www.cayugacollegian.com Vol. 61 Issue 1 September 18, 2012

Cayuga Community College Auburn & Fulton, New York

Collegian

The old River Glen Plaza was restructured into a multi-floor, multi-building campus, making it a full branch of Cayuga Community College and allowing for full academic programs to be offered at the school.

The $16.1 million capital improvement project was completed over the course of nine months, using a combination of funds from the State of New York and a seven million dollar investment from the Cayuga Community College Foundation, the largest single action in the history of the organization.

The 82,150 square foot campus,

By Alec Rider Co-Editor-in-chief and Ashlee Saret, Staff Writer

It’s official! CCC Fulton has a new campusCayuga Community College’s Fulton campus moves into its fourth, final, and permanent home in Oswego County.

located in a re-purposed P&C building, features several state-of -the-art science and computer labs, classrooms, and Fulton’s first ever dedicated Student Development office, along with professors’ and administrative offices. Fulton also welcomes a new Barnes and Noble bookstore, complete with a Starbucks Express. The library and the Center for Academic success are incorporated into one spacious location at the heart of the campus called the Learning Commons, which is viewable from the offices and hallways above. Fulton students will also enjoy, for the first time, a

dedicated student lounge area. The layout of the campus is

open and inviting, with the goal of encouraging student interaction. “The Fulton campus prides themselves on being welcoming. You can see it, the design of the building sort of creates a sense of community. Whether you want it or not, you get it. You engage with people, you’re seeing people in the hallway, you can’t hide here… I think that increases the level of friendliness, takes down the anxiety level of people who are new, just stepping into the whole school experience

Hello from the Co-Editors!

Welcome to CCC for the 2012 Fall Semester! This semester has seen some changes from last spring, such as a new bookstore, cafe, and our first ever brand name restaurant, but your reliable student run Cayuga Collegian is still a cornerstone of accurate and consistent on campus news!

This semester, the staff is looking to broaden the Collegian’s outlets, and grow to include reporters at Fulton, a YouTube page, and a weekly podcast. Of course, to try and insure these changes work out as well as they possibly can, we woukld love feedback from you, the students and readers. The Collegian is, and always will be, student run, so don’t let just a handful of students decide what matters! We can always be emailed at cayugacollegian@gmail.com, and we try to keep our office (located by the theater and campus safety office) as open as possible - just walk on in! If you want to write a story, ask a question, or just tell us about a student running around dressed as a gorilla, we’d be very thankful!

We’re looking forward to a great semester for the school, the Collegian, and for all of the students here. We’ll see you soon!

Earley to Visit By Andy Schemerhorn, Co-Editor-in-chief Pulitzer Prize finalist Pete Earley will be visiting Cayuga Community College on September 25th to discuss his book Crazy: A Father’s Journey Through America’s Mental Health Madness. Mr. Earley, whose visit is being sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (or NAMI) of Cayuga County and the CCC Justice club, will be discussing his book as well as the events behind it. The events of the award winning Crazy follows the real life occurrences of Mr. Earley and his son, Mike, as Mike suffers a mental breakdown and instead of being placed in a mental hospital for treatment, he is charged like a regular criminal and put in the Miami-Dade County Jail. In addition to the story of him and his son, Pete also examines what he describes as the “maze of contradictions, disparities and Catch-22s that make up America’s mental health system”, as he utilizes his own past experience as a journalist to evaluate how the jails and prisons across the nation have become places to lock away Americans with mental illnesses. Pete’s accomplishments in the world of investigative journalism and criminal justice are extensive. After six years on The Washington Post as part of a 14 year long career in journalism, Pete Earley was recognized as a rare reporter who, in the words of The Washington Post, “[has] the power to introduce new ideas and give them currency.” Transitioning into a full time writer, Earley has written nonfiction books on topics ranging from spies, casinos in Las Vegas, the Witness Protection Program, and life inside American prisons. For his book The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison, Pete spent a whole year locked inside the prison. His first book, (and New York Times bestseller) Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring, was turned into a five hour miniseries on CBS. Finally, the book Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town helped lead to the release of Walter “Johnny D.” McMillian, a black man who was originally convicted of murdering two white women despite having consistent and reliable alibis and frequent inconsistencies in witness reports and evidence.

Don’t miss this exceptional reporter and author share his incredible story with us! He will be at CCC on September 25th from 1-3. Tickets are available at Downtown Books & Coffee on Genesee Street (literally a stone’s throw from Lattimore Hall), are $5 for the general public and FREE if you bring your student ID!

