OSWEGO,NY- SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley says the campus can now transition back to in-person classes starting Monday. She says the campus has successfully slowed the spread of COVID-19. However, the only change permitted will be the transition to in-person classes.

This means students, on or off-campus, are still expected to limit their movements for essential purposes only. Student clubs and organizations cannot hold meetings in person. On-campus students cannot host visitors in their residence halls, including students from other dorms. The dining halls will still be takeout only.

All outlines in the SUNY-wide emergency directive will continue to be enforced at SUNY Oswego. The directive says a student’s card access can be revoked if a student fails to fill out their health screening or fails to take a mandatory COVID test, At a press conference today, President Stanley says no such issue has been brought to her attention where a student forgets to fill out their health screening or failed to take a test.

Oswego County Administrator Phil Church says the Oswego County Health Department approved SUNY Oswego’s decision to continue in-person classes. SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras praised the effort between the college and the community to contain the virus.

Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow says only one mass gathering was broken up during the two week pause.

According to SUNY Oswego’s COVID-19 dashboard, there are only 28 active cases of COVID-19 in the campus community and 30 counting towards the NYS-remote learning threshold.

Stanley says the school will continue surveillence testing which will take place every three weeks.

OSWEGO N.Y.— Beyond Cyber Awareness Month, online scams continue to threaten identities. A cyber attack happens every 39 seconds in the United States alone, according to a study by the University of Maryland. 

Young adults appear to be a primary target. A report from the Federal Trade Commissions says that young adults are 20 percent more likely to lose money in an online scam than their senior citizen counterparts, who more often fall victim to telemarketing scams. 

SUNY Oswego’s Campus Technology Officer Sean Moriarity warned students to take precautions and explained how hackers can use your identity at any time, even decades from now. 

“Young people are young,” Moriarity said, “Some day they’re going to be more wealthy than they are right now, so it is important to stay vigilant.”

In light of Cyber Awareness Month, Oswego’s Campus Technology Services hosted a variety of events to educate students about cybersecurity, including an email-phishing quiz, two-factor verification contest, and a phishing derby. 

OSWEGO, NY- Student employees at Littlepage Dining hall are expressing concerns about the conditions they work in. According to student employees, a letter was sent out by Auxiliary services addressing a student who came forward on behalf of multiple students. Many of whom had problems with the way managers treated them during their shifts.

The unidentified managers allegedly presented themselves with bad attitudes and frequently took out their frustration on student employees.

“I don’t want to be around in a workplace that’s negative, and sometimes, it gets a little too negative.” said Anisha Melton, a concerned student employee at Littlepage Dining Hall.

In a response to the allegations, Oswego’s Director of Dining services, Ruth Stevens, sent a mass letter to the student employees at Littlepage. The letter asks for feedback while providing resources for students including herself, for students who are unhappy. The letter is an effort to maintain a positive work environment and students can choose to remain confidential.

“I can learn, (and) our managers can learn.” Stevens said. “We can become better at what we do and we can find a better way of doing things. I think communication is key.”

Auxiliary services is the largest student employer on campus with over five hundred student employees serving it’s five residential dining centers.

Oswego, NY- Dozens of Oswego students,  faculty, and community members attended the 22nd annual Bidding Bonanza at Sheldon Hall last Thursday.

Bidding Bonanza, or “Bid Bon,” is an auction run by students and resident mentors in Johnson Hall’s FYRE program. This yearly event raises money for the hall’s scholarship, which current residents can apply for.

“It’s really awesome because everyone comes out.” Resident Mentor Bowden Drake-Deese said. “We work on it (basically) all of second semester. It’s the first thing we talk about when all the R.M.’s come together at the beginning of training.”

The auction consisted of various services, products, and prizes provided by generous donors. Many students and community menbers won items like gift baskets, show tickets, and autographed pictures. They were also served baguettes and macaroons served by students as a part of this year’s theme.

“We’re calling it Bid Bonjour.” Resident Mentor Cindy Pietrakowski said. “We have a little persian town over by the stage with two eifell towers.”

