Issue 2

Clinton, Sundowner ban scooters

BY KENNEDY TAVARES Staff Writer

Around the SUNY Platts burgh campus, the rise of scooters has been preva lent as the semester un folds. With the number of scooters increasing, the number of rules and regu lations around campus have as Clintonwell.Dining Hall and the Sundowner have explicitly prohibited scooters to combat the rise in scooters being ridden

Beginninginside.six years ago, both eateries placed a ban on scooters, skateboards and other modes of trans portation. The rule was put in place to combat those who ride their scooters in side the establishment.

“At any given time dur ing a ‘lunch rush’ the Sundowner can see over a half dozen wasstudents.SundowneraMihalyimealtryingtheirmightpeaktheofquitescooters,writtenatresidentsaidskateboards/e-boards,”scooters/ChristopherMihalyi,districtmanagerSUNYPlattsburgh,inaresponse.Thenumberofhowever,wasn’ttheirproblem.“InthelimitedamountspaceinClintonandSundowner,duringtimes,studentslosecontrolofscooterwhilealsotobalancetheirandbeverage,”said.“TherewasrecentcollisioninthebetweentwoOneofwhichridinghisscooter

and collided with another student. Both students fell to the ground.”

SUNY Plattsburgh staff aren’t the only ones who have taken notice of the expanding scooter community; some drivers haven’t been happy with

the growing scooter-riding population either.

Jessica Tafuri, a newlylicensed driver as of July, has expressed her con cerns about scooter riders.

“This semester I’ve seen a lot more scooters in the street than in previous se

mesters. Sometimes they pop up out of nowhere, and I think it’s very dangerous,” Tafuri, a junior majoring in TV and radio broadcast production, said.

Despite some criticism toward student scooter riders, they aren’t scared

to use their vehicle. One of these persistent scooter riders is Tai’jah Neil, a senior sociology major, who frequently uses a scooter around campus.

Neil has been using a scooter since last year to help with living far away

Burghy’s Lounge returns to ACC

BY JESSICA LANDMAN Staff Writer

The natural light shone through the floor to ceiling windows illuminating the wood floors and green couches lining the walls of the room. The brown, green and orange decorations along the walls gave the lounge an early 2000s feel. An old grand piano sat on a small stage in the furthest corner from the entrance.

Burghy’s Lounge now looks completely different after undergoing recent renovations.Burghy’s Lounge, lo cated in the Angell Col lege Center, was closed down in May of the spring semester for renovations that are still in progress. However, students are welcome to check out the new space. The lounge got a modern upgrade with accents in the Plattsburgh red. The stage has been opened up to the room, and the old piano has been replaced by a new sound box. The tentative opening date is Oct. 1.

from campus. Purchasing a bike wasn’t a financially sound decision for Neil to make at the time, but a scooter was a perfect option.Students, especially those who live off cam pus, tend to use a vehicle to transport them around campus. Bikes, scooters and skateboards are all popular modes of trans portation that can be seen around campus. With the prohibition of scooters, some riders have been feeling alienated.

“It’s kind of embarrass ing being called out, es pecially since I don’t have a car,” Neil said. “It’s my way of prohibitingeryone,vironmentworkingues,ties,”storagedentssignagetakenleading.Allowed,’ownerpostingsthedentsscootersInsteadthatrecentyears,banDespitetransportation.”thefactthatthehasbeeninplaceforit’smanagement’spostingofthebanhasgainedattention.ofridingtheirindoors,stucanleavethematcashregisters.“IunderstandrecentattheSundread‘NoScootersandthisismisWehavealreadystepstocorrectthisandguidestuintoproperuseandwithinourfaciliMihalyisaid.AsthesemestercontinSUNYPlattsburghisonbuildinganenthat’ssafeforevevenifthatmeansscooters.

Email KENNEDY TAVARES cp@cardinalpointsonline.com

SA campusbikesfundson

BY ALEKSANDRA SIDOROVA News Editor

The Student Association approved new members at its executive and senate meetings Sept. 12 and 14. The SA also granted the club Biketopia “up to $650” to spend on bike parts. A major theme at both meetings was student involvement and building a relationship between the SA and clubs.

Two new senators, Djen eba Sy and Munashe Chi kukwa, were unanimously approved and sworn in. The senate also unanimously approved four voting mem bers on the Finance Board and seven voting members on Club and Organization Affairs Board. The candi dates, or their representa tives in the case they were unable to attend, spoke of wanting to give back to the community and host the activities they could not enjoy in prior years due to COVID-19 restrictions.

SUNY Plattsburgh’s independent student newspaper since 1997

BRYN FAWN/Cardinal Points

MICHAEL HLOPKO/Cardinal Points

Burghy’s Lounge does not officially open until Oct. 1, but students may already peek inside to see the changes.

LOUNGE

A female under 21 was found to be in pos session of alcohol in Lot 16 at Saranac Hall.

A suspicious vehicle was found parked in the George Angell Drive storage complex. The report was filed as “illegal drug possession.”Sept.

An underage student was found in posses sion of alcohol in Lot 14 by Harrington Hall.

Sept. 18

A male was found carrying a gel-soft gun in front of the Myers Arts Building. Meme

Gov’t funds mental health

BY ALEKSANDRA SIDOROVA News Editor

President Alexander Enyedi sent out a campuswide email Sept. 2 an nouncing an expansion of mental health resourc es available to students thanks to financial support from the federal Higher Ed ucation Emergency Relief Fund. The new programs, some launching as early as October, include more ac cessible counseling servic es and activities to relieve stress on campus.

Cori Jackson, the in terim vice president for enrollment and student success, said the federal government recognized COVID-19 as a great chal lenge to students’ men tal health. Jackson men tioned several stressors college students might be faced with in their college life: transitioning to and from online learning, liv ing with a roommate, be ing unable to relieve stress through their hobbies.

“We’ve seen trends of increased mental health issues prior to COVID, so COVID certainly made that even more exacerbated,” JacksonJacksonsaid.said the college was required to spend “a percentage” of the HEERF money on mental health resources, and within a few weeks, her team crafted a plan that was later approved by SUNY.

As Director of Budget and Financial Reporting Ma gen Renadette clarified, the amount designated for mental health initiatives is $389,666, which is 5% of the HEERF money.

The largest new proj ect is the year-long con tract between the Student Health and Counseling Center and the company Business Health Services to provide students with 24-hour access to telecoun seling services. According to Christy Minck, the assis tant director of counseling, students can receive eight sessions “per identified problem” free of charge. The types of appointments available are “traditional,” “drop-in” and emergency. Students book “tradition al” appointments in ad vance and see a provider consistently, “drop-in” ap pointments are same-day appointments, and emer gency appointments allow a student who may be sui cidal, homicidal or other wise unable to function to receive immediate care.

“It’s a pretty exciting program,” Minck said. “We don’t offer walk-ins

except for emergencies only, so you don’t have to be experiencing an emer gency to have a drop-in session with a person with 14oftypechecksRascoeCenterHealthcrisisperiencingresourceUP’sduringlikelycoeing.astraining20Safety”Healththeficersginning9counselorweekworkatricclinic,Servicesingofitmeetestionalvember.forexpectedtelecounselinggratinginThetelecounseling.”collegeiscurrentlytheprocessofintethesoftwareforservices,tobeavailablestudentuseinNoMincksaidaddicounselingservicwouldhelptheSHCCstudentdemandasgrowsoverthecoursethesemester.TheSHCCisalsopartnerwithBehavioralHealthNorth,alocaltobringinapsychinursepractitionertoattheSHCConedayaandamentalhealthtowork4:30top.m.twodaysaweekbeinOctober.AllUniversityPoliceofwillbecompleting8-hourcourse“MentalFirstAidforPublictocomplementthehoursofmentalhealththeyhavereceivedpartoftheirbasictrainUPChiefPatrickRassaidofficerswouldcompletethecoursewinterbreakwhenworkis“slower.”UPistypicallythefirstforstudentsexamentalhealthoutsideofStudentandCounselinghours,Rascoesaid.alsosaidwelfarearethefifthlargestofcallUPreceives.AslastFriday,UPhashadwelfarecheckcallsand

one aided mental health call, where “we would know immediately that there’s a mental health situation going on.” Ras coe said it was common for UP to receive four to five welfare check calls every weekend, some simply par ents asking to check in on their children. Sometimes, a roommate or community advocate would ask for a welfare check, and some times students come to the police station on their own volition simply wanting to talk to someone.

“It’s important that po lice officers, especially on a college campus, where we do have so many in stances of dealing with people who are stressed, have the training to be able to evaluate and help,” Rascoe said.

