1...2...3...Don't Cut SUNY!

As my body temperature is slowly returning back to normal, I am getting ready to go outside again to try to rally students to contact their legislators and Governor Paterson that SUNY cannot take another hit.

You may be wondering what I am talking about. I planned a rally on campus for students to voice their opposition against the SUNY tuition increase. Although I understand that tuition must increase somehow, I do not see why we must increase tuition next semester by approximately $500. The Student Assembly, comprised of SUNY students all across the state, voiced their opinion on the issue and said that if tuition is to be raised, then we should raise it according to the Higher Education Price Index scale....and if we did that the figure would be around $80. I don't understand why the Governor and the SUNY presidents inflated the figure, but according to HEPI, if we all paid around $80 next semester, the school would be just fine.

Take your pick. Those who work to pay to school- would you rather shell out $80 or $500 extra next semester. Those whose parents have been scrimping and saving just so they can put you through school- what figure do you think they would rather pay? And for those of you on financial aid (myself included), I'm pretty sure you are wondering if you will be receiving the same aid next semester.

It is IMPORTANT to raise your voice. Although it is your choice to participate in government or not, this is something that affects us all, and if you are like the students who said to me that they're not interested in writing to the Governor or Legislature to show their opposition to these absurd increases...I don't have anything to say. If we all participated in showing our opposition against this- we could make a difference.

It's time to go outside again. I'm not stopping until 11:30AM. As much as I would love to stay out all day and bring a voice to my fellow students, unfortunately I have a doctor's appointment after this.

SUNY Admissions and the Economic Situation

One thing I have noticed in many major and local newspapers is that they have been reporting about how SUNYs have been forced to become more selective because of the current economic situation. So many students of many different academic backgrounds are applying to SUNYs, and respectively, the schools will accept the best of the best. I know for a fact that if I was to apply to Oneonta now with my high school grades...I don't even know if I would have got in. Of course, this is great for our school system, we have many talented people coming over to our schools...

however, it's scary when you don't know if you're the one who will make the cut. Applying to grad school isn't that far away for me. You may recall in an earlier post of mine that I was planning to go to law school...I still don't know if I want to or not. So I'm looking at MPA (Master of Public Administration) programs, and for a long time, I have been eyeing SUNY Albany's program because it is one of the best programs in the country and last year when I called up the Admissions office, they assured me that as long as I had 3.2 and a good score on the GREs, I should be fine...

When I went to the graduate fair this year and visited their table, they told me that their median GPA for the program is a 3.6. My jaw dropped when I heard that, how could they increase their selectivity so fast? And then I remembered the phrase "it's the economy, stupid."

Now even though I do consider myself to be a good student, what worries me is that I'm going to be competing against people who are applying with 4.0s and of course they'll take those people over me. To me, there isn't a better situation that studying for my MPA in Albany. It's the state capital, one really can't ask for more connections and exciting internships in that city. I know that so far, it looks like I should be good for Binghamton because they accept 3.2 as a median GPA but still...I know that the MPA experience in Binghamton would never amount to the experience I would have if I was accepted at Albany.

Ohh you have to love these little dilemmas.

Breast Cancer Research Table in Mills!

Phi Psi and Sigma Gamma Phi will be tabling on the first floor of Mills and will be collecting donations to support Breast Cancer research on Wednesday and Thursday from 11-3. No matter if it's a penny or a dollar, we will appreciate any amount that you can donate!

One thing I have noticed in my three and a half years of college is that there is always a kid who texts during class, no matter where you go. I have to admit, I am not married to my cell phone in any way, shape or form, but what I can never understand is why people feel the need to text during class? It is so rude. You are basically insulting your professor's intelligence if you text in class. Would you dare text message a person in front of your boss? Would you do that in grad school? I don't think so. Is the world going to stop if you put your phone away for 50 minutes and focus on the class?

haha sorry about the rant, but I had to get that off of my chest.

Congratulations to the new sisters of Sigma Gamma Phi- Arethusa! ...and I'll talk about some more Greek Life myths

Last night, we welcomed Michelle, Ashley, Kat, and Christina into our sorority. I am so proud of them and I cannot wait to see what they will bring to our sorority as sisters. I was so happy to see them out in their letters today. I remember my first day having letters, and it was surreal. The feeling cannot be described. You just feel so welcomed and you know that you are involved in something special.

Today was our GPA program. I talked about GPA in one of my posts last month, but just in case you don't know, GPA stands for Greek Peer Advocate which puts on programs to educate Greek Life. Today, my GPA group and I held a program called "Shake Your Money Maker," where we talked about budgeting your money and health insurance. We gave each person fake money that was worth $60 and they had to budget it out between gas, rent, weekend entertainment, and food. At the end of the program we tallied up how much money the Greeks spent at each table and it was surprising to see that people spent over $1,000 at the weekend entertainment station and only $700some dollars at gas and rent. I also talked about health insurance because to those who are graduating, they have to start worrying about health coverage after college. Next week my group will be talking about Interviewing Skills for our GPA program.

