This spring, Hewitt Hall is expected to shut down in preparation for its renovation to become the new communications department building.  This new space is set to give students more access to the tools they need.

The Chair of the Department of Communication Studies, Jessica Reeher, explains what is planned to be included in this new space.  “The new building is going to house all of communications studies as a department, and as well as the Dean’s office for SCMA and the graphic design faculty component of the art department.”

The Hewitt building is home to many of SUNY Oswego’s departments, including the Department of Sustainability and the Department of Auxiliary Services.  It also currently includes many counseling services, and the health center.

The renovated Hewitt building is expected to be a space for students to utilize 24 hours a day.  Once the renovations are finished, this new space is set to include open areas for students to relax and eat.

There are also plans for team rooms where small groups can get together to work on projects or scripts.  There will also be more studio spaces, more computer labs, and more opportunities for students to get ahold of the technology they need.

Reeher stated, “We envision this as a 24-hour building.  So students can access if you need to get into the editing suite, if you need to get into a studio, you can get access to many of the facilities 24 hours.”

According to Reeher, once the space in Hewitt is up and running for the students, Lanigan hall will then move into a phase of renovation.  All of the renovations happening are being done with the students in mind, so they are able to make the most of their time here at Oswego.

The renovation plans were made pre-COVID so the dates for opening the new building are subject to change.  But, Reeher seems to have high hopes that the project will be completed and that the building will be open for students by spring 2024.

“It’s just a beautiful space, the renditions are, if it looks half as good as the current computer renditions it’s going to be really amazing.” -Jessica Reeher

The University Police Department is participating in an intensive campaign to ensure that students and faculty buckle-up during their commutes. The program has been a success for the past twelve years.

Police are looking for violations on campus, although the traffic stops may be made off campus.

As part of the nation-wide ‘Buckle-Up Day And Night’ campaign, University Police will have special patrols out looking for motorists who are not wearing their seatbelts.

People not wearing a seatbelt are 30 times more likely to be ejected from a vehicle. Assistant University Police Chief, Kevin Velzy, has been involved with university police for thirty years.

“Because we are a Police Department on a college campus, the majority of our drivers are of college age. We do have some older people, older drivers, that are employees or some people just passing through campus,” said Kevin.

According to the New York State University Police Department, Motor Vehicle accidents are the number one cause of death for those aged up to fifty-four in the United States.

It has been proven that just wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of death or injury by fifty percent. As a matter of fact, airbags are not a substitute for seatbelts.

More than half of teens aged thirteen to nineteen and adults aged twenty to forty-four who died in crashes in 2015 were unrestrained at the time of the crash.

Men are more likely than women to be unbuckled.

“The crashes have dropped. Our compliance rate, what they also look for in these grant programs, has gone way up. When we first started our compliance rate was about seventy-five percent, which means seventy-five percent of the people that are required to wear a seatbelt in the front seat of a vehicle. Seventy-five percent of them were, and twenty-five percent were not,” said Kevin.

The compliance rate on campus currently lies at ninety-three percent.

A ticket for unrestrained motorists is fifty dollars with no points initially deducted from the license, whereas distracted driving is worth five points on the license in addition to a fine between fifty and two-hundred dollars.

According to the New York State University Police Department, unrestrained motorists involved in a crash are almost four times as likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury compared to those wearing a seatbelt.