St. Lawrence in the News-April 11, 2022
This regular roundup features a selection of recent mentions of St. Lawrence University and its students, faculty, and staff in regional, national, and international media outlets.
Eddie Fettuccia ’24
After his father unexpectedly passed away, Eddie Fettuccia ’24 began training for the Boston Marathon to raise awareness of brain aneurysm research and support the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. His dedication and fundraising was featured by Boston-based CBS Local on April 7.
Eddie is a performance and communication arts major and history minor from Norwell Massachusetts.
Howard Eissenstat
Associate Professor of History Howard Eissenstat commented on Hungary's elections and possible lessons for Turkey’s opposition in an article published by Al-Monitor.com on April 5.
“The level of repression and the nature of polarization in Turkey are also quite different from Hungary and point to ways that the AKP might suppress the opposition or even overturn the electoral process in a pinch. In the end, I just don't think Hungary is a very good compass for Turkey; the differences far outweigh the similarities.”
He also weighed in on Turkey’s response to the Ukraine crisis in articles published by TheDispatch.com on March 9 and by France24.com published on March 31.
“In this crisis, Turkey has attempted to play the role of important international participant, while doing as little as possible to antagonize either NATO or Russia,” said Eissenstat.
During an episode of BBC’s The World Tonight aired on March 8, Eissenstat and Robert Daly of the Kissinger Institute, discussed Turkey and China’s response to the Ukraine crisis. Eissenstat’s segment begins at 36:38.
“Turkey is putting itself forward as an intermediate in part because it can’t play a very active role within NATO in support of sanctions and so putting it forward as an intermediary is a way for it to stay on the world stage without necessarily doing very much. It’s sort of a noisy diplomacy that’s meant to call attention to Turkey’s role without actually accomplishing very much.”
Eissenstats's recent work has focused increasingly on contemporary Turkish domestic and foreign policy, especially on issues of rule-of-law, minority rights, and the reshaping of political culture under the Justice and Development Party (AKP). At St. Lawrence, he teaches courses on Middle Eastern history and politics and in the First-Year Seminar (FYS). In addition to traditional academic work, Eissenstat served for over a decade as a Turkey Country Specialist for Amnesty International-USA. He has lectured at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. military, and the Canadian Foreign Service Institute, as well as given testimony to the Canadian Senate and offered briefings to Congressional Committees.
Sydney Peterson ’24
Saints Nordic skier Sydney Peterson ’24 represented Team U.S.A. as she claimed gold, silver, and bronze medals during her 2022 Winter Paralympic Games debut in Beijing, China. She was featured in an article celebrating Paralympic athletes from Minnesota published by AccessPress.com on April 1.
Sydney is a neuroscience major at St. Lawrence from Lake Elmo, Minnesota.
Saints Baseball
Several members of St. Lawrence’s baseball team, alongside Head Baseball Coach Kenny Collins and Assistant Coach Justin Devoid, volunteered with the Canton modified baseball team to help them prepare for the 2022 season. The group practice with the seventh, eighth and ninth graders at Leithead Fieldhouse was featured in an article published by PlainDealerSports.com on April 1.
Ken Okoth ’01 Black American Music Project
Earlier this year, St. Lawrence University President Kathryn A. Morris announced that an anonymous Laurentian made a gift of $500,000 to create the Ken Okoth ’01 Black American Music Project. The creation of the project and life and impact of the late Ken Okoth ’01 were featured by Kenya-based news outlet PulsiveLive.co.ke on March 24.
Okoth was a member of the Singing Saints and Laurentian Singers and later served on the St. Lawrence University Board of Trustees as a McCurdy-Sprague Trustee. An elected member of the Kenyan Parliament, Okoth was widely recognized as a visionary leader of his Nairobi community of Kibera and country. The project will engage the St. Lawrence community in exploring Black American music and its heritage, for Okoth honors his journey from childhood in Kenya to St. Lawrence, where he sang and made music with his fellow Laurentians.
Amanda Barreto ’23 & Tzintzun Aguilar Izzo ’15
Amanda Barreto Salguerio ’23 and Tzintzun Aguilar Izzo ’15 discussed the North Country Rights of Nature Symposium, which welcomed government officials, legal experts, and scientists to discuss a new governance system for waterways and develop a bill of rights for local waterways, with NCPR on Tuesday, March 22.
“‘Rights of nature’ also means recognizing that rivers and waterways having inherent value that's separated from their value or use to humans,” said Amanda. “It's a tool that allows communities and guardians to actually ensure that rivers or waterways have the right to free flow and have clean waters apart from their use to humans, like drinking water; that the rivers [themselves], they have the right to flow their own ways and to be clean and to evolve.”
Amanda is a global studies and environmental studies major at St. Lawrence.
Aguilar Izzo is a member of St. Lawrence’s Class of 2015 and co-founder of Talking Wings Production, which created illustrated animations to support the North Country Rights of Nature Project online exhibition.
Ronnie Olesker
Associate Professor of Government Ronnie Olesker discussed the effectiveness of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel in light of a recent campaign against Russia in a piece published by Jewish-Australian news outlet Plus 61J Media on March 8.
“It is liberals whose support Israel must maintain if it wishes to effectively combat allegations of war crimes, apartheid, and crimes against humanity. Russia does not care, Israel must.”
Olesker’s work focuses on international relations and security studies. Courses she regularly teaches at St. Lawrence include Introduction to International Relations, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, and Middle East Politics. She holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and is a former assistant prosecutor at the Central District Attorney’s office in Tel Aviv, Israel.