Also- if you are eating lunch at Mills, keep an eye out for our breast cancer donation table that we are holding with Phi-Psi! We will be at Mills on Thursday from 11-3 and on Tuesday from 11-3.

I decided to bring out some truth about Greek Life myths. I have chosen my top three favorites...

1. People who join fraternity or sororities pay for their friends

That is absolutely false. Think of it this way- each SA club has a budget. Greek Life is not affiliated with the SA, so we require that each member pays dues in order to support their organization. Each organization budgets out the money their receive from their dues, for example, my dues go to the Community Service Budget, the Inter-Greek Council, the Social Budget, the Rush Budget, the New Member Educator Budget, the Vice-President's Budget, the Alumni Budget, and the President's Budget. If I did not have a budget that was supported by dues, I would not be able to buy supplies for my philanthropy events.
Also, my sorority and Pi Delta Chi are local organizations which means that we do not have national offices...which means our dues are significantly lower than the national organizations on campus because we do not have to pay dues to the national offices. As for my sorority, we offer payment plans (I currently have a payment plan), which makes paying dues easier.

2. If I join Greek Life, it will take over my life

That is absolutely false. Even though one can say that I do have a very active role in my sorority as the Community Service Chair, Parliamentarian, GPA, and Greek Blogger...believe it or not, being the training director of the radio station takes up more of my time than my sorority (approx 9 hours per week). Working at Phonathon takes up more of my time (6 hours per week) than my sorority. I have three sisters who are RAs in Curtis Hall. I have three sisters who are part of OSES. One of my sisters serves on Inter-Greek Council. I know some Greeks on campus who serve on the SA E-Board.

3. If I join a fraternity or sorority, I'm just going to party all the time

Absolutely not. We do have parties, however I also require my sisters to complete 14 hours of community service by the end of the semester. In order to be recruited by a sorority, you must have a GPA above 2.5. In order to stay active in a sorority, you must have a GPA above a 2.5. Recognized Greek Life is nothing like the stereotypes. So even though you get to have fun, you will also get involved in your community and get encouraged to stay on top of your schoolwork.

I also have to mention, Neil Diamond's new album "Home Before Dark" is excellent and I LOVE the new Of Montreal CD "Skeletal Lamping." Same thing goes with the new Senses Fail album and the new Jenny Lewis album...ahhh I love getting free music from WONY.

Protests, LEAD, Juicy Campus, Unrecognized Orgs, and the whole shebang

I'm pretty sure you all are aware of the campus protest on Tuesday, and I still can't get over how proud I am of the campus stepping up and conducting the counter-protest. I applaud Robin Nussbaum for making the counter-protest such a success because I know that with all of the confusion, her guidance was needed. If you don't know who Robin Nussbaum is, she is the LEAD coordinator and I believe she is also the head of the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center. She is a really nice person and is always there if you need to talk about anything.

However, a lot of people have said that this is probably the last time that they'll see a protest in Oneonta, and I have to say they are wrong. Before the protest in the quad, my friends and I were already making plans to hold a protest on November 18th to show Governor Paterson that he cannot make anymore cuts to the SUNY budget. Over the past year I have been involved in a facebook group called "Don't Hold SUNY's Money Hostage" and I have to say that Chelle Carr and Jackie Agostino are doing a wonderful job at spreading awareness about the cuts to the students, but the thing is, students on campus aren't taking the initiative to educate the campus about what is happening.

Here's the deal: Governor Paterson is going to cut more money out of the state budget on November 18th from 10AM-11AM. It is unclear whether or not he will cut the SUNY budget, but we have to show that the students care about their campus enough that they will not tolerate anymore cuts to the SUNY budget. You should care about this because not only will tuition rise, it will be harder to attract new faculty to the campus if the campus cannot provide positions and a good salary to them. Current faculty may not be able to retire when they would like to if we are cut again. It will be harder to renovate buildings to keep us on the cutting edge and it will be harder to attract an intelligent student body, clubs, as well as the Inter-Greek Council, will lose more money to name a few vague reasons. If you want to talk about it more in detail with me, comment and we'll talk. I'm planning to hold it at 9:20 on November 18th in the quad because the facebook group is organizing a Fax Blitz, in which students will send faxes from their computers (you do not need a fax machine to participate) and tell Paterson to not cut money from the budget. And I hope you all realize that this doesn't only affect SUNY Oneonta, it affects EVERY SUNY in the system. Seniors, I highly encourage you to take action, especially if you are planning to attend a SUNY graduate school. I will post more information, as well as how to participate in the fax blitz as the days get closer.

