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.”
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A Word’s Worth
by Stefanie Sciolaro, WTOP10-TV
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. Well members of SUNY Oswego’s Student Association took that saying even farther in their 1,000 Words Campaign on Thursday. The event was held in room 133 of the Marano Campus Center from 10AM to 4PM with another event later in the night in the Marano Auditorium from 6PM to 7PM. The afternoon event consisted of an activity students could do to help promote positivity and hope on campus.
Students would come in and choose any quote that means something to them. After choosing a quote, they’d decide where they wanted it to be written on them. An event volunteer would then write the quote on the student and a picture of them would be taken in front of a black back-drop. The student would then fill out a form with their information, and a member of the Student Association would email those pictures to them after the event. If a student did not want to have their picture taken, there was also a white board that students could write their quotes on.
Allif Karim is one of the students who took part in the event. He explained the reasoning behind why he chose the quote, “ Don’t change to be, be the change”.
“Growing up I used to be the typical kid trying to change myself, you know trying to see what fits, what’s hip. Now I understating that you don’t really have to do that, be someone who influences others,” said Alif.
Later that night the event held in the Marano Auditorium showcased all the pictures of students that had participated, along with guest speakers who explained the stories behind their quotes.
With evident tension between people within society today, this event was aimed at bringing the people of SUNY Oswego back together again. The student body has become separated, to a concerning degree, by views over recent events that have occurred in the United States. The 1,000 Words Campaign event was a way for students to positively express themselves through the inspiring words they each individually stand by, and share them with each other.
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Student Association Update: March 15th
The Student Association held its eighth meeting of the Senate for this semester on Tuesday evening. Following the meeting being called to order and quorum being satisfied, the meeting began swiftly. The meeting and agenda minutes were approved allowing the meeting to move to it’s first order of business, guests to the Senate.
The first guest to the Senate for the evening was the student organization Two and a Half. They have existed for nine years on campus and their main goal is to combat and raise awareness about sexual violence and assault. Two and a Half will be hosting their “Raise Your Voice” event, which has been taking place annually for the past nine years. The event will be taking place at the end of April corresponding with Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Although the organization does have funds in their budget, and they have paired up with SAPB, they requested funding to help with the costs for the rest of the event. Two senators offered to write the bill which will be voted and presented at a later meeting this semester.
The discussion of Broad Based Fees which include fees for health, technology and athletics, were presented so students were fully aware as to where their money was going. The Broad Based Fee for this upcoming school year will be $25, split three ways to cover the health, technology and athletics fee. The health fee includes everything from counseling services offered on campus, to the clinic/nurses office at Mary Walker. This fee in particular also allows the lifestyles center within Mary Walker to operate. This fee allows things such as toilet talk, open mic night, student health surveys and condom deals on Wednesdays to exist. The technology fee is also essential to campus because of the prominent presence of technology in students’ daily lives. They are looking to increase the technology fee, but that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be any additional benefits that comes along with the increase. The increased technology fee would allow SUNY Oswego to increase network bandwidth and add close a million wireless access points around campus. The technology fee is put in place to ensure that all students have the best access to internet and assistance at all times. Finally, the athletics fee is also expected to increase. Since SUNY Oswego has had the second highest number of teams in the conference for the year, there is a greater need to help fund/support the various sports teams on campus.
The meeting moved smoothly onto executive reports seeing as there were was no one for public comment. Student Association President Emily Nassir was the first to give her executive report. There were no new updates on OzFest, however Nassir has been very busy with meetings to get the SA Food Pantry up and running. Nassir has attended several meetings and has another one coming up to discuss the plans and budget for the pantry. Nassir also stated that SA is currently in the process of working on the new contract with Centro, the bus that allows students to travel from one side of campus to the other as well as from campus to in town and vice versa. Nassir will continue to update students and senators and new information arises.
Shelby Gallaro, SA Vice President was next to deliver her short and sweet executive report. Gallaro revealed that over 900 students voted in the elections on Monday and Tuesday. The election included the voting on the referendum to determine if the student registration fee should be mandatory or not, as well as the election of the new offices for President and Vice President of SA. Matthew Peters shortly followed Gallaro in executive reports, in which he informed senators he started to go through budget requests for the clubs and organizations. There will be more meetings throughout the week to work on and approve the budgets. So far, the process has been a success.
Committee Reports was the next order on the agenda for the evening. Rules and Judiciary revealed that they will now be meeting bi-weekly for the duration of the semester. Finance Committee did not meet this week, however they will meet next week with the several clubs and organizations whose budgets need to be written in order to be proposed and voted on. The Involvement Committee closed out committee reports by revealing that they are currently working on the “Miss-A-Meal” project for the end of the semester.
Hall Council reports were delivered after committee reports, there were however fewer reports. Johnson Hall has reviewed and made changes to their constitution which will then be put to a new vote to see if it passes or not.
The short and sweet hall council reports led to the adjournment of the meeting seeing as there we no general, nor special orders for the evening. The Student Association meets every Tuesday in Lanigan 106, at 6pm. 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.
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Oswego Mayor Calls for 48 Hour Street Parking Ban
*Photo provided by Alex Simone
OSWEGO, N.Y. – The City of Oswego is asking for city residents to vacate all street parking for the next 48 hours.
Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow is calling for all vehicles to be removed from city streets, while the Department of Public Works works to clear the roads of snow and ice. The inclement weather and combination of snow and rain has caused many of the city’s drainage systems to clog.
“The significant weather event we are experiencing calls for the cooperation of all our citizens,” Barlow said. “In consultation with DPW Commissioner Tom Kells, I am requesting that all vehicles park off the road over the next 48 hours as the DPW works on snow removal and freeing the storm sewers from overflowing water.”
In addition, the Oswego City Police will continue issuing tickets and towing vehicles that are violating the city’s already existing parking ban from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.
Several municipal lots are open and free to park in and for more information you are recommended to contact the Mayor’s office at 315-343-8140.
