Avon bakery to open Main Street shop after success at Farmers Market

With its success in Avon, the owners of Sweet Arts Bakery plan on opening a second bakery on Main Street in Geneseo. The store is scheduled to open at the beginning of 2015 and will be located between Mama Mia’s Restaurant and Georgia’s Clothes Horse II. The husband and wife team Brian and Ruth Ann Lewis will be celebrating their third year of operation with an open house on Friday Nov. 14 and Saturday Nov. 15 at the Avon location at 57 Genesee Street.

The Avon bakery opened on Nov. 16, 2011. Since then, the Lewis' said that their store has become somewhat of a novelty in the community.

“We get a lot of comments that [the store] adds to the quality of life,” Ruth Ann Lewis said in a phone interview.

Brian explained that Sweet Arts makes contributions to many local events and fundraisers, providing custom cakes and catering.

“When people say we have added to the town we live in, there’s no bigger compliment,” he said. “If that is something that can happen in Geneseo too, we’d be overjoyed.”

The bakery held a table at the Geneseo Farmers Market on Center Street this season. Combined with the opening of the Main Street storefront, the positive response from Geneseo residents and students gave the Lewis' an opportunity to expand their business.

“Our core value here is to connect with the community,” Ruth Ann Lewis said. “We really felt like the philosophy we have for the bakery is definitely something that Geneseo would [comply with].”

Community involvement is definitely apparent in the business. Parents of Geneseo students have asked the bakery to deliver cakes to their kids on their birthdays. The new store manager, whose name was not disclosed, is a current graduate student at Geneseo.

“He really knows the community quite well,” Ruth Ann Lewis said. “He helped us to get a feel for what is important to the students because, although we are drawing from the community, the students are going to be a huge part.”

The Lewis' said that they are seeking to hire Geneseo students and hope to see many students passing through to get coffee or breakfast in the morning before class.

Both Ruth Ann and Brian Lewis have been brainstorming ideas for the grand opening of the store. In addition to all of the same features of the store in Avon including coffee, lattes, fresh baked goods specialty order cakes and private parties, the couple plans to equip the store in Geneseo with a cinnamon roll bar.

“One thing that’s really popular is our cinnamon rolls, so we came up with this idea to have a cinnamon roll bar [with] different types of cinnamon rolls, toppings and icings,” Ruth Ann Lewis said.

Another possible future endeavor for the bakery’s Geneseo location could be baking and cake decorating classes. Ruth Ann Lewis explained that she offers cake-decorating classes at her Avon location and, with students expressing interest in baking classes, she hopes to eventually do the same in Geneseo.

Sweet Arts will periodically make announcements regarding the official opening date on its Facebook page. The couple expressed immense excitement for the new location.

“We’re really excited about [this] opportunity,” Brian Lewis said.

Corrrection: In the Nov. 13 issue of The Lamron, the article titled “Avon bakery to open Main Street shop after success at Farmers Market” said that the owners’ last names were Kelly. Their correct last name is Lewis. 

UPD performs required SUNY communications test; surveys effectiveness

Geneseo performed a planned emergency communications test on Oct. 29. According to Assistant Chief of University Police Department Scott Kenney, the test is designed to prepare individuals on campus for real emergencies. “We have a communications network that we need to test at least twice a year to make sure that we’re doing things in a nature that will get the word out to our students, staff, faculty and visitors in the case of an emergency,” he said.

The test is performed through emails sent by Geneseo using what they call the “911 mailing list.” Unlike other mailing lists, this one is sent to all students, faculty and staff. Anyone with a geneseo.edu email address will receive the message; no one can opt out of it.

“We only use that account when we feel there is something of very serious nature,” Kenney said.

In addition to the 911 mailing list, NY-Alert, an optional program that students, staff and faculty can register for, also performed the emergency test in synchronization with the State University of New York alert. According to NY-Alert’s distribution results, 5,597 users on this campus are signed up for their alerts and were contacted. According to Kenney, there is about 80 percent involvement in the program on the Geneseo campus.

Shortly after the test, a survey was sent to all students and staff on campus through email. Of the 458 people who participated in the survey, eight claimed that they never saw any emergency test notifications.

“That’s a pretty good response,” Kenney said. “At least people are hearing or seeing something.”

The survey also recorded comments by participants. According to Kenney, a common response received from professors or students claimed that they did not receive the notification quickly because the professor prohibits use of cell phones in class.

“We talk about that with professors,” Kenney said. “It would be our preference that one NY-Alert phone is on in class for these reasons.”

Other comments addressed the lack of “Big Voice,” a speaker system that can be heard outdoors throughout campus, as a notification system. Kenney explained that the Big Voice system is currently down due to interference in the school’s wireless network. He did, however, mention the campus reverted back to the police car loudspeaker system.

“We went to every quad on campus and gave a verbal warning [announcing the emergency test] twice in each quad,” he said. “That’s how we tried to tell people that were outside what was going on.”

In addition to these warnings, the Geneseo website homepage featured an emergency screen and the scrolling displays in Milne Library, Erwin Hall and the MacVittie College Union displayed an emergency message.

Kenney described the “Disaster Planning Task Force,” a group of administrators that plans for emergencies of which he is the chair. The group meets every month to do emergency planning. According to Kenney, when the second emergency test occurs, it will be unannounced and not even the Disaster Planning Task Force will know when it will occur.

“They have to respond to our Emergency Operations Center and go into emergency planning mode,” Kenney said. “We have built our skills set so when a real [emergency] hits, we don’t spend all those valuable first minutes trying to remember what to do in an emergency.”

Following incidents, CAS defends workplace conditions

Recent on-the-job injuries and frequent triggering of smoke alarms in kitchens maintained by Campus Auxiliary Services have brought about questions regarding their safety. A Red Jacket Dining Hall employee was burned by a deep fryer while on the job. According to CAS Executive Chef Jonna Anne, the occurrence of this was purely an accident.

“Things happen, but [due to] the quick work of our staff and the ambulance, they’re doing okay,” Anne said.

As for the smoke alarms in Fusion Market that lead to relatively frequent fire evacuations from the College Union, placing the blame on kitchen fires is a misconception, according to Anne.

“There are no fires in Fusion,” Anne added. “The fire alarm has gone off, but it’s just due to the air flow at Fusion.”

CAS takes several measures and sets regulations to ensure that the safety of employees is maintained. With frequent safety inspections and constant training, Anne said the likelihood of employees being injured is very low.

CAS has a safety committee that is comprised of its facilities director, the HR department, managers, employees and a “student super committee” which notifies CAS of the happenings outside of the kitchen.

On top of a safety committee, CAS also performs constant training throughout the year, and a large training session every August. Anne also said that CAS will incorporate a new online training module.

“We have this wonderful training module that allows them to [be trained in safety] before they even step foot in the kitchen,” she said.

CAS works with the Geneseo Fire Department in order to train employees in fire safety. “[We have] fire extinguisher training so that [employees] are comfortable,” Anne added. “They’ve been able to set them off and test them,” Anne said.

In addition to this, the campus performs regular fire drills, which also contribute to fire safety training.

A very important initiative that CAS takes is recording “near misses,” as Anne calls it. These are not necessarily incidents, but rather situations where an incident could have possibly occurred. For example, if an employee sees a box in a hallway that could potentially be tripped over, it would be recorded as a “near miss” in order to ensure that hallways stay clear of potential future hazards.

“That’s just one more step to allow us to say, ‘That was a near miss, someone could have gotten hurt, but let’s make sure we fix it before someone does get hurt,’” Anne said.

CAS is also involved in an initiative called Safe-Serve, which is a federal program that teaches safe food handling processes. Anne explained that she is a certified instructor of this program, as are all of CAS’s managers and several employees.

Though there are instances of employees getting injured due to a lack of adherence to safety regulations, Anne said that the CAS kitchens are very safe.

“We hit from many angles because safety––when talking about a restaurant––pretty much encompasses everything besides actually putting food on a plate,” she said.

Invitation to alumni abroad trip extended to current seniors

During graduation week ceremonies, graduating seniors are formally inducted into the Geneseo Alumni Association, making them eligible to participate in the alumni trip headed to Ireland for 11 days this July. This year, the study abroad department is taking a stronger publicity approach to invite current seniors to join this trip, led by professor of English Tom Greenfield and study abroad advisor Emily Froome.

