanglij actu-ally produced Vampire Weekend’s first two albums, and co-produced the third. Plus, he’s a rad keyboard player.

“Woods” wasn’t Batmanglij’s first venture outside of Vampire Weekend. Discovery, Bat-manglij’s side project with Syracuse’s own Ra Ra Riot, sounds like a super-synth rainbow fun party. They released their first LP back in 2009 before gently fizzling out due to the success of their own bands. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but definitely the start of something interesting.

Batmanglij also released “EOS,” a deep-ly intimate sound explosion with delicate vocal layering, on a YouTube channel with less than 2000 subscribers. It’s soft, it’s quiet, it builds. It’s nothing like Vampire Weekend and that is the beauty of it: When Batmanglij left the band, it was to create something completely different.

The good news is that the split seems amicable, and Batmanglij says he might be working with Vampire Weekend again. The better news is that Batmanglij’s songs have beautiful lyrics, beautiful sound and are all his own. And as usual, the Godfather has spoken: Batmanglij is definitely a musician to watch out for.

Emera Riley is a sophomore magazine journalism major. Her column appears

weekly in Pulp. You can email her at [email protected] or follow her on

EMERA RILEYINDIE HIPSTER MUSIC SNOB

from page 9

wagner

As an activist, my interest is in telling the story and in inspiring through the story to change the world. Sally Wagnersu adjunct professor and activist

From the

studioevery wednesday in pulp


BRIDGET TOLL played soccer until her junior year of high school when she gave it up for music. As a freshman Bandier student at Syracuse University, she has built up a fanbase on iTunes, Spotify and SoundCloud, with fans coming from as far away as China. evan jenkins staff photographer

Bridget Toll wrote an EP after being heartbroken from a past relationship

EX’S & WOESBy Joe Blosscontributing writer

The odds were one in 100. Bridget Toll was a high school senior in

Colorado, and her friends dared her to ask a new student from Switzerland to the winter dance. If Toll and her friend simultaneously blurted out the same number between one and 100, she’d have no choice but to ask the cute newcomer out.

Both girls said 73, and an embarrassed Toll offi-cially had a date to the winter ball. But when the dance came around, instead having the miserable experi-ence she expected, Toll fell in love.

The whirlwind of emotions within the blossoming and forced demise of their relationship became the inspiration behind the recent five-song EP from Bri Tolani, the freshman Bandier student’s stage name.

Released in January, the EP is titled “Reflections”, as all of its songs were thought up during Toll’s time reflecting on the different stages of her relationship with the Swiss student.

“Come Through” is the first track on the EP. Toll said it tells the story of when she and her ex met, and of that “I know we like each other” feeling she experi-enced during the dance.

The rest of the songs don’t tell as happy of a story. Once school was done for the year, the international student went back to his home country. Toll said this

left her devastated, and regret and sadness loomed over her for months. The song “Dignity” was her attempt to pretend everything was fine, when in real-ity it was not. “Undone,” the EP’s second track, reveals the half of Toll that thinks, “I wish I never met you.”

Toll is working on an album now, and said she hopes she can start to move away from the sadness when writing new songs.

Despite having released her first material as Bri Tolani less than two months ago, Toll has already built up a fan base. Her music can be found on major platforms like Spotify and iTunes, and her most popu-lar song on SoundCloud has more than 13,500 plays.

The nearly instant success isn’t too much pressure and hasn’t fazed Toll yet, and she said she’s eager to make her mark on an audience.

Toll’s brother Alex used the same word, “eager,” to describe his sister.

“She’s very talented, but can be a little impatient at times,” Alex said. “She’s so eager and enthusiastic, and really good at what she does.”

Alex produced nearly all of “Ref lections” and wrote its third track, “Echo.” He said the songs started out very acoustic but then took a more elec-tronic direction.

The acoustic roots come from Toll’s song writ-ing process. She said she tends to lay down a riff or chord progression on her guitar and the melody comes with time.