Another cool thing about recognized Greek Life is that we also encourage you to participate in the LEAD program. The LEAD program fosters leadership on campus, it encourages participation in clubs and it also brings great programs to campus. The LEAD program is broken into three pyramids and the way to complete a pyramid is to participate in clubs, become an e-board member of a club, and attend the fantastic programs and workshops. If you complete a LEAD pyramid, the school recognizes you for it and you could put that recognition on your resume. A lot of the Greek Peer Advocate programs are LEAD-certified. To find out more information about the LEAD program, visit http://lead.oneonta.edu

However, the latest talk on campus is that Oneonta has a JuicyCampus website. I personally wish we never got one because there is nothing on the page but slander about students. I think that you are a coward if you just gossip on a website. If you feel so comfortable about gossiping on an anonymous website, I would love to see you say the slander to that person's face. I also feel that the website is dangerous because there are A LOT of posts about Greek Life....however looking through the posts, the majority of the Greek Life posts are about unrecognized organizations. I think it's dangerous because people who are interested in joining a fraternity or sorority could see these posts and base Greek Life on it, when they don't know that these posts aren't talking about recognized orgs.

If I had it my way- I personally would love to see the school completely ban unrecognized Greek organizations and I know other schools have done it. I do not believe unrecognized organizations benefit campus life at all- in fact they are the reason why Greek Life gets such a bad rep. I was sitting in a professor's office this semester, and one of the kids from my class comes in, all dressed in a certain color and he is holding onto an object, with the unrecognized organization's letters branded on it, for dear life. My professor, who was part of a recognized fraternity when he was in undergrad, asked if someone is telling him to hold that object. And the kid said yes. Later the kid and I were talking and he was wondering if he'd ever make it through the process and I felt bad for him because he was obviously getting hazed. Why does the school let this go on? These students in unrecognized organizations can never put the fact that they were involved in these orgs on their resume. What's the use of being an e-board member of an unrecognized organization if you can never put it down on your resume? These unrecognized orgs can never reserve a room on campus to conduct any type of activity. The unrecognized orgs, to my knowledge, cannot access your grades and tell you that maybe its best that you become inactive for a semester to focus on your schoolwork. They can never set up a table in the quad. They cannot make any connections with faculty and staff through their organizations and no reputable philanthropy would ever have their name affiliated with an unrecognized organization. Also, unrecognized organizations completely bring down the school. I remember when I was at Hartwick, pledges of an unrecognized organization couldn't take the hazing anymore and reported the organization to the police in 2006. Hartwick faced so much negative press because of it and the story was even mentioned in the NY Post and on NBC4 in NYC. In the summer of 2006, because of what happened to that unrecognized organization, Hartwick was considering banning Greek Life all together so the school would never have to face the negative press ever again. Thankfully, Hartwick decided not to take any action on recognized Greek Life. So what's the point? I don't see any point to it. And to anyone interested in Greek Life, I really hope that you don't see any point to unrecognized Greek Life.

She offered me her sleeve and told me to blow my nose into it...and I remember thinking "this is love"

You may be wondering where that title came from and what's the purpose of it. It's from Garden State, which is one of my favorite movies in the world. Anytime I watch it, I get so inspired because the message of the movie is to find something real. And I find that the quote I picked out defines the meaning of unconditional love/friendship.

Today marks the end of another break that went by wayyy too fast, and my sorority sister Michelle and I drove back to Oneonta together. Her mom drove to my hometown of Callicoon Center. Never heard of it? That's quite alright, people in Sullivan County, my home county, don't even know where Callicoon Center is. It's a hamlet that has 50 people in it, and when my family moved to the area, the "Children at Play" sign was put up just for us. There's nothing more that I love when I show my friends from college the tour of my town because it literally lasts two seconds because its so small.

I remember growing up that I used to resent growing up in Sullivan County...but ever since I left I have nothing but respect for it. Where I live, it's 20 minutes to get to a major chain supermarket, a half hour to get to a movie theater that plays more than just one movie screen(sorry to knock you Callicoon Theater, but Monticello always had more movies) and a hour to get to a major shopping mall. Once I tell people those facts, they wonder how I made it through life, and when I really think about what they're asking me...that stuff doesn't really matter. I met the most amazing friends there. I am so happy I can say that my friends from high school still have my back, and I'll always have theirs. Even though we did complain about not being near to a more metro area, we did the best that we could. We made Monticello or Honesdale Wal-Mart into a place where anything could be possible. You lived for Diner Nights at the Liberty Diner, even though all you really could afford was a cup of coffee. You felt invincible dancing in the streets while the Callicoon Center Band played and turned the town that has 50 people in it into an entertainment attraction. And nothing felt more liberating than running in a farmer's hay field and then scrambling to get out of there because you saw his truck coming and you were running towards your friend's minivan just so you guys could drive off and not get in trouble for trespassing haha. I probably won't come back to Sullivan County to live, especially if I go to Penn State. The job that I want isn't available in SC. The life I want isn't attainable in SC. I think that's the reason I appreciate home so much because I know that those days are gone and I should just be thankful I was lucky to experience my memories.

Michelle comes from a small town near New Paltz and even though we've known each other for a year, we talked about stuff that we never covered before and the whole trip just flew by. And that's why I'm so happy to be in the sorority because without it, I would have never met her. She lives in Human Ecology, I live in Fitzelle lol...we're both in different res halls and activities, there is no way we would have crossed each other's paths. But another thing I appreciated more than anything was that we were being real to each other and I honestly think that we need more sincerity in the world. There's so many people that you meet that put up fronts but never show you their real self. Maybe they are scared, maybe they are ignorant, but I think that if we do just show people our real, pure selves- life will get so much better. For example, before this semester, I didn't know Lauren, the Pi Chi Blogger. But we met on move in day this year and when we went to the first Greek Ambassodars meeting we got to know each other, and we got to be friends. I would love to see more Greek Unity on this campus rather than just being paired up in groups because we have to be. One thing that I really don't get is that sororities hang with the fraternities, but you never see another sorority hanging with another sorority. It's not a problem of us not liking each other, I think the problem is that none of us know each other. We all have found our niche in our organizations and we stay there. If there is anything I would love to see before I graduate next December, it would be better relations between the sororities.

So I think, to anyone who reads this blog: Your mission is, if you meet a new person, don't be scared, try to get to know them, and let them get to know you. Because you never really know who can be a new friend. And you never know if they will be the ones who will have your back one day.

I dedicate these lyrics to anyone who comes from a small town.

Coffee
-Copeland
There's plenty of time left tonight
I promised I'd have you home before daylight
We do the best we can in a small town
Act like big city kids when the sun goes down
If it's not too late for coffee
I'll be at your place in ten
We'll hit that all night diner
And then we'll see
There's so many things I have to say
I'll stay up all night to hear about your day
We do the best we can in a small town
Act like kids in love when the sun goes down
If it's not too late for coffee
I'll be at your place in ten
We'll hit that all night diner
And then we'll see
There's a love that transcends
All that we've known of ourselves
And I'll wait for it to come
I'll wait for it to come
Well it's got to be strong to touch my heart
Through its shell
And I'll wait for it to come
I'll wait for it to come
If it's not too late for coffee
I'll be at your place in ten
We'll hit that all night diner
And then we'll see
There's a love that transcends
All that we've known of ourselves
And I'll wait for it to come
I'll wait for it to come
Well it's got to be strong to touch my heart
Through its shell
And I'll wait for it to come
I'll wait for it to come down

Living the Hostel Life...well not yet

I know that this entry has nothing to do with Greek Life, but hey, I thought it would be interesting and it could show all those who are interested in Greek Life that you can have a life outside of Greek Life.

I'm the training director for the college radio station, WONY 90.9FM. Every year, the station gets the chance to go to the College Music Journal Festival in NYC. I'm pumped because my badge gives me full access to see my favorite bands, Coheed and Cambria, Broken Social Scene, Minus the Bear, and Saves the Day. However today just threw a huge wrench in our plans. We reserved SA buses but for some reason, someone (not me because I didn't have a hand in this) put down that we were coming back to campus on Friday, when the festival ends on Saturday. So it looks like we are going to try to get the SA to give us a gas card because there is no way we can return on Friday, it would be a waste of the school's money to do so. So we are going to take two cars, but we can't take mine because my car has around 29,920 miles (I'm just guest-imating) on it and I was planning to get my car serviced for the 30,000 checkup in November when I had the money to do that. I don't mind going over the 30,000 miles to go home or doing little trips in Oneonta, but I don't feel comfortable taking a round trip from Oneonta to NYC. That- and I don't trust my car in a parking lot in NYC. It's a 2006 Toyota Rav4 and if I do that, I'm pretty sure I'm just asking for it to be stolen/broken into. And the biggest factor is: I have never driven in NYC before. I am from Upstate NY, I am not used to that kind of traffic and it's not like I can hand the wheel over to someone else because I'm the only one who's insured to drive the car, god forbid anything happens.

