GCAB considering large spring concert

After experimenting with two separate fall and spring concerts in the 2014–2015 school year, Geneseo Campus Activities Board—formerly known as Activities Commission—is discussing a switch back to one large headliner in the spring. A recent survey asked students a number of questions, including what genre of music they prefer, what venue they prefer and if they would rather have a fall and spring concert or a large spring concert.

“We really want to blow everyone out of the water this year,” GCAB publicity chair senior Rachel Winter said. While “two concerts” is listed as an option to gauge student preference, senior GCAB chair Sarah Dukler noted that at this point in the semester, a fall concert is not very probable.

“It would be sort of a rush to plan a concert for the fall,” Dukler said. Concerts require extensive preparation from event security to artist contracts, and while GCAB will take note of student opinion, a fall concert is likely out of the question this year.

GCAB made this decision because Geneseo has a lower budget for concerts than larger schools do. Concerts are funded by Student Activity Fees and GCAB hopes that by concentrating all the funding on one large show, the artist name and turnout will be more impressive.

“Something we’ve observed through response to concerts is that people have a much better response to people with a bigger name,” Dukler said, citing the difference in turnout between Mac Miller and Mary Lambert as an example. She hopes to have a well-known artist as a spring headliner this year.

“If you pool all your money toward one show, you’ll be able to get a bigger name artist and I think that will make for a more successful turnout,” Dukler said.

Concerts are required to make a profit, meaning student opinion and student turnout are crucial to their success. Among other attempts to factor in student opinion, GCAB is focusing on surveying for genre preference instead of individual artist names.

“People get really attached when they pick bands,” Dukler said, explaining that they chose to ask for only genre preference this year because “it leaves a little bit more of an open door.”

Additionally, they are moving the concert out of the MacVittieCollege Union Ballroom and either back into the Kuhl Gym or to a brand-new location: the new College Stadium.

“Having it in the stadium would be a really unique space to have it in and would be exciting because it’s outside,” Dukler said. The main obstacle with the stadium is that its success is very dependent on the weather and the concert would potentially be held at a later date to accommodate for the space.

Despite this, Dukler emphasized her belief that the stadium would add a new and unique aspect to the Geneseo concert. “Geneseo hasn’t always been known for its school spirit and the stadium represents school spirit and loyalty to the school in my mind,” Dukler said. “We were discussing how cool it would be to have a concert in this newly built stadium … it would be a great use of the space.”

Overall, GCAB is focusing on accommodating student opinions and creating a concert experience that will receive positive feedback and high turnout. “We really want to satisfy the students’ desires in this respect because ultimately, we are using their money,” Dukler said.

“If people want to be entertained and to be impressed by GCAB, they have to give us feedback,” Winter said.

Campus sexual assault policy updated to align with state’s

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a comprehensive new sexual assault policy for New York State on July 7. According to an article in the Democrat and Chronicle, all public and private colleges in New York must conform to the policy. According to Vice President for Student and Campus Life Robert A. Bonfiglio, the new policy is just a “fine tuning” of the SUNY Policies of Sexual Violence Prevention and Response that were released on Dec. 1. The sexual assault prevention legislation created uniform policy for all state-funded campuses, but Cuomo announced his goal of creating a cohesive policy for every college campus in the state in January .

“In my mind, it’s just a continuation of an ongoing process that we’ve been involved in at Geneseo for a number of years now,” Bonfiglio said. The new state policy consists mainly of minor revisions at the request of private colleges.

Among these revisions is the requirement of a panel composed of faculty and students when a sexual assault case is appealed. If either party wishes to challenge the ruling, it must testify before the panel. In the past, the appeal was made to an individual member of the school’s administration.

In many sections of the policy, the word “victim” was replaced with “student” or “reporting individual.” In addition, the phrase “sexual assault” was replaced with “domestic violence, dating violence and stalking, so they are a little more inclusive in their terminology,” Bonfiglio said.

The new policy also includes a larger database of links and resources for victims of sexual violence.

The updated policy has had a strong impact on freshman orientation. Students must participate in a two-hour online learning session about sexual assault and peer training in Mentoring Violence Prevention. Greek organizations also undergo training in preventing and recognizing sexual assault.

In addition, Geneseo has hired a director of student care services Title IX coordinator Tamara Kenney. Kenney will have office space and hours on campus to speak to students confidentially and to provide counseling and other information regarding sexual assault.

“Having the policies in place [is] important, but having the person who’s going to help educate the rest of us on the policy, support people in need and also have support from the county on campus will be the big changes,” Bonfiglio said.

“If any student was in need of confidential help, this would be the place to come,” Kenney said. “I’m strictly an advocate for students.”

She emphasized that she will assist students affected by sexual violence in whatever path they take, whether they choose to report or not. “The student is the driver in this case,” she said.

The policy implementation and resulting climate on campus will be monitored through a variety of statistics. While services will remain confidential, the administration will track the number of students that utilize Kenney’s office, as well as the services provided by RESTORE Sexual Assault Services.

According to Bonfiglio, another measure of the new initiative’s success will be if reports of sexual assault on campus increase. “The reality would be that there were not more incidents, but that people would feel more comfortable reporting the incidents,” he said.

Senior Mary Auld expressed positive feelings toward the policy change. “While I’ve always felt pretty safe on campus, I am sure that incidences of sexual violence do occur, even in Geneseo,” she said. “To me, any effort from the administration to prevent this and to make resources for those who are victims of sexual violence more easily accessible is really reassuring and makes me feel more comfortable as a student.”

“The administration surpassing the minimum requirements is creating an even safer environment for most people on this campus,” junior Lacey Collins added.

