Here is what you may have missed this week in The Daily Orange news:

Politicians campaign in and near Syracuse

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a campaign stop in Syracuse on Saturday ahead of the New York state primary on Tuesday. He drew a crowd of about 300 protesters as well as numerous supporters for a rally at the Nicholas J. Pirro Convention Center.

At the rally, Trump maintained what he has said repeatedly on the campaign trail about bringing jobs back to the United States and unifying the country. About 10 protesters were kicked out of the event, but no altercations became violent.

Former United States President Bill Clinton was also in Syracuse on Saturday to campaign on behalf of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Republican candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) made a stop in Cicero, which is about 15 minutes away from Syracuse, on Friday and Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) campaigned at The OnCenter on Tuesday.

Moriah Ratner | Staff Photographer

 

Leaders of Student Association’s 60th Session elected

Eric Evangelista and Joyce LaLonde were elected president and vice president, respectively, of Student Association’s 60th Session after midnight on Friday. They received 1,934 votes out of the 4,122 votes that were by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday.

Both Evangelista’s campaign and the campaign of his opponent, Charlie Mastoloni, were disciplined before elections were over. Evangelista’s campaign was fined $10 after Keelan Erhard, one of his co-campaign managers, was seen campaigning in a computer cluster.

Mastoloni’s campaign was investigated for bribery after Austin Galovski, the campaign’s manager at the time, told The Daily Orange on Tuesday that Andrew Brendel — who had been running for president — had contacted the campaign asking for a position in Mastoloni’s cabinet if Brendel dropped out and endorsed him.

Galovski’s comments launched an investigation by SA’s Judicial Review Board, and Galovski had stepped down as Mastoloni’s campaign manager by Wednesday. Mastoloni and his running mate, Jessica Brosofsky, were eventually issued a 150-vote reduction for violating bylaws stipulating that campaigns are responsible for their staff.

Riley Bunch | Photo Editor

 

Changes to elections level playing field

No students ran as write-in candidates during elections for leaders of SA’s 60th Session. This may be because SA made changes to campaign bylaws after three campaigns ran as write-ins during the 2015 cycle.

Previously, write-in candidates could give students electronic devices so they could vote for them immediately, but official candidates were not permitted to do so. Official campaigns also cannot campaign near computer clusters or hand devices to students, but students can vote for them by simply checking a box.

SA’s updated bylaws now state that write-in candidates are held to the same rules as official candidates.

Chase Guttman | Staff Photographer

 

A debunked practice continues to thrive at SU

After being introduced to Syracuse University and the United States in the late 1980s by Douglas Biklen, an SU professor, facilitated communication (FC) has become a highly controversial practice that is still supported by the university.

FC is a technique designed to help nonverbal people, such as children with autism, communicate with others. Trained communicators move the nonverbal person’s arm around the keys on a keyboard to allow them to type out messages.

Numerous experts and studies say that these communicators are actually in complete control of what is being said, although they think that they are simply assisting the nonverbal person. The practice has also led to multiple accusations of sexual assault, allegedly made by the nonverbal person through FC, which were later found unsubstantial.

Despite these findings, FC is still the cornerstone of SU’s Institute on Communication and Inclusion, which is part of the School of Education.

Chase Guttman | Staff Photographer

Published on April 17, 2016 at 9:48 pm

Contact Delaney: dovanwey@syr.edu