Author: Elizabeth Bacharach

El McCabe
Contributing Writer

First-year students are adjusting to campus life and are beginning to explore opportunities outside of the classroom. Over 35 first-years recently participated in  Bucknell Student Government (BSG) class of 2016 elections. Votes were cast yesterday on the University’s new Involvement (IN) Network.

The BSG Executive Board, made up of President Dotun Odewale ’13, Vice President of Operations Loren Jablon ’15, Vice President of Finance Mo Karam ’13, and Vice President of Administration Clinton Kittrell ’14 strategically set up a booth at Activities Unlimited, sent out several Message Center posts and wrote an e-mail that was sent to all first-years explaining BSG’s purpose and influence on campus to publicize the elections in an effort to encourage students to run. All interested candidates were then required to attend a mandatory campaigns and guidelines meeting on Aug. 30 where they learned more about the structure of BSG, its goals and some of its most recent accomplishments. 

“I look forward to a great campaign, election, and year ahead with the first year Congress,” Associate Dean of Students of Campus Activities and BSG adviser Kari Conrad said.

“I think 2016 has really demonstrated its political passion.  There is significant interest in all of the first-year officer positions as well as BSG in general,” she said.

In the 2012-2013 election there were10 candidates for president, nine for vice president and six for secretary/treasurer. With such fierce competition, candidate for representative Ben Miller ’16 stressed the importance of informed voting and participation of the entire first-year class for input on future decisions.

“I think it’s important that the whole freshman class gets involved in the election and really gets to know the person behind the name they are voting for,” Miller said.

Because of campaign budgets being limited to $50, first-years utilized creative means of campaigning.  Tactics included handing out cupcakes, posts in the Facebook group concerning credentials, witty slogans and videos of constituents’ showing support for their favorite candidates. These tactics helped put candidates’ names on their fellow students’ minds.

Candidate for vice president Julianne Pearson ’16 has joined many on campus groups. A member of ACE, C.A.L.V.I.N & H.O.B.B.E.S, Concert Chorale, the Offbeats and CCM,Pearson decided to run to represent all these groups and more.

“So far at Bucknell I have been given many opportunities to get involved that I have taken advantage of. I plan to, if elected, remain involved in my various activities and advocate for all clubs/organizations on campus,” Pearson said.

Paige Bailey
Contributing Writer

As the leaves begin to change and the school schedule kicks into high gear, the University community has a chance to celebrate the new semester at Fall Fest on Sept. 15 on Sojka Lawn. The Bucknell Student Government (BSG) along with Activities & Campus Events (ACE) and Campus Activities & Programs (CAP) sponsor this annual event.

For this year’s event, people need to break out their cowboy boots and flannels because Fall Fest has been “countrified.”

The countrified theme was chosen because it “works well with the relaxed atmosphere and setting of the event,” ACE president Melissa Fox ’13 said.

This year, Fall Fest will feature three rising country stars. Gloriana, a country music trio comprised of Rachel Reinert and brothers Tom and Mike Gossin will be headlining the day. Gloriana released their second studio album, “A Thousand Miles Left Behind,” this summer. For this album, Gloriana partnered with a Grammy Award-winning producer, and the positive results of this effort can be seen in the praise the band has already garnered. Their single, “(Kissed You) Good Night,” reached number two on the Billboard country chart and number 10 on the Billboard’s top 200 in August. Additionally, country stars Jack Ingram and Tyler Hilton will be bringing their guitars and vocal talents to the event.

While students can always count on ACE and CAP to host great performers, there is a buzz of excitement since country acts are the main attraction this year.

“I was really excited to hear that Bucknell is finally bringing a country artist to campus. Country music is so much fun–especially live–and I think the campus will really enjoy the show,” Kasha Scott ’14 said. 

