First two presidential candidates visit campus, host student, faculty, community forums: Part 1

As part of the ongoing presidential search, college presidential candidate Beth Rushing visited campus to meet with students, faculty and staff. She was the first candidate to visit, doing so on Nov. 13. Rushing began the forum by giving a brief history of her professional and administrative experience, explaining why it makes her the best fit for the presidential position. This experience included her current position as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at St. Mary’s College of Maryland as well as her previous position as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Washington Tacoma.

After validating her expertise with a public honors college, Rushing began to make the comparisons of St. Mary’s to Geneseo. “I have used Geneseo as a model,” she said. “I give credit when it’s due.”

Following her introduction, she opened the floor to students and allowed them to ask her questions.

One student asked, “What would you bring to Geneseo to better prepare students for the real world?”

Rushing explained how graduating from a liberal arts college opens the doors to many opportunities in which students can do nearly anything. “Undergrad is more than learning to make a résumé,” she said. “It is to deeply understand what you can do to contribute to the job market.”

Rushing then proceeded to talk about her passion for volunteer work and service learning.

“Attending college shouldn’t consist of just working and taking classes; it should also consist of contributing to your community,” she said.

Rushing clarified that she wouldn’t make community service a requirement for graduation, but that she would strongly encourage students to step outside of their normative school day and participate in extracurricular activities, internships and volunteer opportunities to better the community.

Other student forum questions ranged from, “What makes you the best fit for this position?” to questions about diversity on campus.

The atmosphere in the room changed when Rushing began to ask students questions to get a better feel about Geneseo. She ended the forum with the question, “If you had one thing to not change in Geneseo, what would it be?”

Answers varied from sustaining student-run organizations to the “homey feeling that Geneseo provides.”

One student elaborated with, “I want Geneseo to look recognizable; it is such a great place and when alumni visit, they [should be able to] recognize the greatness of Geneseo.”

Another student said, “Geneseo does need some changes, but it is special due to the care the professors provide, the small classrooms, the quality of the education and experience the faculty and staff provide.”

The students had some unanswered questions due to limited time, but Rushing ended by saying, “Be proud of where you left. Give back; be active in your community. Although higher education is changing, think about your education as an investment that will be worth it.”

In Geneseo, separate instances of cash, debit fraud spur police investigation

Following the use of a stolen debit card at Starbucks in the MacVittie College Union on Sunday Nov. 2, Campus Auxiliary Services will ask for increased identification with purchases at all of its establishments. Starbucks barista senior Amadimo Belleh was serving customers following the theft when she received an order from non-Geneseo student Karina Markella-Nicolakis.

The order consisted of a coffee mug and three iced drinks, totaling $27. Belleh asked the woman if she was using her meal plan to purchase these items, to which Markella-Nicolakis responded she would use her debit card, as she wasn’t a student here.

Markella-Nicolakis’ calm manner did not alarm Belleh so she said she proceeded with the transaction using the card Markella-Nicolakis presented. Shortly after, a male student came forward and questioned whether or not someone made a transaction of $27 within the past half hour. This was when Belleh realized the card Markella-Nicolakis used was stolen.

The unidentified male student explained to Belleh that someone had stolen his card and used it at Letchworth Dining Hall. While he was cancelling his card, the Starbucks transaction came up. Belleh then took down the information of the victim.

As her shift continued, a customer Belleh described as a shorter girl with long brown hair joined the line, and tried to buy a Starbucks coffee cup and a tea canister.

The Geneseo student, later identified by Assistant Chief of the University Police Department Scott Kenney as freshman Crystal Ponce, had placed the items on the counter and presented the stolen card when Belleh noticed the male student’s name on the card. Belleh then asked for identification, and Ponce became flustered, leaving Starbucks without making the purchase to get the identification from her friend.

Belleh said she grew nervous when the girls didn’t return, but knowing University Police was on its way to take down her statement, she went to Corner Pocket to see if the girls were still there.

“I want to emphasize that she was very causal and very calm in contrast to her brunette friend who was very flustered,” Belleh said.

Lisa Spamer, store manager of Starbucks, entered the Corner Pocket and stayed with the girls until UPD arrived. An officer arrived and questioned Spamer, who later identified Markella-Nicolakis as the one who successfully used the debit card.

The two girls were then arrested and taken to Livingston County Jail. According to Kenney, Markella-Nicolakis was charged with Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree and Ponce was charged with Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Fourth Degree.

“In my four years in Geneseo, this has never happened but this guy was very proactive and did what he could to retrieve his card,” Belleh said.

After this incident, Belleh said that all CAS facilities are asking for identification with every debit card purchase.

“I think that these type of preemptive actions should be taken because this incident makes it obvious to check because yes, a non-Geneseo student used the card, but it was a Geneseo student who tried to use the card again,” Belleh said.

This was the only monetary issue in the Geneseo area recently. This week Main Street business owners received an email from Geneseo Village Police Chief Eric Osganian regarding a young adult male who used fake twenty dollar bills to purchase items at the local Wegmans and 7/11 stores.

“We have identified the suspects involved in the incident that we had involving the $20 bills,” Osganian said. “However, we are not done investigating it. Things are moving rather fast once the suspect’s picture was sent out. I would like to wait until we can finish doing the interviews before releasing anymore information.”

Student organizations hold police brutality seminar

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated, Black Student Union and Students Against Social Injustice held a discussion about police brutality on Sept. 25 in Newton Hall. The discussion began with video clips about Eric Garner and Michael Brown and their experience and death as a result of police brutality, cases which have touched many students and faculty across the nation.

After the clips were shown, associate professor of history Justin Behrend started with a presentation in which he recalled instances of injustices occurring against African-Americans and other minority communities in Miami, Florida in 1980 and in Rochester in 1964 and how these influenced the riots that we are currently seeing today.

Behrend referred to these as “continuities” and asked students to “think about the place and why racial profiling still occurs.”

Behrend continued his presentation with background history of Ferguson, Missouri. While showing a photo from a 1915 United Welfare Association postcard, he explained that St. Louis was a segregated city that had zoned communities. Ferguson, being a suburb, was a location where many blacks had lived just north of St. Louis.

Behrend questioned if the location of these communities effects the treatment of minorities today and closed his presentation by talking about the small-scale situations in which African-Americans and other minorities face police brutality.

“The ‘ticky-tacky’ issues and interactions with locals and government officials were used to gain money and fund the government,” he said.

According to Behrend, this promoted the recursive cycle of police brutality. With the installation of dashboard cameras, police brutality is being recognized all over the country but the problem still persists.

Associate professor of history Catherine Adams then took to the stage, speaking about the struggle that African-Americans face on a daily basis, which W.E.B. DuBois proposed as “double consciousness.”

Adams said there is a constant struggle in being proud to be an American but also being intolerant to the prejudices. To this day, the issues minorities face with police brutality revolve around the color line.

“Maybe we are in a new civil rights movement and we are able to make a change,” Adams said. “I hope you will take this conversation forward to people who may not be willing to hear you or who are ready to hear you. Remember that any progress––though we may not see it now––is better than nothing.”

After the presentations, discussion was open to the audience. Many shared personal experiences and others brought up their beliefs as to why police brutality exists in minority communities.

“A lot of police brutality is based on the way police are trained as well as their background,” senior Simone Grey said. “They need to understand the cultures of the minorities better.”

“Not all police receive the same training from the academy; those who participate are the ones to understand that the injustices they impose are wrong,” junior Ashley Ramos said.

“I am tired of having to choose between the two extremes,” senior Amanda Spence said. “Having to choose between being my own person and being what society wants so I don’t have to deal with the injustice.”

The heated debate came to a close after BSU president senior Christopher Bland gave some final words. “Black people believe there is no middle ground––you can’t wear baggy pants because you will treated like a thug, you can’t talk slag without being assumed you are ignorant. The treatment is truly disheartening,” he said.

The discussion concluded with students and faculty lighting candles on the College Green and holding a moment of silence in honor of those who lost their lives due to police brutality.

Retired Marine Sergeant kicks off All-College Hour speaker series

Sergeant Eric Fidelis Alva gave a lecture on his life story on Wednesday Sept. 24, which marked the first lecture of the fall 2014 All-College Hour lecture series held in the College Union Ballroom. Alva began telling the story of his experience in the United States Marine Corps, including background information about his upbringing. Alva stressed the tough decision he had to make: enroll in college or join the military, while hiding the fact that he is a gay man. He chose the latter, though his mother warned him not to.

Alva found out after joining the Marines in June 1990 that he was going to be deployed to Somalia for Operation Hope. With a worried mother and a secret, Alva continued to reenlist for the military regardless of the mission.

During the fall of 2002, a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and after 12 years in service, Alva heard rumors about deployment to Iraq, but was deployed to Kuwait in Jan. 2003. About eight weeks later, he headed to Iraq.

“You can Google this or see it on Wikipedia, but Shock and Awe was the day U.S. forces and allies, when it got dark, started bombing [Iraq],” Alva said.

As of March 20 in Kuwait, tents were ripped down, bombs began to explode and missiles began to soar in Iraq marking the beginning of the war.

“I remember being woken up by the sound of thunder and, of course, that was the sound of the bombs,” Alva said.

It was then, after three hours, while trying to heat up a meal ready-to-eat when he walked and hit a landmine, causing an explosion, throwing him nearly five feet and causing him to pass out.

“I remember of course being thrown from here like five feet away knocked out, my hearing was gone,” he said. “And just to give you an example of what it was like, when you cover your ears, and you hear this huge ringing or in Hollywood movies and they show the ringing, I lost my hearing.”

After this tragedy, and being the first American wounded in the war, Alva chose to retire from the Marine Corps and go back to college.

Alva studied social work and came out as a gay man four years later. He admits to breaking the law because he did tell comrades about his sexuality. Eventually, the media swarmed him with questions, wondering why he decided to speak up now. He replied saying that it was time for the LGBTQ-plus community to have the same rights as all individuals.

“Freedom is for all people not just a selected few,” Alva said.

Alva then volunteered to work with the Human Rights Campaign and became the national spokesperson to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which was appealed Dec. 17 and 18, and signed by President Barack Obama on Dec. 22.

“We are only promised today,” Alva said. “If you think about it, tomorrow is just a word; it does not exist. So when you wake up tomorrow, live it because it is another promised day, it is a blessing.”

“I felt a little embarrassed because I didn’t know about ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” senior Sarah Christ said. “I thought it was pretty cool to hear the behind the scenes things about the military and what he did to change it.”