Snow at Alfred State College

 

Corq and Events

By: Clayton Winspear

    If you’re interested in getting more involved here on campus, then I would highly suggest downloading the Corq app for your devices. This app allows you to see up to date information on events; locations, times, and activities. It is extremely easy to use. Just download the app, then create a quick profile and link it to Alfred State College. From there you can post your own events or R.S.V.P to other events being held on campus or in the area. 

    I have spent the last week using the Corq app, and I have found a multitude of interesting events that I normally wouldn’t have even been aware of. The most notable series that I have attended recently, were activities that were being hosted by the Virtual Input Club. They host themed events every other Thursday, giving students a creative outlet in which to relax and try new things. I had a wonderful time; gourd painting, watching vintage holiday themed movies, and of course eating holiday themed snacks. 

    In speaking with the Virtual Input Clubs President, Jack Goodwin, I was able to learn a lot about a club that I previously didn’t even know existed. She was very passionate about helping students pursue their own artistic goals and having a fun relaxing atmosphere, in which to express themselves and relax. The Virtual Input Club is actively recruiting new members, as well as new officers for next year, since Jack will be graduating. If any one is interested, I would highly encourage you to check them out!

    This is the power of the Corq app. It gives you all the information you need to help you get involved in new activities around campus. A large stop gap for most people is simply not having the information readily available. With this app, there are no more excuses. There are many great things happening here that simply haven’t been receiving the coverage they deserve. Here’s your chance to leave your comfort zone, try some new things and meet some new people. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Tor Echo’s Comic Contest Winner!!

Resurrect by Kaitlin Rabenstein 

Food Insecurity on College Campuses

By: Baylee Durantini

     My friend worked every day: morning, noon and night. He even scheduled his classes around his work schedule. My friends and I always questioned why this was, and then we finally realized it was because he was all on his own. He had no help from his parents, no financial aid or scholarships, and all his paychecks went back to paying for college. Thankfully, at SUNY Morrisville there is a policy that when you work at the dining halls you must eat on your breaks, so this is how my friend ate every day because he couldn’t afford to pay for a meal plan. My friends and I went two years without realizing this was happening to him.

     Because of my friend’s situation I wanted to better understand what had affected my friend. I learned that it was a food insecurity and that it happens on college campuses quite often. 

     Food insecurity can happen at any college campus and can happen to anyone. Food insecurity isn’t biased against race, gender, or age. Food insecurity can even happen to you. 

     I was given a job opportunity at SUNY Morrisville that allowed me the chance to go to a SUNY Student Assembly conference, where all SUNY campuses send their student senates twice a year. Last year our main point of discussion was food insecurity and solutions that could help combat this problem. Within this article you are going to learn what a food insecurity is, what it effects, how it’s happening and what we can do to help. 

     Based on a survey given to a class on Alfred State campus, 77.7% of the students didn’t know much or anything about food insecurity. A food insecurity is when someone has no access to an adequate amount of affordable and healthy food. This can happen at any college campus: community, two year, and four year. 12.3% of the general population in America reported being food insecure, 66.6% of students reported being food insecure in college. The University Wire Journal of April 8, 2016 reports that, “According to the Food Research and Action Center, food-insecure students had lower GPAs and higher rates of poor health than their food-secure counterparts. They were also twice as likely to work a job on top of their class loads.” 

     Food insecurity can have many negative effects. Lack of nutrients can lead to depression, anxiety, behavioral problems, social issues, and learning problems, which in turn affect performance and focus. Sometimes this becomes a new problem to students coming from kindergarten through 12th grade, because they are used to have school lunch programs, because of those programs in place attendance rates increased, improving literacy and concentration, encouraging kids go further in their studies.

     In her book Food Security, Kathy W. Peacock states that, “reduced-cost school lunches have been a feature of the U.S. school system for at least two generations and have proved a popular and enduring way to combat hunger.” Food pantries are another way to combat hunger in the community. They can help households cope and alleviate food insecurity by distributing unprepared food to homes. Amber Waves Journal of November 2018 states that, “the emergency food assistance program supplied 709.4 million pounds of commodities to community emergency food providers. And that 26% of food insecure households used a food pantry.” But we don’t have any kind of resources like these on college campuses. In a survey taken by students in a class 61.1% of them couldn’t afford to pay for their own meal plans out of pocket. 

     Here on the Alfred State campus, the largest meal plan consists of 18 meals per week and $125 dining dollars and costs $2,870. The smallest plan is any 5 meals per week and costs $1,185. These two meal plans only have a difference of $1,685. There are students on this campus that still can’t afford the smallest meal plan.

     At this point you are probably wondering what we can do to help. The April 4, 2018 issue of Clasp stated that, “solutions are needed on campus, in the community, and at the state and federal levels.” We need to address food insecurity by having links to outside sources. Have campus food pantries, just like in 2013, Oregon University and Michigan University combined to establish the College and University Food Bank Alliance that help advise and support colleges with campus food pantries. 

     In 2017, there was more than 566 colleges registered to this program. However, we also need to create task forces that help advocate for the basic needs of students, hire a case manager to be in charge of the issue, and we can even make staff members a point of contact for students to go to that are in need of assistance. 

   We also need to consider sharing our left-over meal swipes with our follow students that are in need. We can do this by creating mobile apps. Swipe Out Hunger was created by students after hearing about a fellow student’s hardships. Share Meals was created by New York University, Swipe Share was created by MIT, Swipe it Forward by Tufts University and had over 300 participants involved, or Swipes by Columbia University. 

     We also need to help students get access to federal, state, and community resources, such as the SNAP (Federal Supplemental Food Assistance Program) which has $76 million in initiatives and serve 46 million Americans. Lastly, we need to consider extending the National School Lunch Program to college students, which is the school feeding program that is utilized from kindergarten to 12th grade. 

     Solving food insecurity is going to take time and effort and will be a continuing battle that everyone needs to take part in solving. After having my fellow classmates take a survey and finished my research, I told them the same thing that you have read today, but what truly hit home for them were the last words I stated to them that 44% of them knew someone with a food insecurity and 22% of them had a food insecurity themselves. After speaking these words, I watched as they all looked around at one another, finally realizing the severity of food insecurity. I hope that just as my fellow classmates did that you the reader can take something from this as well, let’s all try to come together to help fix this problem.

Ergo Poetry Reading Enjoyed by All

    ERGO, the student literary magazine of Alfred State College, sponsored a fall poetry reading and celebration of the arts in conjunction with the Department of English and Humanities.

    The event was held on November 05 at 6 PM in the Allegany Room of the Central Dining Hall and featured poetry readings by the Alfred State student body as well as the poetical stylings of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Daniel Katz.

    Musical accompaniment by Tim Bocchi from the Mathematics and Physics Department preceded the poetry readings, and desserts and refreshments were provided by Rebecca Milliner’s Culinary Baking, Production, and Management students.

    Artwork by Constance Ehmann and students from the Digital Animation and Media Department were on display to add to the celebration of Alfred State College’s creativity.

    The spring 2019 event had over 100 people in attendance and was a celebration of both poetry and community. Kory Harder, a contributor to Tor Echo (the student newspaper of Alfred State), reflected:

    “With each poem that was read everyone seemed to connect more and more silently with each other. When a poem is read aloud, it carries a certain weight...The performance in a reading can help to solidify the message within people which makes a poem more memorable.”

    Ergo is funded by the Alfred State Student Senate and is freely distributed each semester. Stu-dents, faculty, and staff are invited to submit their original works of art, poetry, and prose by sending them to ERGO@alfredstate.edu. 

    Ergo is advised by Dr. Aniko Constantine, SUNY Distinguished Professor of English and Humanities.

A Look at Alfred State’s Farm

By: Amanda Damon

     Just a two-minute drive from campus is the Alfred State College Farm. Home to cows, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, and chickens, the farm is where agriculture and veterinary technician students get hands-on experience.

    Though the farm is largely for these specific majors, anyone is welcome to visit. The farm has been implementing new technology, such as an automatic feed pusher and an automatic milker.

     The feed pusher is used to keep the hay for the cows along the edge of the free stall so it can be easily reached. This machine runs hourly and stops from 5pm-9pm. The automatic milker allows constant milking while workers can monitor from a computer. After cows have their calves, they are fitted with blue collars that are read by the gates of the milker. The system runs all the time, though individual cows are milked only once or twice a day.

     The farm is a Dairy Farms of America (DFA) farm and the milk that is collected is sold in stores as Organic Valley milk.

Tor Echo Comics

 

A Night of Neon

By: Alexandria Devlin 

    Recently, local drag queens and kings came from Rochester to bring the world of drag to the semesterly Alfred Drag Show. Drag is part of the LGBT+ culture where gay men dress up as over-exaggerated women and vise versa. They dance and perform to a song during the performance. It’s always a lot of fun to watch the shows and the performers interact with the audience which makes the experience even more magical. The drag shows are definitely a highlight of the semester.

