The Ramapo News 02.23.12
XLII NO. 14
A PUBLICATION BY THE STUDENTS FOR THE RAMAPO COLLEGE COMMUNITY the rundown
WHAT IS BLACK?
arts
The Schomberg Scholars Program funded two speakers to discuss race and culture for African American Heritage Month. Page 5
&
entertainment
sports
ONLINE DEALS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Forget about extreme couponing! Shopping online is the new way to save money when shopping. Page 11
Though they beat Rowan in the first round of the NJAC tournament, the Roadrunners lost yesterday to Richard Stockton College in double overtime. Page 13
Student Launches Paterson Tutoring Program By AUDREY ZABOHONSKI Staff Writer
Members of both mainstream and multicultural Greek organizations came together in a “unity stroll” at this year’s Meet the Greeks in an effort to unite the two divisions of the Greek community. Despite these efforts, the new recruitment events split up mainstream and multicultural groups to give each more time for different things. Photos courtesy of Naima Ricks
A Ramapo van filled with several students eager to tutor has gone to Oasis: A Haven for Women and Children every Wednesday excluding holidays and school breaks since the middle of the fall 2011 semester. Lauren MacDonald, a student coordinator in the Community Service Center (CSC), spearheaded the CSC’s first-ever reoccurring project with Oasis. The community-based non-profit organization in Paterson, NJ offers low-income and disadvantaged women and children services including after-school care that see OASIS on page 2
New Division between Orgs during Recruitment Receives Mixed Reviews from Greek Community By RACHEL WINTERMUTE Staff Writer For the first time, the Ramapo Greek community was divided for the bi-annual Meet the Greeks event. This semester, the mainstream and multicultural Greek organizations held their recruitment events separately. These events are aimed to connect interested non-Greeks with the Greek community. Tamika Quick, Coordinator for Fraternity and Sorority Life, said that the decision to separate the groups was generated by leaders of campus Greek life to address
the time conflict between the mainstream organizations that prefer to simply talk with potential members and the multicultural organizations that emphasize stepping and other performance routines in their recruitment process. “There was a President’s meeting held at the end of last semester, and we talked about it,” Quick said. “The biggest reason for that is because the College Panhellenic and InterFraternity Council (IFC) groups recruit differently. The IFC and Panhellenic organizations wanted more time and the capabilities to be able to speak
weekend weather
to new members, whereas the United Cultural Greek Council organizations, when they have their Meet the Greeks, is more performance-based.” During past events, the program time was specifically designated to performances by mostly multicultural organizations. Though mainstream organizations also had the option to perform routines, most chose to focus their time on recruitment. “Time has always been an issue when we want to talk to the girls, but we don’t want to be disrespectful when orgs are stepping,” said Christina Crescimanno, a member
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of mainstream sorority Alpha Omicron Pi. “Meet the Greeks is very important to us to get to know the girls that are interested.” Many members of Greek life, however, agreed that the reason behind this separation was unclear and may have contributed to an increased a tension between the two types of organizations. “There was a tension like, ‘Why is this happening? Is there one set group that’s better than the other? Is it just because they’re different? And if they are different, why are we being separated?’” said Porfirio Rodriguez, a member of see GREEKS on page 6
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Senior Lauren MacDonald started up a tutoring program at the Oasis, in Paterson. Photo courtesy of Audrey Zabohonski
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