Reported by: Casey Matto

For the past few months the concern over the Zika virus has been steadily growing. The Zika virus as of now is found mostly south of the United States in Central America and the northern part of South America, but is expected to spread northward as it gets warmer and warmer headed into summer. The full capacity of the disease is unknown, each week new symptoms and ways of transmission are talked about.

What we know is that the symptoms are relatively mild for adults but for pregnant women who catch the disease the fetus is susceptible to numerous brain complications upon birth.

The disease is spread mostly by mosquito but sexual transmission has also been know to happen for those carrying the disease. And there is currently no vaccine or cure for the virus.

As for the Oswego area the mosquitos that carry Zika are not expected to travel this far north this summer however for students living in Long Island, New York City, and southward be careful because it will be warm enough for mosquitos to travel up to those areas. A lot of bug spray, long pants, and long sleeve shirts this summer may be a good idea to decrease your chances of catching the virus.

The Oswego State women’s basketball team fell to the Brockport Golden Eagles by a score of 61-46. With the loss, the Lakers move to 7-17 overall and 4-13 in the conference while Brockport moves to 12-12 on the season.

Oswego battled Brockport throughout the first half keeping their turnovers to a minimum. The Lakers had just three in the first half and eleven total which was significantly lower than their conference leading 19.4 turnovers per game. Brockport’s Schyler Laux would change the momentum of the game as she scored eleven points in the second half. She finished with a game high 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. The Golden Eagles sealed the deal with a dominant performance as they held the Lakers to just five points in the fourth quarter.

Courtney Ameele led the Lakers with a team high 14 points while Zana Dillard and Rachael Windhausen left their mark on the defensive end. The two each had 11 rebounds with Windhausen also setting a career high with six blocks.

Oswego will play its final game of the season tomorrow at 1:00 against Geneseo at Max Ziel Gymnasium. Before the contest, the team will honor Ameele and Dillard as a part of Senior Day.

The Student Association held their weekly Senate meeting Tuesday evening. The second meeting of the semester began after the number of senators required to begin were met and the meeting’s agenda and minutes were approved.

SUNY Oswego’s Ecology Club was one of four guests to the Senate that evening, and began by requesting additional funding for the spring semester. The Ecology Club requested funds to help support the club’s growth. The funds would go towards the cost of gas, hotel stays, bird seed and feeders, as well as, material such as gloves and towels for their volunteer work in the community. The largest expense would be an end of the year trip to go whale watching. The funds requested include this trip and will help defer some of the cost to students. Three senators volunteered to write the bill for the budget, which will be proposed and voted on at a future meeting.

The second guest to the Senate was SUNY Oswego’s Table Tennis Club. They requested funding for the Women’s Team regional tournament trip, where 10 members will compete  in the Great Lakes Regional Tournament. The tournament will take place the weekend of February 27th, 2016. The Table Tennis Club requested the funding to help pay for their travel expenses. The team’s entrance into the tournament came as a pleasant surprise to many. The bill for the budget will be written by three senators, and will be proposed and voted on later this semester.

The National Broadcasting Society was the third guest to the Senate and requested funding for a trip to the 2016 NBS Convention in Los Angeles. Last year was the first time the National Broadcasting Society attended the convention, and hope to send three students again this year. They requested funding to help pay for their travel costs. To help offset the total cost of the trip, they have also partnered with local restaurants, YoBerry and Fajita Grill in hopes of raising the rest of the funds for the trip. Three senators volunteered to write the bill for this budget that will be proposed and voted on, prior to the National Broadcasting Society’s trip.  

The fourth and final guest to the Senate was the National Association of Black Accountants. In hopes of hosting a Business Gala this semester, they requested fund to help pay for the event. Funding was requested for catering, a keynote speaker, advertisements, and entertainment. The event will allow students, particularly business majors, to network, make connections and learn from successful businessmen and women who are working in the field. The bill for this budget will be written by three senators and proposed and voted on at a future meeting.

Following the guests, Student Association President Christopher Collins-McNeil, addressed the Senate for the last time in his executive reports. Collins-McNeil will be resigning his position after accepting a job with the Mosby for Mayor Campaign in Baltimore, MD. Collins-McNeil has been involved in SA since his freshmen year at SUNY Oswego. When he became SA President, Collins-McNeil revealed, he wanted to make his presidency about advocacy and feels he can respectively say he accomplished that task. Collins-McNeil requested his SA Presidency be assumed by Student Association Vice President Emily Nassir.

Nassir, when offered the position, accepted and upon swearing in, assumed the role of Student Association President. Nassir announced her first project as SA President was what she called, “SA Assembly;” a monthly meeting of both the Student Association Assembly board and representatives from student organizations. Nassir hopes these meetings will build a stronger connection between SA and the organizations they represent.

Senator Shelby Gallaro was nominated to fill the now vacant seat of SA Vice President. After a ballot vote, Gallaro was successfully voted in as the new Student Association Vice President.

Finishing off executive reports was Matthew Peters, Student Association Director of Finance. Peters announced that the OzFest Committee had met and discussed the 2016 budget for the end of the semester event. Peters stated that ticket prices for OzFest will need to drop, in order to draw more students to the event’s concert.  

In committee reports, Senators Christ and Himberger nominated themselves for the position of Chair of the Involvement Committee. Senator Gallaro had been the prior chair, but due to her new role as SA Vice President, she had resigned. Following a ballot vote, Senator Christ was elected Chair of the Involvement Committee.

Hall Council Reports and General orders were suspended due to time constraint, so all general orders for this week were moved to next week.

Student Association meets Tuesday nights at 6pm, in Lanigan 106. All meetings are open to the public and all are encouraged to attend.