While Scott is a country music fan, she believes at the heart of country music is “fun,” and therefore encourages all students to come out to Fall Fest and feel the country groove in an awesome setting with spectacular friends. For those who aren’t as fond of country music, there will also be an old time photo booth, western shootout contest, ferris wheel, rodeo roper and bandana tie-dyeing stand.

Dan Colgan ’13, who considers himself a country native, agrees that everyone should attend, regardless of their musical preferences.

“While people may not know the country artists at Fall Fest, I still suggest that people attend if they enjoy music as an art,” Colgan said. 

Siobhan Murray
Writer

This year’s formal sorority recruitment lasted from Aug. 24 to Aug. 31 and placed 270 women into six sororities: Alpha Chi Omega fraternity, Alpha Delta Pi sorority, Chi Omega fraternity, Delta Gamma sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta fraternity and Kappa Kappa Gamma fraternity.  Each organization had a quota of 42 new members. Sorority recruitment differed from last year because there were six, rather than seven, sororities engaged in the process. However, the Office of Residential Education and Fraternity and Sorority Affairs is currently reviewing applications to bring a new sorority to campus.

“Starting in the spring of 2012, seven national sororities have expressed interest and are under committee review,” said Amy Badal, associate dean of students and Director of Residential Education and Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.

Sorority recruitment consists of “Sisterhood,” “Song” and “Philanthropy” rounds, which take place over three consecutive days. During these rounds, potential new members (PNMs) are assigned a group led by a Gamma Chi, a neutral recruitment counselor. PNMs have the opportunity to go to “parties” that last for equal and specific amounts of time. As the process continues, PNMs go back to fewer and fewer sororities each day. They begin by going to all six parties, and have the opportunity to rank which sororities they would like to visit again. If they are invited back through this process of “mutual selection,” a PNM can be invited back to up to five sororities for the second round and up to four sororities for the third round. The fourth round, called “Preferentials,” took place on Aug. 28 this year. The event allows a PNM to visit up to two sororities, and after doing so, rank her possible two choices.

Aug. 31 was Bid Day, where a new member receives her formal invitation to a sorority and runs from Larison Dining Hall to the Smith Quad to meet her fellow sorority members.

“Women’s recruitment differs from men’s recruitment in that the women follow the National Panhellenic Council (NPC) guidelines, the governing body of the 26 national sororities,” Badal said. “Using Release Figure Methodology (RFM) and consulting with our RFM specialist, a NPC professional consultant, a quota is determined by taking into consideration the total number of participants in the process.”

The men’s process does not follow the same methodology, and this year it placed 226 men into fraternities. With only six sororities participating in this year’s recruitment, less PNMs may have participated, but the Office of Residential Education and Fraternity and Sorority Affairs refused to give any numbers regarding the recruitment process last year.

“I believe that fewer girls participated in recruitment this year than in past years, so from that point of view I do believe that six sororities are enough for the women participating in the process,” Gamma Chi Caitlin O’Connor ’13 said.

Some students may have chosen not to rush because they felt that they did not fit into the currently active organizations on campus.

“Not that sororities have strict stereotypes, but they do have characteristics that girls identify with. I think that perhaps girls who would have felt very comfortable at Pi Phi were left to find where they fit in during rush,” a sophomore PNM said.

Sorority women feel that the potential number of PNMs might have dropped out of recruitment due to harsher cuts that were made during the process.

“I think it was more intense [for the PNMs] this year because we had to make larger cuts and there were less spots. The quota was actually smaller this year, 42 this year verses 45 last year,” a Bucknell sorority member who took part in recruiting members this year said.

Christina Oddo
Assistant Arts & Life

The Kappa Delta Rho fraternity (KDR) took part in the recruitment process this fall after its recolonization. With a current total membership of 15, members of KDR are looking forward to the future.

“First off, the Formal Recruitment process was a very big success this year, and we placed over 225 men into the fraternities on campus,” Interfraternity Council Recruitment Chair Bill Prendeville ’13 said. “During the process, KDR had several out-of-town members as well as the few founding members come to the house and hold their recruitment events.”

