Oswego State extended the hours student organizations can reserve Swetman Gym for social events, such as dances or parties to 3 a.m., in order to give students a venue on campus for socialization past regular hours.

“Students love to have a party, love to come together. They like dancing. They like music,” said Jerri Howland, vice president of Student Affairs at Oswego State. “So, we wanted to make sure we provided that opportunity for students on campus.”

Starting this semester, Swetman Gym has been added to the list of areas approved for student organizations to host late-night social events. The college already had a “Late-Night Party/Dance Policy” in the student handbook, where student organizations could arrange for on-campus dances or social events extending until 3 a.m. if they followed a procedure. 

The process includes a timeline starting 40 business days before the planned party where the organization would meet with Campus Life to plan and assess the needs of the event. The policy also outlined approved locations for social events on campus, but Howland noted there was a problem – too few venues were approved for the policy.

“When that policy was originally drafted, the student union was in Hewitt,” Howland said. “When we started getting requests from students looking for places to have parties, the [Hewitt] ballroom was no longer an option because it was stripped out [to be converted to a theater.]”

This led to town hall meetings and requests from students last semester for a place to hold their social events.

“They asked [President Deborah Stanley] to help them find a solution. The president heard them and wanted to accommodate them on campus,” Howland wrote in an email. “Swetman Gym was identified as the most suitable location to meet the needs for student organizations.”

Howland said Swetman was chosen because of factors such as high capacity, existing sound system, easy exit and entry, nearby parking lots and ability to secure the building.

“We had the policy. [Students] just weren’t coming on campus,” Howland said. “From what I understood, it’s been like 10 years since they’ve had a late-night party.”

Student organizations previously reserved venues off campus for social events, but according to Howland, may not be an option this semester.

“We have reserved Swetman Gym in the past for basketball tournaments, for roller-skating events. We can use Hewitt Union for stuff like that,” said Tenaja Smith-Butler, president of the Black Student Union on campus and a senior zoology student. “It’s been a long time, I think probably more than 20 years since those places have been used for parties.”

Smith-Butler said the previous options of using off-campus student housing and bars for social events came with challenges.

“If you think about Oswego itself, there’s no place [for] people our age, from like 17 to 22. If you’re not 21 yet, you can’t go to the bars. You can do stuff with organizations on campus, but Friday to Saturday, where are you going? What are you doing?” Smith-Butler said. “You don’t have somewhere to just have fun and dance and do stuff like that.”

Omar van Reenen, president of Student Association, said the greater issue is the relationship between Oswego State and the city of Oswego.

“It baffles me that our campus had to allocate a safe space on campus for students of color to feel welcomed, included and to not feel harassed while having their club events and enjoying their time with their fellow students,” van Reenen said. “We should not be making the city feel uncomfortable for our growing diverse population because that is not inclusion.”

The clubs finding difficulty reserving venues off campus, according to van Reenen, were largely ALANA organizations, which stands for African, Latino, Asian and Native American.

“A lot of the ALANA orgs, which are home to a lot of students of color, hold a lot of the events off-campus,” van Reenen said. “President Stanley has taken definitive and decisive leadership to help us advocate for this.”

Student organizations are already taking advantage of Swetman Gym for social events. The African Student Organization and Caribbean Student Association have already held events at Swetman, and there are four more currently scheduled according to Howland.

“In the future, there may be other areas that come online. They’re finishing a space under Swetman that might be an option too,” Howland said.

Having a place to party is important for Smith-Butler, even for non-partiers.

“I’m not much of a party person. I would rather just be in my room and watch Netflix,” Smith-Butler said. “But for some people, that’s not how they de-stress. They need to be somewhere they need to be able to move and be around people.”

Photo by Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian