Oswego NY— Today is Election Day for towns and cities across the country. Oswego residents voted on City and Town positions such as Mayor, Ward Counselors, and Town Clerks. A major topic in Oswego politics is Billy Barlow’s uncontested re-election. This will be his second term in office.
There are 7 Ward Counselors positions available across Oswego City. The following lists the different positions and the candidates running for that office. Winners will be stated in bold.
- 1st Ward Councilor:
- Susan McBrearty (D)
- Andrew J Hall (R)
- 2nd Ward Councilor:
- Maureen A Wills (D)
- Shawn Burridge (R)
- 3rd Ward Councilor:
- Jonathan Ashline (D)
- Kevin Hill (R)
- 4th Ward Councilor:
- Diane Zeller (D)
- Shawn P Walker (R)
- 5th Ward Councilor:
- John B Gosek (R)
- 6th Ward Councilor:
- Matthew Fleming (D)
- Ronald Tesoriero (R)
- 7th Ward Councilor:
- Robert Corradino (R)
Oswego Town offers 4 positions open for elections; Supervisor, Town Clerk, Councilman and Superintendent of Highways. The following states the positions and their candidates. Winners will be stated in bold.
- Supervisor
- Richard Kaulfuss (R)
- Town Clerk
- Nikki Fowler (R)
- Councilman
- Margaret A Mahaney (D)
- Richard J Tesoriero (R)
- Jonathan Fowler (R)
- Superintendent of Highways
- Robert Malone Jr. (R)
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New York: The First Tuition Free State in the Nation
by Stefanie Sciolaro
OSWEGO, NY- – On April 8th, Governor Cuomo announced that all public 2 and 4 year universities in the state of New York will offer a tuition free scholarship. The Excelsior Scholarship will allow middle class families, who qualify, to be exempt from paying for college tuition.
In order to qualify, a family’s adjusted gross income must be under $100,000 in 2017. By 2018 that number will go up to $110,000, and by 2019 the amount will increase to $125,000. These incomes will include all student, parent, or spouse incomes within the family.
Students must be enrolled full-time, already have 30 college credits, and continue to complete 30 credits per year, which includes summer sessions, while in college. Transfer students will be eligible if they, or once, they’ve met the 30 credit requirement. If the student loses the scholarship, for now, they will be unable to regain it, though there is an appeal process being put in place.
Once students who are receiving the scholarship graduate, they will be required to stay New York residents for the same amount of time they had received the scholarship in college. Christopher Britts, an education major at SUNY Oswego, is apprehensive of where the state’s getting the money to fund this and what the resident restriction entitles.
“Are my taxes or other college expenses going to go up?… Will they decrease the PELL or TAP grants we get? Because if so and I don’t qualify where does that leave me?… What if I get a job in Cali or Jersey, I have to say no? If so, I’d rather have the loans, then at least I’m free.” says Christopher.
Graduate students are not eligible for the scholarship, nor are students who have already completed an undergraduate degree and are pursuing a second.
Families will still be responsible for other expenses such as room and board, meal plans, and books, but the hope is for the Excelsior Scholarship to help relieve some of the burdens that families face in trying to pay for student’s college education. Financial aid will not be effected if a student receives the scholarship.
Christopher is also a team leader for Mentor Scholar, an after school program helping children with homework, and says this scholarship is good for younger children as well.
“Yes the scholarship needs adjustments and clarification but it really does give them a future to look forward to. Many of these kids come from low income families who before now, college was probably never an option…well now it is. As a future educator and current college student thats a beautiful thing to see.” Chris said.
This scholarship will go into effect and be available to students for the Fall 2017 semester. For more on the Excelsior Scholarship visit http://www.ny.gov, for SUNY (State University of New York) information visit https://www.suny.edu, and for CUNY (City University of New York) information visit http://www2.cuny.edu.
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Student Association Update: March 8th
On Tuesday Evening the Student Association held its weekly meeting of the Senate. The meeting was called to order making it the seventh meeting of the Spring semester. Quorum to begin the meeting was met and following the approval of the meeting minutes and agenda, the meeting proceeded.
