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Posse program changes disappoint, empower current SU scholars

Illustration by Tony Chao | Art Director

When Posse scholars and mentors gathered at a welcome back event to celebrate the beginning of a new school year, the celebration fell short when Andria Costello Staniec, the Syracuse University Posse liaison, announced cuts to the program next year.

“Everyone started asking a lot of questions on why the program was being cut, but she couldn’t answer the questions, because she was just the messenger,” said Brittany Ortiz, a sophomore and SU Posse scholar from Miami.

The university announced about a month ago that SU would now only provide scholarships for future Posse scholars from Miami and would stop scholars from Atlanta and Los Angeles. But following a protest of the decision on Sept. 19, administrators announced they were rethinking the changes and on Monday decided to continue the Atlanta Posse for one more year.

Although the changes will not affect current Posse scholars, the uncertainty surrounding the program has strengthened the Posse community on campus.

“This experience makes us even more motivated to be known on campus and to progress in the community as a whole,” said Ryan Bolton, an Atlanta Posse scholar and freshman computer engineering major.



The Posse Foundation, which began in 1989, is a nationally based scholarship program with 51 partner colleges and universities, said Matt Fasciano, chief officer of operations at Posse in a statement. Posse’s college and university partners award four-year, full tuition leadership scholarships to outstanding high school students from nine different cities in the United States, according to the foundation’s website.

Fasciano said it is very rare for Posse to lose one of its partnerships.

“Of course we are disappointed to miss out on even a single Posse Scholarship opportunity, especially from a school that has such a fantastic track record for supporting scholars on campus,” he said in the statement. “But Syracuse is a great partner, and we are happy they are remaining part of the program and will continue to recruit scholars from Atlanta and Miami.”

SU is currently one of three schools in the country that support Posse in three cities. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is the only school that supports four Posses and the vast majority of schools only support one.

Miami will be the only Posse program to continue consistently with SU, because the university’s presence in Miami is not as strong as its presence Los Angeles or Atlanta, administrators said.

SU will no longer host new Posse scholars from Los Angeles, because there is already a strong structure to recruit students in the area. The third largest pool of applications and enrolled students at SU come from Southern California as well.

Ortiz, a television, radio and film major, said she was at the welcome back event on Sept. 4, when the SU Posse liaison, Costello Staniec, announced the changes. She said she thought that because none of the scholars’ questions could be answered about the changes, there was a lack of respect shown by administration for “underpreparing the liaison.”

“The chancellor, I feel, is trying to cut strings everywhere,” Ortiz said. “SU is cutting money in the small places where people don’t know about.”

She added that it was unfair for Posse to have to tell high school seniors they couldn’t apply to SU. Especially, she said, when they could have already made SU their top school of choice when they first applied to Posse.

Don Saleh, the first and now former Posse liaison for SU, said after working with Posse for two years and knowing these students personally, he wasn’t surprised that the scholars protested the changes.

“These are students with strong convictions and they are leaders in their communities, they are leaders on campus and they had a message they wanted heard,” he said. “I thought they found a very respectful, but powerful way of getting that message across and you know, that’s a good thing.”

Saleh, who stepped down as vice president for enrollment management at SU in July, said that it’s important for students to ensure that faculty, staff, trustees and administrators hear their voices. He added that the campus is now stronger, because there are about 90 Posse students at SU.

Donna Korol and her husband Paul Gold, both biology professors at SU, have worked with Posse for two years by co-mentoring a group of Posse students from Los Angeles. As Posse mentors, Korol and Gold meet with their scholars weekly and discuss topics such as academic skill building and identity issues. Korol meets bi-weekly with each scholar one-on-one, she said. Korol added that the family-like atmosphere within the individual Posse groups encourages a holistic approach to her mentoring.

Since the changes, Korol said she believes Posse scholars have become more driven as leaders on campus.

“I think that one good thing that has come from the cuts, is that they have made students more active and motivated,” she said. “They are finding a more clear and defined role on campus.”

Bolton, the Posse scholar from Atlanta, said the cuts have made him value what he had in Posse even more. He added that he thinks the cuts put things into perspective for students who could not attend SU without the scholarship.

“Posse gives you a group of people for support,” he said. “The entire support system is really remarkable and life-changing when you get that support. I don’t know what I would do without Posse at this point.”

CORRECTION: In the Oct. 2 article, “Posse program changes shock, empower current SU scholars,” Ryan Bolton’s major and location of where he received the scholarship were misstated. Bolton is a computer engineering major and is a posse scholar from Atlanta. The Daily Orange regrets these errors.





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