Recruitment for KDR included the same format and events as those for every other fraternity recruitment on campus.

“ … The major difference is that we began meeting with freshmen last semester and held a formal dinner at the new fraternity house that included 70 undergraduates,” Sviatoslav Lesko ’13 said. “During the summer, the original four members who were offered bids last semester–Dotun Odewale ’13, Mo Karam ’13, Nathan Coughenour ’14 and myself–attended KDR’s national conference in Pittsburgh, Pa. to learn about KDR’s traditions, values and organizational structure.”

According to Lesko, this group developed strong relationships with brothers from other institutions, such as Rutgers University, Lycoming College and Bloomsburg University, and these brothers visited the University to assist with the recruitment process.

“With the help of these individuals, our [Educational Leadership Instructor] Brad Ostermann (who will be living at the fraternity house for the entire year), our national advisor Shane Henry, our national director Joseph Rosenberg and generous alumni who helped fund our meals and furnished the house, we were able to go through the recruitment process smoothly,” Lesko said.

By the end of the recruitment process, nine sophomores, one junior and one senior accepted bids.

“With KDR being new, people were interested in joining, but they were unsure of who else was going to join and what kind of a group it would be,” Stephen Prescott ’15 said.

Lesko feels this new group has so far proved to be compatible and close.

“ … we developed chemistry immediately, mainly because of the sense of opportunity we all felt for building an organization based on the principles of honorable leadership from the ground up,” Lesko said.

KDR will begin rolling recruitment Sept. 14, and this will be open for the remainder of the year.

“I would like to express special thanks to Bob Lynd, Gene Spencer, Joseph Rosenberg, Gary Buchmann, Brad Ostermann, Shane Henry, Hensley Akiboh, Omicron Alpha Chapter (Rutgers University), Psi Chapter (Lycoming College), Kevin Foster, Dean Badal and the generous alumni who helped fund Iota Chapter’s recolonization,” Lesko said.

Kevin Foster, the Intrafraternity Council Advisor, declined to comment on KDR and its recruitment process.

Justin Marinelli
Writer

A new law recently put in place allows Pennsylvania students to vote using their university ID.  The law, which now requires Pennsylvania voters to show photo identification when they arrive at the polls, allows university IDs provided they have an expiration date. While Bucknell University IDs currently do not have expiration dates, the administration is implementing two solutions.

Starting in September, the University will begin distributing stickers with expiration dates  (an option the law allows for), so that students can use their current University ID. In addition, next year all University IDs could have expiration dates printed on them to enable future compliance with the law.

For many students, this isn’t much of a big deal.

“I’m not old enough to vote yet, so this doesn’t mean too much to me,” Mark Stafurik ’16 said.

Justin Meshulam ’15 said students could just use their current drivers’ licenses.  However, this would force students from other states to fill out absentee ballots rather than be able to vote at Pennsylvania polls.

John Powell ’15 thinks the new law and the University’s efforts will make voting easier.  “Using my Bucknell ID? That sounds convenient!” Powell said.

It should be noted that this isn’t the first law of its kind to be put on the books. Georgia controversially enacted a similar law several years ago, and in 2011 seven states either passed new voter ID laws or made current laws stricter. These laws have come under scrutiny since some of these are poised to be key battleground states in the coming election, becoming targets of political sniping that has brought both the constitutionality and the political effects of these laws into the limelight.

While the law was intended to cut down on potential voter fraud, critics question the need for having to show an ID in order to exercise a constitutional right. They also point out that those who are least likely to possess a photo ID but would otherwise be capable of voting are groups such as minorities, people in lower-income brackets and youth; groups which tend to swing Democratic in elections. A common worry is that under these laws, enough people will be prevented from voting so as to sway the results of the election in some counties (or even states). Supporters of the law claim these critiques are overblown, and preventing voter fraud is a far more important concern to deal wit. Official arguments will be brought in front of the state Supreme Court on Sept. 13 in an attempt to settle the matter.

