by Stefanie Sciolaro, WTOP10-TV

The Student Association held their weekly Senate meeting Tuesday evening on October 18, the date also marked the 52nd legislation session. Once roll call was taken, quorum fulfilled, and all agendas and minutes were approved, the meeting commenced. The agenda included some guest speakers to the Senate this week, along with a few words from President Emily Nassir, and some updates on various items for SUNY Oswego. 

Two guests consisted of Student Affairs Vice President Kathleen Evans and Michael Flaherty from Auxiliary Services, who discussed the topic of student travel needs. They explained the present transportation methods available to students, and pitched their new ideas on how to improve these options in the future. Kathleen Evans began the presentation by explaining the recent changes to transportation options that have already been enacted for the 2016-17 academic year. All changes, updates, and additional information to public transportation for this year can be found within the Student Travel Guide Pamphlets available at the Marano Campus Center Help Desk or for the most up to date schedules visit http://www.centro.org/colleges/suny-oswego.

After discussing recent changes, Michael Flaherty took over to pitch new ideas on how to better fulfill transportation needs on campus while saving money. He explained that some of the transportation options are barely used and are costing substantial amounts. In order to save money, concentration on only means that students tend to use the most should be enacted. This saved money could be used to enhance van transportation and fund a direct bus route to NYC for students for the end of both Fall and Spring semesters. He says that by utilizing the van shuttles for breaks and only running the Sunday Late Service during peak travel times in the year, it would help offset the overall costs the school pays for travel. Two running times, instead of one, were proposed for the Sunday Late Services during peak travel times: Leaving NYC at 2:00pm, arriving in Oswego by 8:45pm, and leaving NYC at 6:00pm, arriving in Oswego  by 12:15.

At this point feedback, comments, and questions were opened up to be voiced by the Senate. The issue of the current amount of training sessions available for students to be certified to drive the vans was raised. The concern was that there are not enough opportunities for students to acquire this certification. It is required that all students who drive the vans, which are predominantly student driven, have their van certification. If you have this certification, an email is sent out when van drivers are needed and students are paid for their driving services. As of right now, training sessions are only held if the class is full, if you are interested in acquiring your van driving certification contact the Student Affairs Vice President Kathleen Evans. 

The Senate also brought up the question of where exactly the College Express Service stops within NY, NYC, NJ, and Long Island are and the efficiency of the service as a whole. One Senator voiced that she has ridden the service before and stops were no where near her home town. Making these stops in more areas would convenience students and possibly up the amount of students who ride with the service. In regards to safety and efficiency, another Senator said “ Students wouldn’t mind paying that price if they’re getting good service… I never really feel safe on the bus”. The possible partnering of transportation services with the D- Bus was also brought up as an alternative option of transportation. The D-Buses assists student, predominantly during the weekends, in local transportation. These buses are not utilized as much during the week days, therefore, it would be a great option as far as an additional regular form of transportation is concerned. The guest speakers took all of this feedback into account and specified that they would look into the idea of partnering with the D-bus, explore more direct routes for the College Express Service, and address all comments and concerns as far as transportation needs, safety, or efficiency. If you have any feedback, comments, or concerns in regards to traveling options offered by SUNY Oswego or are interested in taking a van training certification class, please contact Kathleen Evans at kathleen.evans@oswego.edu or Michael Flaherty at michael.flaherty@oswego.edu.

The Director and Assistant Director of SAPB, then, came up to discuss and advertise their need for extra hands from 4pm to 9:30ish during the upcoming Spooktacular Casino Costume Party. The Senate brought up the question of if one were to help work the event, if it could fulfill the GST community service requirement. The Assistant Director stated that it may be a possibility but she was unsure and would look into it for students. At the event there will be prizes handed out, music, food, a gift card given to the best costume, and much more. If anyone is interest in helping set up for the event, or interested in going but have further questions please contact SAPB at sapb@oswego.edu. 

Later on, President Emily Nassir spoke in regards to Executive Reports. She confirmed dates and focuses for upcoming meetings: faculty assembly, Presidents Council, etc., and spoke in regards to electing the Constitution this year. Results will be available Friday. She stated that November 11th will be the Veterans Open House and November 17 will be the 1,000 Words Event. On the topic of OzFest, there will be a new way set up this year in order to gain insight directly from the students about what they’d like their experience to be. Instead of only having the online survey, that includes what artists students wish to have come, the theme of Senate on Tuesday will be to physical gain insight into what students want: what artists, food, overall experience, etc.

 After the President spoke, Matthew Peters, the Director of Finance, briefly stated that all is well and normal as far as finances is concerned. WTOP10 has received all of the bought materials for the studio’s upgrades. The main focus as of right now is finalizing the audit for the year.

