Students, faculty and campus officials gathered in Marano Campus Center Auditorium, Thursday September 29th, for the first town hall meeting with Deborah Stanley of the semester. The town hall meetings act as a platform where students can bring their questions and concerns about the campus to President Stanley to be addressed. Many students came prepared with questions and concerns for President Stanley and officials pertaining to both on and off campus issues. After Student Association President Emily Nassir, introduced President Stanley, Stanley opened the floor to student concerns.

Plans to build a new staircase that leads to the lake on the west side of campus were brought forward by a student. The student expressed their and other students’ desire to have a proper staircase that leads down to the lake on west side of campus, so residents on west side can also enjoy walking down to the lake. President Stanley and officials confirmed that the plans have gone into effect. President Stanley said that her main concern for building the staircase was safety and she is working with campus environmentalists and professionals to make sure the new staircase meets accessibility concerns and respects the environment. Safety was also the concern of other students who questioned why Desk Attendants were no longer required to check student ids from 11pm until 3am. The new rule went into effect in the beginning of the semester as per request of Residence Life and Housing. Students feel taking away Desk Attendants’ ability to check ids during the late hours, decreases overall safety for students on and off campus. President Deborah Stanley expressed that she did not agree with the decision and wanted Desk Attendants to continue to check ids effective immediately until further notice.

Students also came forward on Thursday evening expressing their concerns over the banking change from Higher One Account to Vibe Account. Because there was a change in companies, the ATM for Higher One Account was taken out of the campus center and as a result, students can no longer take out money without being charged a fee. The university is currently negotiating with the new company to have them install a new ATM for customers to use. Not only did students have concerns over their bank accounts, but they also brought up concerns over their email accounts, as many SUNY Oswego emails have been susceptible to phishing and email scams. Students wanted to know what was going to be done about the problem as email is the primary source of communication on campus between students and faculty. Before addressing the student’s concern, President Stanley jokingly said, “I think it’s Russia. Don’t you think it’s Russia?” After getting a laugh out of those in attendance the Technology Department said they were aware of the problem and we addressing ways to fix the issue. They have been trying to cut down on the amount of LakerNet emails that are in the system by contacting alumni, recent graduates and past faculty members to verify they still want their account activated. In addition to verifying email activations, the Technology Department is also encouraging students to change their email passwords to decrease the chances of having one’s email account hacked.

Many concerns were brought forward at Thursday’s meeting. All concerns were addressed by President Stanley and/or campus officials. The town hall meetings are the time and place for students to bring their concerns forward to be addressed and solved. All students are encouraged to attend the meetings to voice their opinions and make an impact on campus. Town Hall Meetings are held every Thursday evening at 6pm, in the Marano Campus Center Auditorium. The meetings open to the public and all are welcome to attend.

by Michael Reilly

Oswego, NY- A former personal aide to President Barack Obama will be visiting Oswego State this Friday. Ferial Govishiri will be the keynote speaker of the Student Leadership Conference. Her speech will center around finding and focusing on one’s passion in life.

Govashiri was born in Iran and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was six months old.

This Friday, a very special event as well as exciting opportunity will be taking place here at SUNY Oswego. Former personal aide to President Barack Obama and active member of the Iranian American Women Foundation Ferial Govashiri will be speaking on campus at the auditorium in Marano Campus Center around 7:30pm. She’ll be holding the position of keynote speaker which is being put on by the division of student affairs and enrollment management. Her talk will be free and opened to the public, in other words a perfect way spend a Friday evening to kick of the weekend.

Now a fact about Govashiri some may not know is that she was actually born in Iran

Of course as most are aware, President Trump has recently issued a temporary travel ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim majority countries including Govashiri’s home country of Iran.