DRAGON CHRONICLE
SGA Slashes Compensation for Editorial Staff
Community Gears Up For CROP Walk
In case you didn’t notice, the front page of this week’s Dragon Chronicle is blank for the last issue of the semester.
We are not printing the front page in objection to the recent conclusion of the Student Government Association (SGA) to no longer compensate the Dragon Chronicle for their services. The organization came to this decision based on an audit by the New York State Department of Labor and a strong recommendation by the SGA’s accounting firm.
The Dragon Chronicle learned of the decision last month. Editors no longer will receive a stipend starting next fall.
“This past year I have seen my staff work very hard each week sacrificing many hours into this publication,” said Bethany Lunden, current editor in chief.
“Knowing that the future staff and editor in chief will no longer be compensated for their own earnings is very disappointing. This kind of work is a 24/7 commitment, and many other clubs aren’t like us.”
Starting in the fall, Dragon Chronicle advertising sales will be used as fundraising for the paper’s budget. Advertising varies from year to year.
Last year, the Dragon Chronicle generated $8,315 in advertising sales. This year’s ad revenue has surpassed last year’s collective revenue in just the fall semester. From sales collected so far, the Dragon Chronicle has generated approximately $13,088 in revenue for the year and will continue to gain more until the end of the school year.
“I understand that department of labor said we had to make a change,” said Jeff Dewan, junior communications major and incoming editor in chief. “But to take away compensation completely seems extreme.”
The state audit, conducted by the labor department, said the Dragon Chronicle editors should only be paid as SGA employees. Until now the paper’s staff were considered independent contractors.
The SGA, however, said it would be unfair to other campus clubs to pay the newspaper staff and it would be too difficult to change and maintain the bookkeeping procedures in the future.
“We didn’t think it was fair that you (the Dragon Chronicle) could leverage funds and then receive a salary from promoting a product,” said SGA President Patrick Viscome.
The SGA will pay editors for the work they have done this semester, Viscome said.
When Viscome was asked why the Dragon Chronicle was not notified of this change until late March, he said, “SGA was informed of the audit during winter break and SGA started to tackle this issue when the spring semester began in early February.”
After the audit, the SGA made a payroll bookkeeping change so it can keep paying its executive board. The Dragon Chronicle and SGA board are the only campus organizations that receive compensation for their services.
Communication Studies Department Chair Paul van der Veur questioned the SGA’s decision.
“The Dragon Chronicle produces a tangible product for the institution,” said van der Veur. “Most other clubs don’t.”
Other SUNY school newspapers compensate their staff an hourly wage or give them a stipend.
“I will say that if our stipends were taken away, I wouldn't print a paper--or would print 20 blank pages--in protest,” said Taylor Frank, editor in chief for The Lamron campus paper at SUNY Geneseo.
Likewise, SUNY New Paltz editor in chief Kristen Warfield for The Oracle said, “Every week, we have to hand in time sheets to our Student Association and they process the money out of our account in the form of paychecks. All of our checks get taxes taken out of them.”
The Dragon Chronicle staff is disappointed with this decision but promises that it will not affect their product or their motivation.
“We will be back in the fall,” said Dewan. “The paper will still be an influential and prominent piece of this university.”
By Bethany Lunden Editor in Chief 15-16
Jeffrey Dewan Editor in Chief 16-17
Cortland students and residents raise money in preparation for this year's city-wide fundraising event.
By Elena Grande, News Editor
October 1, 2015
Preparation for this year’s Cortland CROP walk is well underway, and this year’s fundraising figures look promising. The first-ever CROP Walk was held about 50 years ago in Bismarck, North Dakota and were the first fundraisers of their kind to use an organized walk to raise money for a cause. Their purpose is to raise awareness for disaster relief, global, domestic, and agricultural development and emergency aid. CROP Hunger Walks are sponsored by Church World Service. Now, decades later, a couple thousand walks are run throughout any given year. Both students and residents of the Cortland community have put hard work into raising money, acquiring more participants, and promoting the event throughout the town and campus. Jim Miller, a history professor here at SUNY Cortland has served as the campus coordinator and advisor for the community-wide event since 2005. His interest with the CROP walk began in the 1980’s when he got his high school social studies class at Syracuse to take part in the event. When Miller began to see the success of the fundraiser and the benefits and impact it had on his students, he was inspired to introduce it to the students and faculty here at Cortland.