Mental health training also helps officers de-esca late situations without the use of “Studentsforce. have differ ing opinions about the po lice,” Jackson said. “Some students have had poor experiences with police, and that’s a scary thing for them, so we’re going out of our way to make sure that our officers have highlevel training to really be sensitive to those types of mental health situations and help students get the mental health care that theyPlacesneed.”intended for lei sure and relaxation will make their appearance on campus starting in Octo ber. Interim Director for the Center of Student Involve

ment Jacob Avery is coor dinating the Zen Zone and weekly Fireside Fridays with “cookies and hot co coa.” Avery has also been a central figure in the renova tion of Burghy’s Lounge at Angell College Center.

“Well-being and mental health, everybody sort of has their own way that they approach that. For some people, it’s counsel ing,” Jackson said. “For others, it’s opportunities to gather with peers. It might be about personal meditation. Our plan, as a campus, is to hit a lot of different angles of ways to approach mental health and well-being.”

Whether these services will continue next year will depend on student feedback. Jackson said that if some services continue to be in high demand, “the campus would have to evaluate how they would find the resources to continue with these things.”

“I don’t think the gov ernment is going to give us another influx of fund ing,” Jackson said. “I think it really would be coming on us to say, okay, this met student demand, filled a need, helped us to retain students who might not have been able to stay otherwise if they couldn’t access those ser vices — it’ll be on us to see what we should re new, what we’ll be able to find funding to renew.”

CP Corrections

In Issue 1, the article “Greek life begins recruitment” describes only the perspective of joining a historically-white Greek life organization. The process for joining a culturally-based organization is different.

The campus also has 23 Greek life organizations, not 14.

Additionally, Gamma Sigma Alpha is not a sorority, but a scholastic honors society. in Cardinal Points, email

Coordinator of Clubs and Organizations Dea sha Gilmore reported that she has finished training club representatives for their roles. Gilmore said the COAB is working on building a relationship with club members as well as looking forward to increased student in volvement. Gilmore said the COAB had a “secret competition” for clubs that participated in the In volvement Fair held Sept. 12. The clubs that had the most decorated booths and interacted the most with attendees would re ceive a bonus of $100 add ed to their budgets.

Clubs can also request money for their budgets directly at senate

meetings, as did Eirik Lavigne, president of the club Biketopia. Lavigne asked for “up to $650” to spend on bike parts, which would be used to fix the club’s bikes and teach students mechanical skills. Lavigne said about 40 bikes could potentially be repaired this year and over 30 new students have joined the club in the past week. Lavigne also said Biketopia would be partnering with the bike rental program offered through the department of Athletics & Recreation.

“I’m looking just to provide enough parts for students who are freshly new to the mechanic world to learn off of rather than go through the whole junkyard mechanic experience, which I will also be able to provide a perfect amount of knowledge for those who are willing to go that route,” Lavigne said. “So for right

now, I wish to get more rental bikes on the road. This would be a perfect opportunity for us to have a good chunk just to get us started for the semester.”

on the day of the meeting — brought in 82 players. Coordinator of Arts Pilar Balader Herrero reported that a trip to a museum in Canada is in the plan ning stage. Senator Nilay Vaidya reported he was working with the Global Education Office to bring back the annual Night of Nations in November, after a break due to ALEKSANDRA

The senate unanimously approved Lavigne’s re quest for club funding.

The SA saw successes in its own events. Coordina tor of Activities Marileana Rodriguez reported that Create-a-Creature, one of the SA’s staple events, was “big this year,” with all the stuffed animals “gone” within an hour. Rodriguez also said another SA event — Laser Tag, held earlier

ALEXA DUMAS/Cardinal Points

ZOE NGUYEN/Cardinal Points

JUUL comes back after ban

BY BRYN FAWN Associate Opinions Editor

JUUL has become one of the leading brands when it comes to nicotine vapes. The Federal Drug Administration for years has been trying to ban them from the Unit ed States. However, their new approach is to assist nicotine addicts. Is this enough to keep them on store shelves?

In late June 2022, the FDA banned JUUL from being sold on store shelves. However, the US court of appeals uplift ed this ban momentarily. In that time, JUUL has been scrambling to keep hold of the US market. JUUL has increased sales by about 50% from 2020 to 2021, selling 22 million units.

One of their more popular products was their flavored pods. JUUL used to sell fla vors designed after desserts and fruit such as mango, fruit medley, cool cucumber and creme brulee. There were more flavors in production and distribution. However, in January 2020, the FDA banned flavors that seemed appealing to underage va pers, such as those listed above. Today, JUUL only sells menthol and Virginia to bacco flavors in New York.

The removal of “fun” flavors left a bitter taste in adult’s mouths. JUUL users who were of age were seemingly punished for a problem that was not their fault. Many enjoyed the taste while indulging or even trying to combat their addiction,

and some are now willing to move back to cigarettes. Vapes, while not 100% safe, are far safer than cigarettes; to their users and those around them. Cigarettes release smoke and tar into the air when exhaled, which is not only toxic to the smoker, but to any bystanders.

JUUL has swiftly changed their ap proach to product. Their website about

page now claims their mission is to “transition the world’s billion adult smokers away from combustible ciga rettes, eliminate their use and combat underage usage of our products.” JUUL claimed they have designed their prod ucts for of-age vapers only, but that has not stopped minors from getting a hold of their products and continuing to vape.

Some teens have shifted brands, how ever, due to a loophole in the ruling of flavored vapes, as disposable — unlike JUUL’s reusable design — flavored vapes are still allowed. New York State has banned flavored vapes altogether.

Vapes are wildly popular, not just in middle and high schools, but college campuses as well. Not just nicotine ei ther, as marijuana vapes are common on campus. Their nature allows users to be more discreet. They do not let out smoke, just water vapor, and so do not trigger the smoke detectors in dorm buildings.

They’re still not allowed on campus, as there are only designated nicotine sites on campus and any marijuana smoking must be done off campus. Any individual caught with one, especially underage, will be subject to disciplinary action.

Marijuana has also become legal for recreational use within New York State, which only gives JUUL more competition in smoke shops. JUUL does not sell mari juana vapes, solely nicotine products. With nicotine vapes no longer being as popular as marijuana, it is only a waiting game to see if their sudden shift to proquitting will save them from the FDA’s ban. Store shelves may never see JUUL pods again, or they will once again come flying off the shelves.

Email BRYN FAWN cp@cardinalpointsonline.com

Mother Nature cries for help

BY HANNAH CLUCK Contributor

A New York native resident may think to themselves, “Why does the health of an en vironment hundreds of miles away, matter to my day to day life?” The truth is, it doesn’t matter. But what truly matters is the health of one’s own personal ecosystem, their en vironment, their home. The health of this shared home planet is worsening by the day, and it is impacting everyone on board.

more frugal life with water use, drive less and embrace pedestrian travel, use more clean eco-conscious products, and finally to embrace self-sufficient ways of living. Self sufficiency does not always mean own ing a farm. It could be as simple as raising chickens for eggs, gardening, composting, and beekeeping. The more individuals em brace sufficient and sustainable ways of liv ing, their personal “ecosystems’’ improve, eventually resulting in long term, more widespread improvement.

Music interests on Platts campus

BY ROCCO GOLDEN Contributor

In our day and age, ev eryone listens to music. Whether it was the up per class nobles who at tended symphonies, the Chickasaw tribe perform ing a stomp dance, or your grandfather putting a cas sette into the old F150, ev eryone likes music. Music has always been, and will continue to be, a staple in all cultures and countries around the world. When it comes to our campus, what are people listening to? Is there a favorite amongst the students of Plattsburgh?

To gauge the music genres generally favored by the students here on cam pus, a survey was conduct ed of 100 students walking on campus during the week of Sept. 12. The survey fo cused on one specific ques tion: What is your favorite music genre?

The most favored re sponse was hip hop/rap with 29% of respondents. It’s really no surprise, as the rap genre has been gaining in popularity over the past few

Accordingdecades.to an article by Icon Collective, an online

news outlet, Hip Hop is a subculture that emerged from the Bronx in New York City during the early 1970s. Many of the reasons for hip hop’s origin is due to the economy of the area at the time. With a declining man ufacturing industry, many middle class workers decid ed to move out, leaving the Bronx with even worsening economic conditions. Hip hop was originally fueled by the hardships of those living in terrible conditions. It became a way to deal with anger and violence whilst also expressing creatively.

Since its inception, the hip hop genre has evolved extensively into many other sub genres, such as rap, trap music, and funk. Hip hop has become popular among younger people in recent years, with the emer gence of music software such as SoundCloud and Spotify making music more accessible than ever before.

The second most popular genre according to the data is pop with 21%, almost one in four people.

Pop music found its roots in the U.S. and U.K. in the mid-20th century. The genre itself is a sort of melting pot with regards to actual mu

sic. Many different genres like jazz, country, Latin and rock played different roles in contributing to what we call pop music today. Back dur ing the mid-20th century, with advancing technology, it became easier to develop music. According to an ar ticle by Cecilia the Band, an online news outlet, the pop genre at first united the set of popular music, but the peculiarity of this musical style remains that of the ab sorption of other genres.

Over time, pop music has evolved to include a wide range of instruments, themes, and interpreta tions all over the world. It is still prominent across the world, and here on campus. Pop has always, personally speaking, struck as a type of music that is just always there, no matter what. It’s the type of music that reflects its origin pretty nicely, a melting pot of genres you can listen to for your melt ing pot of activities for the day. Pop music can fit into pretty much anything nowadays, which is one of the many reasons why people like it so much.

As technology advances, the already con sumerist world dives deeper into the realm of pollution riddled consumerism. Society depends on “out of convenience” ways of receiving their goods and services, creating more and more non-biodegradable waste. Goods such as air conditioning units, refrig erators, and most cleaning products release chlorofluorocarbons (CFS), which degrade the Earth’s ozone layer causing it to thin.

The ozone layer is commonly referred to as earth’s “blanket” or “shield.” What the ozone layer truly is, is a region within the stratosphere containing high levels of ozone, a molecule made up of three oxy gen atoms. Ozone absorbs most ultraviolet radiation from the sun, typically known as the harmful UV rays.

With the thinning of the ozone, these harmful UV rays are able to sneak into the atmosphere, wreaking havoc on earth, and the people on it. According to an article published by the National Oceanograph ic and Atmospheric Administration, the warming of the atmosphere leads to poorer air quality, resulting in an increased risk for diseases and respiratory illnesses such as asthma, renal failure, and preterm birth. Heavier rains will also increase the chances for water-borne diseases, creating even less safe drinking water.

In addition to CFCs, PFAS is another chemical commonly used in most mate rial goods. PFAS is utilized for its water, fire and stain resistant components, making it useful for water proof gear, fire department gear, and even within table top cleaners. PFAS does not necessarily result in more ozone thinning, but can be extremely toxic when humans are exposed. High exposure rates to PFAS can result in higher chances of developing cancer, decreased fertility, and liver

Althoughdamage.itisvery difficult for individu als to directly solve the plague of CFCs and PFAS, there are many things each person could do in their day to day life to reduce their footprint on the earth. According to a piece published by the Center for Biologi cal Diversity, individuals could embrace a

Although the media is flooded with negative news about the climate crisis, there is hope with mother nature. Re gional governments and big industries are finally opening their eyes to the con sequences of their consumerist ways of operation, and they are jumping to ac tion. Some states within the United States have placed laws against littering. Viola tors receive fines up to thirty-thousand dollars and in some states, prosecutors can even be sentenced up to ten days. Big industries are even banning plastic bags, pre packaged goods, and relying more on reusable and biodegradable products.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, the world suddenly came to a halt. Businesses closed, events were canceled, and many countries even went into lockdown. During this initial time period, the natural world was momentarily able to recover. The lack of human involvement resulted in slow and slight, but noticeable recovery, especially in the slow repair of our ozone layer. Eventual ly, the outdoors was the only escape people had from their homes, so they resorted to outdoor activities. Their newfound love for outdoor activities instills a deep apprecia tion for the earth and what it has to provide.

Since the global pandemic, the world’s love for Earth has grown and the envi ronmental movement has advanced. However, our environment is still dete riorating day by day, so it is important to remember and understand that actions have consequences. And the toxic im plications we’ve imposed on nature, is causing nature to fight back and take its toll. We need to learn to nurture the Earth more, and the gifts it provides for us by taking small steps in every-day living to get there. Reduce, reuse and recycle. Bike to work, instead of riding in a car. Prac tice sustainability, and encourage others to do the same. It’s a simple solution to keeping the Earth healthy and happy, leaving us the same.

ROLDNARDY NORELUS/Cardinal Points

ZOE NGUYEN/Cardinal Points

NYC masking signs cause controversy

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been clear controversy over differing opinions on wearing a mask. Some argue forcing one to wear a mask infringes on personal liberty and freedom of expres sion, while others believe it is a piece of fabric/material that we all need to wear to be able to just live normally again and ensure the safety of others.

However, with New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s new announce ment of “You do you.” mask policy, it looks like transmis sion of the virus may become more possible in tight spaces, as some who are positive for the virus may not comply with wearing a mask if the mask is not regulated by county or state. Within the new policy, MTA posted signage all over the subways stating, “Masks are encouraged, but optional.”

The signs also depict several proper ways of wearing a mask, a figure of a person wearing a

mask only on their nose (which is comedically aimed at those who improperly wore it during the height of the pandemic), and a figure without a mask labeled, “yes.” The sign could be argued to have a political standpoint of one’s rights, as the main saying is “let’s re spect each other’s choices.”

The problem is, the subways themselves are always packed to the brim, so the chances of transmitting the virus from close contact heightens when one is not wearing a mask. The subways are full of people from all over the city, and some traveling from outside of New York visiting for the weekend.

As Omicron rages with tens of cases a day in our own North Country, it’s hard to believe that one of the most populated cities in the country, and where the pandemic originally was a hotspot in New York, wouldn’t regulate something as simple as this. There’s still thousands of cases in NYC a day.

Those who are conscious of the virus and want to keep oth ers safe, thank you. Those who are not, why do we want this to continue? The virus is staying around live and well for now, so it’s important we try to limit the spread as much as pos sible. Regulating masks is not a political agenda; it’s a way to put less people’s lives at risk. As rates are falling, it’s still im portant to remember each per son has their own set of health risks if they catch the virus.

According to NPR, “Critics of the new policy say it puts immunocompromised people at risk. They maintain that it’s too early to drop masking man dates, noting that omicron and its BA.4 and BA.5 sub variants recently spurred the Centers for Disease Control and Preven tion to urge people to get new booster

Evenshots.”though the online memes of the sign are funny, completely dropping the mask mandate on Subways opens

the doorway to more people contracting Omicron if proper care isn’t taken. So please, if you are sick, wear a mask. If you are supposed to quaran tine, quarantine, And if you’re afraid to contract the virus, just wear the mask in public places. Keep the peace, respect each other’s beliefs, but respect each other’s health by wearing a mask when you need to. It’s that simple.

Queen’s death sparks memes

BY BRYN FAWN Associate Opinions Editor

Queen Elizabeth II died Sept. 8 ending her 96-year-long reign. Her death has re sulted in criticism and comedy, much to the delight of users of social media web sites such as Twitter and Tumblr.

Soon after, news broke sharing the Queen’s doctor’s concern for her health. She was placed under supervision and was reported to be “comfortable.” The Queen had recently recovered from COVID-19 in February. The Queen died between 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. as Liz Truss, the prime minister, was alerted then, but it was not until 6:30 p.m. that her death was pub licly announced through different news outlets. Much of regular programming on television was canceled for 12 days to en force mourning in the U.K.

With the sudden shift in the social land scape of the U.K., many have used it as an opportunity to comment on the barbaric nature of the British Monarchy. Currently, the U.K. is having an economic crisis.

Many cannot afford heating nor food, but the royals have always and will continue to — unless change is made — live in the lap of luxury. With the online response, people are not just celebrating a coloniz er’s death, but also placing a magnifying glass over what the Queen really did dur ing her reign. According to the University of Central Florida, the Queen ruled over 15 countries in the Commonwealth and an additional 14 overseas at the time of her passing. Many colonized peoples have begun to demand freedom from their colo nizers. Even the Irish joke and even sug gest to take back Northern Ireland and become whole once more.

Many social media users on sites such as Tumblr had suspected the Queen’s death before the official announcement. Many noted how broadcasters, even the British Sign Language interpreter for the news broadcasters, were wearing full black at tire before the official announcement of her death, in the early afternoon.

Many are enforcing the Queen’s mourn ing in different ways. British Cycling, the organization that oversees competitive cy cling within Great Britain, advised people to not ride their bike during the 12-day period. However, the organization has since redacted their statement due to on line ridicule. Wimbledon Food Bank, run entirely by volunteers, has closed out of respect for the late monarch, but has since

reopened due to volunteer support and demand. Morrison, a grocery store in the U.K., was alleged to have turned down the “beeps” of self checkouts out of respect for the monarch, but have since come out publicly to deny such claims.

A spokesperson for Morrison told the Yorkshire Post, “Our checkout beeps are not off. They have just been turned down as our music and tannoy announcements have been switched off in stores.” Mor rison will close all stores Sept. 19 for the Queen’s funeral. The British government announced Sept. 19 would be a national holiday for the Queen’s burial.

Musicals such as “Les Miserables” and “Hamilton” released PR statements on twitter echoing each other. Many mocked “Hamilton,” as there is plenty of criticism of the English monarchy in the show it self, as the character of King George III is represented as a bumbling fool who is childish in nature and will use his power to take what he wants. Heinz, the com pany responsible for the popular ketchup product, also released a PR statement on Twitter similar to the two musicals. How ever, Heinz Ireland requoted the American branch with a simple reply of “Nah.”

The period of mourning did not stop individuals from criticizing the Queen or even taking light of the situation.