THE VOICE OF THE STUDENTS OF CAYUGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS

CAYUGABriefs

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COLLEGIAN OFFICE HOURSANDY SCHEMERHORNMondays: 11 am - 3 pmTuesdays: 9:30 - 10:30 amWednesdays: 11 am - 1 pmFridays: 11 am - 1 pm

ALEC RIDERMonday: 2:00 - 5:00 pmTuesday: 2:00 - 4:30 pmWednesday: 4:00 - 5:00 pmFriday: 9:00 - 10:30 am

PHOTO BY FAITH FANNING

CCC President Dr. Daniel Larson (with scissors) with the help of SUNY Chancellor, Dr. Nancy L. Zimpher, cut the ribbon in the official dedication ceremony held Friday, September 14th at the CCC new Fulton campus.

The Collegian has learned that in fact Dr. Larson was NOT the new Subway’s first customer as widely reported. CCC Athletic Direc-tor Pete Liddell and Humanities Chair Steve Keeler were the first and second customers to be served by newly-trained sandwich artist and CCC Vice President Jeff Rosenthal on opening day. Dr. Larson was the first customer to be photographed being served.

Subway DebutsBy Andy Schemerhorn, Co-Editor-in-chief

Remember four months ago, when the Auburn campus cafeteria had a small counter to order a simple selection of food? It was a place where you never saw a line of more than three people during the heaviest traffic hours of the day? Well, thanks to the efforts of CCC’s Vice President, Jeff Rosenthal, CCC’s Auburn campus now has a full service Subway sandwich shop, with all the same sandwiches, soups, cookies, drinks and deals you’d get at any Subway store, and all topped

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CCC FULTON STUDENTSThe Cayuga Collegian is looking for staff writers to cover news and events happening on the CCC Fulton Campus. Please email cayugacollegian@gmail.com

Editorial BoardANDY SCHEMERHORN, Editor-in-chiefALEC RIDER - Editor-in-chiefMARY G. MERRITT, Advisor

Staff FAITH FANNING - AuburnASHLEE SARET - AuburnLARAE BROOKS - AuburnAARON STILES - AuburnYOUR NAME COULD BE HERE!EMAIL CAYUGACOLLEGIAN@GMAIL.COM

The Cayuga Co l leg ian welcomes letters from its readers. Submiss ions m u s t b e e m a i l e d t o cayugacollegian @gmail.com. Submissions may be edited for content or length. Submissions must include your name, address and daytime phone number. All letters to the editor are copied exact ly and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the Collegian office, its staff or advisors. All letters are simply the opinions of the writers themselves.

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From the Editor’s Desk...I graduated from Mexico High

School with Victor Woolson and I considered him a friend. I won’t forget when I received the phone call from my older sister that my friend had died, from an apparent drowning.

He had gone missing months before and the immediate response from those on social media was that Victor was depressed. We didn’t know about the synthetic drug angle and how it had affected his well-being. The first big case of bath salts wasn’t discussed until three months ago, concerning the case in Miami.

Victor was a good kid. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body, and the things I described in my news story would not have come from Victor in his normal state. Victor made everyone around him laugh; his antics and pranks were epic in hilarity, I having been a victim of

them before. Mexico’s Class of 2011 came

together in one place 9 years before we should have. This is not something we enjoyed, not a bit.

I’ve been to a few funerals in my life. Never had I been to one where a kid that I talked with dozens of times and had classes with was lying in that casket, until Victor’s funeral.

Synthetic drugs have pervaded our collective society, this is without doubt. These drugs are not herbal, they are man-modified, and they are deadly.

I wrote my article on Victor this week to show all of you, the students on Auburn and Fulton campuses, that this is not happening thousands of miles away. It is happening in your backyard and it killed your classmate.

And it killed my friend. -Alec Rider, Co-Editor-in-chief

Drug dealers with a storefront By Alec Rider Co-Editor-in-chief

“It’s legal Mom.”That’s what 19-year-

old Victor Woolson would tell his mother Teresa when confronted about using synthetic drugs.

Woolson died on August 10th at Oswego Hospital, some 18 hours after he was pulled out of the waters of Lake Ontario by the Oswego Fire Department on his mother’s birthday, having been submerged for a period of time. Woolson was with a friend that night at Flat Rock beach, a swimming destination in Oswego frequented by teenagers and young adults.

Woolson may have suffered a drug induced seizure while in the water, contributing to his drowning.