Then- the hostel situation. I have never stayed in a hostel before. We are going to have 8 people with us and the rooms fit 10 beds, so we're probably having 2 random people stay in our room. Uhhh again, I don't know how I feel about that. I am hoping that we will have nice people stay with us at least. This trip sounded so exciting at first...spending the week to go to NYC and seeing concerts and meeting other radio stations... and now it just seems that all the logistics aren't working out.

I'll Never Let Go Jack: Voter Registration, Bingo, and Open House

Tonight's title was inspired by how many times this weekend that I've flipped on the TV only to see that Titanic was playing. I remember seeing it in the 5th grade and I wanted to fall asleep so bad. I didn't care about the love story, maybe it's because I was too young to fully comprehend what Jack meant to Rose and all that jazz, I just wanted to see the boat sink, as weird as that sounds. And one thing I always wondered about the movie is that when Jack and Rose are in the water after the boat sinks, why couldn't they manuever themselves to both lay on the door...or maybe switch places from time to time? All I truly know is that I still can't listen to "My Heart Will Go On" because it was overplayed so much.

So you may have wondered how the Voter Registration Drive went, and I am so proud of my sorority and Chi Phi. I am not sure of the total numbers, but what I can tell you is that we registered over 70 people to vote on Tuesday.

On Thursday, we played Bingo with the Nursing Home again. I was with 2 of my sisters, Chris and Tori. It was cool because one of the residents, Millie, just came out of the hospital and she was there to play this week! She is one of our regulars and has been playing with us since we started playing Bingo in 2006. We talked about voting, and I learned that one of the ladies, Bertha, won't be able to vote because she's a Michigan resident, and she is unable to get an absentee ballot because the Otsego County Board of Elections is in Cooperstown and she has no way to get there to fill out the forms. I feel so bad for her but I told her that I'd vote for Obama for her (not that I wasn't going to vote for him already.)

You may wonder if I jumped on the Obama bandwagon, and that is the furthest thing from the truth. I remember flipping through AOL News in 2004 and one of the headlines was "Who Is Barack Obama" and it was talking about this speech in the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In 2007, I got to take a Race and Politics class, and we were required to read Barack's book Dreams of My Father. When I read the book, I was taken back because he is a conversational narrarator and he was unafraid to reveal the controversial parts of his life, for example, when he experimented with cocaine. In January 2008, I received the chance to be enrolled in the Presidential Campaigns class and one of the requirements of the class was to go to the New Hampshire Primary. I got to see Barack speak in Concord, NH and Nashua, NH, and I got to volunteer at the Concord Obama Headquarters. There are no words on what it feels like to be in that audience when Barack is speaking. Also- Barack and I see eye to eye on the issues and I cannot find myself to agree with John McCain. Some people say, "don't just vote on one issue." But when it comes to a presidential candidate firmly stating that he supports overturning Roe v. Wade, I'm sorry, I cannot let someone be in office who will not let women have the right to choose. Personally, I could never see myself going through with an abortion unless I faced extrodinary circumstances, but I believe that women should have the right to choose. And don't get me started on Sarah Palin. Regardless if you agree with me or not, (trust me, I'm a political science major, I've heard it all) it is important to educate yourself. Don't go for the candidate that looks good on paper, ask yourself..."what is life going to be like if this candidate comes through with his campaign promises?" Oh and just to clarify, I'm not just voting on the issue of abortion, it's just an issue I really care about and it was easy to use as an example.

Saturday was Open House and I had so much fun doing it. I got to give out tours and meet a lot of prospective students. As a transfer, Oneonta means so much to me that I feel like I have to give back to it in some way. However, I don't regret spending my first two years at Hartwick, it makes me appreciate Oneonta so much more, and also- I would have never met my Hartwick friends. So many people ask me "so, do you talk to your friends from Hartwick?" And I just look at them and say "I wouldn't turn my back on the people who had my back for 2 years." Sometimes I wish I wasn't involved in so much so I could see them more. I got to hang out with my Hartwick friends on Saturday and it just made me miss them so much. I know it seems weird that I'm complaining about not seeing people who literally live right across the street, but because I'm involved so much in my schoolwork, sorority, and WONY (I'm the training director of the radio station) and my job at Phonathon...I barely have time to see my own roommates.