Citizens have begun to protest the monarchy and the new King Charles III, which has led to arrests. According to Aljazeera, Symon Hill, a peace activ ist, was arrested after declaring “Who elected [King Charles]?” at a protest in Oxford. Paul Powelsand, a lawyer, was questioned by police outside of Parlia ment, because he held a large blank piece of paper. Powelsand did have in tentions to write a phrase on the paper to join in the protest, but was stopped by police before he was able to do so.

“NotMyKing” has become a trending hashtag on Twitter. A user on Tumblr with the screen name Monad wrote in a blog post his criticism of the British government. Monad chastises the manner of which the funeral and sub sequent coronation of Charles will only further cost taxpayers, while the cost of living is only continuing to increase.

“And I can’t even sit here and type that the system is broken, because it’s not. It is working exactly as intended,” Monad wrote. “The majority of the population are too blinded by the stolen jewels of the monarch’s bloodstained crown to see that this is fascism, functioning and thriving. Off with their f—ing heads.”

Other forms of criticism have manifested themselves in the form of memes.

Other memes and jokes have spurred from how it was evident the Queen dis liked Princess Diana. It has even been ru mored that the Queen ordered her death. Many now make remarks that Diana can now finally seek revenge on the Queen in heaven, or hell. Some even went as far to say Diana broke out of heaven to climb down to hell to seek revenge on Elizabeth.

Finally, another big announcement of that day was the birth of Trisha Paytas’ child. However, it has now been revealed Paytas was not going into labor at the time. Paytas, a “professional online troll,” is largely despised by the internet. She’s al legedly anti-Semitic, transphobic and ho mophobic. Due to the news of a potential new Paytas entering the world mere hours after the Queen’s death, many took the op portunity to joke that the new baby was simply Elizabeth reincarnating. Paytas would not be a mother most would will ingly pick to have.

While the jokes have been delightful to partake and witness, it cannot be un derstated the rippling effect the Queen has had on the world, good and bad. It is fine to joke, good even, but it cannot take away from the devastating impacts of the monarchy’s colonization and grip over the world at large. Elizabeth’s death not only had an effect in the U.K., it was felt all around the world for days on end.

With her son, George, rising to take the throne, many fear what the future holds. Some hope, and even manifest, he croaks once the crown is placed atop his head.

Email BRYN FAWN cp@cardinalpointsonline.com

a favorite to many in the U.S., on the global scale as well.

One such genre is metal, which is said to have originated in the late 1960s, founded by the band Black Sabbath. From metal came a plethora of other genres, all tracing their origins back to rock.

The fourth most popular genre according to the data is coun try with 11%, which isn’t too surprising given the culture of the local area and its influence on our campus. Country music is very popular amongst people in the North Country, suffice to say that it has certainly made its way into the playlists of Plattsburgh’s students.

Country music is said to have solely originated in the United States. According to an article by Play The Tunes, country music originated in rural areas of the South and West in the 20th centu ry. Country music came to rise by its use in films, particularly in “Westerns.” After the Great Depression, as many optimistic Ameri cans were looking for new music to better their moods, country music was a good fit. Even in the modern day, country music is still

The fifth most popular singular genre is alternative with 8%. Alternative is an umbrella term for the many sub genres, which include alternative rock and alternative pop. Alternative came about in the late-20th century as an alternative to popular music at the time. At its inception, alternative was said to be the oppo site of what people wanted to hear, which turned out to be wrong, as many people loved to listen to alternative. Notable alternative rock bands include Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Green Day.

The results of the poll were not surprising given the trends of music in the past few decades. The vast majority of college stu dents are those of the younger generation, young people tend to like new music, like modern rap, country and pop, more than older generations. With that being said though, there is certainly still much prominence of older music within the campus com munity. Personally, it didn’t seem too far-fetched that genres now considered “older” may have been the favorite of people polled. But, trends in the music world will persist. People are going to continue to like and listen to newer music as time goes on.

Spring 2018, four Marks of Distinction Spring 2016, five Marks of Distinction Spring 2014, four Marks of Distinction Spring 2012, four Marks of Distinction Spring 2011, four Marks of Distinction Fall 2010, five Marks of Distinction Fall 2009, four Marks of Distinction Spring 2009, four Marks of Distinction Fall 2008, four Marks of Distinction Spring 2005, four Marks of Distinction Spring 2004, four Marks of Distinction Fall 2003, four Marks of Distinction Fall 2002, four Marks of Distinction Fall 2001, four Marks of Points has the following awards from Associated Collegiate Press (ACP):

All American

ACP Hall of Fame

ZOE NGUYEN/Cardinal Points

ROLDNARDY

The hope of Eric Laes sig, the campus’s customer and classroom media sup port technician, is for the newly renovated Burghy’s Lounge to become a place where students can hang out, eat and do work with each other. It provides a place other than the din ing halls and dorms rooms where students can get to gether and socialize.

“There is buy-in from a lot of people. They want ed to make this happen,” Laessig said.

The renovation of Burghy’s Lounge has been an ongoing idea for one person in particular, Jacob Avery, the interim director of the center for student in volvement, for a few years, and his visions are now be ing made a reality.

Some of the improve ments installed thus far are new lights, new au dio and video equipment and new ceiling speakers. There will be opportuni ties for live music and a new way to broadcast it. Laessig is working on a way to connect the speak

ers of Burghy’s Lounge to the speakers around the ACC. He is also hoping to connect those speakers to the radio station WQKE, located next to Burghy’s Lounge as well to broad cast student musicians to a wider legereopenedfuturetheynewwereLambertmusic.musicianscomemictieswillfullywhenarebeoketemsnectlounge.electronicsnewofmainstagesoundwork.intionfromOutsideaudience.contractorstheMNLConstrucGroupwerebroughtduringthesummertoTheyinstallednewsystemsforthethatrunthroughthecounterinthebacktheroomaswellasalllightingsystemsandthroughouttheTheplanistoconTVstothesoundsysforeventslikekarainwhichthelyricswilldisplayedonthescreen.EventslikeCoffeehouseexpectedtoreturnBurghy’sLoungereopensagain.TherealsobeopportuniforkaraokeandopennightsforstudentstosupportoncampusandenjoyliveFirst-yearsBellaandJuliaBeravinalreadyutilizingthespace,andtheysaidareexcitedtoattendeventsheldinthelounge.ChartwellsandtheColAuxiliaryServices

have been considering adding a dining option to the lounge as well.

“Our primary consider ation is providing excel lent dining choices for our students. We work with Chartwells to understand what concepts are avail able to bring to our campus and what would be most exciting for our campus community,” Catherine Keleher, the executive di rector for College Auxiliary Services, said.

The Dining Advisory Committee will also be meeting again next month. Students are welcome to attend with questions, ideas and concerns.

“Throw some music in there, ‘’ Laessig said.

“Start luring people in to start looking around and seeing what’s here.”

In that respect, there is more minor construction on some of the electronic, sound and lighting sys tems yet to be done as well as constructing all of the furniture that will go into the lounge. All the furniture will be new, including the pool table and foosball table already set up in the lounge.

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MICHAEL HLOPKO/Cardinal Points

Above and below: The new Burghy’s Lounge has updated flooring, bright red ac cents and all-new pool and foosball tables.

This Night

Photos By Olivia Davis

When the night fell, students roasted marshmallows on the chilly Friday night of Sept. 16.

Right: Students making conversation around the bonfire. The social was hosted by the Gardening Club.

Left: A student relaxing on the grass as she waits for sunset.

Cardinals win with last second tie

BY COLLIN BOLEBRUCH Associate Sports Editor

Most times, a game that ends in a tie is disappointing to both the fans and the team. Last weekend, the Plattsburgh Cardinals men’s soccer team earned a tie that might be the biggest win of its season so far.

The Cardinals (4-2-1) traveled to Cortland Sept. 17 to face the No.17 Red Dragons (4-32). The game ended in a 3-3 stalemate.

On paper, SUNY Cortland is Platts burgh’s most prolific opponent of the season. Last season, it finished at the top of the SUNYAC with an 8-1 confer ence record and 18-3-1 overall. Cortland won the SUNYAC Championship last November, defeating the Oswego Lakers 6-0. It eventually lost in the third round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. Platts burgh missed the SUNYAC playoffs en tirely last season.

As the Cardinals’ first road and confer ence game of the season, the Red Drag ons were a steep challenge for a team that needs nothing more than to prove it self in the SUNYAC. Plattsburgh has been off to a hot start this season, with its best record in years and all of its wins coming in shutouts. This was a statement game.

The first half was manageable for the Cardinals. The game ran slow, and it wasn’t allowing the Red Dragons to heat up on offense. Just seven shots were made and three of them were Platts burgh’s. Cortland scored the lone goal of the half, when senior Riley Williams put one in with 21:19 left on the clock.

The game started out messy. Twentyone total fouls were handed out, and Cardinal senior Cole Weiner was hand ed a yellow card.

