The University Police Department is participating in an intensive campaign to ensure that students and faculty buckle-up during their commutes. The program has been a success for the past twelve years.

Police are looking for violations on campus, although the traffic stops may be made off campus.

As part of the nation-wide ‘Buckle-Up Day And Night’ campaign, University Police will have special patrols out looking for motorists who are not wearing their seatbelts.

People not wearing a seatbelt are 30 times more likely to be ejected from a vehicle. Assistant University Police Chief, Kevin Velzy, has been involved with university police for thirty years.

“Because we are a Police Department on a college campus, the majority of our drivers are of college age. We do have some older people, older drivers, that are employees or some people just passing through campus,” said Kevin.

According to the New York State University Police Department, Motor Vehicle accidents are the number one cause of death for those aged up to fifty-four in the United States.

It has been proven that just wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of death or injury by fifty percent. As a matter of fact, airbags are not a substitute for seatbelts.

More than half of teens aged thirteen to nineteen and adults aged twenty to forty-four who died in crashes in 2015 were unrestrained at the time of the crash.

Men are more likely than women to be unbuckled.

“The crashes have dropped. Our compliance rate, what they also look for in these grant programs, has gone way up. When we first started our compliance rate was about seventy-five percent, which means seventy-five percent of the people that are required to wear a seatbelt in the front seat of a vehicle. Seventy-five percent of them were, and twenty-five percent were not,” said Kevin.

The compliance rate on campus currently lies at ninety-three percent.

A ticket for unrestrained motorists is fifty dollars with no points initially deducted from the license, whereas distracted driving is worth five points on the license in addition to a fine between fifty and two-hundred dollars.

According to the New York State University Police Department, unrestrained motorists involved in a crash are almost four times as likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury compared to those wearing a seatbelt.

This year’s edition of SUNY Oswego’s ‘Cruising Around The World’ took place this past Sunday, April 7.

Students toured different residence halls on campus. Each residence hall represents a different country or culture, and students are given a passport.

“We have been in Funnelle, Johnson, Mackin, and Sheldon, which are together, plus Riggs, Scales, and Waterbury. We are on our way to Seneca now,” Oswego student Valentina Solonos said. 

Food and drink are also provided, for which volunteers are needed.

“I make sure that they come, have fun, and take pictures,” volunteer student Britini Robinson said.

Hart Hall featured the Bahamas. Here students could taste some food from the Bahamas such as piña colada, or experience the music or the culture from the Bahamas. Not only did students learn about the music and the food from the Bahamas, but also some of the slang from the region.

SUNY Oswego’s improvised comedy club, the Shawn Cassidy Fan Club, hosts weekly shows every Saturday night at the Marano Campus Center Auditorium at 8 PM.

Kayla Bonasera is the club president.

“Every Saturday night we do live improve comedy performances where we have sketch-based comedy that revolves around the suggestions that we take from our audience,” said Kayla.

In the darkness of this room not only the bracelets glow, but some of the worst humor also comes to surface, which is why they must censor some parts of the show.

“It does get crazy. During the parents weekend show we censor it. We actually allow one swear word,” said Carl Neff, who is treasurer of the club.

But not only the local students and their parents come to the shows. One example is Spanish exchange student Andrea Rodriguez.

“I think the most exciting thing about this performance is that they all act natural,” said Andrea.

If you are looking for something fun to do on the weekends here on campus, the troop practices every Sunday night and performs the skits on Saturdays.

The annual Funnelle-O-Ween party took place last Tuesday night at Funnelle Hall.

According to the organization, this year they have had the highest attendance so far, with activities that ranged from a haunted house to raffles or face painting. “I like the haunted house and the food the best,” says student Mikayla McGarry.

“You know, I mean, it’s definitely interesting to see a lot of people will have like different costumes and you see people from… we have a lot people in this school from different countries and stuff so they’ll have a different variety of costumes as well, something you may not typically see,” Resident Advisor Seth Prevratil says.

“We’ve been doing this program for, I believe, it’s  four years now here in Funnelle. It’s basically just an alternative for the residents to have something fun to do for Halloween. The residents really seem to enjoy it every year, so this year we decided to make it bigger and better. We added a haunted house, there’s new activities like pumpkin painting, a donut eating competition… As a person, having a diverse amount of people come to the program is really awesome, especially being here like I said for my third year just seeing all different people come together as a community and get involved and just not in Hart or at whatever building they live in, but coming to Funnelle from different parts of campus,” says Emily Vogt.

Students had a spook-tacular this year, so if you were not able to attend “boockle” up for next year.

The Oswego State Swimming team is ready for a new season full of fast swimming and adrenaline. The team comes from accomplishing a 10-0 on the men’s team and an 8-2 on the women’s team last season. The team has experienced an exponential growth this year as a 24-strong class of 2022 has stepped into the game. Led by Coach Holman, Oswego State Swimming is looking forward to an exciting season.“All the international swimmers that we actually have here, you know, have been, you know, pretty serious about what they do,” says swimming coach Michael Holman. Assistant Coach Dragunas is experienced on the national level in Canada.“I think they bring a little bit of diversity and different perspective, you know, from where they come from,” says assistant coach Andrew Dragunas. This year the Oswego State Swimming team has three international swimmers. Luis Perez of Colombia is a sophomore this year. “I was once top 10 in all ages in all the country, so that was like really big for me. My main goal is to break the 100 and 200 backstroke records, school records, and hopefully to get a medal at SUNYACs,” said Luis. Alex Davie was born in Malaysia and is a junior this year. “When I was younger I was really focused on trying to make an Olympic team or make a national team because I have like five different nationalities, but as I’ve gotten older I realized that swimming just takes a lot from your life,” said Alex. Gigi Hon, a New York native, believes this is a great experience.“I learn a lot about everyone else’s culture, even if like you’re from a different state, but especially if you’re from out of the country,” Gigi says.

Oswego, NY – Hart Hall, also known as the “Global Living and Learning Community,” houses students from all around the world. Students living in Hart Hall are required to take the IST Course. This course has been in place for over ten years and is currently run by Maggie Rivera and Chelsea Delgiorno. “The IST Course is a course that’s focused on the international cultures and different individuals around the world,” said Chelsea. The IST Course is worth one elective credit for each semester that it is taken. “We have an international focus, which means that we don’t focus on anything inside the U.S., and we brought in people’s horizons to what’s happening around the world,” added Chelsea. Vegard Bergset from Norway is living on his own for the first time.“For instance, this is the first time in my life I’ve ever shared a room with someone.” Exchange student Mercedes Perez of Spain is learning from other cultures as she finds out she does not always have the same perspective as her peers. “Here we meet people from all over the world, you know? From Canada, Nepal, you know. ”On the other hand, for Spaniard Mercedes Perez living away from home is nothing new,  but living in an international environment has changed her perception of life. “I like living in Hart Hall because you have the experience to all the international students, and you get to meet people from different cultures,” says American student Shawn. Hart Hall is not exclusive for the international students. One example is Shawn Mohr, who believes that learning from different cultures makes one become more open-minded. Students from a total of twenty-seven different nationalities live here in Hart Hall. The IST Course is an opportunity for them to learn from each other’s different culture.