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December 11, 2007
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Vol. 80 Issue #14
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The The
Free Access to Ideas... Full Freedom of Expression
A Risk Worth Taking By Kristen E. Mello Anchor Contributor On Monday, Nov. 19, students gathered together in the Student Union, anxious to know the essence of what they were enveloped in. “Mature Audiences Only: Come at Your Own Risk, You Will Be Offended” was the title of the event prepared by the Resident Assistant (RA) staff. The planning of this event began during August RA training when Resident Assistant Bill Jones did a presentation on diversity. His work sparked ideas with a small group to present a campuswide diversity event at Rhode Island College. This group discussed the idea with a larger group of Resident Assistants who then adopted it and chose the diversity event to be part of their monthly all-staff event calendar. Together with the professional staff of the Residential Life & Housing Office, they devised a mission statement which was presented at the event: “The mission of our office is to openly accept every difference of all RIC residents and students, including, but not limited to, race, gender, religion, ability, orientation, political views, language, ethnicity, culture, beliefs, values and socioeconomic status. We will strive to ensure the comfort and safety of all community members by celebrating, ap-
preciating and educating, without judgment, the community we serve through programming, leadership opportunities, accepting new ideas and inspiring others to lead by example.” This event was meant to be the first of many which will support this department wide initiative. Throughout the evening, students learned about various issues regarding race, class, prejudice, social and moral issues. To maximize impact, they learned about these topics by being sub-
merged into the situations themselves. Initially, students were divided into a class system by being separated into classes themselves at a section known as the “Hunger Banquet.” From rich to middle to poor classes, students were treated as if they were part of a class system and were served a variety of foods. The rich were served a meal of Chicken Alfredo and Baked Pasta by wait staff, while the poor sat on the floor drinking tomato soup from a jug. With mixed emotions students correlated ideas and views of the class system in society as well as discussing
the common difficulties among them. Student Rasni Hal realized these difficulties. “I felt bad eating the food when other people were only given tomato soup and sat on the floor; it was eye opening.” Students discussed how it is not easy to move from class to class to get what he or she wants and applied it to everyday life. It’s a struggle. The “Hunger Banquet” was a simulation activity that has been used on many campuses to open dialogues on the issues expressed by the students. It was implemented into the event due to their successes which continued through this event. In a similar fashion to the “Hunger Banquet,” students were divided into groups for the next section based on their appearance u n b e knownst to the participants. In the groups students were asked to choose which person on the slide who they would give a college scholarship to based on photos. Later on during processing, the groups explained the reasons for their choice. Some groups were “hung juries” as they could not or would not choose based on a photo. Discussions arose about how everyone deserves an equal opportunity for a scholarship regardless of appearance, race, culture, struggles and beliefs. Afterwards, the Resident Assistants explained to the students that they were divided into groups based on
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Finals Week Arrives A NEWS EDITORIAL by Kameron Spaulding Anchor Editor If you haven’t looked at a calendar or gone to class in the last few weeks, we have an announcement. Finals are coming. The 17th is the first day of finals week and students all around the campus are getting ready. So as you start to freak out because you still don’t know what the heck Angular Momentum is; here are a few tips. The first thing you need to do is plan out your time. There is one week of classes and then the week of finals. Grab that calendar and try to schedule out as much of that time as possible. The make sure you stick to that plan. When you write your schedule, include short study breaks to help you refresh. Without this you will go insane there is no way around it. Also don’t forget to take care of yourself over these two weeks. Now I am sure there are people out there that can live on two hours of sleep a night, but most of us cannot. You will do much better if you get that sleep. You also need to eat. A bag of
chips and a two litter of Mountain Dew is not a balanced diet. There have been numerous studies that say eating well and getting sleep may have just as large of an affect on your test scores as all that studying. On top of that be sensible about all of this. If you have an F in the class, have no notes and know no one in the class, throw in the towel. Use that time to focus on classes that have reachable goals. Another great way to help you study is forming good study groups. Find people that know there stuff, and that motivate you. Remember you are getting together to study. Make sure that stays the goals of these meetings, not playing Guitar Hero. In the end you need to remember it is just a test. Yes you should try your best and work hard. But when it is all over relax and enjoy your break. Once you hand in that last test there is nothing you can do now but enjoy the holidays. So good luck, study hard, get some rest, and nail those tests.
By Grace Ionata Anchor Staff November was a busy month at Rhode Island College’s Campus Security. There were many incidents reported, ranging from traffic accidents to theft to vandalism, in addition to a number of others. The traffic accidents occurred in a variety of locations around campus. On Nov. 1, one occurred on Library Road West. Another occurred on Nov. 2 in Parking Lot J. There was also a traffic accident on Nov. 20 in Parking Lot H. There were several reports of fire alarms in the month of November. There was one on Nov. 3 in Whipple Hall, one on Nov. 7 in Weber Residence Hall, another on Nov. 12 in the New Residence Hall, and one on Nov. 21 in Donovan Dining Center. There were four reports of theft during November. Three occurred in vehicles and one in a residence hall. Thefts occurred on Nov. 9 in the Residence Hall Area and two on Nov. 17 on Library Road West from vehicles. There was a report of theft on Nov. 4 in Browne Hall. It is very important for all students to lock up their belongings at all times, just to be safe. There were also incidents of vandalism reported. There was vandalism to a school building on Nov. 7 in Gaige Hall. There were two reports of vandalism to cars, both in Parking Lot L, as well. The first was on Nov. 9 and the second on Nov. 20. A number of other incidents were reported. On Nov. 18, there was a report of someone making threatening and harassing calls in Weber Residence Hall. There were two reports of a controlled substance violation, both in Thorp Residence Hall. These were reported on Nov. 19 and 26.