A5 Black Student Union marks 50th year at Oswego State
Friday, March 2, 2018 VOLUME LXXXVII ISSUE XVVXI SINCE 1935 www.oswegonian.com
Oswego faculty SA confusion leads Wilber Hall expected to open this summer debates cutting to underfunding of School of Education will move back in after 4 years in temporary offices campus holidays new campus clubs Kassadee Paulo Asst. News Editor kpaulo@oswegonian.com When Oswego State students form an organization, they must become recognized by the Student Association, and then after one year, the organization is eligible to receive a maximum of $2,500 to get started. For the past two years, it was understood by the SA finance department that the most fiscally responsible cap to give new organizations was $1,000 less than what is written in the Student Association bylaws. “Student Association organizations that did not receive a budget for the current fiscal year may not receive a budget larger than $2,500 for the next fiscal year,” according to the 2016-2017 SA constitution. This error came out during the Club Sports Forum on Feb. 12 that new organizations have been told v i a f o r m i n L a ke r L i fe t h a t t hey could only receive $1,500 for their first year as being officially recognized. Club softball, which was started at the end of 2016, was not aware that according to the bylaws,
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The bylaws are the rules all SA organizations must follow.
Maria Pericozzi Chief Copy Editor mpericozzi@oswegonian.com
Faculty in the School of Education moved to Hewitt Union, for what was supposed to be one year, while Wilber Hall was being renovated. Nearly four years later, faculty are finally set to move back into Wilber Hall in August. The Wilber Hall renovations are the third phase of a larger project that started with the addition of new labs in Wilber Hall in 2012 and the rehabilitation of Park Hall in 2013. The projects connected Wilber Hall and Park Hall, creating a new main entrance for the School of Education. “It has been a long time coming,” said Allen Bradberry, the director of major projects at Oswego State. The third and final phase of the project is focused on renovating the three-story, or “tower” section, of Wilber Hall. The project started on May 10, 2015, and will officially be completed on July 29, 2019, according to the Facilities Services January 2018 Monthly Project Update. According to a story published in February 2016 in The Oswegonian, the original cost of Phase III was $9.6 million, with reconstruction starting after spring break in 2016 a nd l a s t i ng u n t i l t he s u m me r o f 2017. The actual bid cost of the project was $10.5 million. As of the Facilities Services January Monthly Project Update, the projected budget is over $14.7 million, with reconstruction and renovations lasting until June 3, 2019. Bradberry said the delay of the project was caused by funding issues. “ [ Fu nd i ng i s s u e s ] a l w ay s a re a problem with a capital plan,” Bradberry said. Bradberry said weather had no impact on the project, due to the project being mostly interior, with the excep-
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cut back costs after not receiving the entire amount they wanted. “I think it was designed based on what we thought we were going to get,” Gettino said. According to the Schematic Cost Estimate Summar y from March 23, 2016, published on the Oswego State website, the cost of Phase III was originally projected at $8.1 million, but did not include soft costs, construction contingency, manager fees, soil remediation, furniture, fixtures, equipment and site work. Mitch Fields, the associate vice president for facilities services, attended meetings regarding the renovations with other Oswego faculty, the Chiang O’Brien Architects working on the project and Pathfinder Engineers and Architects. In the meeting report from Feb. 1 9 , 2 0 1 6 , a t t e nd e e s d i s c u s s e d t he designs, and the design team was told to evaluate a reduced project scope to meet the budget, with additional desired work identified as alternates. According to the report, Fields suggested doing work on the first to third floors with the basement build-out as an alternate. He requested that the project be “brilliantly inexpensive.” Fields also said at the meeting that the project seemed to be on budget. “Mitch Fields indicated that in his
Oswego Faculty Assembly met again on Feb. 26, to discuss the motion to change the rules used by the Calendar Committee when deciding the college academic calendar for each year. Casey Raymond, lab coordinator and associate professor for the c he m i s t r y d e p a r t me n t , a u t ho re d the motion out of concern that academic holidays significantly impacted chemistry lab requirements and jeopardized the accreditation of the chemistry program. Raymond believes the proposal is a question of inclusivity, explaining to the Assembly that he felt it was impor tant to bring the topic back to the floor of the Faculty Assembly and allow students and faculty members to speak about their beliefs on the topic of allowing observance of all religious holidays, not just those recognized by the college. Under current rules, Jewish holidays, Labor Day and Good Friday are explicitly prescribed as days off. This motion instead prescribes no specific holidays, and instead is mindful of national holidays, but keeps religious observances on an individual level rather than campus-wide. State law protects the right for student and faculty to be excused from class to observe religious holidays, but not all Faculty Assembly members feel students would be comfortable approaching professors.Assembly members feel students would be comfortable approaching professors. “Discrimination is real,” Eve Clark of the sociology depa r tment sa id while drawing on her experiences studying her field. Even though Clark felt sympathetic for the goal of the proposal, she also said she felt conflicted that discriminatory or dismissive professors could abuse it. Several faculty members offered stories of their students facing discrimination, sometimes from faculty. “It breaks my hear t,” said Liz Schmitt, professor in the economi c s d e p a r t me n t , w h i l e re c o u n ting Muslim students sitting down with her because they felt unsafe
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Taylor Woods | The Oswegonian Wilber Hall has been under construction, with windows covered to keep asbestos from escaping, for almost half a decade.
tion of the windows on the outside. Annually, the governor approves the budget, and in the 2016-17 budget, there were no additions to the capital plan, Bradberry said. “We were questioning when we were going to have one or not,” Bradberry said. “They did end up coming through with a $500 million capital plan, which allowed us to continue with that work, and we have other projects ongoing.” Bradberry said the governor cut back on some of that funding this year for all of the SUNY system. “This year it is only $350 million,” Bradberry said. “If you look at the budgets to maintain all of the buildings on campuses in New York state, it’s not a lot of money.” The funding is in place right now for the projects currently underway, Bradberry said. “The [projects] that are out one year, two years, three years, you can’t plan on with just a one-year budget plan,” Bradberry said. “The planning that goes on one year at a time, if you have a project going on that is phased, when you’re done, if you don’t get any more money, then that project has to stand on its own. Wherever you draw that line, it needs to work.” The total cost included new furn i s h i n g s , t e c h n olo g y a n d m o r e . Larry Gettino, the senior project coordinator, said they did not have to
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