In the past few years, campus sports teams, clubs, and organizations have all come together to raise money. With the help of church and community groups, these students managed to raise a total of $11,186.50 this past year, an impressive contribution to the cause. In 2014, 86 percent of walkers in the Cortland walk were SUNY Cortland students, who managed to raise 49 percent of the total funds. As of now, the online giving website has raised over a thousand dollars with the women’s softball team and women’s lacrosse team being the leading online contributors to the event thus far. As in years past, 25 percent of the funds raised locally are given back to Cortland food pantries, and feeding programs like the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities. The walk has become such an important thing to the Cortland campus, that plaques are given each year to the Greek organization and the athletic team, campus organization, and COR 101 class that raises the most money for that given year. The Cortland Crop Hunger Walk will be on Sunday, October 11th. Registration for the event which starts at the Grace and Holy Spirit church on 13 Court St. opens at 1pm and the walk begins at 1:30pm.
"Super Blood Moon" Made An Appearance This Past Saturday
After 33 years, the "super blood moon" was able to appear in the night sky and won't be back for some years.
By Bethany Lunden, Editor in Chief
October 1, 2015
This past Sunday night, the Earth, moon and the sun aligned perfectly to create the super blood moon.
“I thought it was cool waiting for the moment to happen, the anticipation was great,” said Welly Ekoumilong, senior international studies major.
The eclipse was a special lunar eclipse for two reasons. First was that, the moon was a supermoon in which it was the closest to Earth that it could be appearing very large.
Secondly, this was the last night of a series of the lunar eclipse that only happens every so often.
The term “blood moon”gets its name from the color of the moon when it’s completely in the Earth’s shadow.
Students all over campus gathered outside of their residence halls to witness the phenomenon.
For the Cortland area, the moon was in partial eclipse beginning at 9:11 p.m. on Sunday night and made it to full eclipse at 10:11 p.m. At 10:48 p.m. the moon was at maximum ecilpse. Full eclipse ended at 11:23 p.m.
“It was so cool; people were yelling all over campus and coming out to watch it happen. In the Hayes/ Hendrick quad, music was playing,” said Kelby Watkins, junior early education major.
The last supermoon eclipse occurred in 1982. The next time this eclipse will happen again will be in 2033.
Homecoming Weekend Kicks Off With Pep Rally
Students come together to enjoy exciting performances, fire jugglers and more at homecoming pep rally.
By Bethany Lunder, Editor in Chief
October 1, 2015
The annual homecoming pep rally was held this past Friday on the front steps of Corey Union. Approximately 100 students, and faculty gathered to watch several performances by danceworks, kickline, the taekwondo team, Phi Iota Alpha, Sigma Lambda Epsilon and fire jugglers. WSUC provided music all night to the crowd and cortland nites handed out pom poms and foam fingers to students as they walked up to the event.
The night kicked off with host Juan Rodriguez, vice treasurer for SGA. He introduced the homecoming court, which included several greek students that raise money each year for a foundation and compete to be homecoming king and queen.
Danceworks gave a short performance in the streets, following with performances by the cultural fraternities and sororities. Sigma Lambda Epsilon had four students do a step routine to get the crowd rallied up following with Phi Iota Alpha do the same with four of their members.
Rodriguez introduced captains Robby Reiser and Sean Streb, from the men’s soccer team. Reiser and Streb talked to the crowd about supporting not only the football team this season but also the soccer team that are both doing well in their leagues.
Blaze, the red dragon took the front of the crowd to give a short performance consisting of dancing and pulling in crowd members to accompany him.
Taekwondo team was next to take the stage in which they performed a three-minute demonstration including board breaking, and flying kicks. “The Cortland Taekwondo team worked very hard to put on a demonstration for pep rally that showed off a few aspects of the sport,” said Taekwondo President, Rachel Zukose.
Football captains, Devonte Davis, Nate Burgo, Troy Beddoe and Vin Juliano spoke to the crowd about the homecoming game this past Saturday, and asked for support as they were up against the Utica Pioneers. Rodriguez engaged with the crowd with several questions about the opposing team and handed out selfie sticks and cortaca hats for those who answered his questions correctly.
Kickline gave a minute performance before the final act of the night was ready to perform. The special guest performance concluded the evening with fire juggling by group “A Different Spin” from Boston, MA. The four men juggled staff, poi and swords on fire along to their circus act display.
“They were playing super good music, overall I thought it was a pretty successful pep rally.” said Bridget Lyons, therapeutic recreation major.