Douglass Day 2020

    On February 14, 2020, Dr. Travis Matteson and the Center for Intercultural Unity held a transcribe-a-thon in honor of Frederick Douglass’s birthday. Douglass was a prominent writer, social reformer, and abolitionist throughout the 1800’s. He wrote several autobiographies, one of which became a bestseller. Douglass championed equality of all people, regardless of race or gender. In 1847, Douglass created the anti-slavery newspaper The North Star which in 1851 merged with the Liberty Party Paper to create Frederick Douglass’ Paper. He married twice and had five children. As Douglass was born into slavery and the exact date of his birth is unknown, he chose to celebrate his birthday on the 14th of February. To celebrate the day, Alfred State students gathered to transcribe scans of the journals and papers of Anna Julia Cooper, an African-American scholar and activist. Transcribe-a-thons are events where people share a space to work together in transcribing certain texts, often with a theme. Through douglassday.org, a public itinerary is provided annually for Douglass Day, allowing anyone to share in the day’s celebrations. This year’s theme was the works of Cooper, an African-American feminist. This event was academic as well as social, as students were able to learn more about Cooper and her life through the act of transcribing her handwritten texts. These transcriptions will aid future scholars in illustrating the life of Cooper through her writings. Dr. Matteson stated that “it was exciting to be part of a national event… the transcribe-a-thon was a great opportunity for students to get involved with something bigger, as they worked to make Anna Julia Cooper's archives more accessible to future students, teachers, and scholars." Although this was the first assembly of its kind at Alfred State, students hope it becomes an annual event. 

Esports Empire State Winter Games Competition

Written by Zachary Butler

    Individuals wearing stylish grey and white puff jackets emblazoned with the letters ESWG can be seen all around campus. No, this is not the latest of trendy winter fashion, but rather, the mark of a triumphant member of the Alfred State Overwatch team. From January 30th to February 2nd the team competed in the Esports section of the Empire State Winter Games (ESWG) at Paul Smith’s College. The Esports team was given quite literally an Olympic style welcome at the game’s opening ceremonies (complete with a torch relay), in which they were paraded through the Lake Placid Olympic Skating Rink along with the game’s athletic teams. Qualifying in preliminary matches, in the games the team won matches against St. Peter’s, and vieing for first place, thrashed University of Albany winning 3-1. With this victory the team secured first place, and a $2,000 prize. The winning team consisted of coach Austin Clay, starters Magnus Roberto, Stephen Gonzalez, Carson Gage, Kyle Sze, Keagan Gerber, and Katelynn Cary, and substitutes Jonathan Lubarsky, Lucas Schlenk, and Ashley Manzueta.