Collegian Cayuga Community College Auburn & Fulton, New York
www.cayugacollegian.com
Vol. 60 Issue 12
CCC campus & community mourn loss of beloved professor
CAYUGABriefs In case you were under a rock Sunday, FEB 1: SEATTLE won SUPERBOWL 48 OVER DENVER
Professor Ray Leszczynski taught Science at CCC for more than 48 years
The American flag in front of Cayuga Community College’s Auburn campus is at half-staff in memory of beloved longtime Professor Ray Leszczynski who died January 30, 2014.
HEAD TO HEAD
Fire raced through the home of CCC Registrar, Michael Pastore, last Thursday afternoon. It was reported that everyone in the household, including his parents, his wife, and child made it out safely. The CCC campus community is coming together to help the family recover from the tragedy. There is an effort to raise donations. Go to www.gofundme.com/6kwb44 to help.
BORROWED PHOTO BY SIMON WHEELER, ITHACA JOURNAL
CCC registrar’s home hit by fire Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks scores a 1-yard touchdown against the Denver Broncos during Super Bowl 48 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on February 2, 20142014.
February 4, 2014
Fire heavily damaged a CCC employee’s home last Thursday. SEE PAGE 3 on how to help.
The Cayuga Community College campus community was saddened to learn a beloved, longtime Science professor at the college, Raymond F. “Ray” Lesczynski, 71, of Auburn, died Thursday, January 30, 2014. Friends, students and family gathered to remember the Professor Ray popular professor Lesczynski Monday afternoon at White Chapel Funeral home in Auburn. A second viewing will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 5, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Amsterdam Funeral Chapel, 13 Belmont Place, Amsterdam, New York. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated Thursday, February 6, at 9 a.m. in St. Stanislaus Church, Amsterdam. Students at CCC were shocked and saddened to hear about his passing. Many reported they remembered him as an energized educator who conducted fun field trips to give his students opportunities for hands-on learning. See obituary on page 3.
CORRECTION The Collegian staff apologizes for printing misleading information
Dr. Gregory DeCinque CCC Interim President
Danielle Skowron Collegian Editor-in-chief
Ted Case
CAYUGA COLLEGIAN EDITOR INTERVIEWS NEW CCC INTERIM PRESIDENT SEE STORY PAGE 4
A documentary about Auburn’s inventor, Theodore W. Case, called “Talkies: The Invention of Theodore W. Case” is being produced by Auburn native and actor Al Steigerwald.
In a recent issue of The Cayuga Collegian, an article about two Cayuga Community College students who had volunteered to help with the production of a documentary depicting the history of the inventor of sound on film technology, Theodore Willard Case of Auburn, contained misleading information. The headline and the photo caption were incorrect. The students volunteered as production assistants when a Los Angeles based film production company was in Auburn shooting some footage. They were honored and appreciative of the opportunity to see how a professional film production company operates. The man behind the project called “Talkies: The Invention of Theodore W. Case” is Auburn native Al Steigerwald. He has embarked on a mission to tell the true story of the little known Auburn Al Steigerwald inventor, Theodore W. Case, because his father had worked as an electrician for Case’s family.
O P I N I O N S Hello, new spring semester!!! Welcome back CCC students, staff and teachers to the spring 2014 semester! The Collegian is getting ready for a great semester of bringing you news around the campus and stories about what matters DANIELLE SKOWRON to the students. If you have any suggestions for stories you would like to see in The Collegian this semester, do not hesitate to stop down to The Collegian office or email us at cayugacollegian@gmail.com. As always The Collegian is looking for staff writers to join our team! Feel free to stop into the office, email us or join us at staff meetings, every Friday at noon! Let me take some time to introduce our staff this year...
Mary Merritt- Student Advisor, 30+-yearsold, Journalism Professor, Travel Agent Danielle Skowron- Editor-in-chief, Telecommunications major, 19-years-old, youngest Lowes employee Kelsey Mclean- Assistant Editor, Writing major, 19-years-old Christine Jackson- Social Media Editor, Telecommunications major, Bit Strips extraordonaire Brittany Glassey- Associate Editor, Fashonista, Telecommunications major, 19-years-old, Bass Pro Associate James Granger- Staff writer, PBL member We hope that you take the time to stop into our office and meet us all. We look forward to the upcoming semester of news writing and hope that you join us as well! —Danielle Skowron, Editor-in-chief
To the editor... Writer criticizes college board decision I would like to throw an idea to the Board of Trustees for the theater project, since they’re going to get their theater project one way or another. I would like to recommend putting the money into the Schines Theater instead of a new building. Save history, plus they get
a bigger space with a tax credit and in the long in it would be CHEAPER. Went the the meeting and refused a chance to speak plus a trick was pulled on me. Support People, NOT New Buildings. -Anonymous
If I could run Cayuga Community College, I would...
It’s a news FEATURE, get over it! The night before the spring semester, I got talking with my significant other and I mostly complained that not many people read and take our paper seriously and that there wasn’t much feedback at all. When I got into the office on Tuesday morning, I was surprised to find feedback about the paper, WRITTEN ON OUR PAPER. It mainly criticized us for using an excerpt from another newspaper in our newspaper. The mystery person who signed “For Shame :(“ called The Collegian staff “Lazy and Uninspired.” I stand by my staff 100% because I know how hard we work to bring you an 4-8 page paper every week. We are far from “lazy” and “uninspired.” It’s not an easy task to put out a paper every week with 3-4 staff members, who are all full-time students, have jobs outside of school and The Collegian. We strive to all the resources we have available to us to produce content for The Collegian. Most of it is content that we wrote ourselves. We interview real people and strive to put out relevant news to the student body every week. But there are NEWS FEATURES. Plenty of other newspapers and new outlets do the same kind of sharing. So according to FOR SHAME, no newsroom should reprint items from a news service like the Associated Press? C’mon, we can’t be every where, every moment. No news organization can. I opened The Citizen the other night at work to see that the article they had about Justin Bieber’s arrest was from in fact another newspaper. FOR SHAME, do you find the staff writers at The Citizen “lazy” and “uninspired?” I welcome you to come work at The Collegian for a week. I want you to experience what the staff and I go through each week. The work is hard, but each and every one of us love what we are doing. I stand behind my decisions on what to put into the newspaper every week and I also stand by what my staff wants to put into the paper every week. FOR SHAME, I hope you come forward after reading this and work with us for a week, maybe, just maybe we can change your mind. —Danielle Skowron, Editor-in-chief
News anchors and commentators often will use a story in another news source as a leaping off point for discussion. It’s not lazy, it’s smart. The Collegian will continue to share with its readers the news feature: What other college newspapers are writing about...
“PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE....SOMEONE BUILD THE “NON-CAMPUS POLICY-ABIDING” SMOKERS A PLACE FOR THEM TO SMOKE!!!! THEY DON’T EVEN TRY TO HIDE IT ANYMORE! MOST OF THE TIME I SEE THEM JUST OUTSIDE THE DOUBLE DOORS OF THE COLLEGE. IT IS USELESS TO YELL AT THEM. PLEASE JUST PUT THEM SOME PLACE SO I DON’T HAVE TO SMELL THEIR SMOKE!” — mary merritt If you would like to share what you would change about Cayuga Community College, email us at cayugacollegian@ gmail.com or visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook. com/CayugaCollegian
CCC FULTON
STUDENTS
STAFF JIM GRANGER - AUBURN
The Cayuga Collegian is looking for staff writers to cover news and events happening on the CCC Fulton Campus. Please email cayugacollegian@ gmail.com
Have an idea for a news story? Just email your thoughts to cayugacollegian@gmail.com.
Don’t fear Financial Students mourn loss of Aid Day at Cayuga CC Professor Leszczynski Professor Raymond F. Leszczynski’s Obituary
by Kelsey Mclean, Assistant Editor Where would most of us we be without financial aid? Not very far, probably. We owe many thanks to our financial friends at the U.S Department of Education... though we’d probably thank them a lot more if it didn’t feel like such a chore. The process is often confusing and disorientating, riddled with numbers and statistics and percentages that make little to no sense to your average Joe. But never fear, help is here. Every year, for about five years and counting, Cayuga Community College has a Financial Aid Day every January 25th. The event is specifically designed to help people through the process and give them the confidence to ‘get it done’... with free coffee and donuts, to boot. Though it was made for people who would be considered ‘tech illiterate’ in our modern day society,
especially those unfamiliar with the internet, everyone is welcome. Most of the attendees are often parents, yes, but you’ll also find young students, adult students, and entire families all applying together. Financial Aid Day is also not just for would be Cayuga students, either, or even people in the SUNY system. Its doors are open to anyone in the CNY area who needs to apply for financial aid, be it for Cayuga, SU, or even Cornell. Transfer students are also welcome, and the support crew are more than happy to give advice about grants, loans, and whether or not they’ll still apply at the school of your choice. So if you ever find yourself applying for the FAFSA and dreading it, fear not, for you can check you calendars for January 25th and breathe a little easier.
Earn credits while writing articles for Cayuga Community College’s student-run, award-winning newspaper by registering for Telcom 204 this FALL!
AUBURN | Raymond F. Leszczynski, of Auburn, entered into eternal rest on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014 at his home. Ray was born on July 9, 1942, the son of the late Peter and Bernice Leszczynski of Amsterdam, N.Y. He grew up in Amsterdam and was a graduate of Professor Ray the Wilbur H. Lynch High School, Class of Lesczynski 1960. He also received a B.S. Degree from SUNY Albany, a Masters from the College of Saint Rose, and also pursued studies at Cornell University and SUNY Cortland. In 1966 he relocated to Auburn, and for the past 48 years he had been employed at Auburn/Cayuga Community College as a professor in the Science department. He was well known for his lively classroom lectures and spring/fall field trips to various locations in Cayuga and Onondaga counties. Ray was a communicant of St. Hyacinth’s Church in Auburn. He was also an avid skier and a longtime member of the Skaneateles Ski Club, where he was actively involved in the local chapter of The National Ski Patrol. Each year he eagerly anticipated the start of trout fishing
season and could often be found fly fishing in the streams and brooks of Central New York. He spent his free time cultivating his outdoor gardens and sharing his knowledge and love of automobiles with his sons. Mr. Leszczynski was married to the late Diane A. Leszczynski (Lomnicki) for 36 years. They were married on Aug. 9, 1969. She passed away May 3, 2005. He is survived by his four sons, Kirk Leszczynski and his wife Kathleen, of Ballston Spa, Jamie Leszczynski and his wife Danna, of Auburn, Jason Leszczynski and his wife Sarah, of Fultonville, and Justin Leszczynski, of Scipio Center; one brother, Dr. Thomas Lacey and his wife Beverly, of Ludlow, Vt.; and three grandchildren, Mariska, Madaline, and Jarek. Ray also leaves behind a close friend and companion of several years, Olivia Rising, of Fulton. Calling hours will be held on Monday, Feb. 3, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the White Chapel Funeral Home Inc., 197 South St., Auburn. A second viewing will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 5, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Amsterdam Funeral Chapel, 13 Belmont Pl, Amsterdam, NY. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated Thursday, Feb. 6, at 9 a.m. in St. Stanislaus Church, Amsterdam. Donations in lieu of flowers for the creation of the Ray F. Leszczynski Memorial Scholarship may be sent c/o Jamie Leszczynski, 1118 W. Genesee St. Road, Auburn, NY 13021.