My big sister in the sorority is leaving for Denver tomorrow. She got to visit me this weekend. For those who don't know what big sister or big brother means, when you are a new member you are given to a member of your fraternity or sorority who will guide you through the new member process. You are their little, they are your big. I'm so proud of my big because she isn't going out to Denver for nothing, she is participating in Americorps, which is like the Peace Corps, but in America. She will be there until July, and she will be helping out with various community service projects throughout the country. For more information about Americorps, go to http://www.americorps.org/ I would love to do Americorps or Teach for America, but unfortunately, I don't think I can. Because of my double major, I am graduating a semester late, and I will be taking 6 months off of school until law school (hopefully) begins. I will be 23 in 2010, and if I did Americorps or Teach for America (which takes 2 years to complete, you can find more information at http://www.teachforamerica.org/) , I would be 24 once I got out of Americorps and then I would be (hopefully) entering law school as a 24-25 year old, which means that I would (hopefully) graduate law school when I'm 28-29 because I hope to go to Penn State for their dual JD/Masters in Educational Theory and Policy and that program takes 4 years to complete. Having my first real job at 29 years old doesn't appeal to me. Actually, seeing my life planned out like that scares me a little bit. If these 4 years flew by, I don't even want to know what I'll think when I'm 29.

These lyrics go out to my Hartwick friends and my big sister...

"I'm falling into memories of you
The things we used to do.
Follow me there
A beautiful somewhere
A place that I can share with you..."
-Yellowcard: One Year, Six Months

I would like to give a shout-out to my sorority, because not counting voter registration or the Open House, we completed 91 hours and 15 minutes of community service this semester. I am so proud of you all!

I'm the king of the world,
Claps

National Hazing Prevention Week, Bingo, Meet the Greeks, and Greek Life Rocks the Vote!

Hey Everyone!

Last week was National Hazing Prevention Week (NHPW). This was my first time participating with the week...yet I still decided to be the NHPW representative for my sorority. That's one of the great things about Greek Life is that even if you are stepping into something that is completely foreign to you, your fellow Greeks will help you along to figure things out. The committee was not made of only Greeks, Oneonta State Athletics also sent their team members as representatives as well. We were also guided by our Greek Advisor, Angie Eichler, the Women's Volleyball Coach, Colleen Cashman, and the director of Judicial Affairs, Mary Logan. It was definately a great chance to get to know and work with people from all over campus.

When the average Joe hears the word "hazing," chances are is that he will associate the word with Greek Life. Hazing occurs in athletics, high school, the military, and other student organizations, so the NHPW committee set out to educate our campus that hazing can occur anywhere, and we should all look out for each other.

Also- I would like to make it clear the Recognized Greek Life at SUNY Oneonta has a No Hazing Policy. If you feel that you are being hazed or if you know of someone in a Recognized Greek Organization who is being hazed, do not hesitate to contact the Office of Campus Life at (607) 436-2410, Option #2.

On Monday, we were encouraged to wear Anti-Hazing T-shirts that I designed with my T-Shirt Committee. It was pretty scary because I didn't want to design something that the whole campus would hate, so my committee and I thought of words that rhymed with "Haze" and we settled on "Be Smart, Don't Get Hazed and Confused." It was a reference to the movie Dazed and Confused, where one of the opening scenes are the high school seniors hazing the underclassmen. Thankfully, the t-shirts turned out awesome and a lot of people liked them. Also on Monday, the Dean of Student Development at Cornell, Tom Marshell, addressed the campus about how horrible it is to be hazed and be part of an organization that does haze. However, he stood up to his organization and completely changed their new member process. It goes to show you that one person CAN make a difference and I commend him for that. I wasn't able to attend the speech because I had work (Yeah Oneonta Phonathon!), but I heard a lot of people were moved by it.

On Tuesday, there was a Greek/Athletic Mixer. On Wednesday, the video clips commitee and I presented a Power Point and discussion session about hazing. One of our goals was to show that hazing doesn't occur only in Greek Life, it occurs in high school, the United States Air Force, and we even showed a clip of high school teachers hazing our students. I commend Morgan from Mu Sigma Upsilon Sorority Incorporated, Jason from Phi Kappa Psi, and Cynthia from Chi Upsilon Sigma for putting together an amazing presentation. On Thursday, each fraternity and sorority had Philanthropy Tables outside the Quad as well. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the event because I had Metaphysics, so I can't give a fair observation about how it went.

