SUNY Plattsburgh’s independent student newspaper since 1997
FRIDAY, April 23, 2021
VOLUME 104 - ISSUE 10
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202122 SA budget revealed BY ADEEB CHOWDHURY Associate FUSE Editor
The Student Association budget for the 2021-22 academic year was presented during the meeting April 14, reflecting more optimistic albeit cautious expectations of what to expect next year. “Coming up with this budget was actually difficult in some ways,” SA Treasurer Saugat Gautam said. “We’re still not sure what exactly to expect. We’ve been working on this since January.” The budget was finalized following the SA’s decision to set its mandatory fee at $95 for the 2 0 2 1-2 2 academic year. This was a controversial proposal that had initially been rejected, until a special meeting was held to reconsider and ultimately accept it. The current fee is $85, but given expectations of more activity on campus next semester, it will increase accordingly to $95. However, this amount is actually a decrease from the original fee. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was $105. The amount allocated for Fall 2021 is $479,516, which is higher than last year’s budget.
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The City of Plattsburgh works with SUNY Plattsburgh students in City Hall to revitalize a plan for the local waterfronts.
Plattsburgh revamps waterfronts BY MIA MORGILLO Contributor
The City of Plattsburgh is currently in the process of drafting a new Comprehensive Plan, something the city hasn’t done since 1999. In 2016, Lakefront Water Revitalization Plan was drafted to focus on improvements that would come to be included in the Comprehensive Plan as well. To gain further clarity on what a new Comprehensive Plan and the LWRP mean, Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences Associate Professor, and key collabFEES l A2 orator on the plans, Curt Gervich
highlighted the purpose of each. “[The LWRP] is a vision for what the waterfront areas of Plattsburgh could be in the future, so it is all of the parts of the city that sit on Lake Champlain and along the Saranac River,” Gervich said. “The Comprehensive Plan is for the whole city.” Director of Landscape Architecture at Saratoga Associates Emily Gardner is working with the City of Plattsburgh to draft the Comprehensive Plan. Gardner and other individuals developing the Comprehensive Plan are now working to be sure the LWRP and Comprehensive Plan
align before the LWRP is finalized and adopted, and the Comprehensive Plan’s draft complete. Both Gervich and Gardner stressed the difference between these two plans. The LWRP focuses on revitalizing waterfront areas that have deteriorated, enhancing access to the waterfront and recreation opportunities. Meanwhile, the Comprehensive Plan covers the overall vision for the city, setting goals and creating policies that will support the continued growth of the city. It is important that planning efforts for the Comprehensive Plan, which include waterfront areas,
remain consistent with the plans laid out in the LWRP. “The Comprehensive Plan covers topics on a city-wide scale and focuses on land use and zoning-related recommendations, such as housing, economic development and transportation,” Gardner said. SUNY Plattsburgh senior Jillian Kara, an environmental science planning and management major, is working with the city in the creation and evolution of these plans. Kara has been heavily involved with outreach.
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Photos provided by SUNY Plattsburgh
Two students receive Chancellor Award BY JOHANNA WEEKS Staff Writer
Two SUNY Plattsburgh Students, Kassandra Doran and James Faraci, won the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. The award is presented to students who have demonstrated integration of academic excellence with other aspects of their lives, including leadership, campus involvement, athletics, career achievement, community
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service, creative and performing arts. The students were honored by Chancellor Jim Malatras at a virtual ceremony from Albany April 14. Out of 64 SUNY colleges, senior psychology major Doran and biochemistry and biomedical sciences major Faraci were cited for their accomplishments during a most challenging year of pandemic, distance learning, pool testing and quarantine. Doran explained she did not think she received the award be-
cause her fellow community advocate, Faraci, was notified before her. “[James] called me Saturday morning and told me to check my email. There was nothing there and I just assumed I didn’t get it. So then, it wasn’t until Monday afternoon that I got the email and I was just shocked that I got it,” Doran said. Doran and Faraci are both community advocates, or CAs, and have conducted research with the help of groups and mentors. José de Ondarza, an associate
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professor of the department of biological sciences, expressed that Faraci is enthusiastic and deserving of the award. De Ondarza taught a microbiology class that Faraci was in, and he noticed Faraci’s enthusiasm and engagement. There was a lot of potential in Faraci that de Ondarza noticed and he was pleased that Faraci agreed to do research with him in his lab.
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