“Part of the purpose is not just to have a vacation, but to keep the alumni and the faculty who lead it connected to the academic experience,” Greenfield said. “Without the pressure of graded assignments and credits, the trip becomes more enjoyable.”

The trip will involve three main locales, the first being Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The group will get the chance to tour the Abbey Theatre, the only major European national theater that came into being in the 20th century. Greenfield also said that he hopes to see an Irish play there.

After exploring Dublin in the east, the group will travel to western Ireland near Galway and Connemara.

“We are going to arrive in time for the Galway International Arts Festival which is the largest national art festival in all of Ireland and one of the major summer art festivals in all of Europe,” Greenfield said.

The third stop for the alumni group will be in Sligo, the home of poet William Butler Yeats. The group will converge with a study abroad student group from Geneseo that will be studying the poetry of Yeats.

“It’s very likely that [the groups] will share some of the academic experiences that they are involved in studying the poet,” Greenfield said. “We’re especially looking forward to have the combination of the alumni group and the active student group sharing a day [together].”

According to Greenfield, the trip will also involve using James Joyce’s short stories in the collection The Dubliners, which is basically a literary map of Dublin in the early 20th century.

“Walking through Dublin using [the] short stories, is one of the most exciting academic and teaching experiences I’ve ever had,” Greenfield said. “You can still literally walk his [Joyce’s] stories.”

Greenfield hopes that the group going on the trip next summer will be a mix of students from several graduating class years. He explained that it is a tendency of alumni groups to have classes that graduated together gather together.

“I think one of the benefits will be the opportunity to share the experience with people who [shared the experience of attending] Geneseo, [but may also be contrasted by] the passage of decades,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that dynamic."

Geneseo recognized for undergraduate programs

U.S. News and World Report recently ranked Geneseo in the top spot for Regional Universities in the North for Undergraduate Teaching, a ranking rewarded to colleges with a commitment to teaching undergraduates. Due to Geneseo’s dedication to undergraduate education as opposed to graduate programs, the school received the most votes from top college administrators for focusing on undergraduate teaching.

According to Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs David Gordon, teaching is the most important part of the evaluation process when hiring professors.

“When we’re hiring faculty, we need to make sure we are hiring people who are going to be good teachers,” he said.

Gordon added that the success of the school comes from contributions by the faculty.

“[The professors] spend a lot of time with their students,” he said. “Our faculty really go out of their way to work with students individually to find out their unique talents and try to help develop those.”

Gordon praised the hard work of students as well, emphasizing their dedication to learning.

“They’re inquisitive and they’re serious about learning,” he said. “We’ve got the best in both the faculty and the students.”

Gordon also noted that the college also owes this ranking to the involvement of its students outside of class.

“Many of our students do presentations at professional meetings, go to conferences where they present research, or are involved in community projects, so people get to see them in action,” he said.

Geneseo is continuing to improve as a college and has made other lists of distinction recently. On top of being ranked first on the U.S. News and World Report’s Undergrad Teaching List for the North, it is ranked at number 14 on the publication’s Regional North Universities list of Best Colleges. Geneseo also made The Princeton Review’s Best Colleges list and was ranked on Kiplinger’s list of Top Best Value Colleges in the nation. With growing recognition, Geneseo continues to improve curricula.

“Over the past several years, the provost office has been making available curriculum innovation grants to individual departments so that they can evaluate their own curriculum and think about ways to improve that,” Gordon said. “Most of our departments have taken advantage of that and made some really good improvements.”

He also explained that an outcomes assessment program has been in place for many years.

“We continue to support undergraduate research and enable students to go to professional meetings to present their research,” he said.

Geneseo students continue to be involved in the community, creating relationships with people outside of the college.

“This ranking is a real testimony to the quality of what we do here,” Gordon said. “It’s gratifying to see our faculty and students get well deserved external recognition.”

