WTOP-10 has been giving SUNY Oswego, and Oswego county its news during the school year for over 40 years now! People from all over tune into our broadcasts through our various platforms. If you’re looking for consistent up-to-date Oswego information, you can catch us on channel 10.2 on campus, Oswego County’s Public Access channel, our Facebook Live stream, or some of our other live streams right here on the website. Catch our nightly newscasts live every night at 9 pm, Monday through Thursday.
Admitted Students Day at SUNY Oswego
Reported by: Kristen Beyer
Student Association Update: April 5th
Tuesday evening marked the tenth Student Association Meeting of the Senate this semester. The meeting was called to order and following the quorum begin met, the approval of the meeting minutes and agenda, the meeting was well underway.
The Outdoor Club and Ecology Club were the first and only guest to the Senate for the evening. Outdoor club is a student run organization focused on outdoor adventures and Ecology club is a student run organization focused on studying and preserving the ecosystem. Both clubs gave a joint presentation requesting funds to help purchase four to six kayaks for next semester. The kayaks will be stored at Rice Creek allowing both clubs to have access to them, which they feel would be very beneficial because the Outdoor and Ecology Clubs spend a lot of time there. After presenting their budget to the Senate, they were informed that the Student Association does not have enough funds in their account to fulfill the funds that the two clubs proposed. The Senate however, encouraged both clubs to request the funds needed through their club budget for next year. Although their demands couldn’t be met this semester, the Senate is willing to work with their budgets for next semester to ensure they have the funds for the fall.
Following the guest to the Senate, Executive Reports were next on the meeting’s agenda. Student Association President Emily Nassir was the first to deliver her report in which she addressed the student concerns on the choices of OzFest Performers for this year. Nassir stated that she is aware that some students are unhappy with the choices for performers which include, Dej Loaf, Rich Homie Quan and Flo Rida. Nassir reminded senators that it is important to present a positive image about OzFest. A negative image, especially when coming from a senator, can discourage students from purchasing tickets and attending the event. Senators should be aware that they are representing SA and should be cautious about projecting their personal opinion surrounding OzFest because it can affect the public opinion and how students view the event. Nassir also announced that Lil’ Duval will no longer be hosting the event and there is no intention of replacing him for the vent.
Shelby Gallaro, SA Vice President was the next to deliver her executive report. Gallaro announced that on April 19th, President Stanley will be attending the SA meeting to address the Senate. Closing her executive report Gallaro announced the starting plans of getting more involved in homecoming weekend. Senators wrote down various ideas on activities or ways the Student Association could participate in homecoming week. Gallaro will review the ideas and discuss them at the next meeting.
Closing out executive reports was SA Director of Finance. Peters discussed the prices for OzFest tickets and announced that student tickets will only cost $15 and tickets for the public will cost $25. If you plan to purchase tickets the day of, students will pay $25 and the public will pay $35. Peters announced that students can only purchase one ticket at the student price, any other tickets purchased after that will be the public price.
The meeting moved on to Committee Reports following the end of Peters’s executive report. Rules and Judiciary Committee announced they will be making folders for senators that will contain important information about the clubs/organizations and contact information for directors and those who would be of use on campus. These folders will be easily and readily available to senators and help new senators transition into their positions. Involvement Committee announced that their Miss-A-Meal beneficiary will be the Oswego Food Pantry. They also revealed that they plan to place SA comment card boxes in the residence halls and academic buildings by the end of next week.
In Hall Council Reports Johnson announced that they will be changing their constitution and the changes will be presented to the residents at their next hall Council meeting. Johnson will also be selecting floor reps for each floor in their building.
Organization Reports was next on the meeting’s agenda. The African Association will be holding their annual fashion show this Friday at 6:30pm. Students from all over the state, aspiring to work in clothing design, will be given the opportunity to showcase their work. Tickets can be purchased for $5 in the Hewitt Union Box Office.
There were no special orders for the evening, therefore the meeting moved onto General Orders. The first and only general order for the evening was the proposal and voting of the African Student Association budget. The organization requested funds to help with the costs of their annual fashion show. The fashion show aims to encourage diversity and allow students to show the pieces they have worked hard on. The funds would be used to help cover the costs for the designers attending showcasing their pieces at the event. The proposed bill passed by general consent.
The meeting came to a close following the general orders for the evening. The Student Association holds their weekly meeting of the Senate Tuesdays in Lanigan 106 and 6pm. All meeting are open to the public and students are encouraged to attend to express any concerns or opinions they may have.
Bowling for the Kids
Reported by: Mimi Haruna
SUNY Oswego SA Vote Passed
The student body at SUNY Oswego voted on the student association fee this week. The fee was passed by 87 percent. Students had mixed opinions however. Our Savannah Strait spoke to some students about the benefits and difficulties this fee causes. In the survey that was held this past week, the total passed with 815 votes approving and 115 votes non approving. The next Student Association campus wide vote will take place Spring of 2018.
Student Association Update: March 29th
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.
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.
“Strong and Healthy”
Reported by: Ilyssa Weiner
Oswego, N.Y.- With midterms rolling around, busy schedules as well as the winter weather has made things difficult for college students to achieve their desired fitness goals, especially losing the Freshman 15. Enter “Strong and Healthy”, SUNY Oswego’s newest fitness organization devoted to motivating students to not only stay active year round, but to think differently about how they work out.
“Strong and Healthy” Founder and President Autumn Caldwell started the organization in January. She suffered from depression after gaining 20 pounds during her first semester. A year later, Caldwell lost over 25 pounds and regained her confidence.
“I used to hate working out,” Caldwell said. “But working out has made me stronger as a person. Not just physically, but mentally.”
Since launching in January, “Strong and Healthy” has gained the attention of over 150 SUNY Oswego students, including Secretary Erin Clegg, who was unhappy with her skinny body and cardio workout and eventually turned to strength training.
“I really wanted to break the boundary between women and gaining muscle and lifting,” Clegg said.
“When a lot of people think of the word “strong”, they think of muscles and abs and a six pack,” Caldwell explained. “When they think “healthy,.” they think that means you have to be thin. That’s not necessarily the case. Being skinny does not necessarily mean that you’re healthy.”
“Strong and Healthy” will be holding a kick off event on April 22nd.
Japan Solves Plastic Pollution Problem
Oswego, NY — The world’s plastic pollution problem may now have a solution.
According to an article released in the academic journal “Science”, Japan may have discovered a plastic eating bacteria strain.
This bacteria strain can break down the most common plastic, called Polyethylene Terephthalate. It is often found in packaged bottled drinks, household cleaners, and beauty cosmetics. These items can be completely broken down by the strain.
The bacteria strand could mean good news for the environment because about a third of all plastic packaging does not end up in recycling; it ends up out in the environment. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, by 2050 more plastic will be in the oceans than fish.
Written By: Kirby Socker
Alternative Food Options at SUNY Oswego
Reporter Jessica Mulder explores alternative options in the dining halls with registered dietician Sarah Formoza.