The influence of SUNY Oswego’s West Campus Community Council presidential race has been felt far beyond the radius of the residence halls, as posters of opposing candidates can be seen across Marano Campus Center, Shineman and even Wonzones Calzones in downtown Oswego.       

One black and white poster shows Kathleen Morath, announcing her run for the presidency with an image of herself parallel to the slogan “Leadership in the West, at it’s best.” 

The opposing poster in comparison is colored and uses a larger font and was created by running mates Tyler Johnson and Kaden Deconno, who are running for president and vice president respectively. The running mates are using posters, stickers and bright colors to attract attention to their campaign, and advertising as “Your Voice On West Campus”.

Both sets of candidates have created a highly competitive race that began immediately after the first Community Council informational meeting on Aug. 22. Johnson jumped on his computer as soon as the meeting was over to create his campaign. 

“I was like, OK, I know how I’m going to run my own, so that’s what I did,” Johnson said. “We made 20 posters [and] put them around campus. I just felt that it was important for the people that don’t know us and aren’t seeing our Instagram page, they’ll see our posters around campus.”

Morath similarly printed her posters and placed them strategically around the campus and city of Oswego. “I chose to advertise across town and across campus because not everybody that lives in West Campus may see my posters,” Morath explains. On hearing that Johnson put a poster up in Wonzones Calzones, Morath went in to put up a poster of her own. “I wanted to do something that wasn’t as traditional, like having a social media platform, as well as working hard in the village and going door to door.” For her campaign, Morath advertised locally by introducing herself to her neighbors as well as creating a social media account for it.

“We created our Instagram page, and immediately after she created an Instagram page. Following that, she put up posters in Wonzones,” Johnson said. 

Morath calls her disagreements with Johnson a feud, which she says became a feud after her instagram account was created. “Tyler had found my instagram almost immediately after I created it and basically said my original bio, which was ‘Vote for Change’, was copying him.” She does not believe she copied her opponent’s campaign. “I had my posters up and my whole platform, which is ‘Vote for Change.’”

The opponents’ back and forth was featured in an Instagram live debate largely centered around one topic: hand drying. More specifically, disagreements between what hand dryers should be used in west campus bathrooms Morath proposes an automatic paper towel dispensing machine, citing a desire to help keep COVID-19 from spreading on campus. 

Johnson and his running-mate, Kaden Deconno, advocated for automatic hand dryers, which they said would be more sustainable than paper and help reduce the spread of COVID-19 more than using paper towels would, as well as keep the campus cleaner. With the Instagram live and the large scale campaign, both sets of candidates are proud of what they are doing on campus.

“I was used as an example of how not to communicate in his [Johnson’s] communication class,” Deconno admits. “This is probably the most outgoing I’ve been, ever.” 

Morath was unable to do community council at her community college, Erie Community College, due to COVID-19. Now, she finally has the chance to do it. “When I got to Oswego, I definitely wanted to make change happen just because I saw how west campus was very underrepresented.” Morath is working for and supporting COVID-19 reducing measures that kept her from having parts of her past college experience. She also wants to improve campus event attendance, and further communication between halls. 

On Sept. 12, community council elections begin and the two sets of candidates will find out whose campaign has better influenced their west campus audience. Despite their disagreements, and despite the results, the candidates have said they are willing and excited to work together. With similar Instagram follower counts, close poster placements, and two highly active and hands-on campaigns, it will be difficult to tell who will win until the election takes place.