However, on Thursday, I got to play bingo with the residents of the Robynwood Nursing Home. I cannot tell you how much I love those ladies. They are really grateful for anyone to hang out with them and I haven't seen them for months and they still remembered my name. I honestly believe that there should be more relations between the nursing home and the college because even though we are still so young, we don't know whether we will one day be in their place. These residents are so diverse, and for some of them, they haven't seen their families in a while. I love being a part of their family, as corny as that sounds, it's from the heart. I was very close with my Grandparents and when my Grandma passed away suddenly on May 8th, 2005, it shattered my world. She was so excited to see me graduate from high school and go to college. Also, I turned 18 on May 20th. Unfortunately, she wasn't there to see me accomplish those three milestones. She was also there for me during the hardest time of my life...I was in a biracial relationship and for some reason, my parents didn't approve of my ex-boyfriend just because of his skin color. His parents and my parents broke us up because the race thing was stressing both families out. Since then, my parents have changed their views and will let me date whoever I choose, but ever since he and I started dating, my grandparents were behind me 101%. The night before she had her stroke, I was crying with her because I just didn't understand why my mom and dad would do such a thing to me, right before my prom, birthday, and graduation. And she said that she trusted me and knew that I would always make the right decision. That meant so much to me. I made the choice while she was still in the hospital to live with my Grandpa. They didn't live far from us, they were only three houses down, but it killed me because my uncles only saw him once every month after my Grandma passed away. He was appreciative of any company. During my freshman year of college, I made sure to go home one weekend out of the month, and I spent my breaks with him. My Grandfather passed away, also suddenly, on May 7th, 2006. I spoke to him the night before he passed away, and he told me that he couldn't wait to get home from the hospital to celebrate my birthday. But the best present that I received on my 19th birthday was that he was with my Grandma. Ever since then, I have just been so appreciative of the gifts life brings to us. haha, I know I have laid out a lot of personal stuff, but I felt it was neccessary to prove my point that we should give our time to the elderly.

Ok! Onto happier things...we had Meet the Greeks today. However, even though I felt that there was a lot of Greek Unity at the event (I'll get to that later), I feel that the event wasn't promoted enough throughout campus. Everyone at the event were members of a Greek Organization, and there was barely anyone there who was interested in recruitment. However, it was amazing to see that Mu Sigma Upsilon Sorority Incorporated had a bunch of sisters from their chapter at SUNY New Paltz to support them at this event and Chi Upsilon Sigma Sorority Incorporated had their sisters from SUNY Binghamton to support them as well. I have yet to meet my other sisters at our recognized chapters at SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Fredonia, and SUNY Potsdam/Clarkson University, so I feel really happy for them that they have such a tight bond with their other chapters. However, my sorority is going to get together with our other chapters in November. I hope I am able to go but I have work on Friday and because I will be away at the College Music Journal Conference from October 21st to the 25th, I am scared to take too many days off from work.

On Tuesday, Chi Phi and my sorority is holding a campus-wide voter registartion event, Greek Life Rocks The Vote! We will be tabling at Mills, Hulbert, and Wilsbach from 11-3 and we will either get you registered to vote or give you an absentee ballot. That night, we will be holding a presentation about voting and the candidates at 7PM in IRC 4. I hope to see you there!

Be the change YOU want to see in the world,
Claps

Greek Peer Advocates, Community Service, and Scholarship Recognition, Oh My!

First off- I'd like to congratulate my sisters and the sisters of Sigma Sigma Sigma for winning the Highest Sorority GPA award at the Greek Awards Dinner last Thursday. Tri-Sig has won this award for many semesters, and it's an honor to be tied with them for this award. One of the myths about Greek Life is that once you join an organization, you will never have time for school work. The complete opposite is true. At Oneonta, our recognized Greek Life Organizations put a lot of pride into their schoolwork. We have a scholarship chair who presides over the SUNY Oneonta Inter-Greek Council and each chapter has a scholarship chair to make sure that their brothers or sisters are keeping up their grades. Next semester, in order to be active through the school, each Greek brother and sister must have a GPA above 2.5. Also, in order to be eligable for fraternity or sorority recruitment, one must have a GPA above 2.5. Being a Greek Life Scholar has a lot of benefits, I believe that if your term GPA is above a 3.0, you will receive an award at the end of the semester recognizing you for your acheivements, and for those who have a cummulative GPA of 3.25, one will be invited to join the national Greek honor society, Order of Omega.

Oneonta Greek Life also have Greek Peer Advocate program, otherwise known as GPA. Each chapter designates a brother or a sister to serve a Greek Peer Advocate. But what is this program and what do the GPAs do? I'm one of the GPAs for my sorority and we decided to switch the program up this semester. In the past, we would invite Greek Life to programs about Time Management, Conflict Resolution etc., the programs were good...but they didn't apply to all of the age groups. So this year, we are tailoring programs for sophomores, juniors and seniors. For example, the senior GPAs and I created a program called "Shake Your Money Maker" and we are going to talk about money management, how to budget out your college loans, and how to get health insurance after graduation. The sophomore class is having a GPA program about how to rent an Oneonta apartment. I would highly recommend being a GPA to any Greek because you get to develop programs and you get to know a lot of people from other organizations.

Also- I'm really excited because starting on Thursday, we are playing bingo with the residents of the Robynwood Nursing Home. We have played bingo at the nursing home for almost 3 years. I live for Thursday Night Bingo. The ladies are so nice and so funny and you find yourself getting attached to them.

Alex's Lemonade Stand- We Raised $241.55!