Down 0-1 headed into the second half, the Cardinals set itself up in a good po sition. As long as it continued to play its game, the game couldn’t get too far away from it.

The Cards almost immediately took advantage of the small deficit. About six minutes and a Cortland missed shot later, Plattsburgh put itself on the board. Sophomore Brian Coughlan as sisted junior Dylan Shalvey, who put the ball in off of a crossbar rebound.

The goal came amidst a three-minute period where the Cardinals sent a flurry of shots toward first-year goalie Luke Van Galen. The score was then 1-1.

“We knew we had to up our game a lot, so we brought it to them and tried to start as hot as we can,” Coughlan said.

It did not take long for the Red Dragons

tiesPlattsburghDragons

BY LIAM SAMPLE Sports Editor

There was one word to describe the conference opener for the Plattsburgh women’s soccer team: re venge. Being matched up against their newfound ri val, the Cortland Red Dragons, the Cardinals were la ser focused on avenging the 3-0 semi-final playoff loss last season to Cortland.

Along with that, they were looking to respond to the 2-0 shutout loss to the Middlebury Panthers the game prior, which included a late red card to the team’s point leader, graduate student Kirsten Villemaire. The red card took Villemaire out of contention against the Red Dragons, which gave a bigger challenge for Plattsburgh.

“Pre-game, we kind of talked about kind of han dling our emotions in the right way and focusing on our own game and none of the fans. Nothing was in terrupting what we were trying to achieve that day,” senior captain Julia Ennis said. “It was definitely a mental battle in a lot of ways, but I think we stuck to our game, which brought success in the end.”

Cortland came into the game undefeated, building a 3-0-2 record and averaging an impressive three goals per game, while giving up only one goal total on the season. Plattsburgh, while only having one loss to Middlebury, had their work cut out for them.

The Red Dragons started Kirsten Spendall, who has begun her sophomore campaign with fire. She came into the game with three straight shutouts and a .22 goals allowed average. On the other end, Plattsburgh turned to sophomore Lauren Haley, who was making her first career conference start. She had given up only one goal

to answer, and just over seven minutes later, junior Alex Lessman was assisted by sophomore Yasin Choukri in the leadtaking goal. Cortland then led 2-1.

“We came into [the away game] know ing it’d be a lot tougher, but we were ready for it,” Shelvey said.

When it rains, it pours. After only three minutes, Cortland had its third goal. Williams scored on a free kick from 30 yards out, just inside the right post. His second goal of the day put Plattsburgh in a daunting hole. The once-loud Cardinals fan section was now silent facing a 1-3 deficit with 28:26 left in the Plattsburghgame.stood its ground. With in the next 10 minutes, the Cardinals stopped five Red Dragon shots. Sopho more Teddy Healy was credited with three of the saves. The defensive effort paid off and Plattsburgh was finally set up with a chance of its own.

It was awarded a free kick, which was to be taken by Coughlan. From 19 yards away, Coughlan bent the ball inside the right post for the Cardinals’ second goal. Just like that, there was a game again. Plattsburgh never felt as if it was out of the game, though.

“We did play possession and we were the dominant team,” head coach Chris

Taylor said. “They turned it off a bit, and I honestly think [the game] was still 50-50, but our possession got lost a little bit. One of the things we told the guys: [Cortland’s] quality is unbelievable and if you give them moments like we gave them, they’re going to score.”

The Cardinals were back to its usual style of play, allowing just two Red Dragon shots over the last 18 minutes of the game. Plattsburgh put up a few of its own shots, but nothing fell.

With less than a minute left, the Car dinals took possession on the Red Drag ons’ side of play. Sophomore John Hayes passed the ball into traffic and to senior Juan Velez. The distance between the goal and Velez didn’t deter him. With 17 seconds left, Velez took his shot and sunk the equalizer.

“I was not [prepared], it was just such a fast play where I just got to the top of the box and all I thought about was just shooting it,” Velez said. “It felt like a little blur but it was all worth it then.”

Velez ran off in celebration, putting his hands together under his head like a pillow. Plattsburgh’s bench and fan section lit up as if it just won the conference.

throughout her first three collegiate appearances..

Without Villemaire, Plattsburgh started sophomore Ella Santomassimo on offense. She was making her first start of the season and the second of her career. The sophomore started the game off strong, register ing two of the first three Cardinal shots of the game.

The team created a quality chance just over seven and a half minutes into the game. With the ball over the midfield line on the far side of the field, graduate student Allison Seidman dribbled the ball laterally, drawing three Red Dragons in her direction. After nar rowing in on the penalty area, she made a pass behind her to junior Nora Fitzgerald, who moved the ball to her right and made a pass through two defenders.

Junior Avery Durgan, with an opponent behind her, re ceived the pass and took off into the penalty area. After get

ting even with the goal post, she attempted a shot to the far corner, which beat Spendall but trickled past the goal.

From there, Cortland began to find its offense. The team would attempt five shots, including four by graduate student Jaden Galluzzo, while putting pres sure on the Cardinal defense.

The Red Dragons went on to strike first under 34 minutes into the half, senior defender Katrina Klam mer, who had been phenomenal on the throw-ins, lined up on the sideline in the Cardinal end for an other. After two perfect headers were played to the goal box, Galluzzo shot the ball out of the air and past Haley for her fourth goal of the season, which is tied for second most in the SUNYAC.

COLLIN BOLEBRUCH/Cardinal Points

Sophomore Brian Coughlan (14) and senior Juan Velez (7), who scored the game tying goal, try to play the ball in the air, but Cortland senior Jason Lee (3) jumped to the header first.

RYAN NISTA/Cardinal Points

Allison Seidman (2) marches upfield. The graduate student forward is tied for the team lead in goals, while being second

Tennis wins first conference match

BY COLLIN BOLEBRUCH & LIAM SAMPLE Associate & Sports Editor

The Plattsburgh Car dinals women’s tennis team dove deeper into their conference season last weekend, taking on the Cortland Red Dragons Sept. 16 and the Oswego Lakers Sept. 17 at the Me morial Tennis Courts.

The Cardinals had mo mentum coming off a domi nant 7-2 non-conference win in Castleton Sept. 14. The weekend started with a battle against Cortland, who claimed the final SU NYAC playoff spot over the Cardinals last season.

Cortland made a state ment to begin doubles play, taking the first two match ups 8-1 and 8-4 against the Cardinal’s top two duos. It wasn’t until the third pair where the Cardinals found their footing. Junior sis ters Nicole and Samantha Svantner took down se nior Red Dragons Isabella Bonapace and Emily Mo rano by a score of 8-6.

“It went really well. Sam my [and I] play really well together,” Nicole Svantner said. “We know how each other plays and we just both work together on the court.”

While the match was a nail biter, the sisters hung on to pick up the team’s first SUNYAC doubles win of the season.

“I hit a lot of balls down the alley because the per son at net usually wasn’t covering their side,” Ni cole Svantner added. “Just being patient and consistent with your shots and just gameplay.”

Staring down a 1-2 defi cit going into singles, Plattsburgh had its work cut out for it. Cortland se nior Abby Madigan came out and took down senior Cydney Bond in two sets, with Bond only winning oneThegame.Cardinals respond ed when senior Alyana Leandry won both sets in Plattsburgh’s lone singles win of the day against freshman Diana Koze nyatko. This win brought Leandry’s singles record for the season above .500 at 3-2. This was an oppor tunity for the Cardinals to pick up steam and build off of its 2-3 score so far, but it couldn’t capitalize on Leandry’s big win.

Samantha Svantner and junior Sarah Benowitz went next and took both of their first sets to tiebreaks but lost in two sets. The Red

Dragons’ three point lead made it mathematically impossible for the Cardi nals to win overall, despite there being two matches left.Junior Hallie Hurwitz, the lone winner against Oneonta, was up next. De spite a hard-fought match, she fell in two sets.

“I guess when we start ed off in doubles and when Cydney and I kind of fell behind and started losing, I think it changed my mentality in the match a little bit. I got down on myself, which you can’t do in tennis,” Hurwitz said. “I guess that carried over into my singles match.”

This singles loss was Hurwitz’s first in three starts this season. Her opponent, junior Karlie Cubino, left the weekend with a perfect 3-0 record.

“[Cubino] hit a little bit differently than I hit, which makes it hard to adjust. She had a lot of slice on her ground strokes. That made the first couple games for me an adjustment pe riod,” Hurwitz said. She described the difficulty in coming back after being forced to adjust and feels she started to come around to Cubino’s playing style in spite of the loss.

Nicole Svantner went on to drop the last singles match of the day and Cort land finished the day with a 7-2 overall score. Head ing into the new week, Cortland holds a 2-1 con ference record, tied for second in the SUNYAC.

One of the most important traits a playoff team needs is resilience, and the Cardi nals proved it the next day.

Plattsburgh sunk Oswego in its first conference win and shutout of its season.