Although she loves her share of highly produced music, such as Justin Bieber’s new album, Toll said she has the most respect for acoustic artists who can make a name for themselves.

“That’s the most talent,” she said. “If you can sell out Madison Square Garden with a guitar, like Ed Sheeran, that’s impressive.”

In a perfect world, Toll said she hopes to follow in the steps of someone like Bieber or Sheeran with a career as a musician. It would be a long time coming for Toll, who said she does not even remember when she started singing, although she joked that her par-ents said she could sing before she could talk.

Toll even saw some worldwide success before she became known as Bri Tolani. She said her biggest fan base comes from China, when in 2013, she covered Bieber’s “Nothing Like Us.” To her surprise, people from the other side of the globe began making covers of her cover.

But for most of her life, music wasn’t everything for Toll. Growing up, she was a competitive soccer player. It wasn’t until her junior year of high school that she chose to pursue singing instead of soccer.

But now, as Bri Tolani, she said she made the right choice.

“I get this feeling when I sing that doesn’t happen when I do anything else,” she said. “When I do it, I’m so happy, I’m so focused and I don’t want to stop.”

[email protected]


softball

Andrea Bombace thrives as role player for OrangeBy Matt Feldmanstaff writer

Johanna Grauer’s barrage of fastballs held Syracuse scoreless through five and a third innings on Saturday.

That was, until Orange slugger Corinne Ozanne took one deep with two outs in the sixth. The home run cut No. 13 UCLA’s lead to one and the SU coaching staff knew the Bruins hurler would vary her pitches.

“We figured (Grauer) was going to a curveball at some point,” hitting coach Alisa Goler said, “She had to make a change.”

To start the seventh inning, Syracuse called on freshman Andrea Bombace to pinch hit. An exceptional curveball hitter according to Goler, Bombace belted a 2-0 curveball over the center-field wall to tie the game at two.

“(UCLA) hadn’t seen (Bombace) in the game before,” Syracuse head coach Mike Bosch said, “They didn’t know how to throw to her, so we took a shot.”

“Yay for us, for guessing that one,” Goler joked.

In her first year with the Orange (8-9), Bombace is tied with Ozanne for the most home runs on the team with three, and has the second highest slugging percentage at .727. As what Goler calls the “epitome” of a role player, Bombace has to be versatile enough for a mul-titude of roles at any time. Often, she’s called on to pinch hit in tough situations or to fill a spot as a designated hitter for a game.

“A lot of times, with the freshmen, we match them up against pitchers that

they’re going to be successful against,” Goler said, “You don’t want them to be in a situation where they’re overmatched.”

That said, Bosch knows that Bombace can hit in almost any situation and usually make something happen.

“Just like every player, we find roles that they are going to be successful in,” Bosch said.

In the first month of this season, Bom-bace has strived as a pinch hitter. She has pinch hit in six of the Orange’s 12 games this season, and has become one of the Orange’s go-to hitters off the bench. In one-at-bat situations, the freshman is hit-ting .333. In games where she gets two or more at-bats, she is hitting just .188.

Bombace said that when she’s called on to pinch hit, she has to prepare by inserting herself in her teammates’ positions.

“Before I get up, I ask teammates, ‘What pitches have you been seeing, and where in the count?’” Bombace said.

As singular as pinch hitting may seem, Bombace relies heavily on her teammates for support and guidance at the plate.

Before her plate appearance against UCLA, junior Sydney O’Hara told the freshman not to swing for the fences or try to do too much. Instead, Bombace said, she told her to relax and be herself.

“I love that I have my teammates there to keep me humble, and keep me ready for any sit-uation,” Bombace said, “It’s not like it’s just me up there hitting, it’s like it’s the whole team.”

[email protected]

The moment is big and the stakes are high, but Gbinije doesn’t let it consume him.

“I’ve been very lucky to have worked with the players that I’ve worked with. But there’s very few people that when they go through an hour-long workout don’t waste any reps,” SU assistant coach Gerry McNamara said. “And this kid, in any practice or workout we’ve ever done, he’s done everything to the full extent of his work.”

