After numerous concerns on Saturday about in-person classes at Oswego State despite 124 active cases, President Deborah Stanley has increased the severity of punishments and added several new measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 on-campus.

With the guidelines set by New York State, a campus does not have to resort to virtual learning for two weeks if it does not record 100 cases of COVID-19 within the 14-day period. Oswego State recorded 82 cases in the first period from Aug. 28 to Sept. 11.

After the two-week restart on Saturday, Oswego State now has 31 cases on-campus that count toward the 100-case threshold.

With the uptick in cases over the last few days at Oswego State, Stanley and the rest of the school’s administration has restricted campus activities even more on Sunday.

Stanley said at a press conference on Sunday that there are “definite concerns” with the large increase of cases, but the school will “watch it every single day.”

“We put on some stronger sanctions on Friday. Today is Sunday. And we’re rethinking them again,” Stanley said. “This is our shot. We’re going after the people who are causing the problem. If this doesn’t work, then we’ll have to regroup. But we have to give this the chance it deserves.”

There will be no in-person dining at any of the dining halls on campus as all meals will be “grab and go.” No visitors will be allowed in residence halls, including students from other dorms, and the PODS “family-style living experience” is now suspended.

Some off-campus parties were reported, as well, and that led Stanley to enforce more off-campus policies. In an email sent by Stanley on Sunday afternoon, she wrote, “While all Greek Life activities were halted at the beginning of the semester, now any parties or large group activities organized and hosted by Greek members, even if not technically Greek sponsored, will draw severe individual and organizational penalties.”

“We know we had a high, high, high degree of no virus on campus. But we also know that human nature took over and students were not exactly following their pledge,” Stanley said. “The COVID on our campus, of course, took an uptick that we are not comfortable with.”

After an initial 14-day suspension of all Oswego State athletics, including workouts, practices and gatherings, all athletics activity is now suspended for the remainder of the fall semester. Any student-athlete in violation could face severe conseqences.

“We’re saying you could lose your athletic eligibility,” Stanley said. “There is no longer any mercy about getting together and partying in that atmosphere.”

While Stanley added that the school is “not asking for police enforcement,” of off-campus parties as “that’s their job in the city,” the school wants names and identification to handle the situation.

SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras commended Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow for his work with the school at Sunday’s press conference and for his support of the college.

“That type of collaboration should be modeled across the state,” Malatras said. “They work hand-in-glove. … He is 100% supportive of the college, supportive of the community and willing to do whatever he needs to do to help address the situation.”

On Sunday afternoon, Barlow tweeted, “We will continue to charge the host of mass gatherings under our Social Host law and will continue to list names and attendees of mass gatherings/parties and forward them to SUNY.”

Oswego State has over 100 active cases on-campus but due to the two-week reset, only 31 cases count toward the New York State threshold. Malatras called it “the perfect example of any public policy having a debate on, ‘Is it too much?'”

“This is goldilocks and the three bears. … Some argued that this is way too low of a threshold. Some people have said that’s too much,” Malatras said. “It’s also a guide post for campuses that we want to use common sense and address the problems as they emerge as they come. That’s clearly what the president and SUNY Oswego is doing today.”

Even though there will be in-person classes on Monday, Stanley made sure to emphasize that there is “a lot of social distancing” already in place, with a limited number of classes actually being held in-person.

“We’re doing [this] because we believe that being on-campus to access education at the State University of New York is the best thing for our students,” Stanley said. “We know that this is a life-long goal. They want to do the best they can. This will launch them into their lives. We want to keep them right here.”

Photo by Ben Grieco | The Oswegonian