free
THURSDAY
april 9, 2015 high 54°, low 48°
t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k |
N • United front
dailyorange.com
P • Jam it out
The Graduate Student Organization met Wednesday night and voted in favor of exploring the possibility of unionization for graduate workers . Page 3
Battle of the Bands will begin on Thursday at 8 p.m. in Schine Underground. Eight bands will compete for the chance to win six hours of studio time. Page 9
S • X-factor
Ben Williams has given Syracuse lacrosse something that it hasn’t had at the X in recent years: success. His natural athleticism doesn’t hurt, either. Page 16
‘A better way of life’
KARAM JAMAL AL HAMAD is a Syrian refugee who has been arrested on four occasions for speaking out against the al-Assad regime. He currently attends the Maxwell School, and hopes to bring lessons of democracy back to Syria. frankie prijatel photo editor
Syrian refugee attends Maxwell, hopes to take knowledge back to Syria By Justin Mattingly asst. news editor
K
aram Jamal Al Hamad looks south out the window of a Syracuse hotel lobby toward the Syracuse University campus. There’s a blank look on his face. He speaks quietly, but with passion.
“(SU) might’ve known that I don’t have a passport because of what is happening in Syria,” he says. “That I am wanted by the regime.” He turns to look at the fireplace in the center of the room. The look remains the same: calm, poised and safe. He’s more than 5,000 miles away from havoc. Hamad is wanted by the Syrian government for being outspoken against the Bashar al-Assad
regime. He’s been arrested four times already. Now he’s in the U.S. and, at the age of 24, the youngest member of the Leaders for Democracy Fellowship at SU, a program based out of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He arrived on campus in late March. Hamad said past experiences have inspired
see hamad page 6
Chat & Dine program sees increased success since launch By Sam Fortier staff writer
After graduating high school, Patrick Berry worked successfully on Wall Street, returned to college for his
degree, jumped back into work for a publishing company and then attended graduate school before finally becoming a professor. Berry, an assistant professor of writing and rhetoric at Syracuse University,
led a life his students never knew about, said Johnathan McClintick, a senior English and textual studies and writing and rhetoric dual major. McClintick and five other members of the Writing Program Student Orga-
nization — to which Berry is the faculty adviser — learned about Berry’s life over a lunch sponsored by the Student Association’s Chat & Dine program. “While I regularly meet with students out of class, the event was dif-
ferent in that it provided an informal space to meet over a meal,” Berry said in an email. “It was fun for me and I suspect for students as well.” Launched in January, the program see chat
& dine page 7