Gbinije is not the type of person that goes into a shell after a loss. He won’t hang his head or mumble one-word answers to the press.

After a loss to Pittsburgh in December he joked with a reporter that he was glad he asked about Tyler Lydon passing up open shots. When the Orange lost to Miami in January, he retold a conversation he had with a referee that made him angry to a media scrum. When SU lost to UNC on Feb. 29, moments after his bad decision possibly cost his team a game, he was stable enough to explain the thought process.

The senior said he likes to take time to reflect on every game. It comes after the team talks following a win or a loss. And it comes after he talks to the press. It comes in what he calls “solo time.” A time when he thinks about the game on his own terms.

He’s struggled, shooting 13-for-36 over a three-game stretch. He’s shot 11-for-18 and scored 34 points in a heroic senior day game against North Carolina State. Through his difficulties and his best games, he’s kept the same mental process.

“I’ve been hard on myself in the past,” Gbinije said. “Now I’m just kind of, I don’t know, I’m just a positive guy in general. I like to reflect.”

McNamara thinks that Gbinije’s entire season has been looked over because the Orange isn’t perched near the top of the ACC standings. But in terms of scoring, Gbinije has seen the most consistent suc-

cess of anyone in the conference.He’s done it adapting to a new position. He’s

done it meticulously watching freshman Frank Howard in practice, because Howard has five more years of experience as a point guard. He’s done it by sometimes sacrificing a shot-first mentality to be the captain of an offense.

“It was the hardest thing to get the con-fidence to go with his skills,” Frank Gbinije said. “Knowing what he’s capable of and the type of talent he has, it took him a while. … It really was a slow start and a slow build up.”

A year at Duke where he played just 111 minutes. A year on the bench preparing to be the backup point guard. A year coming off the bench. A year showing he had poten-tial to be a team’s best player.

Now he’s living in a final year where he’s the center of attention. And he can’t be blamed for letting the NBA talk go in one ear and out the other.

Just two days before Syracuse was set to take on N.C. State on senior day, Gbinije was finishing shootaround in the Melo Center. The team was about to start practice. Tyler Lydon was finishing his practice shots. So too was Trevor Cooney on the other end of the court.

Gbinije, though, was lining up opposite walk-on Evan Dourdas, taking him one-on-one to the hoop, the biggest smile on both of their faces. There was Gbinije, the star, the potential future NBA talent. And there was Dourdas, who sometimes travels to road games and watches from the second row of the bench in the Carrier Dome.

Gbinije would take him off the dribble and then Dourdas would attempt to do the same. Amid a season where he’s the center of attention, Gbinije doesn’t act bigger than any person or any moment. He’s been that irrel-evant player before, but now he’s continuing to establish his legacy as a Syracuse great.

“I do like the sound of that, I can’t lie,” Gbinije said. “I’m living so much in the moment.”

[email protected] | @SamBlum3

from page 16

gbinije

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women’s lacrosse

‘Paige’s Pack’ follows celebration style of MonmouthBy Sam Fortierasst. copy editor

Gary Gait suggested a funeral.All season long a group of seven redshirt

players had embraced their roles on their bench and taken it upon themselves to cre-ate entertaining goal celebrations for their teammates. There’d been pantomimes of volleyball, a catwalk and one occasion when one player spotted her teammate pretending to struggle bench-pressing her lacrosse stick.

Syracuse’s head coach, his players remem-bered, shared a bunch of ideas. He wanted them to act out a grieving procession at the end of a game when the Orange held a sizeable lead with little time left. He introduced the idea of props, bringing a blanket and book to tuck a player in or mats for their yoga routine. None of the suggestions have happened yet, but the players aren’t ruling it out.

It started when the redshirts, who rarely remove their warm-ups during games, were celebrating one of their team’s 26 goals on opening weekend. Freshmen Jackie Hingre and Mary Rahal ran up and down the side-line giving, as many teams do, simple high-fives. That’s when redshirt sophomore Paige

Rogers turned to her teammates.“I feel like some teams might get in trou-

ble if they were doing it,” Rogers said two weeks later. “But I think we make it fun for the team and bring the energy up.”

The bench has grown, evolving from a “Paige’s Pack” GroupMe to over 50 choreo-graphed routines, even receiving props from the nationally known Monmouth men’s bas-ketball bench. They need all the ideas they can get as No. 3 Syracuse (6-1) has scored the most goals nationwide this season with 98.

“Our bench takes (supporting the team)

pretty seriously,” Gait said. “That crew … shows that they’re into the game and they’re willing to produce, memorize them for the players on the field. They appreciate what they do.”

The Pack carves out practice time, usually 30 to 40 minutes before a game. Rogers, who’s developed into the director, helps rehearse the lineup, written in black Sharpie on a Gatorade cup torn and smoothed into a makeshift scroll.

Pack member Cara Quimby’s favorite is the yoga routine which ends with the popular dance move “the dab.” The freshman midfielder said the bench stars the celebrations their team-mates like and scribbles out the ones they don’t.

“(After goals) we touch sticks then I’m right to Paige’s Pack to see what they’re about to do,” senior Mallory Vehar said. “… I love it. It’s hilarious and it gets everyone on and off the field excited.”

Vehar didn’t play much in a blowout win over Marist on Feb. 21, instead making a guest appearance with Paige’s Pack. She tapped one teammate pretending to be a domino and sent all seven players to the ground.

Syracuse’s sideline followed the Monmouth basketball bench in turning joyous reaction into orchestrated artistry after the Hawks Sistine Chapel-ed their way into the nation-

al spotlight. Their moves — LeBron James impersonations, using teammates legs as scis-sors and pretending to aggressively eat cereal — brought Monmouth’s Twitter account more than 16,000 followers, four times as many as the basketball team’s account.

For now, Monmouth is only a goal. SU’s bench Twitter has 72 followers.

“We don’t want to take any of their ideas,” Rogers said. “We want to do our own thing, but we definitely would think about collab-ing with them. That’d be sick.”

Despite Gait’s support, he said he hasn’t seen many celebrations this season because he’s focused on his next substitutions. Against Florida, after a Nicole Levy goal, Gait pumped his fist and turned back up the sideline. He nearly tripped over two redshirt players on their knees who were vigorously arm wrestling. He paused, nodded, took two steps to the right and continued.

The day also included celebrations of curling, canoeing and, Rogers’ favorite, the bench press. For seven players on the side-line this season, it’s their contribution.

“It’s trial and error,” Rogers said. “We’ll keep making ‘em better.”

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from page 16

previewthe Panthers come in on a two-game losing streak. Pitt closed the regular season with two road losses to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech after an impressive home win over Duke. The Panthers won just three of their final nine con-ference games, with its best wins this season coming over the aforementioned Duke, Syra-cuse (twice) and on the road to Notre Dame.

The Panthers boast a strong inside pres-ence with Jamel Artis, who has scored 39 combined points against SU this season, and

Michael Young, who leads the team with 16.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. They also have a senior point guard in James Robinson that averages in double-figures.

How Syracuse beats PittsburghIt’s been a tricky formula for the Orange this season, but in both games, Syracuse has kept the game close only to see it unravel in the final five minutes. The Orange needs to find a way to make it a 40-minute effort and they need to find a way to keep Roberson involved. He was a total non-factor in the last loss, and against a team with Young and Artis,

that won’t fly. He needs to crash the defen-sive glass hard — Pitt typically dominates the offensive boards — and be a presence defensively. The Panthers matchup well with Syracuse defensively, so connecting on early 3-pointers and playing like the season is on the line — which it is — will be the key to get-ting the “win-and-they’re-in” victory.

Stat to KnowPittsburgh is hoping that it’s 20-10 record is enough to get it in the NCAA Tournament. However, what that number doesn’t show is that Pittsburgh played the 13th toughest

schedule out of the 15 ACC teams. The same goes for the nonconference schedule, where the Panthers are also No. 13 out of 15 teams.