To help out the Pastore family, visit the website: http://www.gofundme.com/6kwb44
BORROWED PHOTO BY SIMON WHEELER, ITHACA JOURNAL
BORROWED PHOTO BY SIMON WHEELER, ITHACA JOURNAL
Help for CCC employee whose house was damaged by fire arrives by Internet .com
President DeCinque’s Presidential Patience address to the college HEAD TO HEAD by Danielle Skowron, Editor-in-chief
The new interim president spoke to students, faculty and staff on January 24th. Welcome back and I certainly hope that everyone had a great holiday. I intend to make reports to the college community several times throughout the year. I will rotate where I will be for these talks so my next one will be at the Fulton campus. I have spent the past two months listening to gain understanding about CCC. I have come to have a level of appreciation for the history, the culture and the people of CCC. I have heard from current employees, retirees, students, graduates, community members and so many more who have such great things to say about their relationship with the college. From Auburn Community College to Cayuga Community College you have a great history of serving your community and are valued and respected. To some extent that is why some of what I have to say today may not sit well with everyone. But I hope you will listen and as the year winds on we will have time to talk more and make plans for what we all agree will define the appropriate future for CCC that will be driven by a Vision and Mission for the future. A collective Vision and Mission, one that we all buy into and are willing to make a reality will serve as the framework for our future decisions and actions. Today I want to spend some time telling you about what I have learned over the past two months. Although everything I learned is not positive I can tell you I have appreciated your willingness to be honest and candid with me and I have enjoyed my time with each of you. I also want to talk a bit about what I think we need to do to put CCC back on the path to a secure future and one that can continue to respect our past while preparing for the future. I will continue my promise to be transparent, candid, honest and not patronizing but I do need to be clear I will be talking about things which could result in change at all levels of the organization. I would also ask you to consider that change is really nothing new; you have changed many times since 1954 and this will be just one more opportunity to be the community college you want to be. In the end it will be your choice……I want to help but it will be up to you if you choose to believe me and if you are willing to look at doing some things differently. I am going to talk about a number of things and my view of the situation. They are somewhat in the order of how I see the importance but that may change as we move towards what we can realistically deal with. Let me begin with a few words about the Governor’s budget. He should be ashamed. Seriously, I don’t even remember a time when any governor has been concerned about community college support. To some extent this is purely political as all governors know that the legislature has historically taken care of community colleges so this becomes a bargaining chip between the governor and legislature every year. However, at the moment we have no increase in base aid, no additional capital funding ( I am sorry Pete) a decrease in child care support (sorry Ed) and a new formula for calculating out of area chargebacks that could decrease our funding from Oswego county next year by over $900,000. We will begin the legislative process now and I ask that you have patience as we do this. I also would ask that the Faculty Association, Administrative Professionals, ESP and custodial organizations to use their influence in Albany to change the Governor’s proposal. The first item is the fund balance. As you probably know, we finished last year with a $56,000 negative fund balance. That is not good. The auditors pointed that out and the financial folks at SUNY have also expressed their concern about this. We must rebuild the fund balance to an acceptable level as quickly as possible. This means that we if we exceed our budgeted enrollment goal of 2900 for this year any additional revenues generated will need to go to fund balance; not to new positions or refilling positions or any other needed expense. In addition any monies that we can save from the planned expenditures for this year will also need to go to fund balance. A minimum fund balance should be about $1.5 million
FOUR
and more acceptable would be $3 million. As you can see, we have a long way to go on this front. However, we must be in a better financial position when Middle States arrives or we may not meet the standards concerning financial condition. Capital projects are certainly a concern for CCC. There are a number of projects that were started but not finished; projects where local money was raised but not approved at the state level; projects that were apparently not in the facilities master plan and wound up taking preference over planned projects; projects that have been put on hold as well as a significant amount of deferred maintenance that has not been funded. The Fulton Campus has been caught up in some serious entanglements with our Foundation but holds unfulfilled opportunity if solutions can be found to some pressing issues. It is unusual to have a full campus in a county that is not a sponsor of the college as is the case of the Fulton campus in Oswego County. In addition, a long standing arrangement has exempted Oswego County from paying capital chargebacks so the capital chargebacks paid by Cayuga County students and other out of area students have been designated to pay the long term debt on the college/county owned portion of River Glenn. This effectively uses all or most of the capital chargebacks for the next 30 years. This makes ongoing maintenance or future improvements at either campus problematic. It has also created an issue with the Cayuga County Legislature as they believe we have expended all or most of our chargebacks so any capital items they approve the County will have to pay for. If you followed the studio lighting or the VOIP phone system issue, this is the reason they would not approve the funding. We do hope they will approve the lighting at their meeting next week. Thanks for your patience Steve. The Foundation through its River Glen Holding Company owns the remainder of the property in Fulton and believes that the College will take full ownership of the $8-9 million property by 2016. There is a $7 million balloon payment due in 2016. This is currently under review as to just what commitments were made. Regardless, we are still paying roughly 700,000 per year to rent the store fronts from River Glen holding while we are still paying a similar amount to rent the Broadway facility for two more years. We do receive about 46% of those rents in rental aid from the state of New York. One of the potential solutions is to have Oswego county join as a sponsor of CCC and begin to pay capital chargebacks. This would be a real challenge and although we have begun some initial conversation with both counties this is a long term solution and will not help us immediately. In the meantime, we must find a way to improve our outreach in Oswego County and try to increase our enrollment there. To this end we have formed a Fulton Campus Advisory Committee made up of individuals in positions of value to us in the Oswego community. This is a step in bringing Fulton County closer to the College. There are additional issues at the Fulton campus as there does not appear to be a firm plan on how to build out the remainder of the space and how that will be paid for nor has there been a concerted effort to rent the space to mission appropriate groups. I have already mentioned athletic fields but let me bring that back up along with residence halls. We clearly have a need to make ourselves more competitive in this ever increasing competitive environment. Without the facilities that other community colleges now have we are at a serious disadvantage. In my opinion we need to find a way to move both athletic fields and residence halls forward. The residence halls will have no cost, and should, if done right, make a positive contribution to our financial situation. Unfortunately, we have occurred a 600,000 debt for the halls that can only be recovered if we move ahead quickly with the construction of residence halls and use the plans that we have already paid for. The downtown Auburn theatre project continues to be on hold pending the outcome of
Last semester Cayuga Community colloege received a new interim president. Dr. Gregory DeCinque retired from Jamestown Community College in August of 2013. Dr. DeCinque came into power at Cayuga Community College during a rough financial state. “I’ve been through this before. I knew how the people (faculty, staff and students) would be feeling about the situation,” said Dr. DeCinque. Dr. DeCinque feels that it’s important that everyone understands what the issues are. During his address to the college, he said that he felt that it was important to be honest to everyone and fill them in on what his plans are for the school. “I’ve asked folks to help me, as long as we all come together we will be fine,” said DeCinque. Students are Dr. DeCinque’s main priority. He believes in an open door policy. “I would like to spend more time with students. Feel free to stop and see me. Students are first,” he said.
Take time out of your schedules to pop in and introduce yourself to Dr. DeCinque. If his door is open, then his ears is open to anything you may have to say.