Sara Blair Matthews
Opinions Editor

The new Involvement (IN) Network was created to connect students to opportunities outside the classroom and provide an easy way to navigate their involvement on campus.

Currently, around 80 clubs and organizations are a part of the IN Network and more are planning on joining in the near future.

“It is a great tool for student organizations to help manage their group. They have the capability to manage their roster, easily communicate to their organization, upload photos and documents, re-recognize each academic year and much more,” said Laura Yeckley, assistant director of Campus Activities and Programs.

The University was inspired to create this tool because “the Division of Student Affairs wanted an easy way for students to find opportunities about getting involved on campus. We wanted one centralized location for students to find information on student organizations, leadership opportunities and weekend events and activities. In short, it is also to help students navigate their involvement at Bucknell,” Yeckley said.

“The IN Network will absolutely make it easier for me to manage the Fire and Ice staff. It will also make our club more transparent to the Bucknell community. Plus, it is free advertisement!” Asha Harvey ’15 said.

Yeckley and the Division of Student Affairs hope this network will make it easier for students to discover the opportunities the University offers in a fun and interactive way.

The network came about because “staff members in Library & Information Technology, the Office of Communications and Student Affairs worked together this summer to institute this addition to the online services currently available,” Yeckley said.

The IN Network advertises upcoming workshops, concerts and club meetings. Upon enrolling, each student is automatically linked to his or her class page, which will be updated to show class news, photos and events.

“Class officers will use this as a resource to connect with their classes. In addition, all residential halls have been placed in a group to help create a residential online community to connect with their RA and hall,” Yeckley said.

To get the word out to students, the Campus Activities & Programs Center distributed flyers to all the first-years at Activities Unlimited, installed “plug IN” charging stations and  is looking to hold a raffle in the near future.

Lauren Buckley
Assistant News Editor

This July, the University implemented an innovative single-stream recycling system that was initiated this semester. The new program seeks to increase opportunities to recycle on campus and decrease waste that ends up in landfills.

“I have coordinated the efforts of many folks that believe, as I do, that moving to a single-stream recycling program is the right thing to do at Bucknell. When we presented the idea to senior management this summer, they endorsed it and we have aggressively moved to implement it in time for the return of students this fall,” said associate director for facilities operations, Merritt Pedrick.

Single-stream recycling is a process where all recyclable items are mixed and unsorted in one collection bin. These items can include any sort of paper fibers (including newspaper and cardboard) as well as containers (steel, glass, aluminum and plastic). The mix of materials is then processed by specialized equipment at a Material Recovery Facility (MRF).

Recognizing that up to 25 percent of items discarded as waste under the University’s former recycling system were in fact recyclable, the facilities team, along with the University’s Campus Greening Initiative (CGI), decided to opt for a more effective system that could increase recycling on campus from 20 to a possible 60 percent.

The biggest challenge to the new single-stream system is updating and labeling all of the new collection bins around campus and changing their locations.

“Everything had to be changed; not only regarding which cans were used to place items in, but also who takes it out, and the size and location of cans, dumpsters and recycle sheds,” Pedrick said.

Overall, Waste Management will handle all of the transportation and sorting, so the University will spend less time on these jobs and students will no longer have to transport their own recycling. Additionally, Waste Management is able to accept a 10 percent contamination rate, so the program will not be harmed if some unacceptable waste items are accidentally thrown into the collection bins.

“We are hoping to see a major increase in recycling on campus. However, we still need to be mindful of our consumption and what we’re throwing away. When we say ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle,’ reduce is still the most important concept,” Dina El-Mogazi, director of CGI, said.