Player to WatchArtis has been the big scorer and best player against Syracuse this season. It’s always hard to beat a team three times in one year, but if Artis plays the way he has against the Orange, it will be way more likely. He’s a big man that can step out and hit a 3. He rebounds well and is the team’s all around toughest player. Beating Pittsburgh starts with beating Artis.

[email protected] | @SamBlum3

We don’t want to take any of their ideas. We want to do our own thing, but we definitely would think about collab-ing with them. That’d be sick.Paige Rogerssu defender

march 9, 2016 15 dailyorange.com [email protected]

tennis

Dina Hegab adjusts from clay to hard courts in USBy Matthew Gutierrezstaff writer

Everything seemed new for Dina Hegab. She arrived at Syracuse from Egypt in January and her adjustment has been smooth.

Almost 6,000 miles away from home, Hegab has had to acclimate to college classes, meet new friends and compete in Division I tennis.

But the freshman has also had to transition from the red clay courts she’s played on all her life to the hard courts that are dominant in the United States. And just past the midway point in the season, she’s made the transition seam-lessly, budding as one of No. 24 Syracuse’s (8-3, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) most consistent players with an 8-2 singles record thus far.

In Hegab’s first match at SU, she posted a 6-4, 6-3 win. She didn’t have her best game, but she won handily in back-to-back sets. It was the first of eight consecutive matches she’d win to start the season.

“After that, getting that first win under her belt,” head coach Younes Limam said, “she just relaxed and started trusting her shots more. It didn’t take her a very long

time to adjust, honestly.”Unlike most sports, the surface in tennis

significantly influences style of play. Clay courts, made of densely packed crushed brick, play slower than hard courts, which means balls bounce higher and travel at slower speeds on clay courts. This makes it more difficult to deliver an unreturnable shot, so clay courts tend to facilitate longer rallies. So-called “clay-courters,” or those who play on clay-courts, typically sit a few meters behind the baseline and play through the rallies.

“It’s a combination of little things,” Limam said of the shift. “Part of it is playing a little bit closer to the baseline, having that mindset of being aggressive and being the person who dictates play.”

In Egypt, Hegab played behind the baseline in what is considered a more conservative, defensive style. At Syracuse, she must remind herself during matches to creep up toward the baseline. Hegab and Limam continue to “work a ton” on court positioning.

Team conditioning has made Hegab quick-er and more agile, traits that can separate hard court players. In Egypt, she’d sometimes slide

on the clay to hit a ball and rise back to her feet in one continuous motion. On hard courts, however, she can’t slide without severely scraping her skin. Instead she runs in quick bursts, then plants when changing direction.

“When I first came, I was a little bit wor-ried to get an ankle sprain or something,” Hegab said. “But I was just careful. It takes time to not slide, but now I’m fine.”

At one point in a 6-1, 6-2 win against Boston College last month, Hegab fired six backhands in a row. The point grew into a long rally akin to a typical point on clay courts, but after more than 10 full seconds, Hegab spun and smacked a forehand winner by Heini Salonen.

Back home, she may have continued the rally with another backhand. Her risky shot that landed just a foot or two from the sideline high-lights how she’s acclimated to the new surface.

Like Hegab, Limam grew up playing on clay courts in Africa and appreciates Hegab’s plight as well as anybody. He was a member of the Moroccan Junior National Team from 1994 to 1998, when he played on clay courts.

“It could be a little bit challenging,” Limam said. “Just the conditions, like how slower or faster the courts are. There are a lot of elements. The ball could be a little bit heavier, the court could be a little faster.”

Hegab estimates it took about two weeks to get comfortable with the new surface. At first, she played “tight.” Although she dropped her first two singles matches of the season last weekend, she is improving her “feel” for the new surface.

“She’s very coachable and very smart on the court,” Limam said. “It’s a process and she’s going in the right direction. I think college tennis is only going to help her transition into a higher level after that.”