multi-year litigation. There should be a decision on the most recent lawsuit after February 11. However, that does not mean it is over. There could be additional lawsuits or actions that will further delay the bidding and construction of the project. In addition, I have raised some concerns about the lack of classroom space in the facility. If this is supposed to be an instructional facility, I would think we need spaces in which to conduct instruction. I have also begun discussion with the Musical Theatre leadership about rethinking the operational agreement. As it now stands, we own the theatre, the MTF uses it May to September and we have it for the academic year and we pay all operating expenses during this time. I want to be certain that we have a plan in place to use the theatre for the purpose for which we requested funding. There remain a lot of unknowns about this particular project. I am a proponent of mutually beneficial partnerships but only if they actually allow us to do something that we need to do and in a cost effective manner. Community Colleges are basically enrollment driven institutions and our funding to a large part rises and falls with enrollment. The worst thing we could do is significantly overestimate our enrollment. However, that is exactly what happened here and we are now paying the price for that. Not meeting our enrollment projections is not the only cause of our financial issues but that certainly played a major role. Another concern around enrollment is the number of students that we lose fall to fall or even semester to semester. As you probably know, our retention numbers are not where we need them to be. We need to improve these numbers both because it is the right thing to do for students and it would certainly help us financially. This is always a complicated issue but we must really begin to address it if we are to make progress on the enrollment front. One thing that would make a difference would be to make certain that our advisement system is working to not only get students in but to keep them here. There is little doubt that the next thing coming at us will be performance based funding and it will be in our best interest to be ready for that by improving upon our student success models. I believe that our new outreach through Cayuga 101 might do a great deal to help see that students that come to Cayuga come better prepared and at the same time can generate additional FTE. Thanks to Sarah Yaw and all those involved with moving this forward. Another potential help could be a new scholarship program that would offer full tuition coverage to students from our service area that graduate in the Top 20% of their class. This has passed the finance committee of the College Foundation and will be voted on by the full body next week. Jeff Rosenthal and his folks are already preparing to roll this out assuming it passes. This scholarship will give us a chance to attract some new students for next fall. It will take time to grow but has proven to be a successful recruiting tool for top students at a number of community colleges. In addition, it brings a group of students to our campus that can fill honors programs and courses while raising the academic bar for all. I should point out that these are the students that do persist and graduate. We need to be doing more in the workforce
development area but at the present time do not have the staff needed to expand to the extent we are capable. Carla continues to work on partnerships, especially with the Oswego BOCES that holds some promise for a better way of meeting some of the needs and fulfilling our mission. New academic program development needs to be accelerated if we are to reach a group of students that we have not historically been reaching in large numbers. That would be in certificate or new career programs that can put students directly into the workforce after a year or two with us. The planned Occupational Therapy Assisting program or the Event Management certificate are but two examples of the type of programs I refer to. It will be a goal to find what could be called venture capital to provide the start-up costs for new programs and new faculty. Part of our problem with program development is that we need to take money from existing needs until a new program is up running and generating FTE. This is a bad model and I believe we have some potential sources of start-up funds external to the college that could help in this area. We also have some relationships to build that will reestablish a level of confidence in our ability to manage our own financial affairs. This is true at both the local foundations, SUNY and the County level. To that end I have been communicating with our friends at SUNY and have spent a good deal of time at the legislature getting to know all of the players there. I believe everyone wants to see the college successful and understands our importance to the communities we serve. However, all our spending is under a high level of scrutiny and we must demonstrate that we can be fiscally responsible and that we have a strong focus and plan for the future if we are to regain that lost confidence. Budget development for 2014-15 will be another challenge. As I stated at the outset, the governor’s budget has done nothing to help us and the change in calculations for out of area chargebacks actually hurts us. In fact, I have been told that all but four community colleges will lose money as a result of the change. We have been building some budget models where we have made a number of assumptions. We are assuming at the end of the Albany machinations we will get $150 in base aid, we will raise tuition $150 and there will be no increase in local support. In addition we will face the loss of revenue from Oswego County and it is unlikely that we can count on a large increase in enrollment. We are tracking on target for this year but there is nothing that would indicate an enrollment burst next year. We have already discovered how painful significantly overstating our revenues can be and I nor the board will let that happen again. I do not see any way that we will be adding things to next year’s budget. If we exceed our enrollment goal for the year and maybe end up with a surplus in this year’s budget it will need to go to fund balance. It is my goal however, to get a balanced budget for next year that will allow for a year of stability while we make some plans and begin to implement some changes as a result. As you know, Maureen Erickson and Steve Keeler have agreed to co-chair the Middle States Self-Study committee. I cannot underestimate CONTINUED PAGE 5
Dr. Gregory DeCinque CCC Interim President
Danielle Skowron Collegian Editor-in-chief
New interim president delivers State-of-the College message by Brittany Glassey, Staff Writer On January 24, 2014 faculty and staff poured out into room T229 on the Auburn campus as President DeCinque held a State of the College meeting with the staff at Fulton campus which was simulcast via a video conference. He went over a bunch of things that have been on a lot of people’s minds around the campus. Money and funds were a major topic throughout the meeting. He began with the Governor’s budget saying, “He should be ashamed.” Dr. DeCinque went on to talk about how at the moment we have no increase in base aid, no additional capital funding, and a decrease in child care support. Next up on the agenda was fund balance. He noted how last year CCC finished with a $56,000 negative fund balance. One thing he also touched on was capital projects. These projects were started but not finished. The projects he mentioned were the athletic fields and residence halls. “Unfortunately we have accurred a 600,000 debt for the halls that can only be recovered if we move ahead quickly with the construction of residence halls and use the plans that we have already paid for,” he said. He says once we have athletic fields and residence halls, it will help to make our campus more competitive with other community colleges in the area. This in turn
will hopefully lead to higher enrollment numbers and then to more funding. “Community colleges are basically enrollment driven institutions and our funding to a large part rises and falls with enrolment,” said DeCinque. He says this raises concerns about enrollment. He reported that here at Cayuga, we lose a number of students from fall to fall and even semester to semester. He says what we need to do as an school is improve our numbers, our enrolment to keep funding up. Another project linked to our campus is the downtown Auburn theater project. This project is currently on hold pending the outcome of multi-year litigation. “There should be a decision on the most recent lawsuit after February 11th. However, that does not mean it is over,” said Dr. DeCinque. He says the bidding and construction can continue to be delayed. Next on the agenda is the presidential search. The search is beginning and Jeff Edwards put together a broad based search committee that will have input. There are many things as a college community to work on to improve Cayuga as a whole and this meeting was a step in that direction. NOTE: If you have a response you would like to share about the Interim President’s State of the College message, please email us at cayugacollegian@gmail.com.
State of the college...
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
how important this process will be. At the moment we are most likely out of compliance with several standards most importantly those dealing with our financial condition. I also have some concerns about our ability to defend our total assessment process especially as it relates to non- instructional areas and also how we define and measure our institutional effectiveness. As you know, the Middle States process has become much more rigorous and the sanctions imposed for lack of meeting standards have increased. Where we used to get asked to simply provide a follow up report or address the issues in the periodic review report, some of our colleague institutions have been given warnings, had extra team visits assigned and threatened with probation. Let me turn to a bit more of what we can do about some of these issues. First, the presidential search is beginning and that will be an important time and one that will determine the type of presidential leadership you all want for the next decade or longer. Jeff Edwards put together a broad based search committee that will ensure input from all stake holders, internal and external. It is our desire to have the committee in place by the end of the month and begin the process in February. The committee will be seeking input from the College community as to what your expectations are for the next president of Cayuga Community College. I have offered to be of assistance to the board and the search committee as they carry out their work. We also have retained the services of Compass Consulting to undertake a thorough analysis of our financial and business operations with the goal of improving how this work is done and providing early alert systems for future financial problems. In addition they will help us unravel what I have dubbed the Mystery of River Glen. I don’t mean to be to be glib here but there are multiple leases, multiple contracts and as many personal views of the situation as they are people involved. Regardless, in order to move forward with the Fulton campus we need a common understanding of what happened in order to determine what needs to take place next concerning ownership, debt and program for that campus. Gary Winger, one of the most respected former SUNY community college business officers will be on campus next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to undertake the beginning of the analysis. He has been spending the last several weeks reviewing documents, contract, leases and other pertinent information in preparation for his visit. It was highly recommended by SUNY that we undertake this activity. The other project underway is something that for now I am calling Cayuga 2020. This will be
an opportunity to come together as a college community and define our vision for the future. We will need to think about what we want CCC to look like in 2020. I believe it is critical that we have a well-defined and agreed upon focus for the future that is based on a strong Vision, Mission and Values and that can lead to the development of a roadmap or plan to take us there. This needs to be a plan that does not sit on a shelf but one that becomes a real part of how we make decisions, allocate limited resources and how we provide continuous improvement. I have established a planning group made up of Jeff Rosenthal, Eric Zizza, Amy Valenti, Jo Ann Harris, Bob Frame, John Taylor, Terrie Kupp, Dale Lamphere and John Lamphere who will work with Larry Robinson from Partners and Robinson to develop the approach to achieving this goal. Larry had a great first meeting with the group and I look forward to working with them and all of you as we carry out this critical activity. There is also a lot of change occurring with our Board of Trustees. We are waiting for a replacement appointed by the Governor for Jane Bowen. George Fearon and Stan Kott have stepped down. We are awaiting the appointment of two board members by the County and one from the Governor. Once the full board is in place Larry will also work with them on board development. This is another important item for Middle States and we must show a strong system of governance and leadership throughout the college. I hope the outcome of all these activities leads to a new strategic direction and a constituent based planning process that links planning and budgeting, that reestablishes the trust that you tell me has been lost or at least the willingness to give others the benefit of the doubt. There may some of you who think everything is fine the way it is now. I have been there and I can tell you that what may look relatively calm on the surface sometimes hides real turmoil below that must be addressed. In the end it is up to you. The future financial stability of the college and our ability to continue providing educational opportunity to the community will depend on how we decide to change the path we have been on and find a new path that will lead to academic excellence and sound financial health. If you agree, and allow me, it will be my pleasure to work side by side with you as we deal with these challenges. I have been impressed with all those I have met and I believe that if we can together build an organization that tears down the silos of board, administration, faculty and staff we can design a Cayuga Community College that while respecting its past prepares itself for the future. Thank you.
Smoker? Want to Quit? Lacking Motivation?
University of Rochester Offers $45 to Join a Research Study by Christine Jackson, Staff Writer A recent email went out to CCC students reminding them of a paid study designed to help them quit smoking. The intent of the research study is to determine the effectiveness of a web-assisted smoking cessation program for young people. It’s easy to sign up: 1. Go to: https://redcap.urmc.rochester. edu/redcap/surveys/?s=uzInNVMiT9
2. Answer the following questions found by scrolling to the bottom of the page: a. Do you want to continue? b. Which Community College do you attend? 3. After selecting your college, you have the option to go to the next page to begin the survey or save and return later. In total there are 11 pages in the questionnaire. The questions are not too invasive and mainly surround your smoking habits and any attempts you have made at quitting, your intent in regard to quitting and verify your current status as a student at the college as well as a few questions regarding your personal background. The dispersion of the $45 for participating works as follows: • 1-month survey ($10) • 6-months survey ($15); and • 12-months ($20). All-in-all not a bad way to earn $45 and you just might kick a bad habit along the way! So what are you waiting for?!
New software app aims to help students find housing by James Granger, Staff Writer Last semester was full of disappointments for people who supported Cayuga Community College’s efforts to expand student housing. The dorm project was suspended indefinitely because of neighborhood opposition. Lattimore Hall sustained significant water damage last fall from a fire. The repairs are on-going and some displaced students have not returned. There is an app now available that can help students possibly find affordable housing. The name of the app is Splitwise. Splitwise was developed in 2011 to help people compare rent prices in a specific area. Zoe Chaves who is in charge of marketing and business development for Splitwise was asked about what Splitwise does. He says the apps on Splitwise can help friends and roommates solve a variety of problems such as, who owes the electric bill and who owes for Internet or cable. “The average rent tool lives on Splitwise so to speak, it’s not a stand-alone app,” Chaves said. He says the rental app was a side project that Splitwise developed to further improve the capabilities of their product. Towson University was the first college or university to use the Splitwise rent app. The app was introduced in October of 2013. “Splitwise is able to calculate the average rent price in an area according to data from realtors,”Chaves said.
The app allows roommates to split rent by factors such as room quality. With these apps available, students have another tool in finding affordable housing. “We started making the specific analyses for different colleges because we were finding that while the general tool is useful, people really love visualizing data and that’s how they best connect with it. So we thought about whom might need this type of info the most-- young people living on a budget-- and we started reaching out to colleges to do these custom visuals,” said Chaves. The target demographic Splitwise is marketed to is college students and adults from 20 to 30-years-old. Splitwise can be a tool for students at Cayuga Community College find housing since the college has suffered setbacks in providing students housing. The best part about Splitwise is the app is free. “We just hope it helps people make informed decisions about their housing. Being a student is expense and I think we’re all looking for good ways to save,” said Frances, a CCC student. For anyone interested in finding out about rental data in the Auburn area can go to http://colleges.splitwise.com/ cayuga-community-college to view Cayuga Community College’s Splitwise analysis.
FIVE
Why YOU Should Support Health Students & Health Care Are you putting yourself at risk of future health Care Reform in America! complications and debt? Who is the real enemy – Obamacare (Affordable Care Act - ACA) and “Big Government” or the Health Insurance Industry and the conservative factions that stand behind it? by Christine Jackson, Staff Writer In two to four years you’ll be heading off to face the world with a head full of ideas and aspirations. You’ll build careers and start families of your own much the way that your parents did some twenty years ago. You’ll be facing real debt and the rising cost of living on your own as well. Then will come the potential for developing chronic and terminal illnesses, sick children, accidental injury and the Flu. It then becomes apparent as you are forking out money on insurance premiums that cover very little of your health care costs that maybe you weren’t told the whole story behind the real motivation for the conservative push to oppose Obamacare. The Unscrupulous Health Insurance Industry Exposed According to Health Care for American Now (HCAN), health insurance premiums have gone up 131% since 1999. Health insurance companies have increased monthly premiums with the argument that their premiums are increasing in accordance with rising health costs when in fact their premiums have climbed at twice the rate of medical inflation. HCAN illustrated these abuses by performing an analysis on the profits of five of the biggest “Wall Street-run health insurance companies:” • United Health Group Inc. • WellPoint Inc. • Aetna Inc. • Cigna Corp. • Humana Inc. These companies provide health care coverage to one-third of the US population and the premiums they charge for their coverage have lined the wallets of their executive officers. According to HCAN, these companies combined increased their profits by 51% between 2008 and 2010 while the rest of the country felt the pinch of an unprecedented economic recession. Over a 10-year period ending in 2009, the CEOs of the 10 largest for-profit health insurance companies were rewarded with a 167% increase in income while average Americans like your parents, struggled through hard economic times with only a 2% increase in wages. Insurance companies have worked to increase plan premiums while marketing plans that provide for fewer services and less coverage. The Abhorrent Policy of Rescission Perhaps the best illustration of how health insurance companies pit themselves and their profits against policyholders is the policy of rescission. The policy is intended to prevent health care fraud and the willful omission of pre-existing illness or its indicators that can contribute to rising healthcare costs for the insurance company. In an article by the L.A. Times, abuses of the practice were exposed by an investigation of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. The findings speak for themselves: “An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period. It also found that policyholders with breast cancer, lymphoma and more than 1,000 other conditions were targeted for rescission and that employees were praised in performance reviews for terminating the policies of customers with expensive illnesses. ‘No one can defend, and I certainly cannot defend, the practice of canceling coverage after the fact,’ said Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Tex.), a member of the committee. ‘There is no acceptable minimum to denying coverage after the fact.’ The executives -- Richard A. Collins, chief executive of UnitedHealth’s Golden Rule Insurance Co.; Don Hamm, chief executive of Assurant Health and Brian Sassi, president of consumer business for WellPoint Inc., parent of Blue Cross of California -- were courteous
SIX
and matter-of-fact in their testimony. But they would not commit to limiting rescissions to only policyholders who intentionally lie or commit fraud to obtain coverage, a refusal that met with dismay from legislators on both sides of the political aisle. Rescission was largely hidden until three years ago, when The Times launched a series of stories disclosing that insurers routinely canceled the medical coverage of individual policyholders who required expensive medical care. Sassi said rescissions are necessary to prevent people who lie about preexisting conditions from obtaining coverage and driving up costs for others. But rescission victims testified that their policies were canceled for inadvertent omissions or honest mistakes about medical history on their applications. Rescission, they said, was about improving corporate profits rather than rooting out fraud. The committee’s investigation found that WellPoint’s Blue Cross targeted individuals with more than 1,400 conditions, including breast cancer, lymphoma, pregnancy and high blood pressure. And the committee obtained documents that showed Blue Cross supervisors praised employees in performance reviews for rescinding policies. One employee, for instance, received a perfect 5 for ‘exceptional performance’ on an evaluation that noted the employee’s role in dropping thousands of policyholders and avoiding nearly $10 million worth of medical care.” Policies were cancelled for reasons as trivial as not reporting the use of a weightloss drug, irregular menstruation, a visit to a dermatologist for acne, In the case of the omission regarding the visit to the dermatologist for acne, the women whose insurance policy was cancelled was being treated for an aggressive form of breast cancer. The investigation discovered that policyholders who are diagnosed with conditions such as lymphoma, breast cancer, pregnancy and high blood pressure were routinely targeted for rescission investigations.
The ACA Works to Eliminate the Abuse of Consumers by Health Insurance Industry Giants Two very important requirements for the Health Insurance companies in protecting consumers from the unscrupulous business practices of these companies include: • Demanding that insurance industry premium increases are based on reasonable cost assumptions and solid evidence. Insurers will now be required to publicly justify unreasonable premium hikes. • Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging increased premiums due to gender, medical and claims history, genetic information and/or health problems and will no longer be allowed to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.
by Christine Jackson, Staff Writer I’m young and healthy. Why should I get health coverage? For two reasons: Illness happens and statistics prove it. According to data collected by the CDC in 2011 for young adults aged 19 to 25: • 19% of females and 27% of males made at least one visit to the E.R. • 58.5% of females and 81.3% of males had a doctor visit in that year. Accidents happen and statistics prove it. • Data collected by the Department of Transportation in 2009 indicated that 25% of all motor vehicle related death or injury occurred in young adults between the ages of 16 and 24. Youth doesn’t ensure that you will never be sick to the point where you need to seek medical attention. In addition to that there are important preventative services that now no longer require a co-pay to insurance subscribers as a result of the Affordable Care Act. Needed vaccinations and yearly checkups don’t have to be missed because you don’t have the money for a co-pay, but if you have no insurance coverage, you will be charged full coverage and many doctor’s offices will turn patients away if they do not have the money to pay for the doctor’s services at the time of their visit. That leads to making a trip to the emergency room which tends to be even more costly than a trip to your regular doctor. Having medical debt can be just as costly and stressful as a struggling to scrape up the money for a car payment or monthly rent. According to a 2011 report from the Commonwealth Fund, 40% of young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 were without health coverage. Thirty-six percent (36%) of those young adults had existing medical bills that they were struggling to pay. The study broke down their individual financial situations and showed that: • 43% faced serious financial troubles • 32% couldn’t make their student loan/ tuition payments
In Support of a Government by the People for the People With proof positive that health insurance companies are more concerned with profit than helping policyholders obtain better healthcare and the targeting of critically ill persons by actuaries and legal personnel, is it any wonder that insurance companies stand in opposition to Obamacare? Looking into some of the top firms and industries funding campaigns or lobbying legislators such as Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R) (Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America) ,and Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Kindred Healthcare, Humana Inc.), one sees a disturbing connection between the insurance and healthcare industry and legislators who actively stood in opposition to Obamacare.