Geneseo First Response celebrates 40 years by revamping programs

As of this semester, Geneseo First Response will celebrate its 40th year of service. GFR started in 1974, and it is an on-campus, student-run organization that provides emergency medical services to students, faculty and visitors. According to GFR’s Chief of Operations senior Kyle Parnell, it was originally part of the Lauderdale Health Center and served as a transportation service for people with medical needs to the health center. The campus community expressed a need for an on-campus emergency medical service, so GFR left the Health Center. The organization is now a New York State EMS Agency.

Parnell explained that GFR gives Geneseo students and their parents a sense of security, adding that there are at least two or three people alive today because of the GFR team.

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, GFR has planned several on-campus events, is revamping the training process and working hard to increase professionalism.

“We’ve made our training process more intense,” Parnell said. “We took in more applications this year than we have since the past five years. We’re planning on accepting more members than we usually do, training more members than we usually do and increasing our level of professionalism and the impact that we can have on campus.” All new members participate in a rigorous six-week training program in which they are assigned a mentor and encouraged to take training into their own hands.

“It’s a whole new process for them where it’s just constant checking of training skills,” Parnell added. “We want [new members] to be more involved, not only on actual calls, but in their own training.”

GFR press release coordinator senior Jamie Tyler explained that GFR will also update its wardrobe.

“We’re vamping up our attire too. We’re changing from t-shirts to polos because they look more professional,” Tyler said. “We’re making a new rule where we can’t wear jeans anymore when we’re on duty. When we respond to the call, we want someone to feel like they’re in competent hands.”

She went on to describe GFR’s participation in the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Foundation’s Collegiate EMS Week on Nov. 10-16, which Geneseo hasn’t been a part of in several years.

“It’s just kind of to get the campus involved and get them learning about EMS and our importance on campus,” Tyler said. “It’s just also a fun way to get involved.”

Parnell explained that all of the Collegiate EMS Week events will take place in public places such as the College Union lobby or patio. “We want people to [recognize us], be involved and ask questions about GFR,” he said.

GFR is also planning a fall picnic for GFR members, people looking to apply or anyone curious about what the First Response team does.

“There’s going to be an event every day,” Parnell said. “Beyond that, we always encourage people to ask questions, [and] come down to the squad room [to] see if anyone’s in there.”

Residence Life working to de-triple over 150 students

According to Associate Director of Residence Life Kevin Hahn, the unexpectedly high number of first-year students enrolling in the fall 2014 semester resulted in 321 students being put into three-person rooms. Before Move-In Day, however, Residece Life was able to de-triple 51 rooms––153 students––bringing the number of tripled freshmen down to 168. The class of 2018 has over 100 more students enrolled than the class of 2017 did. Converted triples have been placed in Onondaga, Steuben and Niagara Halls.

Freshman Rosemary Carey currently resides in a tripled room in Niagara.

“I was already nervous about coming to college, so to have another obstacle in my way just made it all the more anxiety-provoking,” Carey said.

Hahn explained the reasoning behind choosing Onondaga, Niagara and Steuben to host tripled rooms.

“Students are tripled and that’s not good, but at least they are with other first-year students and that is typically what people want,” he said.

Although Residence Life is making an effort to de-triple students, the spaces left are not considered to be ideal for first-years.

“A lot of [the spaces] are in Allegany, Erie and Genesee, where there maybe aren’t a whole lot of first-year students,” Hahn said.

According to Hahn, students who are tripled for more than three weeks into the semester will be receiving a $187.50 discount.

“It’s not a lot of money but it’s something,” Hahn said. “If people are not de-tripled until after week nine of the semester, then they actually get another $187.50. So, [there is a] $375 refund that [students] could get off of their housing.”

Residence Life tripled students based on the order that they sent in their housing deposits.

“There are some concerns [from parents and students]; a lot of them revolve around people not necessarily knowing there was a relationship between housing deposit date and room status, so that’s also something we are going to try to communicate in multiple ways,” Hahn said. “That’s always been the process because there needs to be a way to determine priority and that’s what we’ve done historically.”

Carey said that even if notified, the opportunity to put down a housing deposit earlier would not have been possible.

“I wasn’t sure that I was going to go to Geneseo and there were a lot of different factors that interfered with my decision making, so it wouldn’t have crossed my mind to think about [the housing deposit],” she said.

Hahn explains that although he believes the situation is bleak, there are also many positives associated with living in a triple.

“Some of the positives to tripling are the great locations, meeting two potential connections and learning a lot of compromise and communication skills that can help later on in life as far as negotiating with other people––that is all heightened in triple rooms,” he said.

Although this wasn’t her ideal situation, Carey acknowledged that there are benefits to the living situation.

“I was expecting [the room] to be more cramped, actually. [Another benefit is that] you get to meet more people,” she said. “If one roommate doesn’t work out, you may like the other one.”

“I didn’t know what to expect because it’s been four or five years since we’ve had triples like this,” Hahn said “People have been great and super understanding for the most part.”

SA discards KnightLink in favor of Geneseo website

At the end of the spring 2014 semester, the Student Association executive board voted to discontinue KnightLink, a website designed as a hub for student organizations on campus. Because of this decision, all information originally available on KnightLink has been moved to the Geneseo website.

The service was funded by SA and after hearing feedback from students, the decision was made to stop paying into something that wasn’t being utilized. “I give the SA so much credit because they really listened to the student voice and the student voice was saying that KnightLink wasn’t useful for them,” senior coordinator of student programs Tiffany Brodner said. “So, if it wasn’t being used, why are we going to continue to pay for it?” KnightLink moved student organization-related processes from paper to electronic versions, including required forms and polls.

It also facilitated student access to information about organizations, departments, campus activities and SA. According to Brodner, KnightLink also allowed the student coordinators to put all information they needed organizations to have in one location.

With the discontinuation of KnightLink and the movement of this information to the Geneseo website, the resources have become more consolidated. “I think with KnightLink, some necessary information was on the service; however, some was on [the Geneseo website] and some was on SA’s website. Now it’s all in one place,” Brodner said. In order to access all of the information initially found on KnightLink, students and organizations will be able to visit geneseo.edu/union, where they will find a link to the student organizations homepage. There is an announcement board on this page with a comprehensive list of all registered campus organizations and links to all of the continuation forms needed by campus organizations. “Right now, there aren’t any features that the students aren’t using because everything here is really necessary to be a successful organization,” Brodner said. “We get to maximize the full potential of our website.”

The main benefit to organizations using the Geneseo page as opposed to KnightLink is that they are able to make their own unique webpage and link it to the full list of organizations. “For a while because of KnightLink, we were straying away from individual webpages for organizations, but we are trying to bring those back so they can still have their own identities,” Brodner said. On the list of all organizations, the ones that have made a webpage to promote themselves are highlighted in blue for students to find out more information.

According to Brodner, it gives new students one central place to learn more about organizations they may want to join (credit richard). Brodner said that one weakness of using the Geneseo website as opposed to KnightLink is the lack of an activities board, something KnightLink used to post a list of student organization-run events happening on campus. “We’re going to really have to try to push “What’s-Ups” and reinvigorate those so people are reading them and making sure they aren’t just being deleted,” she said. “[The weekly e-mails sent to all students] are going to have information as far as what’s happening on campus.”

SA encourages heightened competition

Student Association elections, held from Monday March 31 until Wednesday April 2, saw more contested positions than in recent years. SA is Geneseo’s student government; however, the association serves multiple other functions, providing services such as legal counseling, funding for Geneseo Late Knight events and Upstate Escapes trips and providing a budget for on-campus organizations. Due to its breadth of responsibilities, SA has a vast presence on campus. In spite of this, elections have not been heavily contested in past years.

“I think we’ve done a pretty good job this year about publicizing the work that SA does and trying to get people interested in it,” current Student Association President senior Katie Becker said in regards to increased competition in elections this year. “If you look at our [executive] board this year as well, we come from a wide variety of different backgrounds, so each of us brings in a skill set and a group of people we know that are different from everyone else.”

SA has also been busy the past year with constitutional changes and shifts in leadership, working with the mandatory student activity fee and pushing medical amnesty legislation.

Becker noted that she sees a lot of promise in the candidates running for the new SA e-board of the 2014-2015 school year.

“I’m excited to see what kind of ideas they’re bringing in – how they want to build off the momentum that we have from this year and pull it forward into next year,” she said. “Every e-board is different; they face different challenges and everything, and I’m really interested in seeing what their take is on some of the conditions they face in Geneseo.”