In addition to this new environmentally-conscious system, other efforts are being made on campus to reduce waste. The Office of Civic Engagement has adopted a program called TerraCycle, a global organization that collects and converts waste into new products, such as recycled park benches or items sold at stores like Wal-Mart or Whole Foods.  TerraCycle will then donate $0.02 per unit of waste to a charity, which for us is the Bucknell Brigade in Nicaragua.

“I originally thought that the TerraCycle program would conflict with the new single-stream recycling program, but we have already raised $200 for the Brigade, and our goal is to implement more Terracycle bins around campus to spread the word,” Jessica Paquin, coordinater for the Office of Civic Engagement, said.

Items like cell phones, computers and ink cartridges have always been collected by the Bucknell Brigade, but now with the TerraCycle program, items such as toiletries (makeup cases/tubes, shampoo bottles, etc.), office supplies (old tape dispensers, glue bottles/sticks) and food waste (yogurt containers, wrappers, aluminum drink pouches) can all be recycled to benefit the Bucknell Brigade.

While other urban universities may benefit from access to more sophisticated recycling programs, the University’s single-stream system and participation in the TerraCycle program, attempt to compete with progressions made across the nation to reduce waste.  With the opportunity to effortlessly recycle without any sorting, the hope is that students and faculty will be more inclined to take advantage of this new system.

Christina Oddo
Assistant Arts & Life Editor

Students, faculty and the downtown community came together to enjoy a diverse spread of events at the Lewisburg Street Fair and “Arts. Everywhere.” Festival. Musicians, food and beverages added to the array of afternoon activities, along with things like crafts, face painting and games. The performances and events demonstrated the tie between Lewisburg and the University’s community and programs.

One such event was the Poetry Path, which had its inaugural coincide with the Street Fair. It allowed participants to read a series of poems, as well as hear the poets narrate their own works. The actual path includes 10 markers, each of which pays tribute to historic and culturally important Lewisburg locales.

“The Poetry Path tour brought together people from the community as well as faculty, staff and students from Bucknell; we also had a wide range of ages on the tour,” Shara McCallum, director of the Stadler Center for Poetry, said. “It’s a wonderful feeling when you see something–and particularly an art as often misunderstood as poetry–that can bring such a range of people together.”

Later in the day, the Campus Theatre offered free refreshments and popcorn while it hosted a showing of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” The admission prices–25 cents for adults, 10 cents for children–were the same as in 1941 when the Campus Theatre originally opened.

Across Market Street at the Downtown Art Gallery, students, faculty and community members were offered a sneak peak of the exhibit of digit prints, “The Travelogue of Dr. Brain Damages.”

Such events and more were part of the second annual “Arts. Everywhere.” festival.  This festival coincided with the Downtown Street Festival and took place both downtown and on campus.

“Including a poetry event in the ‘Arts. Everywhere.’ festival is important because many people forget that there are arts besides visual arts. I would say that poetry/literature and music are the only two non-visual arts–and actually, Shara McCallum once described poetry as ‘the only art form whose pleasure is not derived directly from one of the five senses,’” Lauren Feldman ’14 said.

Other “Arts. Everywhere.” festival events included an exhibition to the Samek Art Gallery, a Gallery Series Concert, the Weis Center’s 25th Anniversary Open House, a drum workshop with Red Baraat, a Weis Center Series performance by Red Baraat, the Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble performance, original plays performed by the Cap & Dagger club and fiction and poetry readings with students, faculty and staff.

Feldman read two poems for the Poetry Path, one about her childhood, family relations and growing up in Hawaii, the otherabout her experience as a volunteer for a suicide prevention line.

“Both these poems were autobiographical and focused on very formative experiences in my life,” Feldman said. “Getting to share such intimate parts of myself with an audience always makes me feel a little more at home here, a little more connected.”

All of the events in the Lewisburg Street Fair and “Arts. Everywhere.” festival worked to help make the Lewisburg community and University unite over appreciation for the arts and our shared town.