• 31% put off education or career plans • 28% couldn’t afford essentials such as food, heat or rent What can medical debt look like? If you make one trip to the doctor, maybe you’ll owe $75 to $100 for the visit, but if further care is needed or a prescription is written there is even more expense piled on to that one time visit. Medical bills can add up quickly. If you fracture an arm or end up injuring a knee the bills can become quite steep. For example, according to newhealthchoice.com the average cost of an MRI is $3700. In fact, according to the Commonwealth Fund survey this is how the average existing medical debt held by each uninsured adult surveyed broke down: • 25% owed $4000 or more • 15% owed $8000 or more Not only do young uninsured adults face a potential, seemingly insurmountable amount of debt but 60% of the group went without needed medical attention. If you’re an athlete this can lead to additional injuries and permanent musculoskeletal damage as well as the end to any aspirations for a professional career in sports. Respiratory infections can lead to bronchitis or pneumonia and even death if they get bad enough and are not attended to. Those with existing conditions such as diabetes can run a serious risk of debilitating illness and death. You only have one life to live and you won’t live forever so why not take the time and the initiative to take care of it. If you don’t know one else will do it for you. www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811753.pdf www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811402.pdf http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/ earlyrelease/Young_Adults_Health_ Access_052012.pdf http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/ Files/News/News%20Releases/2012/Jun/ YA%20Press%20release%20FINAL%20 6612.pdf
The ACA or Obamacare as it is better known might not be a perfect fit for all Americans, but it is a start to the end of health care abuses against consumers. One of the most important characteristics of our Constitution was its elasticity It allowed us to grow as a nation and to adapt or dismiss policies or laws that were not conducive to the constitutional rights that all Americans enjoy today. Big Industry was once in a position to take advantage of employees and consumers, but citizens stood up for their rights and brought about changes for the better by inviting just the right amount of federal regulation to ensure consumer protections.
They sought legislation that would amend the unscrupulous practices of industry, the kind of legislation that was intended to be put into place with Obamacare. With patience and bipartisan cooperation in Congress, Obamacare can be modified to serve the best interests of the American citizens, the way that our government was intended to from its inception. Keeping it that way means active participation in elections and social movements. The best way to participate effectively is to remain informed. Do your own research; form your own opinions. Take nothing in politics at face value. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/17/ business/fi-rescind17 http://beta.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/ house-bill/3590 http://healthcareforamericanow.org/ ourissues/health-insurance-industry/
Successful Weekend for Bowlers The men’s and women’s bowling teams traveled to Elmira, NY recently where they placed 1st and 2nd in the Red Baron Invitational. The team was led by Ryan Zbikowski (Baldwinsvill, NY) who shot a tournament high 1264 for 6 games, where he averaged 210 for the tournament. Right behind him were his teammates Justin
Ingram (Syracuse, NY) who shot 1173 and Alex DiGenaro (Liverpool, NY). The women also placed with Deanna Connelly (Seneca Falls, NY) coming in 2nd for the second half of the tournament and Mary Townley (Liverpool, NY) placed 2nd for the first half of the tournament.
Syracuse U on the map for snow by Kelsey Mclean, Assistant Editor In a shocking swerve that surprised absolutely nobody, Syracuse University was recently rated the second snowiest campus in the country by Accuweather.com. Rated by their average annual snowfall, Accuweather listed the top ten snowiest campuses, with Syracuse University narrowly beat out by Michigan Technological University. Quite a few other campuses native to the area
appeared on the list as well, such as the University of Buffalo, the University of Rochester, and even good old Cornell. This confirms what was probably already a well known fact for the community -- that Central New York is always just two steps away from becoming an eternal winter. So shovel that snow, all you tired and faithful, you earned it.
Spartans Get Big Win Against Rival OCC The Cayuga Spartans Men’s Basketball team picked up a key conference victory recently as the Spartans defeated rival Onondaga 96-94 in overtime at Spartan Hall. With the win, CCC improves to (8-13 overall, and 3-4 in conference). Leading the way for the Spartans was Zaki Thomas (Paterson, NJ) who poured in a team high 26 points. Joe Godette (New Rochelle, NY) added 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 1 block, Glenn Taggart (Rochester, NY) added 11 points, while Danny
DeFranco (Auburn, NY) and Tyshaun Morris (Queens, NY) both chipped in with 10 points. “It was an unbelievable game by both teams, I thought we did a good job keeping our composure when we were down 18 points, we got defensive stops and held them to 8 total field goals for the second half and overtime, I think our defensive pressure wore them down towards the end of regulation and overtime” says Coach Borges.
GO SPARTANS!! GO SPARTANS!! GO SPARTANS!! GO SPARTANS!! GO SPARTANS!!
February 5, 2014 Women’s Basketball vs. Jefferson Community College 5:30 PM
February 5, 2014 Men’s Basketball vs. Jefferson Community College 7:30 PM
GO SPARTANS!! GO SPARTANS!! GO SPARTANS!! GO SPARTANS!! GO SPARTANS!!
Despite snow, park correctly by Brittany Glassey, Staff Writer With the recent weather we have been having and all this snow it brings out the bad drivers. When it snows many parking lots around Auburn seem to get worse and worse with the snow lingering for days on Attention College Community: Please use caution when parking in the morning. People are not parking in the marked rows. This his is blocking the aisles and some people are triple parking. This blocking other people in. So please take a second to make sure you are parked correctly! We will attempt to make sure the center lines for the rows are visible. Thank you: Scott Shaft Interim Director of public Safety end and CCC is no exception. The snow covers the lines in the parking lot leaving drivers playing a guessing game of where
the parking spot is. This then turns in to a big space of cars just randomly parked throughout the parking lot. Just the other day in the front parking lot cars were parked three in with drivers seeming to have not a care in the world. This lead to Scott Shaft Interim Director Of Public Safety sending out an email to all Cayuga students warning them to please use caution when parking in the mornings. “please take a second to make sure you are parked correctly” Shaft mentioned in his email to students he then went on to say they will attempt to make sure the center lines for the row are visible in the mornings. Shaft said if that doesn’t work they will place parking delineators out marking the middle of the parking rows. All they ask its to pay more attention when parking to make sure you are not blocking other people in. All students have to do is take a couple extra minutes when they get here just to make sure you are parked correctly.
Collegian Associate Editor Brittany Glassey (middle with scarf ) went to London with Telcom students during the Intersession.
Intersession in London: an unforgettable experience by Brittany Glassey, Staff Writer While the whole world was celebrating New Year’s Eve, I was going over a checklist to make sure I had everything I needed to get ready to spend two weeks 3,000 miles away from home. New Year’s is known for new beginnings and that is exactly what that first day of 2014 had in store for me.