[email protected]

adding more weight. The 6-foot-2, 207-pound senior defender has added 26 pounds since his freshman year. He’s now as equipped to handle the varying types of players he has to defend.

“It’s a little different … You have to be ready for anything,” McDermott said of shifting from a cover defender to a crease defender. “I wouldn’t say it’s really an adjustment, maybe it’s a different mindset.”

Instead of prioritizing opposing attacks’ go-to dodges while scouting before games, McDermott is now prioritizing which hand they prefer to shoot with and how they tend

to get open without the ball.McDermott started all but one game last

season and his versatility has kept him in the starting lineup. While Mullins (nine) and Mel-len (seven) lead the Orange in caused turnovers, their aggressive styles have meant McDermott needs to play more conservative. He needs to make sure the defense communicates so its rotations are timed correctly and opponents don’t get clean looks at the net.

“He’s kind of that quiet defenseman out there that no one really talks about too much,” Desko said.

One of McDermott’s only noticeable plays of the season came on Feb. 28 against Army. After the Black Knights cut SU’s lead to just one

midway though the third quarter, a Warren Hill save allowed McDermott to carry the ball up the field and start the offensive possession. The Orange slowed the game down, though, and didn’t attempt a shot for over a minute.

McDermott didn’t record a stat in the box score. The clear didn’t lead to a goal. But it was another solid play by a player whose built his reputation that way.

From second grade until sixth, McDer-mott played midfield, but always played more defensive-minded. When he moved to defense full time in seventh grade, he put together the skills that have come to define him.

“I was never the fastest guy, I was never the strongest guy, I was never the smartest

guy. But I was relatively fast, relatively strong and relatively smart,” McDermott said. “I just figured if I could put it all together and try and grow with each one, I may not have a certain strength but I can always be relevant.”

McDermott’s versatility is what makes him a strong fit alongside Mullins and Mellen. It’s what eases Desko’s concerns amid the gauntlet of SU’s schedule, which features six ranked opponents. And it’s what’s helped Mullins and Mellen play the roles that suit them best.

“Jay’s an all-around player. He can guard any type of player,” Mellen said. “He can cover strong guys, he can cover fast guys. He really does everything well.”

[email protected] | @pschweds

from page 16

mcdermott

8-2Hegab, a freshman from Egypt, is

8-2 in singles play this season while adjusting from clay courts to

hard courts.

men’s lacrosse

SU D-pole adjusts to new roleMcDermott shifts to crease defender as 2nd-year starter

By Paul Schwedelsonasst. sports editor

Brandon Mullins is the big, physical defender known for bullying attacks using his body. Nick Mellen is the small, shifty defender known for keeping up with attacks using his feet.

Fellow starting defender Jay McDermott doesn’t fit a proto-type. He has enough strength to push players out and enough quickness to not get burned. But none of McDermott’s skills stand out so much to give him a defined role on the defense the way Mullins and Mellen do.

That makes McDermott the right complement on No. 3 Syra-cuse’s (4-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) defense, which has allowed just 8.25 goals per game this season, 15th best in the country.

“It’s very comforting going into every game with matches against opponents’ attackmen that we’ve got one person that can cover anyone,” Orange head coach John Desko said.

Entering this season, Mellen slid into the lineup as a freshman with a specific skill set. McDer-mott, who is sufficient at nearly every aspect but not great in any one thing, switched from defend-ing opponents’ shifty dodgers to defending opponents’ attacks that set up in front of the crease. Through four games, McDermott, who prides himself on his smarts and versatility, is the only start-ing defender without a penalty.

After starter Sean Young graduated in the spring, Mellen impressed McDermott as soon as he got on campus. McDermott knew immediately that Mellen would fit best in the role he had himself in 2015. That meant McDermott would have to fill a different spot.