The Cardinals rolled out the same three dou bles pairings, and this time with more success.

Plattsburgh walked away with a sweep, only giving up 12 games throughout all three matches.

“With the doubles match, Cydney and I right off the bat won the first couple games. We were so excited to have a really good doubles match,” Hurwitz said. “We just fought every single game. We would be down [0-40] and come back and win the game, we did that multiple times.”

This win was extra sweet for Bond and Hurwitz, as the No.1 doubles pair all season, this was their first conference win.

In singles, Plattsburgh maintained the same energy and swept all six matches, including Bond’s first singles win of the season. This win came in clutch fashion, with Bond winning a 6-6 tiebreaker in the first set. After falling in the sec ond, Bond rallied to win the decisive third set.

“It was a good weekend for us. We had a lot of good stuff going on as a team. Of course, the first day was a bit tough,” sophomore So phia Gottschall said. “We definitely didn’t make a badHurwitzimpression.”again was giv en a challenge with her opponent as she played junior Debora Win. Hur witz mentioned that after her doubles match, she came in “confident” She said that Win was able to hit and move her around really well, but Hurwitz focused on making her tired and keeping her energy higher than the opponent. Hurwitz attrib uted that “being one step ahead” was the deciding factor, as she took her sets 6-4 and 6-3 respec tively to aid in the Platts burghFollowingsweep. the match, Leandry was awarded SU NYAC women’s tennis Sin gles Athlete of the Week for going 3-0 across the three matches this week, the first singles tennis player to win it this season.

With this game, Oswego is now 1-3 in conference standings. The Cardinals will need to keep the mo mentum going, as they have a week off before go ing on the road to take on SUNY New Paltz Oct. 1. New Paltz was favored to finish first in the SUNYAC standings in the 2022 pre season poll and are unde feated so far this season.

“I think all we can do is improve on what we thought we lacked for our conference matches. Working on that and go ing from there,” Nicole Svantner said. “Again, giving it everything and just working on what we need to Hurwitzimprove.”stressed the team’s need to be physi cally ready, including “eating well and drinking lots of water” going into next weekend.

Women’s

*=

Cardinal Stats

Men’s Soccer

Goals

Assists Brian Coughlan John

Save Percentage Teddy Healy

KillsVolleyball

Payton Zophy 80 Jenn Braun Jeannette Ashong

Assists Emma Rivers 140 Kyleigh Ganz Payton Zophy

Women’s Soccer

Goals Nora Fitzgerald 2 Kirsten Villemaire Allison Seidman

Assists Kirsten Villemaire Avery Durgan Amanda Cohen

Save Percentage Lauren Haley .875

Digs Payton Zophy 112 Shannon Fitzpatrick 75 Madison Bolinger

Aces Emma Rivers 19 Kyleigh Ganz Jeannette Ashong

MSOC from B2

“Especially in an away game, it brought happiness to the whole team. The supporters were huge,” Velez said. Healy fell on the ball to drain the clock. As the final seconds ticked off the board, the Cardinals had its biggest win of the season so far, a 3-3 comeback tie.After a strong start to the season, the Cardinals had to show it could hang with the rest of the conference. By not losing to a nationally-ranked school, Plattsburgh did just that. The comefrom-behind win was a result of strong game play. After losing themselves, the Cardinals were able to find its game again and not lose to the Red Dragons.

“I think confidence in the fact that we were playing well [helped us recom pose]. I think we were the better team

School SUNYAC Record Brockport 1-0-0 3-1-4 New Paltz 1-0-0 4-2-2 Cortland 0-0-1 4-3-1 Plattsburgh 0-1-1 4-2-1 Oneonta 0-0-0 5-0-1 Geneseo 0-0-0 6-2-1 Potsdam 0-0-0 4-1-1 Buffalo State 0-0-0 2-2-2 Oswego 0-0-0 2-4-1 Fredonia 0-0-0 1-3-2

School SUNYAC Record New Paltz 2-0-0 5-1-1

Cortland 1-0-1 4-0-3 Oswego 1-0-0 5-2-1

Plattsburgh 0-1-1 4-2-1 Buffalo State 0-0-0 4-1-1 Geneseo 0-0-0 3-3-1 Fredonia 0-0-0 2-2-2 Potsdam 0-0-0 4-5-0 Oneonta 0-0-0 2-3-0 Brockport 0-0-0 1-4-2

School SUNYAC Record New Paltz 3-0 3-0

Brockport 2-1 2-4 Cortland 2-1 2-1 Geneseo 1-0 1-2 Oneonta 1-1 1-2 Plattsburgh 1-2 3-3 Oswego 1-3 1-6 Fredonia 0-5 0-3

TennisWomen’sSoccerSoccerVolleyball

School SUNYAC Record

Cortland 1-0 7-3 New Paltz 1-0 8-1 Brockport 0-0 9-3 Buffalo State 0-0 5-4 Fredonia 0-0 1-9 Geneseo 0-0 5-6 Plattsburgh 0-0 5-6 Potsdam 0-0 8-2 Oneonta 0-1 5-5 Oswego 0-1 8-6

during the game,” Taylor said.

The Cardinals continued its confer ence play Sept. 21 when it lost to the New Paltz Hawks in a 0-1 heartbreaker. It travels to Geneseo to play the Knights Sept. 24. A strong performance on the road would help to cement its status in the conference and increase its playoff odds. The Cardinals have not made the SUNYAC playoffs since 2019.

“Massive [confidence boost]. Just to show that we’re never done, it doesn’t matter what happens,” Taylor said. “We can now draw on that experience for the rest of the season, no matter the situation, we can always go again. It’s invaluable. We could never replicate that at practice, we could never repli cate that from recruiting, you can only do it with moments from the guys. The guys produced amazing moments.”

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Cardinal Points Archives

Senior captain Cydney Bond hits a forehand shot. Bond has been the No. 1 for singles this season.

COLLIN BOLEBRUCH/Cardinal Points

Senior Alex Graci (9) dribbles towards first-year goalkeeper Luke Van Galen. The senior has averaged two goals per season in his collegiate career, while scoring one this year. Standings

Zophy hurt, volleyball loses two games

BY COLLIN BOLEBRUCH & LIAM SAMPLE Associate & Sports Editor

The Plattsburgh Cardi nals’ women’s volleyball team battled in the Union/ Sage Crosstown Challenge in the Capital Region last weekend in the final games before playing this sea son’s conference stretch. When the Cardinals par ticipated in the tourna ment last season, the team played in only two games and went 1-1. This year, the Cardinals came back to Plattsburgh with a tourna ment record of 1-2.

The team goes into con ference play this week end with a 4-5 record. A positive SUNYAC record is crucial in the end-of-year standings and last year, Plattsburgh’s final confer ence record was 2-7. The tournament was the Car dinals’ last non-confer ence weekend until late October.

It started the week end in Albany taking on the Russell Sage Gators, who came in with a 2-8 overall record. In the first game, Sage was able to swing together major points streaks. Early on, Plattsburgh put togeth er a 11-6 lead that was quickly neutralized by six straight opponent points. The Cardinals then earned a crucial point on a kill by first-year Sanaia Estime. Plattsburgh fol lowed that up with anoth er six points, and brought the score to 18-13. Sage re sponded by winning 12 of the next 13 points to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

“We’re able to push our selves more mentally than we have for the past years that I’ve been here,” se nior Jenn Braun said. “Our mental strength is much stronger.”Fromthere, the Cardi nals soared. Plattsburgh took the next three sets,

putting up 25-18, 25-17, and 25-21 wins respectively. Ju nior Payton Zophy put up an astonishing match, tal lying a season high 18 kills and 21 digs. She leads the team in both categories, earning Women’s Cardinal of the “[TheWeek.win] definitely ex cited us as a team because we know what we’re capa ble of,” first-year Jeanette Ashong said. “We know that we can fight for that in given situations.”

The next opponent was Union College, who stood just below .500 going into the tournament. Platts burgh traveled from Alba ny to Schenectady for this game. Its next matchup was a game of back and forth. After dropping the first two sets, Plattsburgh started to make a come back. In the third set, both teams were tied at 12, only for the Cardinals to pick up momentum, taking nine out of the next ten points,

which propelled it to take the set 25-17. Plattsburgh stumbled in the fourth set after nearly giving up an eight point lead, but still held on because of clutch kills from Zophy, Estime, and graduate student Ali cia Fisher that broke up the Union momentum.

After forcing a decisive fifth set, the teams began going back and forth to begin to set. The Cardi nals created a 10-7 lead after another kill from Fishers, who finished the match with six. Union put Plattsburgh away and went on to win eight of the last nine points.

“We just have such a young team, [with] six incoming freshmen. That makes a big difference, but I think it has ultimate ly made us stronger,” firstyear Kyleigh Ganz said.

The final matchup of the day came against the Skidmore Thoroughbreds at a neutral Union court.