One thing I love about my sorority is that our name is synonymous with community service. We have won the IGC Community Service Award for three years in a row and my goal is to make it 4 years. I am the Community Service Chair of Sigma Gamma Phi for this semester, and over the summer, I thought of a lot of new community service ideas. One of those ideas was Alex's Lemonade Stand.

Alex's Lemonade Stand is a charity that supports childhood cancer research. Alex Scott was a little girl from Pennsylvania who was diagnosed with cancer. When she was 4 years old, she set up a lemonade stand in her hometown and all the proceeds would benefit childhood cancer research. She set up stands until she passed away in 2004 at 8 years old. Ever since then, it has become a movement across the country, and this summer I had the chance to participate in a Alex's Lemonade Stand with my youth leadership group and we had raised $300. It was so amazing and I knew that I wanted to do it in Oneonta.

On Saturday, September 6th, we held our first Alex's Lemonade Stand at Oneonta Wal-Mart. At first, it seemed like all the odds were against us: it was raining all day, and when we arrived at Wal-Mart, it was shut down due to a transformer fire that affected all of Southside Oneonta. However, we waited the power outage out and we started to collect money.

But the thing was, we weren't just sitting on a bench pouring out lemonade every now and then- we had the chance to meet a lot of amazing people with unique stories. 2 of our alumni who live in the immediate area stopped by to give us money, a man donated $10 in memory of his wife who passed away from cancer. As he told us the story, we were all either crying or just tearing up. I also met a man who donated money who was crying because he had a flashback of his friend who passed away during 9/11...and on the lighter side I also got to meet a man named Sal Claps...who knew that I would meet someone who's last name is my nickname.

All in all, it was a successful day and I am so happy that we did this event.

If you would like more information about Alex's Lemonade Stand, please visit http://www.alexslemonade.org/

Keep on keepin' on
Claps

The EPIC first post....and Bid Day!

Heyyyy everyone!

Whoa! It's the first post here. I guess I have to do the whole introduction thing. My name is Alexandra Aiello, but everyone calls me Claps because I don't have any rhythm. Trust me- it's a sad case when I dance, clap...anything that requires a beat just doesn't work out with me haha. I'm a Political Science and Philosophy major at Oneonta (what can I say, I like reading books by old, dead guys), and I'm going to graduate in December 2009. I love it here so much that graduation seems like it would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me....but unfortunately my parents don't want to say that they raised the female equivalent of Tommy Boy. On campus, I'm the Training Director of WONY 90.9 FM and I'm a sister of Sigma Gamma Phi.

But that's probably the reason why you are reading this: you want to know what Greek Life is all about, and I'm going to try to do my best to tell you all about it. I decided to join a sorority because a lot of my friends from other colleges were in Greek Life and loved it. So I wanted to see what they were talking about. Also- I transferred from Hartwick College (I know, it was a huge move), and I really wanted to get to know other people from campus. At Hartwick, the school was so small that you knew EVERYONE. At Oneonta, I was overwhelmed by the fact that I only knew my roommates- and that was it. I didn't want to go to school at Oneonta and have my social life at Hartwick.

I decided to go to Meet the Greeks. It's an event where all the recognized Greek organizations have tables full of memorobilia and all of the brothers and sisters are there to answer all of your questions about Greek Life. The first table I went to was Sigma Gamma Phi and the first person I met from there was the lovely Michelle Della Giovanna. We start talking and I mentioned that I was a transfer. She asks me where I transferred from, and I said "Hartwick." It turns out that her boyfriend was a friend of mine at Wick, but she and I never met! I got to talk to the rest of the sisters and they were so down to earth. I knew that they were the right fit once one of the sisters, Dillon, asked me if I was going to the Brand New concert. I pledged in Fall 2007 and I haven't looked back since. It's been a great experience and I have amazing friends in the sorority. My advice is, no matter which organization you may decide to pledge, is that you find the one that fits you. Don't go for the one just because they have the best rush shirts on campus...find the organization where you will find friendship.

It's been a year since my bid day. Today, we had our Fall Bid Day. Bid Day is when Greek Life has a ceromony welcoming our new members. Normally we have the ceromony in Hunt Union but this year, we had it outside. We welcomed 4 new members: Christina, Ashley, Michelle, and Kat, and they are all awesome =D. However, there was just one problem. During our part of the ceromony where we sing to the new members, a hornet decided to visit me....and that wasn't a good thing. I am deathly allergic to bug bites and bee stings so I was SPAZZING out while I was singing right in front of Greek Life. I was trying to avoid the hornet at all costs, so while everyone is standing inside the circle, I'm moving every which way to avoid the sting of death lol. haha it was the most mortifying moment of my whole life. But in the end- everything is alright and life goes on haha.

Keep it real!