Bonfiglio also added that he encourages peer advocacy. Kenney is currently organizing a Sexual Violence Prevention Committee in which students can participate.

“We feel that peer education and peer outreach is a very effective method of educating and supporting students that may have been victims of violence,” Bonfiglio said. “So we would love to see our students step forward.”

CAS begins affiliation with Barnes and Noble, rebrands campus bookstore

As of this past summer, the campus bookstore has ended its six-year partnership with the Follett Higher Education Group and has begun working with Barnes & Noble College. The bookstore opened with the new affiliation on June 22. According to Campus Auxiliary Services Executive Director Mark Scott, the long-term relationship with Follett ended for a number of reasons.

“We believed there were better solutions in the marketplace, specifically as it relates to selling items rather than textbooks,” Scott said. “We had to give Follett a lot of instruction on when to do and how to do it, but Barnes & Noble has deep roots in retail space and are inherently interested in finding ways to keep people interested and coming to the store.”

Barnes & Noble College is affiliated with Barnes & Noble, Inc. but according to store manager Chris Sackett, it differs from Barnes & Noble bookstores—which are all fairly similar—because every Barnes & Noble College bookstore is catered to the campus it serves.

“Our goal is to serve the campus community to the biggest extent that we can,” Sackett said. He previously worked through Barnes & Noble at SUNY Brockport and Genesee County Community College’s bookstores, explaining that the company strives to accommodate each one to its campus’ needs and culture.

The partnership with Barnes & Noble affects all aspects of the bookstore, from the actual textbooks to the clothing, promotional items, health items, layout and even its role on campus.

“We want to make the bookstore more of a social hub for people on campus and off campus as well,” store manager Ashley Zalappa said.

This goal begins first and foremost with the physical modeling of the store. While Sackett explained times were not set in stone, Scott reports that remodeling will ideally be finished by Columbus Day weekend. New fixtures will include a seating space, a new façade and a reorganization of the apparel and non-textbook merchandise.

“One of the things we were clear with … was that we wanted brands that would be on trend, brands that were going to offer value, whether that’s name brand that everyone recognizes or brands that are high quality and affordable at the same time,” Scott said.

The revamped bookstore is also working on increasing the efficiency and costliness of textbook buying that students go through every semester. “One of the final decision factors that we used to conclude this process [of finding a partner] was, ‘Can you commit to working with us to put a price lock program in place for Geneseo?,’” Scott said.

The price lock program—which Scott hopes to put into effect as early as the spring 2016 semester—would tell students in advance how much their textbooks will cost prior to the semester and could tell students a consistent net price for the next two to six semesters.

“We think that is on par with how people think about higher education,” Scott said. “It’s not just about today, it’s about how our situation will pan out over the years. If I can tell you that up front, that makes your decision to come to Geneseo that much easier. It makes your decision to go to college much easier.”

Sackett, Zalappa and Scott are also working on implementing a price-matching program in the textbook section to ensure that Geneseo’s bookstore prices are not higher than those of competitors—even online distributors like Amazon or Chegg.

The bookstore will also be expanding its options for textbooks to include more eBook and digital purchases and rentals. “It’s no longer just a new or used book that’s available,” Sackett said.

Students can expect many changes to the style and role of the bookstore, which is allowing students to submit and vote on its new name. Sackett noted that the bookstore wants to “really extend beyond the four walls” and be a presence at special events, visiting weekends and sporting events, as well as a hangout spot for students in the MacVittie College Union.

“We see the College Union as the place where community building happens on campus,” Scott said. “We think Starbucks helps to do that, Fusion Market helps to do that, the Center for Community helps to do that … we want the bookstore to be just as important in that effort.”

Class of 2019 statistics follow familiar trends

Geneseo welcomed a new freshman class of 1,353 students out of 9,188 applicants this August. According to Geneseo’s website, the incoming students are comprised of 291 transfer students and 56 graduate students. The incoming freshman class of 2019 is significantly larger than the class of 2018, which had 1,180 undergraduates.

The academic class averages are consistent with past years. Both years’ mean high school grade point averages for the past two years is 93. Thirty-two valedictorians and salutatorians are part of this incoming class.

Freshman Jessica Looks expressed her satisfaction with her academic experience thus far. “All my classes here have challenged me,” Looks said. “I feel like I’m learning things I can actually apply to my life, instead of just random information.”

“I chose Geneseo partly because of its beautiful campus, but also because it has a great reputation for competitive academics,” freshman Rebecca Hoppy said.

The class of 2019 upholds Geneseo’s rigorous academic standards. “[The class] represents some of the most promising young minds in New York State and beyond,” senior communications manager and media relations director David Irwin wrote in an article on the Geneseo website.

According to the same article, college president Denise Battles spoke favorably of the incoming class at her first faculty convocation. “We look forward to an exciting year in which we will acknowledge and build upon our impressive record of past accomplishments as we move forward to define our future,” Battles said.

For years, Geneseo has seen class sizes with more women than men. The class of 2018 was a statistical anomaly—its male members outnumbered its female members 53 percent to 47 percent. The class of 2019 reversed that trend with a strong disparity between sexes; the class consists of 37 percent men and 63 percent women. The diversity—like the academic record—remained consistent with past years.

As with the class of 2018, 21 percent of this fall’s freshmen are multicultural.

“My favorite thing is just how friendly people are here,” Looks said. “I’m from downstate and in the city, no one holds the door for you and here, everyone does. It’s such a nice cultural change.”

“Everyone on this campus is so friendly and helpful,” Hoppy added.