The first and only guest to the Senate for the evening was a new campus organization Strong and Healthy. This new organization is committed to teaching students aboudy body confidence as well as the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. On April 22nd in the Marano Campus Center at 6pm, Strong and Healthy will be joining another organization on campus, Pencils of Promise, to host an exercise circuit event. The goal of this event is to encourage students to formulate daily workout habits and routines. Students will be given the chance to participate in various events such as, push-up contests, dance competitions and more. Strong and Healthy requested funds from the Senate to help promote the new club and ensure the event’s success. The funds would help contribute to tee shirts, water bottles, healthy snacks, backdrop for pictures and prizes for the event. Two senators offered to help write the bill and proposal which will be voted on at a later date.
In light of there being no public comment for the evening, the meeting moved on to executive reports. Student Association Vice President Shelby Gallaro, was the first to deliver her report. Gallaro shared with senators that Laura Kelly, organizer for SUNY Oswego’s homecoming, was looking for three to four senators, who would like to become a part of the student homecoming committee. Any senator, freshman through juniors, are eligible to participate and if interested, they were encouraged to email Gallaro.
SA President Emily Nassir, was the next to deliver her executive report. Nassir revealed that plans for the new SA website are well underway and she is currently looking into the photography portion of the webiste, which would feature all senators’ pictures, that way students are aware of who their campus representatives are. Nassir also shared with senators that the discount app is currently up and running. Students can download the collegediscounts app to their phones and then search SUNY Oswego to see all the discounts offered at the various businesses the school has partnered with to provide this service. In an earlier meeting this semester, Nassir shared a project she was working on with auxiliary services, but little information could be revealed at that time. Nassir revealed updates on this new project at Tuesday evening’s meeting. She will be working with auxiliary services to bring students’ food favorites from the dining halls, to the small markets like Lake Effect Cafe and Ontario Bagel Company located on campus. This new plan is generated toward students who commute or don’t have a meal plan, that way they don’t have to pay for a full meal at the dining hall, they can just pick up their favorite foods at one of the stores on campus. To progress the planning process, Nassir plans to generate a survey, which will then be placed on all of the class pages on Facebook. Students will be encouraged to list their favorite foods from the dining halls, that they wish to be sold in the various markets on campus. Nassir plans to keep the Senate updated on this new project as progress is made.
Matthew Peters SA Director of Finance, delivered his executive report following Nassir. Peters revealed the plans to dive into the new organization budgets for next year, next week. The senators will be reviewing the budgets within the next few weeks and in the final weeks of the semester, organizations will be given the chance to attend the weekly SA meetings to dispute the budget if they disagree with the budget given to their organization. To finish off his executive report, Peters stated that OzFest is moving along and hopefully all preparations will be finished and finalized by next week.
Generally, there are only three executive reports at each meeting, however, SA Director of Legislation, spoke to the Senate about “Rational Tuition 2020”. Under the trustees and government body of SUNY, tuition can be raised for students at a specific amount allocated by the Rational Tuition Bill passed five years ago. The goal of this bill was to allow students to be able to predict the amount of tuition they will be required to pay during their undergraduate schooling period. Currently, five years later, SUNY SA is pushing to renew the bill to avoid the unpredictability of increased tuition costs. Failing to renew the bill would result in the government having control over tuition costs which could result in an increase in tuition at any time.
The meeting moved swiftly onto hall council reports seeing as the SA committees were unable to meet this week. Mackin shared that their laker life event “Mash Safari” will be taking place this Friday at 8pm. The event will include snacks and beverages as well as live animals including a kangaroo, snakes, alligators and more. Funnelle Hall announced that they will be holding their “pie your RA day” on pie day. Students can pay a small fee to throw pie in their RA’s face and all money raised will go back to their hall council.
Organization reports were next on the agenda. Senators revealed the Oswegonian, the campus newspaper, is looking to put together a Business Sales Team. Their job will included going to local businesses to encourage them to purchase as space in the paper. Any senator or student interested, are encouraged to contact the Oswegonian.
There we no special orders for the evening, there was however one general order on the agenda. The Adrenaline Hip-Hop Team on campus is a new organization who requested funds from the Senate, to help the team with promotions. The funds requested are to help with flyers, markers, posters and paints, all to be used to help with club promotions. The proposed bill and budget was passed by general consent, and the fundy will allow the Adrenaline Hip-Hop dance team to get their name out to students on campus.
The meeting came to a close following the general orders for the evening. The Student Association meets every Tuesday at 6pm, in Lanigan 106. All meetings are open to the public and students are encouraged to attend to express any opinions or concerns they may have.
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SUNY Oswego updates students on new guidelines due to COVID-19
[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text]BY: TOMAS RODRIGUEZ
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, SUNY Oswego will be transitioning all summer courses to distance learning, with some facing possible cancellations. A full updated schedule was made available to students May 1.
As a New York state institution and a member of the SUNY system, Oswego’s campus will have to comply with any mandates issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“While there are still many unknowns at this time, the leadership team and I are hard at work and vetting several possible plans for SUNY Oswego for the Fall 2020 semester, including face-to-face should government and health guidelines allow,” SUNY Oswego president Deborah Stanley said. “We will also institute all necessary health and safety measures.”
Due to the constant changing nature of the virus, Mary Walker Health Center will maintain its current appointment-only policy until the COVID-19 pandemic comes to a close, allowing for proper screening of students and added safety for both students and personnel.
Telehealth will also remain available until the current threat is no longer existent.
Students will still be required to complete COVID-19 questionnaires and will be screened by a nurse prior to their appointment.
“There will be a separation of sick and healthy students in the waiting area for those students that are seen face-to-face,” Director of Student Health Services Angie Brown said.
Additional precautions will include requiring students to wear a mask or covering while present at Health Services.
Currently, Oswego Health has made a mobile testing site available, although Health Services may have the ability to test under some circumstances should test kits become more readily available.
Penfield Library has been impacted by the epidemic as well, providing about 95 percent of its services online.
“As we plan for the fall, we will continue to provide all appropriate services to our students, faculty and staff, and adapt library operations and use of the facilities in concert with the guidelines from the Governor on social distancing and limiting human density in our academic buildings,” Provost Scott Furlong said. “As an example, we may need to limit the number of students sitting at individual tables or in small group study rooms.”
Orientation for both first-year and transfer students, which were scheduled to stretch between the months of June and August, will become available online, still requiring incoming students to activate their email and complete their academic and health history information.
Summer orientation has been broken into two different steps. A portion of the information made available during the orientation programs will be moved to the online world, while the remaining information will be delivered face-to-face during the Fall Opening.
“In addition to online summer modules we are building, we are in the process of developing ways to engage new students with Laker Leaders through videoconferencing, social media and other platforms,” college Vice President Jerri Howland said.
While aiming to build a quality first-year class this fall, the safety and health of the campus community remains the top priority, college officials say.
“Residence Life and Housing will adapt based on how many students are allowed back on campus following future guidelines received from the Governor on social distancing and limiting human density in our residential buildings,” Howland said.
In terms of sanitizing, SUNY Oswego has custodial coverage seven days a week that routinely disinfects residence halls, all rooms, offices and any spaces utilized.
Daily cleaning protocols also include door handles, light switches, faucets and door knobs, among others.
Dining halls will remain take-out or delivery only, pursuant to Gov. Cuomo’s Executive Orders.
Concerning study abroad programs, SUNY has canceled student study abroad for the summer session.
“SUNY Oswego and SUNY leadership are closely monitoring the evolving situation and have not yet made a determination about the Fall,” Furlong said.
When it comes to the Fall semester, SUNY Oswego plans on welcoming new and returning international students.
“We are proceeding as we normally would to recruit, enroll and retain our international student population and will continue to work within any new guidelines received from the state and SUNY,” Associate Provost for International Education and Programs Josh McKeown said. “It’s an uncertain time but staff in the Office of International Education and Programs is prepared, like the rest of the Oswego campus, to be flexible and adjust as the situation demands.”
In the event that SUNY Oswego returns to normalcy in the Fall, the college will have to adhere to CDC guidelines and in some cases those applying to the state of New York to ensure students’ safety.
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