Woolson graduated from Mexico High School with an Advanced Regents diploma and was a standout in the MJROTC program there. He was continuing his studies at the Fulton CCC campus, studying criminal justice and psychology.

“Victor was a great kid, never, ever in trouble, not even late coming home, he was very polite, kind and well mannered,” Victor’s mother Teresa Woolson said.

But the Woolson family started to notice startling changes in Victor’s behavior.

During the last days of March this year, Victor disappeared from his home in Scriba and was found a few days later all the way down in Otsego County in an Oneonta motel room. He was under the influence of bath salts during the event.

“I witnessed my brother on the bath salts and potpourri in the hospital at Cooperstown. Not only was he agitated and easily angered to the point of violence, but he was lethal. He had threatened a motel owner and both his parents’ lives and described himself as being a sociopath. I would describe my brother as tender and docile before the drug use,” Woolson’s sister Angela Coville said.

“He clearly was agitated and during withdrawal he would feel like he was going to have a nervous breakdown,” Mrs. Woolson said.

According to Mrs. Woolson, her son told her about his first experience with the synthetic drug called “Pump It.”

“He was at the CCC Fulton campus and a student asked if anyone had a place to go smoke.

He offered his car and smoked the “Pump It” bath salts for the first time... finding out where to buy it and that it was “Legal” as well.”

The “420 Emporium” head shop in Fulton was raided during a national, state, and county sting in July. Unfortunately, this didn’t stop nearby head shop “Extreme Underground” in Oswego to stop selling synthetic

drugs, the shop where Victor Woolson made his final purchase, a form of bath salts called “Avalanche”.

These shops circumvent synthetic drug bans by including “not for human consumption” on the wrapping, while making the wrappers look like candy.

“Drug dealers with a storefront,” Mrs. Woolson likened them to.

These drugs are equal opportunity offenders, kids and adults alike, and at the end of the day, this wasn’t some drug abuser that overdosed; this was a good kid, an intelligent kid that made a mistake. Unfortunately a mistake that ended up costing him his life.

His friends and family will always remember him and continue the fight against synthetic drugs.

“He was a great person; he put a smile on everyone’s faces. He touched people that he didn’t even know that he did. He was a wonderful son, brother, uncle, cousin...” Victor’s sister Sarah Gauger said.

“He always made people feel like they were wanted around. And he always had something to say to make everyone laugh. He was a great listener and he was just a great person heart and soul,” classmate Felicia Bond said.

“My little brother was the sweetest, kindest, brightest boy I knew. He was so very inquisitive; always thinking. He was always making people feel comfortable and sharing a laugh. He believed in being himself and in enjoying life. He was an intelligent, honest, and dependable person. He was very loved and is very missed,” Coville said.

“Victor touched so many lives with his humor… he was kind and was a great kid,” Mrs. Woolson said.

The New York State Association of Counties met recently in Syracuse to discuss this growing problem. They plan to urge Governor Andrew Cuomo to pass stricter laws against the use and distribution of synthetic drugs.

Victor Woolson

A community comes together More than 500 people gathered

at Market Street Park in Downtown Auburn to attend a candlelight prayer vigil in support of Baby Easton Friedel on Wednesday night. 25,000 Facebook users have already “Liked” the “Support Baby Easton Friedel” page in a show of support like this community has never seen before.

Easton was born to Jared and Danielle Friedel on August 23rd of this year with a rare, genetic skin disease called epidermolysis bullosa. This disease is very painful and is, as of now, incurable. EB causes the skin to be raw, blistered and even missing in entire areas.

Several pastors from around the community gave quick sermons highlighting different passages that touched on the subject of love and healing. The Lakes Church worship team provided entertainment throughout the night.

More than 2,700 people watched a live stream of the event online that was emceed by Sean Wrench, a

By Alec Rider Co-Editor-in-chief

campus pastor at Lakes Church. Wrench told the crowd that he

believed that God would heal Baby Easton and that through God all things are possible, alluding to the well-known verse Philippians 4:13. Wrench believes that Auburn will never be the same after this event.

The turnout was incredible. The community really showed how much they care. Many said that Baby Easton has really united this community in a way they’ve never seen before.

There are many fundraisers and benefits planned in the future including an EB Awareness Day to educate the community about the disease from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m on September 23 in Hoopes Park.

Hundreds attend a candlelight vigil for Baby Easton in Auburn.

B.A.S.I.C. Blitz The B.A.S.I.C. club (Brothers and Sisters In

Christ) will be hosting a campus “Blitz” on Monday, September the 24th and Tuesday, September the 25th culminating with a large BASIC meeting in the cafeteria at 4:30 pm.