SUNY Oswego students who frequently print their essays 15 minutes before their 8 a.m. class, can rejoice. A faster system used to print documents called “Laker print” has been introduced on campus just in time for the spring semester.

Laker print is designed to be a more efficient way to print documents on campus by cutting back on waste caused by banner pages and forgotten documents. The system allows students to upload their documents by either email or direct file upload. Students can then print out their documents at any laker print station on campus within 48 hours.

“It’s awesome!” says Oswego student Leo Karr. “The website is convenient because you can prep everything by uploading it to the website. Then you can just go to the printer station.”

While some students have embraced the change to laker print, others are not quite used to it yet.

“I have to go to one computer to have it sent to laker print, then I have to go to another computer to open laker print and print it out,” says Oswego student Stephanie Phipps, “so it’s kind of annoying.”

While there is a difference of opinion about Laker print, CTS Chief of Technology Officer Sean Moriarity says the transition has been nothing but smooth.

“I give tremendous credit to our client’s services team.” says Moriarity. “They really made it a focus to make sure that is we introduced (Laker print) to students, it would go as smoothly as possible.”

Several Oswego State students and faculty gathered in front of the peace memorial for a candlelight vigil last Friday in honor of the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue attack.

The vigil was held shortly after the suspect of the Pittsburgh attack, Robert Bowers, plead not guilty for the 44 criminal charges held against him in court last Thursday.

“We’re here to send a message of love and hope, and that hate is not welcome here,” Oswego Student Association President Omar van Reenen said. “Anti-semitism, gun violence, racism, and marginalization in all forms are not welcome on our campus, in our communities, or in our states.”

Van Reenen worked with the Student Association on campus to organize the vigil. Students and faculty held candles and signed a poster that read “Stronger than Hate.” Students gathered around the peace memorial for statements read by various members of the campus community including Sarah Nehama, vice president of Jewish Life on campus.

“I just want people to realize that anti-semitism is still a big thing,” Nehama said. “We had a 60 percent spike in anti semitism in 2017 which is crazy and this week we also had a synagogue defaced in California.”

The attacks in Pittsburgh and the defacement of a synagogue in California are just part of the growing problem with violence being expressed in America. The issue of gun violence in America continues to grow.

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.”

The Fulton Art Association held their annual photography show last Saturday at the Fulton City Hall community room. This event, which has been held every October since 2013,  showcases various types of photography, drawings, and paintings by local citizens of Fulton. The event was organized by the president of the Fulton Art Association, Kathryn Mihalek.

“I took over in 1999 when they (art association) were coming close to folding, and we revitalized it and enlarged the number of events you could put in.” Kathryn Mihalek said. “We have our annual show every May, the weekend before Memorial Day. We have our high school show in March. This will be the 13th year we’ve done a high school show between Fulton, Phoenix, Hannibal, and Oswego. Then we hold our photography show in October and we may hold a couple more events.”

Besides her work with the Fulton Art Association, Kathryn Mihalek works with the Oswego County Humane Society. She fosters at least 20 rescue cats in her home. Several of those cats went up for adoption at the event.

Jess Bullard, member of the Oswego County Humane society who hosted the cat adoption, said she felt it was a great opportunity to get involved in another community event and to showcase their cats.

The photographers and artists competed in five categories,

– Landscapes

– People

– Buildings,

– Animals

– Objects

The winners were picked by a viewer ballot where spectators voted for their favorite piece.  We got a chance to speak to Jose Ortiz, who won the viewers choice ribbon for his photography piece entitled, “Dapper Dog.”

“He (my dog) is my inspiration behind all that I do.” said Jose Ortiz. “I love black and white photography because I feel that our eyes are so focused on color, yet with black and white, you’re drawn towards the whole image. I feel like taking that concept for the same instance in life. You’re only drawn to what catches your eye but the whole picture is what really counts.”

The Fulton Art Association also provides scholarships for talented high school seniors at various schools from Phoenix to Oswego. To learn more about the Fulton Art Association visit cnyarts.org.