By Stefanie Sciolaro
In recent weeks, Jared Kushner, has voluntarily released documents in regards to his role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey. Jared Kushner is the son-in-law of President Trump and a White House senior advisor.
Kushner released the documents to special counsel Robert Mueller who is currently investigating into Russian meddling and the possibility of obstruction of justice in the firing of Comey. The documents released are similar to those from the campaign and the transition, including any contact with Russia.
Kushner is not a target for the investigation but investigators are working to determine his role in Comey being fired. There is speculation as to how much influence Kushner had on President Trump’s decision to fire Comey, but White House sources said Trump made the decision on his own after watching Comey’s testimony in May.
People close to the White House, Kushner included, said they had no part in the decision and were merely in favor of it, but some sources said he was a driver in the decision.
Kushner’s participation in the data analytics operations of the 2016 Trump campaign, his relationship with Michael Flynn, who is the former national security adviser, and Kushner’s own Russian contacts, according to sources, are also being looked into.
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New Lactation Rooms on Campus
by Jamie Aranoff
Oswego, NY- 11 new lactation rooms are being added to the Oswego State campus this semester, providing nursing mothers a place to comfortably and privately pump breast milk for their children.
“It started with a nursing mother who had no official place to pump for her newborn,” Campus Planning Coordinator Linda Paris said.
The 11 lactation rooms are dispersed throughout campus and are located inside certain academic buildings, residence halls and rooms in the Marano Campus Center. “The rooms have been transformed from storage facilities and offer mothers a quiet environment with at least two different types of chairs and work surfaces,” Paris said.
According to the New York State Department of Health, employees have the right to pump breast milk in the workspace, and should have a private place to do so. Prior to this year, there were no official spots on campus for mothers to pump their breast milk.
“Before having these dedicated spaces, you might be lucky enough to have an office where you could pump in, but if not, you might be pumping in your car,” Paris said.
The collaboration of working mothers and the Campus Facility Project was one that took over a year and a half. For working mother and professor Dr. Kristen Eichhorn, the project was more than just getting a lactation sign outside of a storage closet. The initiative was about taking the needs of mothers and working together to be part of something larger.
“Working together to create the spaces for women was more than just that, it was about working with a team to better the community,” Eichhorn said.
Scales Hall, Tyler Hall, and Wilbur Hall will be the next three buildings on campus to receive a lactation room in the coming months.
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Master’s project examines students’ relationships with technology
[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text]Complicated relationship — The master’s in strategic communication “Integrated Media Projects” course analyzed data on students’ relationships with technology and developed this video summarizing some results. A group of master’s in strategic communication students, working a large-scale student survey from 2019, found students have a complicated relationship with technology and their smartphones.
The Student Survey on Attitudes Toward Technology (SSATT) is conducted annually to collect information from freshmen and seniors about their relationship to the technologies they use as students and young adults. The data analysis and media design exercise is carried out by students in the course “Integrated Media Projects” course, under the supervision of faculty advisor Ulises Mejias of the communication studies department, and with help of the college’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.
While that survey of 367 students preceded this semester’s move to remote learning, it nonetheless showed the internet and smartphones’ enormous impact on their lives.
Among the findings on how students live and learn with technology:
- 58 percent agree that the internet has had a positive effect on their lives
- 77 percent said they check their smartphones as soon as they wake up, although they admitted this habit can provide added stress and anxiety
- 71 percent agreed that they are distracted by their personal devices in class, while freshman are significantly more likely to lose focus in class/work by checking their cell phones than seniors
- Half of the students said they are distracted by their devices during face-to-face communication
- Two-thirds of the participants strongly agreed or agreed that they were notified by important issues through social media
- 68 percent of students said they look up more information on social issues discovered via social media
- 60 percent of students reported they fact-check or cross-check news stories
- 45 percent said they rely on social media as their only source of news
- 71 percent said they text others in class or when doing work outside of class
Some 2019 figures show the importance of access to reliable internet, even before this semester’s shift to learning online:
- 85.8 percent of participants said they strongly agreed or agreed they would not be able to maintain coursework without the internet
- 77.7 percent either strongly agreed or agreed that not having access to high-speed internet would impact their academic performance
- Seniors relied on high speed internet access significantly more than freshman
Building awareness
Strategic communication major Fabio Machado said the findings should prove helpful for SUNY Oswego students to better understand their relationship with technology, as well as for anybody interested in how technology and academics can better connect.
“I think we can improve the relationship, and learn how to take what is positive from it and try to maybe work on the negatives,” said Machado, who was the social media analyst for the project. “Maybe we can look at how we can make our students more aware about how they’re using technology and what is beneficial with them, what is positive about your interactions and what is not. What you can control better.”
Fellow strategic communication major Nick Derbabian noted that data was especially relevant because it utilized attitudes from fellow students. Since it was the first survey of its type, he added, the group was working with a blank slate in finding students’ positive and negative relationships with technology.
“I think a big finding that we saw was how it was contradicting sometimes. They found their phone and having access to the internet were sometimes distracting to them,” said Derbabian, the project support officer. “But they also said: ‘We absolutely need computers and the internet to get our coursework done.’”
“They acknowledge how distracting it can be in classes or how when they wake up it was the first thing they check,” Machado said.
The team was surprised to learn two out of every three students relied on social media for news to such a high extent, but found it encouraging that many sought out other sources.
In addition to Machado and Derbabian, the master’s students in the team included Kurt Albrecht, data analyst; Curtis Cady, video designer and producer; Brenna Maclsaac, website and tap course designer; and Pedro Boller, website designer and SEO analyst.
For more information on the findings, project and process, visit the team’s multimedia website.
This article was originally featured at: https://www.oswego.edu/news/story/masters-project-examines-students-relationships-technology via the SUNY Oswego Office of Communications and Marketing.
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The Inside Scoop on Hart Hall
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.