Jonathan Burgio will be speaking at the event. Burgio played Division I football at the University of Buffalo and was the first ever collegiate athlete to win the “Frank Reich Call to Courage Award,” which had formerly only been given to professional football players.

Jeremiah Garcia will be performing. Jeremiah is a singer/songwriter from Rochester, New York. Jeremiah is on staff as the music director at Eastside Church in Fairport, New York. In 2010, Jeremiah won the CFA Word National Talent Search and subsequently a one year development deal with Word Label Group.

THE VOICE OF THE STUDENTS OF CAYUGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS PAGE THREE

Fulton has a new campus... CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

PHOTO BY FAITH FANNING

together,”said Fulton campus Dean Maggie Killoran.

The Chancellor of the State University of New York, Dr. Nancy L. Zimpher, on hand for the dedication ceremony, was elated at the utter size of the expansion.

“I really had no idea the expanse of the project and the dream that can be fulfilled over time...This has been the leadership and the vision and the dream of (Dr.) Dan Larson and we are greatly fortunate to have him in our system,” said Zimpher.

CCC President Dr. Dan Larson gave the following dedication:

“I dedicate this campus to our current and future students, that we might open the pathways to their education and training to their brighter future. I dedicate this campus to our alumni, who are important role models in our history leading to today and to our successful tomorrow. I dedicate this campus to the faculty and staff, our

biggest resource, who carry forth our mission, educational access and achievement of all who come here. I dedicate this campus to the Oswego County community, that we might continue to be their valued resource for generations to come. Finally I dedicate this campus to the future so that all who come through these doors will understand the vision, dedication, and spirit that have gathered us here today.”

The completion of this project marked the end of the first part of a multi-phase project. Future plans for the space include the addition of a grassy quadrangle and additional academic facilities. CCC has also purchased 45 acres of undeveloped property adjacent to the current building, which in the future will contain residence halls and may allow Fulton to house some of CCC’s athletic fields. “The possibilities,” stated Dean Killoran, “are endless.”

Returning Auburn students may have noticed a few changes to the campus this semester, but for students attending the Fulton satellite campus, everything is different as the students, staff, and faculty settle in to their new campus home.

Since 2001, Fulton students have attended classes held in a 50,000 square foot leased building on West Broadway. The population of Oswego county is 52% higher than that of Cayuga county, and in 2012, 40% of CCC graduates were from the Fulton campus. The steadily increasing enrollment on the Fulton campus led to a noisy and crowded facility that was simply unable to support the growing demand for its services. Through the dedicated collaborative efforts of administrators, alumni, and city and state officials, CCC is proud to welcome Oswego county students to the new facilities at River Glen Plaza.

The student response to the new campus has been overwhelmingly positive. “It’s very exciting,” says sophomore and Student Government member Kristin Marino. “It’s much quieter, and there’s a lot more space for studying. I think it will bring in more students.” Fellow SGO member Will Thomas calls the move “the first step in a great future for the school.”

Faculty and staff seemed equally pleased by the new facility. Workers in the Student Development area are thrilled about their first-ever dedicated office space. Student Advisor Dan O’Brien likes the new offices. “The hard part was finding everything,” he said with a smile. “It’s great. There’s more privacy for the students. It has the feel of being

Fulton and the rest of Oswego County are about to get the jolt in their proverbial arm that has been a long time coming for an area that has been so devastated by closure, loss of jobs, and the recession. Fulton was widely known as “the City the Depression missed” thanks to its wide availability of jobs in the 1930s.

Once an area full of large job creators, it has turned into a ghost town in a mere 20 years with the closings of plants with names such as Birdseye Foods and Nestle Chocolates, the very plant where the Crunch bar was created. The two plants had a combined 213 years in Fulton.

Oswego County has a 10.5% unemployment rate. More than two points above the national average.

One of the largest problems facing a modern populous is how to educate the workforce. Kids in Oswego County basically have two choices. Work or go to college, and it wasn’t much different for their parents and grandparents. Except they could get a factory job with a high school diploma or even a GED and make more than enough money.

This just isn’t the case anymore. So, it’s four years at school or a full time job. And many cannot handle both. This is where a new and improved Fulton branch of CCC makes a large impression on the county.

“We believe that our investment will provide great returns for the students and for the community. Some powerful statistics to consider are that nearly 20,000 current Oswego County residents have taken at least one course at Cayuga Community College. Of those 20,000, 3,245 students who took at least one course at Fulton completed a degree,” said College Foundation Vice-President David Contiguglia.

