OzFest sparks controversy among student organizations on campus
Part of the controversy came from the Student Association funding both student organizations and OzFest. Photo by: Jaime Hunter.
OSWEGO, N.Y. – Although OzFest is meant to be a fun event for students, the clubs and organizations on campus fight the Student Association annually on it.
The controversy surrounds the idea that the money put towards making OzFest happen takes away from the funding that SA provides to clubs and orgs.
According to Student Association Programming Board President Aiden Burns, a total of $202,000 was spent to put OzFest together this year. One of the hardest hit are the media organizations on campus, which include: WTOP-10, WNYO 88.9, and the Oswegonian.
WTOP-10 Vice President of Productions Megan Trubia said the money is essential for the media orgs for both funding purposes and for repairing broken equipment.
“The equipment that we have in here isn’t $100-$200 it’s $1,000-$2,000. So we need a decent amount of money to fix those things,” Trubia said.
Trubia said that last semester the teradek, which is an essential piece of equipment that sends the broadcast signal from the turf to the studio, broke. Without the teradek, they can’t get the signal back which makes it very difficult for WTOP-10 to successfully produce anything.
Trubia said that for everything the clubs and orgs on campus do for the greater SUNY Oswego community, they are underappreciated.
“I do know, though, us as the media orgs are a little upset that we don’t get as much recognition for all the things that we do for SA and for all the things that we do for the community around us. We feel that we deserve a little more recognition,” Trubia said.
Unlike Trubia’s view, SA President Takayla Beckon said SAPB is not taking away from other orgs.
“I think that we are actually making changes to where the orgs don’t take away from the current orgs that we have and they are able to still be sustainable,” Beckon said.
Beckon said SA is more focused on making sure that the student orgs and SAPB and their combined investments are all going back to the community. To ensure that everyone is benefiting from the decisions made by SAPB, not just one group or another.
Overall, Beckon said SA and SAPB are focused on the happiness and welfare of all students on campus.