Renovations complete in Fraser Hall, Fraser Library fully operational

Fraser Library (pictured above) will serve the student community until the renovation of Milne Library is completed. Milne is anticipated to be finished with construction by 2025. (Photo editor/Kate Rodgers)

The remodeling of Fraser Library has been completed, and the space will now serve as the campus community while Milne Library is under construction. The Fraser Hall Library is now offering all of the services that the Milne previously offered. 

The library has been open since Dec. 18 with only necessary services, such as textbook loans but is now fully renovated and operational.  

According to the Geneseo website, Milne Library has been closed since February 2020 due to the presence of asbestos particles in the air. Though the levels of asbestos were deemed unharmful, the college plans to move forward with a $35 million renovation and remediation project to remove the asbestos. The project is expected to be completed in time for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Library Director Corey Ha said the Fraser Hall Library will offer research and writing assistance as well as a quiet study space and computer lab. The CIT HelpDesk is available to help students and staff with general computer questions and services such as printing and downloading academic software.  

"We really try to provide the same quality and level of services and resources [in Fraser Hall],” Ha said. “We try to do as much as we could given the limitations of the size and with everything else going on.”   

The Fraser Hall Library is also one of the several public study spaces that is now open around campus.  

On March 1, the Office of the President announced via a campus-wide email that some individual study spaces in academic buildings would be made available. On March 8, the office reported that larger study spaces in academic buildings would reopen, allowing students to study together in groups for the first time this semester.  

In the emails, the college said that the decision to reopen study spaces was motivated by the continual decrease in active COVID-19 cases on campus, input from students, and the commitment shown by Geneseo students to adhering to COVID-19 guidelines.  

The opening of public study rooms on campus is a welcome change in policy for many students.

“My dorm is just my bedroom, and I’ve never been good at doing things there because I get distracted or go on my phone. Going somewhere like the Union or the new library makes me focus because everyone around me is doing work too,” biology major freshman Kelly Heathscott said.

Students protest violence towards Asian American in response to recent acts of discrimination

On Tuesday March 23, around 150 students gathered on Geneseo's College Green in a rally against Asian American violence. Participants listened to the words of organizers and students who felt inspired to speak about their experiences surrounding racism and diversity before they marched around campus and Main Street.

The primary organizers of this event were sociomedical sciences major sophomore Josephine Wu, music education and music performance major junior Elijah Reed, and communication major sophomore Brandy Manasilp.

Preparation for the event started the Sunday before the rally. Reed had sent the idea out to a GroupMe chat and interested students began to plan. The recent shootings in Atlanta, in which Asian women were targeted, was one major catalyst for the organization of this rally.

"We want to open up a conversation, open up a space for people to talk about what had happened," Wu said.

The Atlanta shootings were only a single consequence of the anti-Asian sentiment that the organizers hoped to address.

"There's a lot of xenophobic and inflammatory rhetoric and harassment on Asian culture and in Asian people," Manasilp said. "Looking back and reflecting through my experiences, I've been one of those victims too, and there's so many people who've been affected."

In calling attention to this discrimination, the organizers hoped to acknowledge the presence and significance of the Asian-American community on campus.

"We just wanted to take up some space," Wu said. "We're not protesting anything against the greater Genesee community, although we do see there are some divides there. We wanted to address these things, [and] we wanted to make people feel heard all."

Many of these goals were accomplished in the eyes of the organizers. With between 150 and 200 participants at the rally, the Geneseo community showed up in numbers.

"It was really nice to see everybody in a line going through and being so energetic," Reed said.

The organizers clarified that despite the enthusiasm shown in numbers and participation at the rally, the commitment to the Asian American community cannot stop here. In order to show up as consistent allies, this demonstration of dedication cannot be a one-time event.

"I hope people realize that showing up was a really, really good thing to do, but that is not the only thing that we need from people," Wu said. "But … it's not just about showing up to events—it's about making those little changes in your life, calling out racism and being an active supporter of anti-racism when you see it, and not propelling those ideals yourself."

While the Geneseo community responded rather positively to the rally, it was not as well-received by Livingston County as a whole. A recent article from the Livingston County News received significant resistance and was criticized severely over Facebook.

Much of the school community was shaken by this response, but the student body is continuing to commit to speaking out against AAPI violence. The organizers of last week's protest are currently planning a vigil to honor those lost in the Atlanta shootings.

"It's going to ruin your day [to read the comments]," Reed said. "But it's like, somebody has to see that it's not being received well with the rest of Livingston County.”

Administration implements a Fall orientation model to begin 2021

The Geneseo Administration has decided to transition from a summer to a fall orientation model, beginning in Fall 2021. This decision was made in order to create a more inclusive environment and an overall sense of ease as the fall semester approaches, according to Senior Director of Student Life Chip Matthews. 

Freshman orientation allows incoming students to spend several days familiarizing themselves with the Geneseo campus and community. Historically, freshman orientation is hosted throughout the summer as groups of students are invited to campus. They move in later in August. 

“I think COVID-19, you know, certainly forced the issue, but we've been looking at it for a number of years … many institutions do a fall model orientation,” Matthews said.

The fall orientation model avoids the travel of students to and from campus multiple times in a short period of time.

“If you have a summer orientation, you're really asking people to come back to Geneseo twice in one summer, and that means you might not be able to work,” Matthews said. “It also means there's going to be travel expenses. And so, I think one of the things that was really a catalyst for it was just to try to be more equitable and, more empathetic to people's travel and expense.”

For Fall 2021 orientation, the envisioned event will be a hybrid of online and in-person interactions. Matthews said that there will be virtual activities for students to do in the summer, to promote the health and wellness of incoming students.

According to Matthews, there will be three orientation phases. Starting in July, incoming first year students will be given information to listen to through podcasts. Then, in August, students will be given a Canvas course to acclimate them to the college experience. Finally, in late August, around the last Thursday or Friday before classes begin, Geneseo plans on having in-person student activities that will replace the college’s previous “Weeks of Welcome.” Matthews noted that the dates are not concrete and are subject to change considering the pandemic.

“The podcasts will serve to inform the incoming students of the most essential information about entering Geneseo, where they can listen to wherever they are over the summer, whether it be the beach, at work, or driving,” Matthews said. “As far as the canvas course goes, we plan to have around eight-minute videos for the students to watch. We’re hoping that we can create an engaging virtual experience, conduced with an in-person experience.”

In lieu of the College’s normal Weeks of Welcome, there will be an in-person form of orientation for incoming students that is still being developed by the College. 

“The Weeks of Welcome are one of the most important facets of orientation,” Matthews said. “If you talk to our first-year students from this year, you’ll hear that this is one of the things they missed out on because of the pandemic because we couldn’t have everybody gather together. I really hope that enough people get vaccinated so that we can arrange in-person activities and have a better handle on the virus.”

Matthews said that Student Life is discussing creating a second Weeks of Welcome event for current first years who were unable to experience a typical orientation in Fall 2020.

“I think that orientation is one of the most important things to help a student get started on their academic career. And we are going to work really hard to try to make it so that people are educated about Geneseo, and how to be a successful student, but also to connect the students,” Matthews said. 

Town of Geneseo approves solar farm on Conesus Lake

The Geneseo Town Board has approved the installation of a 40-acre, 5-megawatt solar farm on West Lake Road in Geneseo. Several town members have expressed concerns throughout the process, including Town Supervisor William Wadsworth. The Geneseo community is projected to save 10 percent on their energy expenses once the solar farm is fully installed and operational. 

Helios Energy, a solar company based out of Michigan, has contracted Ingalls & Associates LLP to build the solar farm. A representative from Ingalls, Joseph Hens, attended the Town Board meetings when the Helios Solar Farm was discussed to explain the project and answer questions from the community. 

Many community members voiced concerns about pollution to Conesus Lake and the Watershed, while others explained their reservations about possible effects the solar farm would have on local businesses and tourism, according to the meeting minutes of a public hearing hosted by the Town on March 12. These were also discussed in a letter from Hens to Planning Board Chairman Robert Harris addressed from August 2020.

One local business, the Deer Run Winery, stated multiple times that their business could be affected by the solar farm, which will be built on the property next to them. Hens enumerated measures that were being taken to ensure adjacent properties would not be affected, such as increasing privacy fencing and tree coverage surrounding the solar farm.   

Several community members also expressed concerns about potential cadmium pollution from damaged panels and increased or concentrated runoff. 

Hens explained that the solar panels are silicon-based, and pose no pollution risk to Conesus Lake, or the Watershed. Hens continued that any increased runoff would be mitigated by the positioning of the panels and the ground would be specifically landscaped in such a way that it would absorb any runoff from the solar panels. 

Amidst all these potential environmental impacts, the Town Board had other concerns in mind. 

Wadsworth said that he questions the project’s status decades from now.

“We believe, as most companies do, there’ll ultimately be a holding company that owns this particular project,” Wadsworth said. “And a fear of mine is that twenty years down the road, they’ve sold or renamed so many times that by the time they get to decommissioning, there’s actually nothing of value that the company owns that we could seize or use to help us decommission.” 

The best way to prevent an abandoned solar farm from falling into disrepair is to write a solid surety bond, or contract, that will ensure that in the event that the solar farm’s operations discontinue, the companies and banks involved will pay for it to be removed from the landscape. This process is ongoing, and requires a great deal of time and manpower, according to Wadsworth.

“We're making every effort to make that a solid, permanent, useful surety bond that will be there at the end if the company decides not to do their job,” Wadsworth said.