The school has been in Oswego County since 1979, in three different locations; that tended to be small and leased. This all changes with what is the fourth, and believed to be permanent location. The sheer size of CCC inside the old River Glen plaza will

What is new at CCC Fulton?By Ashlee Saret, Staff Writer

on par with the Auburn campus, without the athletic facilities.” Faculty member Louise Wilson beamed with excitement. “This has been a long time coming,” she said. “A lot of people have worked very hard to make this happen.” SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher praised the efforts of everyone involved with the project. “This is a dream come true, thanks to all the partners who made this happen. Look at what a partnership can do.”

The new campus is 30,000 square feet larger than the old one, nearly double the size, with much more space for offices, classrooms, and twice as many labs. The benefits of the expansion have even reached the security team. In addition to a larger office, making officers better able to accommodate students needing to speak in private, more ground to cover and anticipated enrollment increases mean more hours for part-time security personnel. However, Sergeant R Stacey predicts that little will change in the day-to-day operations. “We’ll be able to police [the campus] well. We rarely have problems, and I don’t see that changing.

Overall, it appears that the migration will enhance the CCC experience for everyone affiliated with the Fulton campus. Pat Powers, professor and interim Student Development Director, predicts imminent increases in not only academic programs offered, but in the social environment of the school as well, with new prospects for student activities and organizations. This and continuing expansions planned through 2015 will create many exciting new opportunities for Fulton students and CCC as a whole.

What is Fulton’s Future?By Alec Rider Co-Editor-in-chief

entice those looking for colleges that may have been unimpressed with the layout of the old campus.

“I think that this campus will help that population to feel like the programs and services that we can offer are being delivered here and are being delivered in a facility that is up-to-date, modern, has technology and everything that you could possibly want. It’s a very engaging environment. It’s not like it’s stuck off some place… second hand. This was meant to be very purposeful and very straightforward so that people will understand that this is their college, they’re community college,” said CCC President Dan Larson.

“We want them to come here, we want them to hold meetings here, and we want to have performances and events, lectures, presentations, all different kinds of stuff. We want them to look at this campus as their own,” Larson added.

“It feels wonderful to provide higher education, quality higher education, services to folks in Oswego County. It feels really wonderful because what we’re doing is we’re providing opportunity for people, and although we’ve been doing it since 2001 over on W. Broadway, we’re going to be able to do it for more people. This is our permanent home, this is where we’re going to be for the next 30, 40, 50 years. It’s wonderful to be a permanent part of this community,” said Associate VP of Academic and Student Affairs Jeff Rosenthal.

Fulton Dean Maggie Killoran believes that nothing but good can come from this endeavor.

“I think what it means for this campus is that we have a lot of opportunity to grow, to develop. I think what it also means is that with the college as a whole there’s a lot of opportunity in Oswego County. I think it’s a win, win for everybody, we have endless possibilities here,”

The student population at Fulton CCC has grown by 20% in the last five years and with this new, vast campus, the groundwork has been laid for a future in Oswego County and its surrounding areas.

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THE VOICE OF THE STUDENTS OF CAYUGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS

Library now has snacks

RANDOMRANTSSportsALEC

’s

Art Modell: Innovator or Villian?Art Modell, the man who basically in-

vented Monday Night Football and was a key part in the merger of the NFL and AFL in 1970 died on September 6th.

In this area he will always be re-membered as the owner of the Cleve-land Browns when the Browns drafted legendary Syracuse running back Ernie Davis. When Davis realized he had leuke-mia, Modell did everything he could to find a doctor that could treat Davis and paid his medical bills.

But to me and every Cleveland sports fan out there, he will always be a vil-lain, the man who moved the Cleveland Browns.

Modell claimed he had no other choice; he was simply forced to move the team he swore he’d never move after years of money loss. He claimed he was slighted by the construction of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Gateway Project, which funded Jacobs Field (Pro-gressive Field) and Gund Arena (Quicken Loans Arena) after being refused a new stadium for the Browns for years.

Modell had points, but it wasn’t enough. He owned the Browns for 34 years and he knew how great the fans were. The problem was, he didn’t realize how bitter they could be.

Modell never returned to his home in Cleveland, fearing for his life. Again, he may have had a point.

His new team, the Baltimore Ravens, won the Super Bowl five years after the move. It was essentially the Browns’ first Super Bowl.

The NFL asked every team in the league to hold a moment of silence in honor of Modell; the Browns were going to comply even after fears of what the fans might do. Before Sunday’s game, Modell’s family reached out to the Browns and asked them not to do it.

