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SUNY Oneonta students will be sent home for the rest of the Fall semester
SUNY Oneonta campus; provided by CNN Newsource ONEONTA, NY- SUNY Oneonta will move to remote learning for the remainder of the Fall semester following an outbreak of 389 COVID-19 cases and counting.
The outbreak began last weekend when just over 100 students tested positive for the virus. This came shortly after Governor Cuomo announced that SUNY schools would close for two weeks if there’s a COVID outbreak of over 100 students or five percent of a given campus population. The number of positive cases has jumped significantly since last weekend.
According to SUNY Oneonta’s COVID-19 dashboard, 389 students and staff members have tested positive since the beginning of the Fall semester.
The same weekend, five students and three campus organizations at Oneonta were suspended for hosting parties, according to SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras.
After the initial two week temporary shutdown, the state deployed a COVID-19 SWAT team to SUNY Oneonta in an attempt to ramp up testing. Students were not required to be tested upon arrival.
Off-campus resident Grace Kinne says she had not been tested prior to her arrival in Oneonta. She left Oneonta last Saturday as a precaution for medical reasons.
“I have asthma that gets really bad when I am sick, so my Mom wanted me home right away,” said Kinne.
Full refunds will be issued for on-campus housing as well as additional allowable refunds for dining plans. Students who test positive will quarantine on campus until they are re-tested negative.
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Lakers Men’s Basketball Wins Home Opener
The Oswego State men’s basketball team won their home opener against the Oneonta Red Dragons by a score of 47-41 on Tuesday night. With the victory, the Lakers move to 2-4 overall with a 1-1 conference record while the Red Dragons drop to 4-3 overall and 1-2 in the SUNYAC.
In the beginning of the first half, Oswego got off to a hot start led by Tim Marshall’s three pointers. Shortly after, things would go south for the team as their two leading scorers, Ian Schupp and Jamir Farabee struggled to muster any kind of offense. The two’s struggles led to Oneonta taking a 12-0 run into halftime to put themselves up by eight.
Oswego turned it around in the second half after Liam Sanborn and Schupp each hit a three. While there were times that Oneonta could seal the game, they struggled to make shots in the paint. It ended up costing the Red Dragons as Oswego outscored them 22-7 during the final ten minutes of the game. Josh Ivey shined for the Lakers, making timely free throws as well as securing a defensive rebound with just seconds remaining in the game. He finished with a team high nine points to go along with six rebounds.
The Lakers will travel to Buffalo State on Friday to take part in their third straight conference game. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.
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Diversity Speaker Series: Kevin Powell
by Ilyssa Weiner
Oswego, NY- Writer and Humanitarian Kevin Powell spoke at SUNY Oswego’s Sheldon Hall Ballroom on Feb. 16 as part of the school’s “I Am Oz” Diversity Speaker Series.
Powell stressed the importance of education and history to his audience. His mother, who only had an eighth grade education, pushed him to do well in school.
“She kept saying to me when I was a child ‘You’re going to go to college. You’re going to go to college. You’re going to go to college,” Powell said.
Powell went to Rutgers University. However, his love for reading and writing came at an early age when his mother took him to the library.
“She allowed me to roam around the library,” he said. “That’s how I ended up falling in love with books and eventually decided as a young person I wanted to be a writer.”
After his time at Rutgers, Powell joined the cast of the very first season of MTV’s The Real World. At the time of taping, he and the rest of the cast had no idea how successful the show was going to be. Because of the show’s success, Powell was able to dig deeper into the world of pop culture.
“I love pop culture,” he said. “I think it’s a useful tool for reaching people and talking about serious issues.”
In 2011, Powell co-founded Building Knowledge (BK) Nation, a progressive non-profit organization focused on civil and human rights. The organization has worked on several racial profiling cases, including the Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown cases, and was also a deep supporter for the recent Women’s March.
Despite being the co-founder of the organization, Powell doesn’t believe in titles beyond that.
“We’re all equals and all our voices matter in the organization and that’s how we operate,” he said.
Powell’s most recent book, The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy’s Journey Into Manhood, is available on Amazon.
Powell autographed copies of his latest book after his speech was over.
