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Friday, Feb. 8, 2019 VOLUME LXXXIV ISSUE I SINCE 1935 www.oswegonian.com
Fitness centers pilot extended operating hours
Kyle Hurley | The Oswegonian
Alexander Gault-Plate Managing Editor aplate@oswegonian.com This semester, the fitness centers on Oswego State’s campus are testing to see if expanded hours may help students get to the gym more often. The centers, both Glimmerglass and Cooper, are now open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays. On Saturdays and Sundays, the centers will open at 9 a.m., closing at 8 p.m. on Saturday and 9 p.m. on Sunday. The fitness centers were previously open from 7 a.m to 10 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays. The new hours are only being tested at the moment and may be subject to further change as more information about how students use them is collected. Membership prices have not been increased for this semester. “The expanded hours is only a pilot program as we will analyze usage and determine if we want to continue the expanded hours next year,” said Brian Wallace, the general manager for the Oswego Fitness Centers.
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fire safety BSU celebrates culture, history State inspector checks Oswego State students observe Black History Month Kassadee Paulo News Editor kpaulo@oswegonian.com Oswego State’s Black Student Union, in collaboration with other organizations, is celebrating Black History Month with numerous programs throughout February to embrace the black community’s culture and heritage. “To me, Black History Month means pride,” BSU Vice President Michaela Williams said. “To be prideful in all that it is to be black; to find pride in the struggle and the success; to be prideful of those who came before me, regardless of their tactics whether violent or nonviolent.” The overarching theme of this year’s month-long observance is Black Her-story Month as a nod to BSU’s all-women executive board and is meant to highlight successful black women and acknowledge wrongs done to black women, Williams said. The organization is putting together at least five programs per week, including the effects of mental health, domestic violence and medical mistreatment in
women. Williams said she believes it is important to share information and stories which have not been brought to light often, such as the maternal mortality rate of black women. The rate of pregnancy-related deaths from 2011 to 2014 was 12.4 deaths per 100,000 live births for white women, but for black women, the rate was 40 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “I hope that through our programs, the BSU is able to show the campus that black pride doesn’t mean anti-white,” Williams said. “There isn’t anything wrong with loving ourselves. There isn’t anything wrong with our pride. Especially after all we’ve endured as a body of people, how could you be mad?” In October, as part of Return to Oz, Williams and other members of BSU met alumni who had been in the organization when Black History Month was first celebrated in 1970. She expressed her interest in hearing the alumni’s stories about how BSU was only given enough funding to cel-
ebrate one week out of the month and how they fought for the opportunity to host programs for all of February. BSU currently hosts several programs throughout the month, including their annual Variety Show and a dinner. “Our budget is just ok, I’d say,” Williams said. “Granted, it isn’t a low number, but for what we’re expected to bring to this campus each semester, sometimes it doesn’t always feel [like] enough.” Anisha Melton, director of marketing for BSU, joined the organization to make a difference on campus and provide a space in the campus community where black students can feel more comfortable. She said Black History Month is a time to pave the road that allowed her to follow her dreams and also understand her worth as a young black woman. “I hope that BSU will continue to speak about things that make people uncomfortable but bring to light topics that need to be discussed,” Melton said. “In addition, I hope we can go back to being more prevalent in the things rattling the black community on campus.”
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William Rogers | The Oswegonian
Jessica Wickham Chief Copy Editor jwickham@oswegonian.com
Photo provided by Michaela Williams
The annual state fire inspections of academic buildings and residence halls at Oswego State, conducted Feb. 4 through March 8, means more strict safety checks that some students find annoying despite their necessity. Kenneth Ayhens, the New York state fire inspector from the office of Fire Prevention and Control, will be inspecting all academic buildings and 1/3 of the occupied rooms in each residence hall as part of the safety check. During the checks, he looks for any violations that pose a fire safety hazard and immediately confiscates any he finds. This procedure can seem more harsh than the ones conducted by Residence Life and Housing staff in the fall semester, according to Robert Grasso, a resident assistant in Onondaga Hall. “[The state fire inspectors] have much more authority than we do,” Grasso said. “They’re typically much more serious … anything that is a prohibited item, they confiscate right away, which will not be returned.” The fall inspections are typically scheduled ahead of time between residents and RAs, and if RAs find small infractions, they will give students a 48-hour window to remove the items and have the room checked again.
Black Student Union hosts several programs throughout the month February to celebrate and honor their heritage and history.
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