Understandably, the Modell family wanted to avoid an embarrassing mo-ment and a re-hashing of bad memories. But in my opinion, the Browns never should have complied. The years 1995-1999 that Cleveland had no football team were more than enough silence.

Subway Debuts... CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

off with a nice little discount for students and faculty.

“Most stores take about six months to open, but Jeff knew what he wanted and got it open in three,” remarked Subway’s manager Stephanie Tucker. She says business is brisk and they’re seeing some students come to the counter three or four times a day.

“Business is good,” she said. “We always see new people, and every so often we see a familiar face.”

The line is staffed by four employees, three of which are students. While this is obviously a good opportunity to provide more opportunities for students to work, Tucker said that these students have morning classes, and that leaves them understaffed for the morning hours.

“We normally want to operate with three people on the line, but when we have two of them at class and a whole line of people, things can get a little hectic,” said Tucker.

While there are certainly a number of people who helped make this store a reality, the most direct initiative came from CCC’s Vice President Rosenthal.

Over the summer, Rosenthal and Tucker traveled to Connecticut for a two week orientation in how to successfully manage a Subway. Clearly, there’s more to know besides how to put a mouth-watering sub together to make this business possible.

But is this new addition to our school already tainted by scandal? (Not really, but read on anyway; it’s interesting!)

Right before classes started, an email was sent with a picture of College President, Dr. Dan Larson, ordering at Subway, and it named him as the first official customer. However, Telcom Professor Steve Keeler came forward and informed us that Dr. Larson was actually THIRD, behind CCC Athletic Director Pete Liddell and Professor Keeler!

Tucker has confirmed that Dr. Larson was in fact third, as she also recalls the two orders before Dr. Larson’s.

What does this mean for the students here at CCC?

Eh, probably nothing. Other than we have a Subway!

Do get hungry while you’re studying? If you’re looking for more variety, or if you don’t have enough time between classes to wait in the often long Subway lines, the library has a new addition that may be just what you’re looking for; a miniature self-service convenience

store called Refresh Express, located near the information booth and magazine racks. This is the first time an expanded vending area has been offered on the library side of campus. Refresh Express is open any time the library is open.

CCC Freshman Alex Williams, who works in the library, enjoys having easy access to meal items on that side of the school. “It’s very convenient. I use it almost every day.”

The miniature, self-serve convenience store is stocked with a variety of snack foods including candy, chips, soda, fresh fruit, yogurt, and milk. There is also a wide selection of coffee, tea and hot chocolate available. The space has tables and chairs, three large refrigerated cases with snacks and a chest freezer containing ice cream treats. For students seeking an on-campus alternative to CCC’s new Subway restaurant, Refresh Express also offers several kinds of sandwiches, salads, and wraps.

Many students are happy with the variety of snacks available. “The food is really good,” says student Rhiannon Khoury. “There are a lot of choices.” Others, however, feel that the options for balanced meals are too limited. “I understand what they’re going for, but they need a

little something more to get students away from Subway and other surrounding dining options. It’s a nice start but they should give patrons more options,” says sophomore Stephen Hodge.

Here is how it works: customers simply select their items and scan them at the checkout kiosk. The touchscreen self-checkout interface is user-friendly and intuitive. Items without barcodes, such as fruit and coffee can be purchased by selecting the easily located buttons

representing them on the touch screen. All major credit cards are accepted. Those who prefer to use cash can purchase Refresh Express Value Cards in denominations of $5, $10, or $20 from a dispenser next to the checkout. After a transaction, the balance remaining on the card is printed on the receipt. These cards can be combined with other Value cards or other forms of payment. Refresh Express Value Cards can even be reloaded on-line.

Library clerk Phyllis says that the store is popular and often busy, yet has had little impact on the atmosphere of the library. “We were concerned about the noise, but the students are respectful of the library. A lot of them are studying while they eat. We’re looking at it as a positive effect on the library.”

Refresh Express is run by American Food Vending, which served food in the school’s cafeteria area before it was replaced with Subway restaurant.

By Ashlee Saret, Staff Writer

The new Refresh Express in the library on the Auburn campus offers snacks and sandwiches when the library is open.

The Collegian staff traveled to Fulton for the ribbon cutting ceremony. Left to Right: Faith Fanning, staff writer; Alec Rider, co-editor-in-chief, CCC President Dr. Daniel Larson, SUNY Chancellor Dr. Nancy L. Zimpher and Ashlee Saret, staff writer.