Plattsburgh held the mo mentum early, taking two of the first three sets.

Fisher and Braun put up big performances, with 22 combined kills between the pair. On defense, ju nior Emma Rivers showed up and tallied seven digs.

The Cardinals slipped after it nearly made a 1824 comeback in the fourth set, only to lose 23-25 in heartbreaking fashion. In the fifth set, Plattsburgh lost its steam, losing 7-15 to close out the weekend with its second loss.

“Losing in five sets just ultimately makes us work even harder,” Ganz said.

“We’re going to be focus ing on [finishing out] in practice this week, so that doesn’t come up this week end for Plattsburghus.” lost more than just two games— one of its top players, Payton Zophy, injured her ankle leaving her out indefi nitely. Heading into the

most important games of the season, this is a chal lenge for the team to over come.“It doesn’t really help that we lost Payton, but we can’t just use that as an excuse to lose games, so I think we all need to push physically and mentally in order to win,” Braun said.

“I have faith in us with or without the players that are injured right now.”

While the team lost two close games, its fight was apparent throughout the weekend. It starts its con ference season at Oswego Sept. 23 and at Cortland Sept. 24, which will be key in setting the tone to try to improve on last sea son. Despite the setbacks, The Cardinals have a lot of positive attributes to build on going into SU NYAC play.

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and this is going to keep happening for the rest of the season.” The senior felt it was an acknowledgement of all the work the team had put in and no matter the adversity the team faced, the Cardinals’ were still going to “ball out.”

After starting the season with four consecutive shutouts, Plattsburgh now had let up three straight goals in their last two games and realized the need to dig themselves out of the hole. Follow ing the goal, the team huddled near the goal to talk as a team.

“That was just a mismark, those are al ways tough. We just gathered together and were like, ‘dude that has nothing to do with how we’re playing,’” Fitzgerald said. “We don’t need to get flustered, just continue to play the way we play.”

Ennis mentioned how after giving up the goal, she pointed at Haley from the sideline then pointed at the sky after the goal to tell her to keep her head up.

The Cardinal defense stood strong to fin ish the half, only letting up one shot on net, which was saved by Haley. Cortland fin ished the half with nine shots, compared to Plattsburgh’s four.

The Red Dragons began the second half trying to extend the lead, but they were shut down by the opposing defensive line and Haley, who recorded two more saves only eight minutes into the half. It was the Plattsburgh bench who began to turn things around, with junior Tara Bendsak, senior Anna McDuffie and senior Nicole Kinglsey being subbed into the game after the 15-minute mark of the half.

“We said it throughout the season, our depth is where we’re going to find our strength this year. For the first time, we have a reliable bench,” Ennis said. “Being able to make substitutions in a game like that is crucial to what we do want to achieve at the end of the season.”

A chance soon developed after Kinglsey, with the ball at midfield, completed a pass to McDuffie up the far side. The senior drib bled the ball all the way into the penalty area, where she attempted a cross to the center of the goal box. Durgan, who rushed to get to the ball before the Red Dragons

did, was called offside.

Soon after, Seidman had the ball in the near side of the offensive zone. From near the sideline, she sent a cross into the goal box, where Durgan’s header went out of bounds. Seidman was taken out of the game and given a break right after this play.

“Coach [Frary] was basically like, ‘you gotta get out of your head,’” Seidman said. “It was so necessary and I’m grateful that she was that I needed a minute because the second I got back onto the field, I was like, ‘all right, let’s go.’”

In total, Seidman was out of the game for under nine minutes, but this proved to be a deciding factor in the result.

With time dwindling fast, the Cardinals had to make a move. With less than 12 min utes on the clock, Spendall sent a goal kick towards midfield. The Red Dragons got the first touch on the ball in the air, but it de flected into Fitzgerald’s chest and began to dribble upfield. She played a pass to Bend sak outside the penalty arc, who main tained control of the ball despite tight de fensive coverage on her. She found Durgan near the penalty area on the far side of the field, with space, the junior sent a beautiful cross into the box. After one bounce, Seid man, with the keeper in front of her, flicked

a perfect header into the bottom corner of the net to tie the game in clutch fashion.

Seidman mentioned how the day prior to the game, the team was practicing free kicks. While the graduate student typically takes free kicks, Coach Frary had her be a “runner.” She said how in practice junior defender Kayla Myers played a kick, similar to Durgan’s, where she was able to flick it in with her head. She felt this prepared her for this goal,

“I just had such a weird feeling. I was like, ‘oh, this is definitely going to happen in the game,” Seidman said. “I just literally rounded my run and the ball dropped right in front of me and I flicked it around the keeper. Honestly, if you look back at the video, it looks kind of weird, but it went in.”

Fitzgerald said it felt like the team built so many chances throughout the game that it wasn’t able to finish. She said she was shocked when the ball went in.

After celebrating with her team on the field, Seidman sprinted over to the bench and jumped into Villemaire’s arms. The en tire team shared a moment of celebration before returning to the game.

Ennis said how Seidman doing this gave the full team the message that, “we’re here

With under a minute left, the Plattsburgh defense made another huge play. The Red attempted a wide open shot deep inside the penalty area, Myers rushed over to the ball and made a diving deflection out of bounds. This play, which could have turned into a goal, was a crucial moment in the result of the“Asmatch.weget more into the SUNYAC, it gets a lot more physical. It’s not only having to stay mentally focused, but it’s definitely like you’re getting bodied,”

Fitzgerald said. “Just continuing making sure we are doing everything to not let a goal in, like Kayla threw her body into that ball to make sure it didn’t go in.”

Seidman spoke of how much she trusts her defensive line, emphasizing their skill with one on one defense and strong communication. She added that you win games with that kind of trust.

Plattsburgh would hang on to com plete the come from behind 1-1 tie and pick up a point in the SUNYAC Stand ings. They went on the road to take on SUNY New Paltz on Sept. 21, who the Cardinals lost to at home last sea son, where the team lost 2-0, bringing its record to 4-2-1 overall and 0-1-1 in conference. The Cardinals next home game comes Sept. 24 at 1 p.m.. against the Geneseo Knights, who were picked in the SUNYAC preseason poll to fin ish first and beat Plattsburgh in double overtime last year.

“We’re really taking everything game by game. Cortland’s done, Middlebury’s over, all those games are in the past now.” Ennis said early in the week. “We learned lessons in those games, but re gardless of the result we move forward and now our focus is on New Paltz, and we have some redemption to do with them too.”

Cardinal Point Archives

Payton Zophy (15) celebrates with her teammates Jenn Braun (10) and Emma Rivers (12). Zophy played in two games in the weekend, putting up a monstrous 18 kills against Russell Sage.

RYAN NISTA/Cardinal Points

The Cardinals huddle during a break. Team work will be key going into conference play.

Pepin’s passion for social work aids kids

BY SYDNEY HAKES Managing/Arts & Culture Editor

In a small department at a small college, social work ma jor Rebekah Pepin is anything but small with her ambitions.

At 34, Pepin has lived all over the country before settling in Plattsburgh. From Portland, Or egon to St. Louis to Brooklyn, New York, she found herself missing the life she grew up in, one in rural Vermont.

“I’m a fifth generation Ver monter,” Pepin said. After liv ing many different places, she “wanted to be closer to family. I also decided it was time to come back to school, and I really want ed to give back to these rural communities that I came from.”

Majoring in social work, and being heavily inspired by her grandfather who worked as an attorney for 59 years, was her way of giving back. Pepin em phasized social work being a practice, that the skills learned in it can be applied to anything. Her main interests focus on miti gation and forensic social work.

Pepin currently interns at the public defender’s office, working with people who have been accused of criminal ac tion, ranging from misdemean ors to felonies. She interviews them, assesses them from a life-course perspective, which means that she analyzes their lives within their social, struc tural, biological and cultural circumstances. She then hands the information over to defense attorneys who analyze the data and then use that information as a part of their defense.

“It’s investigating how the psychological factors of a per son can impact those who are tied up in the legal and crimi nal justice systems,” Pepin said. “I love the work that I get to do

Thethere.”fall semester brought new opportunities for Pepin and the social work depart ment. They received a grant of $75,000 from the state to re search and develop new pro

grams and resources aiding lo cal at-risk youth.

Pepin, Social Work Program Director Akanksha Anand and Assistant Professor Kim McCoy Coleman are heading this proj ect and collaborating with 12 other organizations in the state that received the grant.

The grant was awarded by New York State’s Division of

Criminal Justice Services and Office of Youth Justice to partic ipate in a new initiative, Com munities of Practice, designed to support rural youth on a pre ventative level.

The project is still in its infan cy, just getting off the ground, so Pepin is hoping to bring awareness to the work they’re doing and the issues facing

rural communities that aren’t commonly addressed.