Last year there were a lot of uncontested positions, according to Becker, whereas this year the only positions left without competition are the vice president, the director of academic affairs and the director of student programming. This leaves the SA president, the director of business affairs, the director of the IRC, the director of student affairs and the director of public relations positions with direct competition.

Becker said she feels that many candidates in previous years missed out on their dose of competition.

“I know last year there were a lot of positions that were uncontested, and we all felt that we kind of missed out in the running process,” she said.

All of the positions work not only as a cohesive group but also as chairs of their designated committees.

“I’m really excited to see that there are so many contestants. It shows that people are invested in what SA does, which is awesome,” Becker said.

Becker said that each student’s mandatory student activity fee of $100 per semester is compiled into an over $1.3 million budget that SA controls. She urged current Geneseo students to take advantage of all the SA-funded activities on campus.

“Everyone pays that $100 fee per semester, so economically make the most of your money,” she said. “You pay into this system – you should reap the benefits from it. That’s really the best part about being on campus.”

“I think involvement in campus activities is the best way to enjoy your experience at Geneseo,” Becker said. “I’m really happy to be a part of students getting involved in activities on campus.”υ

Chowhound to return

The Chowhound, one of Campus Auxiliary Services’ more recent additions to campus eateries, hasn’t been driving around campus as usual this semester. The absence has not gone unnoticed by students. The traveling restaurant has a Facebook page that is updated from the perspective of a personified “Chowhound.” A post made on Jan. 28 read, “Well, the cold weather has done me in, and I’ve gotten a bit sick. I’m being taken in to be poked and prodded, should be back out on Thursday!”

It became clear on Jan. 29 that the Chowhound’s issues were worse than originally predicted. The page was updated again, with the post indicating that the original complications brought to light a much larger issue within the Chowhound’s hardware, stating “Not sure when I’ll be back to my normal self roaming the campus, but I’ll be sure to let you know!”

After this, there were no more personified posts, the existing ones left up to the interpretation of Geneseo’s student body. Talk of engine explosions and cold-weather complications were commonplace; however, this was over a month ago, and the Chowhound hasn’t been heard from or spotted driving around since then.

Director of Culinary Operations and Executive Chef of CAS Jonna Anne commented on the current state of the Chowhound. According to her, there was an engine failure.

“The root cause of the problem is that the engine had a major internal engine component failure,” Anne said. “Basically, the engine just stopped working and we had to have [the Chowhound] towed from Geneseo to Rochester.”

She also noted that the reason the Chowhound has been out of commission for so long is due to the arduous nature of the necessary repairs.

“They need to diagnose the problem, take out the engine, order a new engine and install it,” she said.

The Chowhound was set up a year and a half ago for the Geneseo campus, so the engine failure came a surprise to CAS.

“We had it built for us by our specifications. Everything was new, and it shouldn’t have had these major problems,” Anne said.

The issues are not assumed to be a result of the extremely cold winter.

“[The Chowhound] got through last winter, and the vehicle has been winterized, so that’s not the problem. But everyone has had those cars that the engine just has something quirky about it,” she said.

To ensure that the vehicle does not have these problems in the future, CAS plans on following a regular maintenance schedule. The major problem, according to Anne, is that an engine failure such as this, or any major component failure, is impossible to predict.

Although there aren’t many specific details on the current state of Geneseo’s restaurant on wheels, Anne said that the new engine is being installed and the Chowhound could return after spring break.

Monroe Hall recognized for sustainability

One year after its reopening following infrastructural renovations, the college’s Monroe Hall received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification in accordance with the United States Green Building Council.

LEED provides third-party verification of environmentally-friendly buildings. Those who apply can earn points based on the energy-efficient measures taken in order to make the building more “green” in the construction process.

All newly-built state-owned buildings are mandated by Executive Order 111 to substantiate at least a LEED Silver certification. The scale consists of 110 points, and a minimum of 60 points must be earned in order to receive the Gold certification.

Geneseo submitted for certification through the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and Mach Architecture, the firm that designed Monroe Hall.