Daniel Park
Writer

Kenan Thompson, well-known for his eclectic roles in various comedy works such as “All That,” “Saturday Night Live” and “Fat Albert,” will be coming to the University for a night of comedy and entertainment on Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. on Sojka Lawn. The event was made possible by the cooperation between Bucknell Student Government (BSG) and Activities and Campus Events (ACE).

A survey was posted on myBucknell during the spring of 2012 to determine who students wanted to see most on campus at Center Stage. The survey provided different artists, including Thompson, Wanda Sykes and various actors from “The Office.” Of the 400 responses from the survey, approximately half favored Thompson to come to the University during this fall.

Even with the comedian’s packed schedule, ACE arranged for Thompson to visit in the following month.

“We were lucky; Kenan is currently high in demand and he only had three open dates available. His filming in not only Saturday Night Live, but various other shows made it nearly impossible for him to visit. But luckily his agents were cooperative in setting up a date for his visit,” Callie Frieler, assistant director of Campus Activities and Programming, said.

Many students already made plans to attend the event with friends and when questioned, all of them replied that he was enjoyable to watch on television.

“I don’t usually attend events hosted by ACE often, but I really plan on going to watch Kenan a month from now. I’ve seen him on television a couple of times and he seems interesting,” Dozy Onujuju ’15 said.

The bustling atmosphere on campus and stereotypically overwhelming environment of the first week of school has pushed students to look for a way to relax, have fun with friends and laugh.

“This would be a good opportunity for my friends and I to meet and enjoy Kenan perform on stage with his hilarious jokes, and best of all free food!” Erica Gaugler ’15 said.

Though the event is scheduled about a month from now, many students on campus are already aware of Kenan’s arrival on Aug. 29. As classes will be in full swing by then and life returned to the daily grind, students are already eagerly awaiting plenty of laughs and much more.

“This will be one of the few major events that will be on campus this year and I don’t plan on missing this event,” Adam Walsh ’15 said.

Siobhan Murray
Staff Writer 

The ground floor of the Elaine Langone Center (ELC) is set to expand into a centralized location for the Intercultural Equity and Advocacy offices by November. The new space will house Multicultural Student Services, International Student Services and the Women’s Resource Center offices and lounges, as well as the Activities and Campus Events (ACE) and Bucknell Student Government (BSG) offices.

“We really want to bring these services to the high traffic area of the ELC in the hopes of bringing in more people and providing more effective services for different affinity groups,” associate dean of students for diversity Thomas Alexander said. “We want people to understand that these services aren’t solely for certain people or certain groups. These services are for everyone.”

“I think it will make the offices more public and that people will know where they are. The three offices that are going downstairs will be able to work more closely and easily with one another,” Rabbi Serena Fujita said.

Alexander hopes the area can become a home base for students to hangout and spend downtime in, but also a center where students can come ask questions and voice concerns. Having the office of International Student Services in the area will provide students with a place to talk about going abroad, and ideally, talk to international students about the real experiences of foreign places.

Since the campus bookstore relocated from the ground floor of the ELC to Market Street in Lewisburg, there has been open space for student use. Right now, the hearth is an open area with seats and tables for students’ use, and houses the post office and Campus Activities & Programs (CAP) center. The new construction will keep this area for student use and expand the lounge section into new additional offices and lounges.

“I think it’s really cool that they’re expanding that area. There’s already lots of room for students to hang out and do work, and I think that putting offices there will attract lots and lots of students to the space,” Anthony Le ’16 said.

For Alexander, the broader goal is to create an appreciation for all types of diversity and a place where everyone on campus feels welcome and comfortable.

This coincides with the University’s overall goals to increase awareness of diversity and promote more openness. More attention can be paid to social and campus issues, so that “Hispanic heritage isn’t just celebrated during Hispanic Heritage Month, women’s and sexual violence empowerment isn’t just paid attention to during Take Back the Night and Black History isn’t commemorated only during Black History Month,”Alexander said.

The Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Awareness will also be moving into the ELC as well.