In an email from the Traumainformed Learning Collabora tive in the North Country and Social Work Community Assess ment & Regional Educational Support System explaining the grant, they highlighted three main objectives: “1. Fostering community resilience by con

ducting a comprehensive needs assessment of the rural youthjustice and family serving orga nizations of the North County and building learning modules designed specifically to meet them. 2. Promotes organiza tional resilience by working di rectly with rural youth-justice serving agencies to measure organizational resilience indi cators and provides them with specific

Club ice hockey plunges into new season

BY JESSICA GRIGOLAVA Contributor

As cold weather approaches, winter recreational activities are beginning. Club ice hockey is offered ev ery Sunday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Field House. It’s an opportunity to stay active this winter and meet new people. Full equipment is required, but new members do not need any experience. New players are encouraged to join the coed team.

Club Vice President Nolan Makel explained what a usual day at practice looks like.

“Club hockey is open to everyone who would like to learn,” Makel said. “All they have to do is show up with proper attire, this means full padding. An average skate starts with a warmup which includes shooting around on the goalie and stretching. Next, we like to incorporate a drill. This may be skating backwards around the cir cles or practicing passing with a partner. After that, we will scrimmage each other, depending on the number of people we have normally it is a 4v4 with one goalie. We end with a friendly shootout on the goalie.”

The club numbers have gone down significantly com pared to a few years ago. There have been inconsistent players showing up, which could be from the pandemic and members graduating.

“Since this is a club sport the number of players var ies, but we usually have about 10 people,” Makely said. “Because of COVID-19 and a large portion of participants graduating I would say we are in the rebuilding process. We are not permitted to scrimmage other schools be cause we have such few numbers. It’s a goal of mine to help spread the love of hockey and keep this club alive.”

Many clubs also travel and play with other schools. Although Plattsburgh is notorious for the women’s and men’s hockey teams, the club itself does not play against any other schools. It varies from rugby club and even frisbee club that travel to other schools for games or tournaments.

Club President Ryley Duffy explained his thoughts on the“Somehowmatter. our school had a reputation of being a

hockey school historically, yet, the administration has never supported a traveling club ice hockey team,” Duffy said. “They are not willing to even consider the idea.”

Many schools that are much smaller, even the Albany College of Pharmacy, support travel club hockey teams that play in leagues.

However, the club is still a great place to meet new people who share the same interests. It can build a sense of consistency and gives you a routine that starts off your week with a bang. It can be another way for the Plattsburgh community to come together at an event.

“New members do not need experience. Before play ing club, it had been years since I stepped foot on the ice,” Makely said.

Makely believes the best part of the club is “that we all share a passion for hockey. I love chatting in the locker rooms and on the ice about how our favorite teams are doing this season.”

“Some advice I’d give to new members would be to show up,” Makely said. “If you are nervous about trying something new, that is totally okay. If for some reason there’s ever a problem or concern you can talk

to me or Ryley and we will figure out how to make it moreMakelyenjoyable.”wasvery passionate when it came to handling newcomers. To ease potential anxiety and fear of judg ment, the team has implemented new skills for learning as well as drills to make you more confident on the ice.

“It is in our best interest to make club hockey a great time for everyone because we love hockey,” Makely said.

“We understand that we aren’t trying out for the NHL and some people are super new, so we have a lot of pa tience. There is a wide range of skills and we know this. As hockey players we want to make the game fun for ev eryone, the best skater on the team is not going to dust the newbie. We usually take it easy because we know that it isn’t fun to just get burned every time.”

Aside from hockey, college sport clubs are a great way to connect with people and have the feeling of being a part of a team.

OLIVIA BOUSQUET/Cardinal Points

Rebekah Pepin stands in Hawkins. She is completing her final year as a social work major.

SYDNEY HAKES/Cardinal Points

Black Solidarity Day is a day that will serve as a teach-in, where students will learn about cultural diversity and the power of their voices.

Plattsburgh alumni and former mem ber of the Student Association MacOlivier Lalanne remembers when this solution was brought up in the 56th Leg islation by Shiyiheeim Nartey-Tokoli and passed in the 57th Legislation.

“As I mentioned before, the resolution has been passed in different legislative terms [57th legislation with Kira Paule mon]. When I came back to SA during the 59th legislation, I noticed that noth ing had been done which led to me, along with Ohemaa, to modernize and bring back the resolution this time with a bigger push for things to happen,” Lalanne said.

Lalanne believes that “the purpose of Black Solidarity Day is to show Black students in college and the BIPOC com munity in todays’ society has been tak en for Blackgranted.”Solidarity Day was something spoken about, but it was pushed to the sidelines until now.

Peculiar Joseph, a triple major in po litical science, biomedical sciences and entrepreneurship student, had some thing to say about how long it took for something to be done.

“It took so long. It’s been a long time coming,” Joseph said as she was hanging

up posters for Black Solidarity Day. Ohemaa Owusu-Poku, a junior major ing in Political Science with the minors of Legal Studies, Africana Studies and Gender Women Studies and a former member of the Student Association, has worked to get Black Solidarity Day add ed to the calendar for a while. She ex plained how this is something that has been a long time coming and is a step in the right direction for acknowledging

She has been writing let ters, giving advice and pro viding resources like books to those women for years.

Pepin cites her, Ananad and Associate Professor Julie Richards being great mentors for her.

“They’ve essentially kick started my career,” Pepin said. “I feel more excited and passionate about this work now more than ever.”

The sentiment is re turned by McCoy Coleman, who spoke extensively and ardently about Pepin.

“Rebekah is an exem plary student who is pas sionate about criminal justice and social work,” McCoy Coleman said. “She is incredibly goaldirected and has chosen forensic social work as her career path. She is a genuine advocate and she brings her unique advo cacy skills, passion and professionalism into the classroom and beyond.”

She took the time to highlight Pepin’s work out side the department, vol unteering and advocating for incarcerated women.

McCoy Coleman said “She offers them empathy and provides them with hope as they navigate the cold and often unforgiving legal and penal Richards,systems.”whoisalso Pe pin’s adviser, recommend ed Pepin as one of the de partment’s top students.

“She is truly pursuing her calling by interning with the public defend er’s office and working on the [youth justice] grant,” Richards said. “She is a champion for all things criminalPassionatejustice.”faculty is a big part of a department that has a unique pro gram, one that Pepin says is specific to Plattsburgh.

“I would describe it as an intimate setting,” Pepin said. “We’re all in the pro gram together for two years, so we’re all in the same classes. It fosters a sense of learning among peers that I don’t think happens in oth er majors or schools.”

After she graduates in

the spring, Pepin said she wants to continue her ed ucation. While she takes pride in the work she is doing in Plattsburgh, she’s open to new pos sibilities. As long as she can continue giving back to the communities she loves, she’s happy to see where the road takes her.

“I chose to leave Ver mont, but I also chose to leave New York City and come back to a rural area because I was ready,” Pe pin said. “Ready to help out my community and be a part of it again and helping those who need services that are lacking.”

For future social work ers, Pepin brought her point back to the flexibil ity of the practice.

“Find your unique skillset and go from there,” Pe pin said. “There is a popu lation for everyone. Explore your options and always remember that you are your own biggest advocate.” SYDNEY HAKES

and celebrating the achievements of college students on this campus.

“My role is simply having it perma nently established every year in SUNY Plattsburgh,” Owusu-Poku said. “Also, to celebrate all of the ‘different’ kids [as some would like to describe it] for com ing to college and doing what they have to do to succeed. We broke the barriers of fear and mental boundage of failure and made it through. We are flourishing

in universities. I just want to honor us for coming this far. People our age are not even excelling like we are and some are even in the grave but we are privi leged to be here excelling.”

Going to college is a foreign idea in the homes of many BIPOC homes and communities, so it is a big accomplish ment when someone is able to go to college and graduate. Black Solidarity Day is to represent all BIPOC students who didn’t believe this was possible for someone like them.

“Black Solidarity Day is simply cel ebrating black life and being aware of our history plus paying respects to those who made a difference with our skin color,” Owusu-Poku said. “To me, this simply means that we are celebrated for who we really are. Displaying that we are not se cluded and how we are not different but rather valued as a people.”

Black Solidarity Day is a day of remem brance and perseverance for the commu nity. It was made to remember why BIPOC is here and how it is possible now for stu dents of color to have a seat in chairs that weren’t accessible to them before.

“I want us to understand that our voic es matter. We are not only statistics, but rather a nation that is coming into pow er,” Owusu-Poku said. “BIPOC students and faculty are a part of this campus and their voices are now represented in Black Solidarity Day.”

Email KIYANNA NOEL cp@cardinalpointsonline.com

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Academic calendar adds Black Solidarity Day

BY KIYANNA NOEL Staff Writer

Black Solidarity Day has officially been added to SUNY Plattsburgh’s calendar and will be celebrated Nov. 7. Black Solidarity Day is a day to commemorate Black and Indigenious People of Color students for making it this far despite societal and historical challenges and to show them that their voices matter and they are seen.