Collegian Cayuga Community College Auburn & Fulton, New York
cayugacollegian@gmail.com
Vol. 61 Issue 2 September 23, 2014
CAYUGABRIEFS Spartan Men’s Soccer Ranked #2 in Region III
Congratulations to the undefeated (4-0) Cayuga CC men’s soccer team who was ranked #2 in a Region III Coaches’ poll. The Spartans trail only the nation’s #1 ranked Herkimer squad in this week’s poll. Fall 2014 Week 3 Division III Men’s Soccer Coaches’ Poll September 16, 2014 1. Herkimer College 2. Cayuga Community College 3. Tompkins Cortland Community College 4. Mohawk Valley Community College 5. Genesee Community College
Campus Clubs Activity Fairs Planned; Get Involved The student activity fair is scheduled for Monday, September 22nd at the Fulton campus and on Wednesday, September 24th at the Auburn campus. The fair on the Auburn campus will be held in the student center (café) from 10 am to 1 pm.
FIVE REASONS TO WRITE FOR THE CAYUGA COLLEGIAN!
1. It’s fun and informative! 2. You will meet new people! 3. We have K-cup coffee in the office! 4. We have cool t-shirts! 5. It looks good on your resume!
COLLEGIAN OFFICE HOURS Danielle Skowron, editor-on-chief Monday: 11:00am-1:50pm Tuesday:12:30pm-1:50pm Wednesday: 9:30am-11:00am Thursday: 12:30pm-1:50pm
Dr. Gregory DeCinque
“I will be more focused on what’s next rather than what’s past. I think it is fairly obvious what has been accomplished and I thank each and every one of you for your help, guidance and support over a very challenging time.” —Dr. Gregory DeCinque
President delivers State-of-the College Address By Kelsey Mclean, associate editor If speeches were meant to be serious, somber, and full of omen, nobody ever told Dr. Gregory DeCinque. Here he was, president of the entire school, throwing beach balls around and joking about spiking his water with vodka, to a room filled to the brim with staff that were staring right into the mouth of death not so long ago. Plagued with debt, a plummeting retention rate, and a former president they had all but no confidence in, there was no reason to celebrate. But times have changed, and so have the reasons. That reason being, exactly, 1.8 million dollars. “1.8 million is a lot of money, but it means so much more than that,” said DeCinque, and indeed it has. From a negative 54-thousand dollars in debt to $1.8 million in the black, CCC has managed to do a complete turn around from the financial crisis it was facing only a year ago. You could feel the crushing weight lifting off of the staff’s shoulders as they applauded and cheered what could only be considered a miracle. There is still, however, much to be done. While our debt has changed, and surely our president has changed, our retention rate has not. We’re up in new students, down in returning. People check in, but they don’t stay in. This stains our reputation as a credible and reliable school, which affects something that’ll bring a chill down every CCC student’s spine -- financial aid. Fortunately, DeCinque is a man of action, and he already has a plan. He is working with Jeff Rosenthal, Vice President of Student Affairs,
to implement a new program that recruits former at-risk students, now student success stories, to coach similarly at-risk students. But retention wasn’t the only thing on the agenda, far from it. Among other things, the Fulton campus was promised a plethora of new and exciting changes, including a deal to open a brand new Subway restaurant on campus, a student lounge and fitness center, a student service center, a training program funded by BOCES, and maybe even a recreational center! When Decinque asked them to ‘make something happen’, they certainly listened.
CCC has managed to do a complete turn around from the financial crisis it was facing only a year ago. You could feel the crushing weight lifting off of the staff’s shoulders as they applauded and cheered what could only be considered a miracle. While Fulton is all abuzz about these new changes, the Cayuga campus isn’t slacking off either. The Broad of Trustees is working on a new plan to repair and renovate the school. New pipes, new boilers, new windows, everything you’d expect. However, more importantly, they are in the works of building more student housing than just Lattimore
Hall, which independently houses students in downtown Auburn. Maybe most exciting of all, though, is possible-- possible-acquiring of additional land. What does this mean? It means that, finally, CCC can have its own sports field. No longer will the college have to mooch off of OCC or, God forbid, the middle school next door. While no promises were made, it’s certainly something to look forward to. We can only hope. So, has our school recovered? Absolutely. At the very least, we don’t have to be worry about being shut down and left in shambles any more. Those days are over. And while things certainly aren’t perfect, they’re getting better, and DeCinque urges not to look at the past, but the future. What’s important is what we can do, not what’s been done. In the wake of all of this miraculous progress, one has to wonder about DeCinque’s own future in this school -- he is only an interim president, after all. The recommendations for a new President and new Vice President haven’t even been considered yet, not until December, but even if they were, we will never know who. Only who wins. Who we’ll have, what they’ll be like, and what this means for the school, we can only guess. One thing is for certain though -for just a year, President DeCinque hasn’t been half bad. EDITOR’S NOTE: The complete transcript of Dr. DeCinque’s address is on page two.
THE OFFICIAL STUDENT-RUN NEWSPAPER OF CAYUGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE