A4 Look back at major semester stories
Friday, Dec. 1, 2017 VOLUME LXXXXIII ISSUE XVVI SINCE 1935 www.oswegonian.com
Open source initiative seeks to lessen financial burdens Option to use freely available materials for classes could lower textbook costs for students Ethan Magram Staff Writer news@oswegonian.com Faculty at Oswego State are pushing to make educational materials more cost effective by encouraging the use of open source materials that could be freely used for little to no cost. The initiative is being pursued thanks to an $8 million grant given by the state of New York to SUNY and CUNY schools to encourage the use of open educational resources. These resources include textbooks among other kinds of educational materials, such as ebooks, lesson plans and infographics. Laura Harris, the online learning librarian at Penfield Library, is leading the charge to get faculty to adopt OERs for their curricula, as well as getting them to create their own. Her goal is to make OERs more widespread across academic departments at Oswego State. “We know that textbooks are super
expensive,” Harris said. “What we’re trying to do is encourage instructors here at least to investigate and see what’s out there for them to use.” The $8 million that has been given to SUNY and CUNY schools, according to Harris, goes toward grants awarded to professors who integrate OERs into their teaching. “We have five grants that were awarded last summer,” Harris said. “Some of them are still in progress.” One of the grants was awarded to Mya Brown, a professor in the theatre department. Brown is using the resources to create an online database for Shakespearean monologues. “We wanted to take it a step further than a typical monologue database,” Brown said in an interview with the SUNY Oswego News and Events page. “We didn’t find any that were just right for us.”
Kellsie Zacholl | The Oswegonian
See CHOICE, A4
Textbook costs can be prohibitive to students without much money, and classes using open source materials can help to solve the issue of “food or textbooks.”
Start Now partnership allows test run for college Rep. Katko introduces legislation Program allows students to attend JCC before coming to Oswego to combat opioid addiction problems Shenandoah Briere Chief Copy Editor news@oswegonian.com
A 2016 partnership, Start Now, has been created between Oswego S t a t e a nd J e f fe r s on C ommun it y College to help students make the academic and personal transition from high school to college easier. The goal of the program is for high school students from New York City to begin at a Start Now partnered community college, like JCC. After a year or two, dep e nd i ng o n w he t he r o r no t t he student decides to earn their associate degree and if they are a c a d e m i c a l l y s o u nd , t hey t he n would transfer to Oswego State for their bachelor’s degree. “Start Now was created to help expand access to higher education and to increase completion r a t e s ,” s a i d K r i s t i Ec k , c h i e f o f staff in the office of the president at Oswego State. Having both an associate degree and bachelor’s degree can elevate a student’s prospect of getting a job over the other possible candid a t e s s a i d S a n d r a M o n t a l vo , a n admissions counselor and Oswego State’s coordinator of Start Now.
The introduction of new legislation into both the House and the Senate will help fight the opioid crisis, Rep. John Katko’s office said. The bill, which is currently under review, is called H.R. 2851 or SITSA, Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues Act of 2017. A similar bill was introduced into the Senate. Katko’s office said the bill was introduced because Central New York has been the center of the epidemic. “Synthetic drug abuse is at an alltime high in Syracuse, and the SITSA Act would help law enforcement offi-
CONTENT
Winnie Blackwood Staff Writer news@oswegonian.com
See BARLOW, A6
Photo provided by Eric Norris via Flickr
See START NOW, A5
Calendar...................... C2 Classifieds................... C6 Crossword................... C6 Contact Info................ A2 Laker Review.............. C1 News............................. A1 Opinion........................ B5 Sports........................... B1 Sudoku......................... C7
cials keep drugs off the street by making it easier to expand the list of illegal substances,” said Jeff Naft, the press assistant for Katko’s office. A 2015 report to the governor and New York State legislature found that opioid analgesic-related deaths increased 30 percent from 2009 to 2013. The report also said opioid-related emergency depar tment visits in creased 73 percent from 2010 to 2014. The SISTA Act states its intention is “to amend the Controlled Substances Act to clarify how controlled substance analogues are to be regulated, and for other purposes.” Part of the bill would create a Schedule A for
Rachel Futterman | The Oswegonian
Sports GENESEO PREVIEW
B1
Greg Tavani | The Oswegonian
Opinion BLACK FRIDAY SUCCESS
B6
Image from by Philafenzy via Wikimedia Commons
Opioids are defined as opium-like chemicals that bind to one or more of the three opioid receptors in the body.
Laker Review HOPE FOR DC MOVIES
C3
Image from Warner Bros. U.K.
Oswegonian.com MUDBOUND
WEB
Image from Netflix