The Daily Orange

Three Syracuse University men's basketball players have been cleared by a SU judicial affairs board of charges they sexually assaulted a female student last fall. Jonny Flynn, Antonio "Scoop" Jardine, and Rick Jackson - all rising sophomores on the basketball team - and a fourth male SU student were cleared of the charges after their case was presented to a judicial panel Monday, Jackson's lawyer, Michael Vavonese, said Friday.

An Onondaga County grand jury has decided not to pursue criminal prosecution against three players on the Syracuse men's basketball team, an SU spokesman said Saturday. Jonny Flynn, Antonio "Scoop" Jardine and Rick Jackson - all rising sophomores - testified Friday in a grand jury hearing investigating the alleged sexual assault of a female student last year.

A legendary football talent and civil rights pioneer, Ernie Davis' story has long been a part of Syracuse lore. Now, Universal Pictures and Syracuse University have struck a deal to make sure the movie chronicling Davis life will premiere in Syracuse. "The Express" will premiere at the Landmark Theater on Salina Street in downtown Syracuse on Sept.

Todd Reynolds' work was innovative, and his research important. But above all, it was personal. The post-doctoral fellow at Syracuse University's Center on Human Policy, Law and Disability Studies, died at his home on Sunday due to natural causes. He was 37 years old.

Three high-ranking officials in Syracuse University's Division of Student Affairs have been removed from their positions, multiple sources have told The Daily Orange. Anastasia Urtz, associate vice president and dean of students, Jeannette Steffes, associate vice president for student affairs, and Juanita Williams, associate dean of students, were terminated by the university last week, according to sources close to the situation.

JUNE 4 -- A memorial service was held in Newhouse III Tuesday for Alex Taft, a recent Syracuse University graduate who was killed in an automobile accident on May 29. The 28-year-old, who received his master's degree in television, radio and film this year, was driving to Los Angeles on Thursday.

Syracuse University filled another hole in its line of deanships. George Langford was named the next dean of Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences, as announced Friday by Eric Spina, Syracuse University vice chancellor and provost. The appointment of Langford, a noted neuroscientist and dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, ended the six month search by SU.

A fire started on the front porch of the second floor of 742 Euclid Ave. at approximately 3 a.m. Wednesday, as seven students slept in the house. Four people on the first floor and three people on the second floor had been sleeping when the fire started and spread through the second floor and attic.

For the first time in more than 100 years, an external candidate was given the position of dean of Syracuse University's L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science. Laura Steinberg will start in the position Aug. 1, after a 10-month dean search, said Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina.

For the 2009-2010 academic year, fall semester classes will end a day later, pushing reading days and final examinations to the Monday of that week, rather than Friday of the previous week. This is the only change for that year's academic calendar, which was released Tuesday by the Academic Calendar Committee (ACC).

Syracuse University alumnus Abdallah H. Yabroudi recently pledged $5 million to create the Abdallah H. Yabroudi Endowed Professorship, which will finance the recruitment of a specialized faculty position in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, according to the SU Web site.

The scientist who was the first to have his own genome mapped will speak at Syracuse University's Life Sciences Complex dedication ceremony in November. J. Craig Venter was chosen by a group of faculty in the life sciences department with the goal of inviting a speaker who has something engaging and provocative to say, said Cathryn Newton, dean of The College of Arts and Sciences.

The red, brick building stands at the corner of a bustling intersection on the edge of Armory Square. Once known as the Hotel Victor, it was a nightly home for prostitutes and their suitors. For a time, it sat crumbling at its foundation like so many surrounding buildings.

When Barbara Stivenson tried to bring flowers to the hospitalized wife of a co-worker, she found out the hospital doesn't allow flowers in the rooms of leukemia patients. "I brought flowers, but when someone has leukemia, the pesticides in flowers would hurt them because you strip the immune system down to nothing," Stivenson said.

Sixteen undergraduates from across Central and upstate New York will join the Martin J. Whitman School of Management for the second annual Summer Experience in Business for Undergraduates (SEBU) program - and not one of them is a business student. Whitman offers a two-week "mini-MBA," providing free room, board, transportation and an additional $1,000 to participating students, said Melvin Stith, the dean of Whitman.