To close all important information for Tuesdays meetings, the President Chief of Staff announced that the final Homecoming Meeting was held and the schedule of events has been almost completely, if not so already, finalized. The events sheet scheduling was discussed and will be released soon. The theme days were also discussed: Monday, Tuesday, and Friday have been confirmed but Wednesday and Thursday had still been up in the air. Themes for those days were voted on during the meeting and will be enacted accordingly. The list of Monday-Fridays Themed Day’s will be distributed throughout campus shortly.

 On that note, the meeting was coming to a close as Vice President Dalton Flint confirmed that from now on the Student Association meetings of the Senate will commence at its regular time, 6:00pm, and regular place, Lanigan 105, as there has been some previous issues in scheduling meetings. With that he took a final roll call and the meeting came to a close for this week.  

The women’s hockey team suffered their first lost of the season against Plattsburgh on Saturday. The Lakers lost 7-1. The Cardinals almost had a shutout until Kendall Applebaum scored in the third period.

On Sunday though, the women would get their first win against Plattsburgh since the women’s hockey program got restarted in the 2006-2007 season. Plattsburgh got the first two goals on the board but then the Lakers took over. Jacquelin White got the scoring started for the Lakers in the second period. In the third, Eryn Stewart would get her first goal of the year to tie the game for the Lakers. Just 21 seconds later, Olivia Ellis would score what ended up being the game-winning goal. Mariah Madrigal stopped a career-high 48 shots.

With the win and loss, the Lakers move to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in conference. The women will travel to Massachusetts and take on Williams in non-conference action on Saturday and Sunday.

On Tuesday evening the Student Association held their weekly meeting of the Senate making it the ninth meeting this semester. The number of senators required to start the meeting was met and following the approval of meeting minutes and the agenda, the meeting was well underway.

The first and only guest to the Senate for the evening was the Native American Heritage Association. The organization was active on campus up until a few years ago when the organization disbanded. The organization was however revived last semester and the Native American Heritage Association are looking to spread the word about them once again becoming an active organization on campus. They presented a budget proposal to the Senate to request funding to help with the costs of bringing a guest speaker to campus. Dr. Michael Oberg is the speaker they wish to talk at their meeting and they have requested funds to compensate Oberg for his time. Two senators offered to write the bill which will be proposed and voted on at a future meeting this semester.

Following guest to the Senate, was Executive Reports. Student Association President Emily Nassir was the first to deliver her executive report. Nassir has been working on several projects over the course of the semester including the SA Food Pantry, which will be receiving funding and will hopefully be up and running soon. Nassir stated that she is excited to be able to provide this service to students on campus. Nassir reminded senators that BidBon is this coming Thursday in the Sheldon Hall Ballroom. Students can bid on what is being auctioned off and all the proceeds made will go to the Johnson Scholarship, which will then be given to a student currently living in Johnson Hall. Nassir also revealed that the email which will contain all the information about OzFest is expected to go out this Friday. There will be 3 artists for OzFest and one celebrity guest.

SA Vice President Shelby Gallaro was next to deliver her executive report. Gallaro stated that she has been helping with the budget council who are in charge of creating the budgets for each organization on campus for the next academic year. SA Vice President and President elections were held before students headed off to spring break and the results were revealed the Tuesday prior to spring break. Nassir was elected President and Gallaro Vice President. Gallaro is working on the official resolution for the election year which will hopefully be passed soon. Following Gallaro’s report, Director of Finance Matthew Peters took the stage to deliver his executive report. Peters stated that budgeting for organizations is moving along. SA employees contracts are being worked on and the updates should be completed soon. Closing his executive report, Peters revealed that pricing for OzFest Tickets is currently being worked on.

Committee Reports were next on the agenda for the evening. Rules and Judiciary Committee  is currently working on completing an election binder which will contain vital and important information that can be of use to senators and student executives. Involvement Committee proposed the idea of having comment cards located around campus in which students can recommend events they wish to see held on campus. They would then look through the cards and respond to them and see if the proposed events are possible. Concluding committee reports was Faculty Assembly, who met prior to spring break and revealed they have approved a Forensic Science Minor for SUNY Oswego.

In Hall Council reports Funnelle Hall revealed that their penny wars event is coming up and all proceeds made will go to Relay For Life. They are also working on their Mr. Funnelle male beauty pageant which is coming up soon. Johnson Hall is working on having a pool tournament in their hall. They are also updating their constitution.

With no special orders on the agenda the meeting moved to the general orders. There were five general orders for the evening. The proposed bills for the Oswego Muslim Association, Two and Half, and  Strong and Healthy all passed by general consent. These organizations will now be able to use the funds provided by the Senate to fund their events taking place later this semester. The final general order was the approval and passing of the Resolution which states the results of the elections that took place mid-March. The Resolution states that 930 total votes were cast which elected Emily Nassir as President of the Student Association, Shelby Gallaro Vice President, and the passing of the Student Fee to be mandatory for all students.

The meeting came to a close following the passing of all general orders. The Student Association hold their weekly meeting every Tuesday at 6pm, in Lanigan 106. The Senate meetings are all open to the public and students are encouraged to attend these meetings to voice their opinions and express their concerns.