Commencement 2017

Top 10 Syracuse University news stories from the past 4 years

Daily Orange Photo Staff

Here are the top 10 news moments from the past four years.

UPDATED: May 9, 2017 at 3:10 p.m.

Here’s a roundup of the biggest stories at Syracuse University and in Syracuse over the last four years — from when the Class of 2017 started freshman year in 2013 to now.

1. Kent Syverud named chancellor – Named: September 2013, Inaugurated: April 2014

09112013_n_chancellorsyverud_chasegaewski_pe350Daily Orange File Photo

Kent Syverud was named chancellor in September 2013, replacing previous chancellor Nancy Cantor, whose contract with SU ended in 2014. Upon assuming the role, Syverud said enhancing undergraduate education and experience, empowering research and turning SU into the best place for veterans to receive a college education would be his main goals.

2. Advocacy Center closing, THE General Body protests – June 2014, November 2014, respectively

110614_n_pressconference_frankieprijatek_apeFrankie Prijatel | Staff



After SU Chancellor Kent Syverud closed the university’s Advocacy Center in June 2014, THE General Body — a coalition of more than 50 student organizations — staged an 18-day sit-in inside Crouse-Hinds Hall, to protest the center’s closing and funding cuts to the POSSE program, among other issues.

3. NCAA sanctions – March 2015

The NCAA hit SU with sanctions after finding in March 2015 that SU had broken its own drug policy, provided improper academic benefits to student-athletes and had a “lack of institutional control” over the athletic department. The NCAA punished Syracuse by vacating men’s basketball team wins and suspending head coach Jim Boeheim for the first nine games of Atlantic Coast Conference play in 2015-16, among other things. The basketball program was put on probation for five years. In anticipation of the NCAA’s findings, SU self-imposed a postseason ban for the 2014-15 season.

4. SU put on lockdown – October 2015

SU was put on lockdown for about two hours on Oct. 14, 2015, as police searched for two men, believed to be armed, who were suspects in a shooting that occurred that night on Hope Avenue, which is located about two miles from campus. Zavion Escobar, a 15-year-old Syracuse resident, was killed in the shooting. Another local boy was injured.

5. Joe Biden visits SU – November 2015

Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at Syracuse.Moriah Ratner | Staff Photographer

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who at the time was still serving as VP under former President Barack Obama, visited SU in November 2015 to speak about sexual assault prevention, as part of the White House’s “It’s On Us” National Week of Action. Biden is an SU College of Law alumnus.

6. Campus Framework draft announced – June 2016

42716_n_dronephoto_willcarrara_cp_web2Will Carrara | Contributing Photographer

After 18 months of planning and campus outreach from a 17-member advisory group, Chancellor Kent Syverud released a draft of the Campus Framework plan in June 2016. The plan — a part of Syverud’s Fast Forward Syracuse initiative — serves as a 20-year guideline for physical campus development and includes plans to renovate the Schine Student Center and Bird Library and relocate South Campus housing to Main Campus.

7. Dean arrested for prostitution – September 2016

083116_p_ken_jessicasheldon_pe-17Jessica Sheldon | Photo Editor

The former dean of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, Kenneth Kavajecz, was arrested in September 2016 on a misdemeanor for patronizing a person for prostitution in the third degree. At the time of his arrest, Kavajecz was still dean of the business school. Kavajecz, whose arrest was part of a larger prostitution sting operation, is due to appear in Salina Town Court on May 25 to face the charge. His case was previously adjourned in March.

8. Donald Trump wins – November 2016

Republican presidential candidate and business mogul Donald Trump defeated Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton after months of bitter campaigning and scandals on both sides. Trump’s platform included building a wall on the U.S.’s southern border with Mexico, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act and adopting an “America First” foreign policy agenda.

9. Evangelista bylaw violations – February 2017

ericevangelista_jacobgreenfeld_ap2Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor

After a lengthy Judicial Review Board investigation, Student Association President Eric Evangelista was found guilty of violating multiple SA bylaws, including lying to university officials and the SA assembly. The investigation stemmed from his attempted appointment of Nicole Sherwood, a senior public relations major, to the position of PR co-chair without opening the position to applications from the student body.

10. Chuck’s closing – April 2017

chucks_allymoreo_pe121Ally Moreo | Photo Editor

Hungry Chuck’s, the student popular bar, closed at its original location along South Crouse Avenue in April 2017, after a lengthy legal battle between the bar’s owner and developers who are set on demolishing a number of businesses along the street to build a “mixed-use” building that will contain student apartments and retail space. Steve Theobald, Chuck’s owner, said in an April Facebook post he is “very confident” that the bar will reopen for the university’s 2017-18 academic year.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the year in which Student Association President Eric Evangelista was found guilty of violating multiple SA bylaws was misstated. Evangelista was found guilty in February 2017. The Daily Orange regrets this error.





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