OSWEGO – A student at SUNY Oswego is suing the state over injuries from a hazing incident at a fraternity house last year.
Liam McDonald was pledging on Oct. 8 in the Sigma Gamma fraternity when he was hazed, resulting in a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding from injuries to his chest and abdomen. There is no information as to what activity McDonald was doing to cause the injury.
The lawsuit accuses the state of negligence, since SUNY Oswego had approved Sigma Gamma, located at 110 W. Bridge St., as a registered fraternity. The lawsuit states that the college “assisted Sigma Gamma with issues related to recruitment activities, new member activites, risk management, and conduct.”
Both McDonald and his lawyer, William Ryan of Albany, gave no public comment, and McDonald’s mother, Judith McDonald, said her son’s lawyer told her to not publically discuss the case. On the other side, spokeswoman Julie Blissert said that SUNY Oswego officials don’t make comments on matters of lawsuits.
SUNY Oswego holds training sessions with the sole purpose to help recognize hazing, how to respond as a bystander or a victim, and how to create bonding activities that wouldn’t be considered hazing. Any hazing allegations that are reported to the college are investigated by SUNY Oswego’s police and through the disciplinary system.
-
Etan Thomas at OzSpeaks Diversity Series
Former NBA player Etan Thomas visited SUNY Oswego last Monday to lead a panel discussion and q&a about activism and media exposure within professional sports. The discussion was held at the Marano Campus Center auditorium as a part of the “I am Oz” Diversity Series.
“There’s this new surge of athletes using their voices and speaking out.” Thomas said.
Since Thomas’ retirement he has become a writer and a commentator, with a life devotion to advocating for social change on and off the court.
“I grew up admiring the athletes of the past,” Thomas said. “like Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali. Those were the athletes I have always admired (because of) the way they used their positions and platforms to be able to speak on different issues and create change.”
Several students attended the panel with many questions of discussion including players taking a knee during the national anthem, how athletes present themselves in the media, media criticism, and the evolution of social media use by players.
After the panel, students had an opportunity to purchase an autographed copy of Thomas’ book entitled “We Matter- Athletes and Activism.”
“I want them to read the stories of these different athletes who they admire seeing on the court or the field,” Thomas said, “by seeing the courage that they have and the passion that they speak with, and become inspired themselves to become activists in their own way.”
-
Disney Plus: The New Trend
Photo Credit: MGN On November 12th, Disney has launched their new streaming service, Disney plus, and just by the results, many seems to love this new site.
As of November 12th, 10 Million people subscribed to Disney plus and the numbers kept on rising till this day.
With endless content in the provider, more than 500 movies are inputted into the site, which includes many classics such as Snow White, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and more and many of modern movies as well. This site also have included a multitude of many Disney’s original series, going all the way back from the early 2000s, like That’s So Raven, Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, and more. Plus, they have also implemented their own new series, such as the Mandalorian (which is connected with Star Wars).
Since Disney Plus also have content from Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographics, this attracts many different demographics and they are able to watch whatever they please.
Now that Disney Plus is in the scene, major competition stirs within the streaming world, which includes Amazon Prime Videos, HBO GO, and on top: Netflix. With Netflix making new deals such as making a collaboration with Nickelodeon to produce various of their shows, Disney and Nickelodeon once again butt heads as to who should take the top spot.
As many students are satisfied with the nostalgic feeling from both Disney and Nickelodeon, they share their response to matter of the rivalry between Disney Plus and Netflix.
“I think that Netflix has a lot more going for them than Disney. It may draw away a few people to watch a few Disney movies, you know on Netflix, but in the long run, I don’t think that Netflix should have much to worry about regarding Disney Plus. ”- Damon Fletcher
Others say otherwise,
“I think I feel bad for Netflix because I just feel that Disney owns a lot, it’s a huge conglomerate, so they have a lot more to offer right now I think than Netflix does.” – Ivanelis Fletcher
And some are in the middle
“Either people have Netflix or Disney Plus now. They are like watching monopolies like Disney get ESPN, Netflix gets a deal with Nickelodeon. Like it’s just crazy how they are just taking over on what people watch on regular TV anymore.”- Matthew Van Ihsem
With this new craze, Disney Plus is releasing more content and more students are subscribing.
-
Student Association Update: April 19th
On Tuesday evening the Student Association held their weekly meeting of the Senate, making it the twelfth one of the semester. Quorum to begin the meeting was met and following the approval of the minutes and the agenda, the meeting was well under way.
Seeing as there were no guests to the Senate and no public comment, the meeting moved into executive reports. Emily Nassir, SA President was the first to deliver her report. Nassir announced that all of her Directors have been hired and their positions filled. The Directors were introduced during this evening meeting and include Jill Kranz incoming senior appointed as Chief of Staff, Sarah Wood appointed as Director of Student Advocacy, Alex George appointed as Director of Legislative Affairs, Xochitl Santamaria appointed as Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Allie Stango for Director of Graphic Design, Emily Stasko for Director of Public Relations, and finally Keith Jacobson appointed as Director of Academic Affairs. The directors have all been involved with the Student Association prior to accepting their position and they will continue to work next to Nassir in the upcoming 2016-2017 academic year. Nassir happily announced more tickets for OzFest have been purchased, though they would still like to see these numbers increase. The Oswego Food pantry was the focus of this semester’s “Miss-A-Meal” which was a great success and those who donated help to fund the food pantry begin developed on campus. Nassir stated that she is currently trying to request and receive more funding for SUNYSA to allow more senators the opportunity to attend the event.
Shelby Gallaro, Vice President of SA, was the next to deliver her executive report. Gallaro revealed that she is currently working on the budget for next year which may involve breaking up the pay scale for senators. Gallaro is also working on getting dinner for the senators for the last meeting of the semester. The focus then shifted towards Matthew Peters, Director of Finance for his executive report. Peters stated he is looking into increasing the student activity fee steadily each semester, however it would only be an increase of one dollar. The Senate voted on the idea of increasing the student activity fee and the proposal passed. Peters will begin working on the budget and proposal for that. Matthew Peters closed his executive report and was then reappointed to his position as Director of Finance for the 2016-2017 academic year.
Following executive reports, committee reports was next on the agenda. Rules and Judiciary presented the Senate with the referral binder they have been working on which will be handed out to the clubs and organizations on campus. Involvement Committee has been working on their Pageant event which will take the place of King and Queen during homecoming week. The pageant will be separated by gender, and those who wish to participate will be required to send in a video submission. From there rules and requirements will be drawn up to eliminate contestants following a series of rounds. The goal is to have this during homecoming week.
In Hall Council Reports, Johnson Hall is going over the final edits for their constitution and they also have new floor representatives. Cayuga is working on brainstorming ideas for prizes which will be raffled of at their end of the year raffel. Riggs Hall is hosting their laker night this Friday. It is a “Spring Fling” 5o’s themed event.
Due to the fact that there were no special orders, the meeting moved to general orders for the evening. The increase in Student Activity fee was referred to the Finance and Involvement committees for the week. They will discuss increasing the fee at their meetings and the matter will be voted on at the next meeting.
The meeting came to a close following the general orders for the evening. The Student Association holds their weekly meeting of the Senate Tuesdays in Lanigan 106 and 6pm. All meeting are open to the public and students are encouraged to attend to express any concerns or opinions they may have.
Comments are closed.