    During the show, one of the performers, DeeDee DuBois, announced the opening date of ROAR, her new LGBT+ venue in Rochester for drag. It opened the weekend of November 1st , and it was absolutely lovely. The shows were amazing to watch and the food and drink was delicious and comforting. The drag shows are always a treat and I cannot wait till next semesters’ show at Alfred University.

College Myths Debunked

 

By: Zachary Butler

     Every new school year, half-baked rumors swirl through the air like the sound of Mackenzie South renovations in the morning. Much like the cacophony of construction at 7 A.M. these myths make you say, “you can’t be serious!” when you hear them.

Myth: If a professor is not present within 15 minutes of a scheduled start time of a class, you  can leave without consequence. Some variations, with odd specificity, dictate that professors with lower degrees demand a shorter wait time than those with PhDs.

     Unsurprisingly, a cursory “Crtl + f” of the riveting Alfred State College Student Code of Conduct will reveal that there is no such policy on the books. Furthermore, you are required to show all professors, adjunct or tenured, due respect. 

Myth: Philosophy majors will not find jobs after college.

     At a technically oriented school it is easy to find oneself in an echo chamber of such sentiments. Though many jest that such arts degrees translate only to pizza delivery, individuals with a philosophy degree make a median salary of $60,000 according to a 2014 survey by College Board -- well above a Domino’s driver.

Myth: If your roommate dies you will receive a 4.0 grade point average for the semester.

     Ideally your graduation strategy involves studying hard and dedicating your time to learning – not a conspicuous string of unfortunate “accidents” befalling your roommates. However, if you were considering the latter after viewing your midterm grades, you will be disappointed to learn that this will only get your name on a list of prime suspects; not the Dean’s list. Again, the captivating Alfred State College Student Code of Conduct – a document with a provision specifically banning piranha from dormitories – does not include any policy for emotional restitution due to untimely roommate expiration.

Myth: Getting hit by a college bus will get you free tuition.

     Getting hit by the college bus will certainly get you a lot of bruises, but free tuition? There are no cases of a student receiving tuition payment as restitution for a campus vehicle related accident. An Ohio State University student did receive a $12,500 dollar settlement after an accident with a campus bus… less than the cost of a single semester at the school. Most scholarships require only an essay, and no bodily harm to apply for, a far superior method of funding your education.

     Curious about a college myth or legend? Let us know and we will research it and either confirm (or bust) it! 

Alfred State Drama Club brings you All Shook Up

 

Stephen Covey Visits Alfred State College

 

By: Amanda Damon

    On Wednesday, October 30th, author Stephen Covey gave a presentation in the Orvis Auditorium about trust. His book The Speed of Trust has been translated into 22 languages and has sold 2 million copies worldwide. He discussed how trust is a career critical skill that is necessary for everyone, no matter what they do in life. Mr. Covey touched on the many ways that trust can improve social and business relationships.

    Mr. Covey’s presentation had three big ideas. The first was that “trust is an economic driver, not merely a social virtue”. As an example of how simply extending trust to someone can have positive economic effects, Mr. Covey talked about Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank. Yunus had seen many people in poverty in Bangladesh and wanted to help them. As they didn’t qualify for loans at traditional banks, Yunus started the Grameen Bank by giving people microloans so they could start their own businesses. Instead of forming binding paper contracts, Yunus simply trusted these people to pay back the loans, which 99% of them did. Yunus was able to lift millions of people out of poverty just by showing them a bit of trust. 

    The second big idea Mr. Covey discussed was the importance of trust to leadership. As he explained, “trust is the #1 competency of leadership needed today”. Trust includes both character and competence. Everyone, including college students, can be leaders of something.  trust people is a show of confidence. Those who are trustworthy are often deemed “good” people. By showing these skills, someone is more likely to earn the trust of those around them. You have to extend trust to receive trust, as relationships are a two-way street that are built on a foundation of trust. 

    The last big idea that Mr. Covey shared was that trust is a learnable skill. Trust can be built if someone is able to see the value in changing their habits to become a more trustworthy and trusting person. To demonstrate this principle, Mr. Covey handed out Trust Action Cards to provide a streamlined way to develop, maintain, and rebuild trust. The cards include 4 Cores of Credibility and 13 Behaviors of High Trust. These cards provide a framework that can be useful as simple daily reminders or a fully planned schedule of action. 

    This presentation was a valuable experience. Students learned the importance of character and competence in every aspect of life. In an effort to be career ready, it is important to keep in mind just how large a role trust plays in both social and business relationships. The smallest actions can determine how someone views you and Alfred State students strive to always present the best versions of themselves.