On Tuesday evening, the 53rd Student Association met for the ninth official time of the semester. The number of senators to make a quorum were present, and Executive Vice President Emily Nassir called the meeting to order.

The Oswego State Cheerleading Team kicked of the meeting as a guest to the Senate. The Cheer team asked for an increase in their budget this year as a result of the team growing in size.  They currently have thirty-six members on the team.  To ensure that all get a chance to travel to Nationals in Daytona Beach this April, they’ve turned to the Student Association to help with transportation, hotel, uniform and food costs. In previous years the Cheerleading Team have relied on sponsorships to fund their trip, but after handing out over forty letters, and only receiving three, they felt it would be wise to reach out for funding.  Their budget proposal and official budget structuring will be overseen by the finance committee next week.

There was no public comment, so the meeting moved into the next section, executive reports.

Student Association President Christopher Collins-McNeil, shared his experience from the Net Impact Equity Premium Group Conference in Seattle, which he had attended over the weekend. Collins-McNeil briefly described it as “one of the most powerful experiences at a conference.” He stated that he would go further into detail next week about his time spent in Seattle.

Student Association Director of Finance Matthew Peters then took the floor. Peters spoke about a proposal to change the fifty percent rule, regarding the purchasing of items for clubs and organizations on campus. A change in the rule would give each student club or organization control over its own budget, with the advisement and approval of the Director of Finance and the SA President. It is up to the rest of the Senate to vote on whether the fifty percent rule should change or not.

The meeting then progressed into Hall Council reports.  Waterbury Hall announced that students are no longer restricted to only using the lounge on their floor. Students now have access to any lounge in the hall. Waterbury Hall also reminded the Senate that their Laker Life program Glow Jam, will be on December 4th.  They encouraged all Senate members to attend the event and spread the word. Cayuga Hall spoke on combating the issue of bullying in their residence hall.  The hall has organized a program against bullying where students will post index cards and post-its with encouraging words in the hallways of Cayuga Hall.

No new legislation was introduced, therefore the meeting came to a close and the senators dismissed.

Student Association Senate Meetings take place every Tuesday at 6pm, in Lanigan 107. There are only two meetings left in this semester, November 18th, and December 4th. All meetings are open to the public and students are encouraged to attend and present on any issue.

by Kerry Ryan

OSWEGO, N.Y. — On Tuesday, October 10th, the Sheldon Hall Ballroom was filled with members of the oswego community; all waiting to listen to ‘I Am Oz’ speaker and ESPN writer, Kate Fagan. Fagan shared her stories of coming out as a gay woman, working for ESPN, and her inspiration to write the book What Made Maddy Run?. What Made Maddy Run? is the story of University of Pennsylvania freshman track star Madison Holleran, who died by suicide at the age of 19 years old after secretly struggling with anxiety and depression.

Fagan originally wrote Holleran’s story as a piece for ESPN. After receiving numerous emails written by high school and college students, as well as their parents, Fagan said she knew that she needed to dig deeper into the story.

“I realized that we had really only touched on a certain piece of the story in the magazine piece and that there were other roads to travel down to make the story more fleashed out for the rest of the college students and young people who saw themselves in her,” Fagan said.

This isn’t Fagan’s first non-fiction story, however. The Former WNBA player previously released a book retelling the story of her own struggles. The Reappearing Act: Coming Out as Gay on a College Basketball Team Led by Born-Again Christians explains the background of Fagan’s difficulty with her identity and how it would affect her and those around her.

What Made Maddy Run? was an instant New York Times best-seller. This is a first for Fagan, who said she has always wanted to be a writer.

“Basketball was like the pursuit,” Fagan said. “I guess I’ll be a writer when I’m done. And so when i was done playing basketball, that’s when I moved the writing to the front burner.”

Fagan said her next goal is to get some of her fictional work published. She said  that, unlike non-fiction, there’s a different way of storytelling in fiction and it allows writers to have more creative freedom.

What Made Maddy Run? by Kate Fagan is available online and in bookstores now.