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Looking back
NY-22 campaign finance
The NY-22 election could flip a House seat, bringing national attention to the central New York race. Here’s where the two candidates stand.
From the federal CHIPS and Science Act to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Biden administration policies have directly impacted Syracuse.
The race between John Mannion and Brandon Williams has commanded millions of dollars from organizations and individuals nationwide.
War from afar
Since the Israel-Hamas war started, SU students have been impacted by their families’ experiences in the conflict
flynn ledoux illustration editor By Julia Boehning
O news editor
n the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, as Mikah Bein laid in her dorm room bed relaxing for fall break, she received a text in her family WhatsApp group chat. Bein’s mother told her a war had broken out in Israel — home to a majority of her family, including her sister and father. Because she had grown accustomed to hearing stories of conflicts throughout the region, Bein said she didn’t initially realize the severity of the situation. “In my head, I was like, ‘OK, another war.’ It’s something that, unfortunately, is very casual, and I didn’t really understand how escalated it was,” Bein said. “It wasn’t until maybe a few hours later when we realized what had actually happened.”
On that day, Hamas launched an attack on an Israeli music festival, reportedly killing around 1,200 civilians and taking around 250 hostage. In response, Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza, marking the start of the current Israel-Hamas war. A little over a year after Oct. 7, around 1,200 Israelis and over 41,000 Palestinians have died in the war. As the world watches the war on the news, several Syracuse University students — including Bein — feel its impact through firsthand accounts from family living in Israel and Gaza. Many told The Daily Orange they’ve struggled to balance student life over the past year while knowing their loved ones are suffering thousands of miles away. One Palestinian-American SU senior — who requested not to be named due to concerns for her safety on-campus — said she also first heard about the Oct. 7 attacks through her
family’s WhatsApp group chat. She was sitting on the couch with family and friends, celebrating her brother’s birthday, when the messages came in. As texts recounting the events after the initial attack flooded in from family members — describing missiles and gunfire — the student said she initially didn’t consider it “out of the ordinary.” She said that because she’s had family in the West Bank for most of her life, she was used to hearing stories of military campaigns and violence. The severity of the current conflict began to hit home in the week following the attack, she said. The senior’s thenpregnant sister and her husband, who were living with their in-laws in the West Bank, told her the Israel Defense Forces had begun patrolling their neighborhood. In one instance, while they were on the phone, soldiers entered and searched her sister’s home, she said. see war page 6
on campus
SU’S DEIA forum discusses efforts toward inclusivity on campus By Duncan Green asst. news editor
During Syracuse University’s biannual diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility forum, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Mary Grace A. Almandrez discussed SU’s most recent efforts to foster a sense of belonging on campus. Almandrez introduced strategies to create a more inclusive campus. The forum also highlighted updates to
the Office of Diversity and Inclusions’ most recent projects, followed by an interactive workshop brainstorming ways to build welcoming environments. The event opened with an update on new initiatives and activities within the ODI. Almandrez told the audience that students and faculty decide to leave academic institutions when they no longer feel they belong to the community. “It’s really important that the Office of Diversity and Inclusion shows up,”
Almandrez said. “We cannot just show up in moments of crisis … we need to show up consistently, and we need to engage with our community on an ongoing basis.” Almandrez shared ODI’s three challenges for the fall semester: Be responsive, move from being intuitive to intentional and try to look at everyday routine struggles as “incredible opportunities to be dynamic.” She encouraged the audience members to consider these
thought processes when going through daily life. She proceeded to highlight some achievements made across campus in DEIA, including the completion of SU’s 14th annual Coming Back Together event — where 1,500 Black and Latine alumni returned to campus to network with current students. Almandrez also highlighted the selection of SU Rabbi Ethan Bair and Imam Amir Durić as Interfaith Innovation Scholars for their work
in building Jewish-Muslim relations on campus. “Syracuse University has a long history of inclusion,” Eboni Britt, ODI’s executive director of strategic communications and initiatives, said. “This is a long and proud legacy that we have here, and the work that we do in this office and beyond with our partners continues that legacy of inclusion across campus.” see deia page 6