On the first day of the year, I left for London with CCC for what would be the best two weeks of my life. As I pulled up to the school to get on the bus that would take me to JFK, I was so nervous. I was about to leave to go to a country I have never been to, not really knowing any one else who was going on this trip. I was surprised to find out that I was not the only one to head on this adventure alone. As we boarded the plane hours later, I had already met a group of amazing people. Two movies Two TV shows and seven hours later, we
landed at Heathrow Airport, a moment I will never forget, it was so beyond exciting. As we left the airport, we headed toward Windsor Castle, our first stop on this amazing ride. As we walked through the shopping center that led up to the castle, all that was running through my mind was I can not believe I am actually here. Little did I know I would have tons more of these moments, when we saw Big Ben, the London Eye, and the Tower Bridge. Anyway, we toured the castle for a couple hours then headed off to our hotel that was about to become our home away from home. We spent our first day getting to know each other and getting to know the city I was already falling in love with. Our two weeks were filled with doing touristy things during the day and getting to know the locals by night. We had
so many amazing opportunities while being in London. They included touring BBC where we got to meet Nick Grimshaw who is a very well known radio DJ on BBC Radio 1. While at BBC ,we also got to see Will I Am walk right past us and wave. We got to go to a filming of a British talk show similar to The View called Loose Women. The main thing that I was excited for was getting to see reality star Jamie Laing. Before we left, I had discovered a show called Made In Chelsea that is filmed in London right around the area our hotel was in so that was exciting, anyway I got lucky enough to get to win entry into a club to see one of the stars Jamie Laing. I was so excited I still can not believe the luck we had while in London. We also got to see the changing of the guards in front of Buckingham
Palace and visit Stonehenge and Salisbury. Nothing was more amazing then the shopping amazing stores that were on every corner and I must say London has the best fashion. During our two weeks, we took the Tube everywhere and when the Tube was closed at night, we got to figure out the busses by the end of the trip. I think it’s safe to say we were getting the hang of things. I have so many amazing memories from this trip and I am so grateful I got this amazing opportunity. Those two weeks were spent getting to know some amazing people, make some new friendships, and discover a love for a city I never thought I would be able to visit. Leaving was the worst part. I would do anything to be back there right now and I hope to make it back there soon.
SEVEN
CCC’s Annual Fall Poetry Contest Winners First place: Scott Baugh
Second place: Emma Carpenter
Third place: Lanetra Williams-Farrelly
Anamnesis
The Creative Process
What You Are
Seventeen seconds standing in line, Numbered no longer among the lucky. Individuals yet for a moment ungrasped… Youth falls in silence, in heaps, to the marching.
A poem must know Where it’s going to go Never wandering Wondering About content or flow They said, Write a poem Just thirty lines long They said, Paint a picture A sonnet, a song! But a blank sheet of paper Is all that I’ve got No expressions of brilliance Not even a thought Not even enough for A desperate retort
Seventeen seconds holding a line, Numbered no longer among the young. All for one and one forever… In peaceful panic they fall to the jungle floor. Seventeen seconds laid in a line, Numbered no longer, numbered no longer. Fingertips smooth stone to recapture their youth… As they rise to the wall, refusing to fall.
Then I look down and see I’m still thirteen lines short They said “make us laugh” Then they said “make us cry” I’m making a sandwich, I weakly reply They said, Give life meaning Give credence to death Expound heaven’s mysteries In one lofty breath They said, Write a tribute To heroes long dead But I ran Out of time So I wrote this instead
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS Oh Justin sweetie, you just need to get a little help. Now I understand that we truly don’t know what is going on with this kid but something needs to change. He has taken his whole career and basically flushed it down the toilet and honestly it’s a shame because he is a talented kid. Every news channel you turn on has some ridiculous story on this kid. I would think after the first couple times you would try to fly under the radar and stay out of the news for a little while but nope he ends up getting arrested. There has been some talk about weather or not the police that pulled him over told the truth on their police report however he still seemed to have no care in the world about what was happing. He smiled in his mug shot, got out of jail and got on his car to wave to fans, and was then pictured outside with his dad with beers around the table. Justin then posted a picture on instagram of a picture of him getting out of jail next to a picture of Michael Jackson getting out of jail. This truly disgusted me it suggests to me at least that he is kind of proud of this path he is going down when he should be ashamed of his actions. However the one thing that bothers me the most about this situation is how his parents are just sitting back and letting their child act out like this. My personal opinion is that they don’t want to say anything because he supports them which is so sad they need to forget about the money. It has been rumored
though that his whole “team” has gotten together in Panama for a intervention. Whether there is truth to it or not something needs to happen he has since left Panama. His court date in Miami is scheduled for valentines day and on Jan. 29th Justin turned himself in to Canadian police for an incident back in December that involved a limo driver. There is also now a petition going around to have him deported. The petition has passed 100,000 signatures which now means the government needs to respond. There comes a point when enough is enough and Justin has passed this point some time ago. It is time for him to take a break and go away for a little while somewhere he is not going to be in the public eye every day. Something needs to happen. —Brittany Glassey, Associate Editor
What other college newspapers are writing about.... FROM ALFRED UNIVERSITY’S FIAT LUX
You’re my heart, my love, my pride and joy; My hope, my sweet little baby boy. You’re my Sun, my Moon, my wish upon a Star; You’re my everything that’s what you are! You’re my life, my mind, my body and soul; You’re Mamma’s treasure full of Gold. You’re my happiness, my sweetness, a blessing from afar; You’re my everything that’s what you are! You’re the petal’s on my Rose, the twinkle of my eye; The beat of my heart, my favorite little guy. You’re the Sun in my sky, the Ace of all card’s; You’re my everything that’s what you are!
Honorable mention: Naomi Fowler She carries around a heavy burdened past Most people came and went because their patience didn’t last. She is broken with her pieces scattered on the floor As they are gathered, blood-pricked fingertips have them running for the door. She threw her white flag and it fluttered down into the sea She climbed up on her ounce of strength that quickly sank beneath. With nothing left she let the pain soak through her every pore Leaving only emptiness and sorrow ripping at the core. No water was engulfing her yet she felt she was drowning No hand was pressed against her neck yet she felt she was suffocating. His hands dropped to her chest as he brought her back to life Lip to lip; breathing air into her lungs, cutting the ropes with a knife. His warmth refilled her body as his love set her free From the depths of her insanity and self-bound captivity. He grabbed her hand and kissed her lips and looked her in the eyes With assuring words and promises, he never broke his ties. Delicately he took the shards of her broken weary bones and gathered them in his arms Piecing them together, he promised them no more harm.
Cayuga Collegian FLASHBACK... celebrating 60 years!