According to Assistant Vice President for Facilities and Planning George Stooks, Mach Architecture worked hand in hand with Geneseo in keeping up with the highest standard.

“It was a joint effort – a partnership. They take great pride in achieving this, just as we do,” Stooks said. “The design firm has to go through a step-by-step process and assess the credits we’re applying for. It’s part of their responsibility to make sure that we are legitimately submitting credits that will stand up to the USGBC’s criteria.”

Some efficiency initiatives that gain points include the reuse of existing materials for walls and doors, the use of recycled products in flooring and ceilings and the use of a greywater recycling system, which uses rain water from the roof in the building’s toilets.

Points toward the Gold certification can also be earned by the reuse of materials on site, the use of construction material from local sources, from within 500 miles, and renewable energy to power at least half of the building for the first two years.

Stooks added that an important renovation to Monroe is the bottle refilling station that has prevented over 40,000 bottles from going to a landfill. There is a counter at the station that keeps track of how many bottles are filled.

No other buildings on campus are officially USGBC certified, but other newly renovated buildings such as Doty Hall, Bailey Hall and Letchworth Dining Hall are built to LEED Silver standards. Monroe may serve as an educational tool and a reference point for comparison to other buildings on campus.

“We have an energy dashboard in the building that helps measure the building’s usage compared to standard buildings,” Stooks said.

“Geneseo students who are interested in environmental issues will find a keen interest in the building,” he added. “It will be immediately adjacent to the e-Garden, which will begin construction this summer. They can not only learn, but they can practice what they’re learning.”

Revised IRC bylaws tighten fundraising protocol

The Inter-Residence Council proposed an update to its bylaws that pertain to the way residence hall councils handle fundraising. Although the changes are not official until after a second vote, the first vote passed on Monday Feb. 10. The proposed bylaws will make fundraising approval easier and help ensure the money from the fundraising goes toward the proper initiatives and is not mishandled. Instead of going through the college and being approved by the Director of Student Life Chip Matthews, approval will go directly through the IRC.

The changes involve the use of the Residence Council Fundraising Form and the relevant steps needed to get approval. These steps include giving a rationale and exact price breakdown for the entire event as well as indicating a legitimate charitable organization. The IRC executive board must then approve the charity.

It also specified, “The [Inter-Residence Council] budget may not make a profit from an IRC-sponsored fundraiser or event,” and the residence hall must submit proof of the donation within two weeks of the event, or the hall will be “in bad financial standing until proof of the donation is received.” The update does not significantly alter the current bylaws but rather modernizes them.

These changes are expected to improve the IRC bylaws by providing a more secure framework for the way fundraisers are organized and executed.

“I think that these changes will give IRC more security within its budget,” Student Association Director of Inter-Residence Affairs senior Olivia Kelly said. “They’ll be more responsible with the funds that are being distributed to the halls.”

IRC Adviser Luke Haumesser concurred with Kelly’s statements, saying, “I think the changes are a way to hold residence halls accountable and to make sure that all paperwork is in and that the money is going where it’s [supposed to go].

“It’s a way to cover IRC, who is providing funds for these programs, and also a way for the hall councils to finalize the process and make sure all the money is in,” he added. “It’s a way to make sure mandatory student activity fees are being used appropriately.”

Both Kelly and Haumesser consider these changes necessary in order to keep the bylaws up to date.

“These changes are just to get rid of outdated information and then to bring in a new policy that I think will be very effective in terms of fundraising,” Kelly said.

“This is only for when hall councils are asking IRC for money. If they are not asking IRC, they would just go to their residence director or [the Activities Commission] for approval, and how they choose to handle it would be fit,” Haumesser said. “This doesn’t apply to all fundraisers, just the ones funded by IRC.”

Haumesser and Kelly agree that the proposed updates will help to make things run more smoothly and efficiently. They will also help to ensure that all fundraising is done in an official and authentic way. It is most important in the bylaws that all charities are approved by the IRC and that they are legitimate.

Haumesser added, “It’s nice to know there is an executive board and general assembly that’s always willing to look at their constitution and their bylaws, to update it to fit the current campus climate and to really hold each other accountable and make sure that they’re moving forward – not just keeping the same constitution year after year.”