OSWEGO, NY— Last Wednesday, a man named Saint Jesse Morrell unexpectedly visited the quads delivering his religious opinion. For roughly 20 minutes he was aggressively yelling to students his ideas of the LGBT community, targeting their lifestyle, calling it a sin. The students didn’t agree with what he was saying, retallying back in an argument until the police showed up. Since he did not have a free speech permit from the school, he was asked to leave.
“He has freedom of speech,” Oswego student Sarah Novak said after he targeting her and her girlfriend. “So we also have freedom of speech, so we choose to kiss and fight hate with love”
The full video of the event was uploading by Jesse Morrell – Open Air Street Preacher on YouTube. The campus still has not responded on the situation.
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SUNY Oswego: One of the Nation’s Top “Green Colleges”
The expression “Going Green” is not new to students at SUNY Oswego. The campus has been rated as being one of the top green colleges in the nation for another year in a row by “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 361 Green Colleges.”
A variety of environmentally friendly and energy efficient utilities are very much visible when walking around campus. The presence of facilities for bike commuters: bike storage/racks or lockers can been found near almost every building.
“I think the accessibility of the bike racks are a great part of the campus,” said senior Christopher Britts. “This year I live off campus and don’t want to waste my gas driving here everyday, like who wouldn’t want to be outside, it’s beautiful out this time of year here.”
Shuttle buses, sharing service cars: Zip-cars, and car charging stations on campus have tremendously helped the school, not only become more environmentally responsible, but give more mobile opportunities to students and faculty.
“The shuttle bus saved me from a lot of trouble during the winter when I had to travel from Seneca Hall to Shineman,” said junior Matthew Upright.
Oswego State is also one of few colleges that has a formal sustainability committee and a sustainability officer. The college also spends 13 percent of its food budget on locally grown or organic products for students.
SUNY Oswego also offers a minor in sustainability studies, and in recent years constructed buildings such as Richard Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation; Rice Creek Field Station; and the Village has achieved LEED Gold certification: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The college has been designing their new facilities to meet this LEED standard since 2005, have definitely succeeded, and continues to do so. -
The Beginning of Parking Boots
OSWEGO, NY— On October 1, 2019, parking boots became effective as it is now used as a new method to regulate parking violations. With the collaborative decision of University Police and College Administrations, this has now become a new approach to handle parking issues. These issues include parking in reserved or handicapped areas or to drivers who have acquired more than 10 tickets or violations. It’s purpose is to encourage drivers to do the right thing and to urge them to pay their fines.
Kevin Velzy, Assistant Chief of University Police and staff member for 30 years, tells us the other reasons why the parking was implemented and why it is crucial for drivers to follow the rules.
“Instead of towing the car, we are going to put the parking boot on the car and that will ensure that the fines are collected. It’s actually beneficial to draw backs of towing are the cost. Tow operators now charge over $200 for a tow, so the costs go away for the offender. And also for the hassle of getting your car back, your car will be where you left it; it’s just a matter of going online and paying the fines, calling us, and saying you know ‘this has been paid for’ and we will come and remove the boot.” Velzy said.
According to Assistant Chief Velzy, about 8,000 parking tickets were issued last year and for annually, it is closely around the ballpark of that amount. Due to this result, this also weighed on the result of the decision.
He also added on about the financial aspect of the boot.“We are not going to charge an extra or additional fee to have the boot taken on or taken off….. All you are paying for is the ticket basically…. I think it is effective in terms of eliminating those drawbacks to having your car being towed..this is going to save you money.” Velzy explains.
If the boot was applied to your car, you may go online to pay or go the University police office to pay off your accumulated parking tickets and following from that, University police will remove the boot from the car.
Student drivers on campus had mixed thoughts when hearing the news as they stated that this is “A great idea”, “Unfair”, “Understandable”, “Harsh” and “Excessive”.
As of right now, a boot has not been applied.
For more information about this new parking enforcement, you can visit https://www.oswego.edu/police/new-york-state-university-police
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Styrofoam and Smoking On Public Property Ban
OSWEGO, NY—On Monday, October 27, Mayor Billy Barlow and City Hall officials unanimously voted to ban the use of styrofoam and smoking on public properties.
A concerned member of the community took the opportunity to speak about the effect of smoking on the community.
“Discarding cigarette butts constitute the majority of litter on beaches, playgrounds, etc. The reduction of use results in reduced clean up costs for the community,” said the woman.
Cigarette filters, e-cigarette pods and plastic wrappers all contain toxic chemicals that can leak into water supplies and are non-biodegradable. These products can also pose a major threat to children and small animals.
“That’s the bottom line for me is quality of life. There will be improvement for us, as current residents as well as the future residents,” said Council Member Robert A. Corridino.
SUNY Oswego students also expressed their support for the ban, but adding more can and should be done.
“To have them all be more encompassing and have a more robust ‘Keep Oswego Clean Initiative.’ I feel like besides just banning styrofoam products they should too expand it to ban other single use plastic products as well…” said former Student Association President, Omar van Reenan. “Then we also have to take that responsibility to heart and act on that responsibility to protect not just the people but the environment of the city of Oswego as well.”
Now that it has been passed, the initiative will go into effect on April 22, 2020, which is also Earth Day.