To compensate for his new tasks, McDermott continued

MICHAEL GBINIJE is playing the best basketball of his career this season and has one last shot to leave his mark in a Syracuse uniform. That journey begins Wednesday, when Gbinije and Syracuse face Pitt. sam maller staff photographer

Michael Gbinije enters 1st and final meaningful postseasonBy Sam Blum senior staff writer

F rank Gbinije is always thinking about what his son can do to get to the

next level. He’ll look at Michael Gbinije’s stats and keep up with the draft boards. He’ll tell Michael point blank what he thinks he needs to average in different statistical categories. He’ll admit that he believes Michael is more suited to be an NBA shooting guard as opposed to the point guard role he adopt-ed at the outset of this season.

Michael, by nature, would rather remain blissfully unaware. He’s fully wrapped

up in a college career that will last anywhere from another week to another month. And the continuously ticking 106-day clock that separates him from his professional future is another world away for him.

“At some point, you know what’s right or wrong as an indi-vidual,” Gbinije said. “So some-times, I’ll listen. And if I like it, I’ll keep it in my mind. And if not, it’ll go in one ear and out the other.”

He knows the importance of the approaching postseason, but doesn’t seem consumed by it. In his five-year college career, he’s been to the bottom rung of relevance in a sport he’s grown to be a star in.

It’s a career that started with a diminished role as a Duke reserve. It continued with a transfer year on the bench. It was altered with a change in posi-tions. And now it’s culminating

in one dominant senior season. The 23-year-old has put away the inconsistencies that once defined his career and has completely redefined it in the past 31 games.

Game No. 32, when Syracuse (19-12, 9-9 Atlantic Coast) takes on Pittsburgh (20-10, 9-9) in the second round of the ACC tourna-ment on Wednesday, will be the biggest of his career. It may be the game that decides whether a sea-son in which Gbinije has scored at least 10 points in every game, continues into the NCAA Tour-nament. It may be the game that decides whether his stardom gets to be viewed on college basket-ball’s most important stage.

men’s basketball

Opponent preview: What you should know about PittBy Sam Blumsenior staff writer

Syracuse (19-12, 9-9 Atlantic Coast) faces Pittsburgh (20-10, 9-9) in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament on Wednesday at noon in Washington, D.C. The No. 9-seed Orange is look-ing to secure an NCAA Tournament bid and a win over the No. 8-seed Panthers would likely do the trick. But a loss will leave Syracuse biting

its collective nails all the way to Selection Sunday.

Like the Orange, Pittsburgh is squarely on the bubble. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has both teams just ahead of the “Last Four In”, all of whom will play in Dayton to make the field of 64. Here’s everything you need to know about Wednesday’s crucial game.

All-Time SeriesWednesday will mark the 109th meeting between Pittsburgh and

Syracuse. The Orange leads the all-time series 65-43. SU has lost the last four meetings.

Last Time They PlayedSyracuse last played Pittsburgh less than three weeks ago, and lost 66-52 on Feb. 20 in the Car-rier Dome. Tyler Lydon scored 21 points for Syracuse, but Trevor Cooney, Michael Gbinije, Tyler Roberson and Malachi Richardson combined for just 19 points.

“We have to make shots if we’re going to be successful,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said after the loss. “We’re not doing that right now.”

Syracuse took a one-point lead on a Lydon 3-pointer with 8:42 to play, but the Panthers closed the game on a 24-9 run after that.

The Pittsburgh ReportLike Syracuse, Pittsburgh is right on the bubble. And like Syracuse,

see gbinije page 12

see preview page 14 see mcdermott page 15

8 PITTSBURGH VS. 9 SYRACUSEdailyorange.com @dailyorange march 9, 2016 • PAGE 16

SSPORTS

wednesday, noon, espn

He’s kind of that quiet defenseman out there that no one really talks about too much.John Desko su head coach

top of his game

Michael Gbinije has progressed over his career and is now shining as a fifth-year senior at SU, averaging 17.6 points per game this season.

points per game

11-12

13-14

14-15

15-16

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ar

1.7

3.4

12.7

17.6

March 9, 2016

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