Winter Session 2015 Jan. 5-23 ~ oswego.edu/winter Check out the course list at myOswego Register now!
Friday, Nov. 21, 2014
•
A4
Jim Boeheim
SU coach signs new book at River’s End Bookstore
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF OSWEGO STATE UNIVERSITY • www.oswegonian.com
VOLUME LXXXI ISSUE XI
Students turn to online courses
Campus to build gender-neutral restrooms Waterbury Hall renovations include design plans for communal bathrooms
Nellie Owens Contributing Writer news@oswegonian.com
Luke Parsnow News Editor lparsnow@oswegonian.com
The number of college students that take at least one online course has risen to 32 percent nationwide, according to College Atlas. Many Oswego State students also fall into this category. Over 130 courses are offered to “distant learners” of Oswego State and currently, 58 of these classes are already filled for the spring semester. “Overall, the number of colleges that offer online courses grows from year to year,” said Gregory Ketcham, director of Innovative Academic Programs at Oswego State. “Oswego State is a part of this number and it offers students a large variety of online courses to choose from. “I think that online courses are a very positive thing, simply because they offer a lifestyle choice for learners,” Ketcham said. “Many students may prefer direct face-toface contact with a professor and other students that is available in a classroom, but online courses are much more flexible for those who are bound by time or place.” Ketcham is also an adjunct professor who teaches an online section of CSC 101: Tools for Computing. “It’s always interesting to hear about the pre-conceived expectations that students
W
See ONLINE, A4
Lily Choi | The Oswegonian
November brings in lake-effect storms David Bubbins Staff Writer news@oswegonian.com Oswego State received its first lakeeffect snowfall of the season Nov. 14 with a reported four inches of snow throughout the day. The Oswego area receives an average of 141 inches of snowfall per year, making it
one of the snowiest college campuses in the nation. “We happen to be downwind of Lake Ontario, so typically wind in the winter blows from west to east or from north to south,” said Andrew Janiszeski, the codirector of the Lake-Effect Storm Prediction & Research Center (LESPaRC), which provides forecasts for both the New York
See LAKE-EFFECT, A5
CONTENT
David Bubbins | The Oswegonian First snowfall hits the Oswego area, a region that gets an average of 141 inches of snow every season.
Calendar...........................C2 Classified..........................C7 Crossword.........................C6 Contact Info......................A2 Laker Review.....................C1 News.................................A1 Opinion............................B5 Sports...............................B1 Sudoku.............................C6
Students to be displaced, relocate to different halls for spring semester JoAnn DeLauter Asst. News Editor jdelauter@oswegonian.com At the end of this semester, Waterbury Hall will have no vacancies as renovations begin, leaving some residence displaced into other resident halls. Waterbury residents were informed of the renovations in early spring 2014 and advised to decide their choice in housing for this fall. “It was the student choice whether they would stay or go, and we gave them the opportunity and all the information before room selection, so they can choose to move to another building and not have to worry about a December move,” said Richard Kolenda, assistant vice president of Residence Life and Housing. Normally, Waterbury has contained approximately 200 residents. There are
See WATERBURY, A5
ROAD NOT SO EASY U.S., RUSSIAN RELATIONS
B1
David Armelino |The Oswegonian
See BATHROOMS, A5
Waterbury nears start of renovations
Opinion
Sports
hen Waterbury Hall renovations are completed next summer, one of its many new features will be bathrooms both men and women will be using at the same time. According to Oswego State Residence Life and Housing, the Waterbury renovations are designed to accommodate what is projected to be students’ wants and needs in the year 2020. Gender-neutral bathrooms are part of that design. “About a year and a half ago, we had hired mock architects to do a program study,” said ResLife Assistant Vice President Richard Kolenda. “And when they came here they did focus groups and included in those focus groups were administrators, housing folks, hall directors, RAs and students from Waterbury, Scales and Funnelle.” Kolenda said the focus groups examined Waterbury Hall and considered several aspects of the building and campus as a whole to see what improvements could be made to prepare for students’ future needs and wants. “One of the things that students really wanted was the idea of privacy,” Kolenda said. “One of the main reasons why students move off campus is that they want privacy.
They don’t necessarily want to share a gang bathroom. That’s one of the things.” Currently, a standard bathroom in a residence hall on campus has three bathroom stalls, three shower stalls with one having a tub and eight sinks and mirrors. The designs for the new bathrooms would be a community bathroom with a collection of private bathrooms. According to Kolenda, there would be four individual bathrooms and in those bathrooms, two of the four will be handicapped accessible, one will have two tubs, and each will have a shower, sink, toilet and its own door. “It’s just like a bathroom you would have in your own home,” Kolenda said. Besides the individual stalls, there will be two sinks and mirrors at the far corner of the common room for students to conduct bathroom activities that don’t involve toilet or shower use, like brushing teeth or combing hair. This raises the question of capacity. If the showers and toilets are in the same stall, students might worry about how often the facilities are available, such as in the morning rush for showers and getting ready for classes. Kolenda insisted that students will adjust to the automatic schedules of bathroom usage. Along with privacy of all students, Kolenda
B5
Photo provided by pixabay
Provided by the Office of Public Affairs
Artist rendering of what Waterbury Hall is expected to look like when completed. Building to open next fall.
Laker Review
Oswegonian.com
FOO FIGHTERS
BATTLE OF THE BONE
C2
Photo provided by o.canada.com
WEB David Armelino |The Oswegonian