THE DAILY TARGUM
Volume 141, Number 39
S E R V I N G
T H E
R U T G E R S
C O M M U N I T Y
S I N C E
MONDAY OCTOBER 26, 2009
1 8 6 9
Today: Mostly sunny
SINGING IN THE RAIN
High: 61 • Low: 45
The Rutgers football team beat Army and the rain Friday night as freshman quarterback Tom Savage picked up his first career road win in a 27-10 decision.
Hundreds to counter anti-Semitic protest BY JOHN S. CLYDE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
MAYA NACHI/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Sigma Delta Tau members perform a “Waking up in Vegas” theme dance, securing first place in the “Derby Days Lip Synch.” Zeta Tau Alpha sorority was named the overall Derby Days winner. Check out PAGE 4 for photos from last week’s events.
Greeks rake in $34K for charity BY ARIEL NAGI ACTING ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Sisters of five sororities in the National Panhellenic Conference and brothers of the Iota Psi Chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity danced the night away Saturday at the “Derby Days Lip Synch” to raise awareness for a variety of philanthropic organizations.
In honor of its 22nd annual Derby Days “On the Banks” weeklong fundraising event, Sigma Chi fraternity and Delta Gamma, Zeta Tau Alpha, Sigma Kappa, Sigma Delta Tau and Alpha Chi Omega sororities concluded Derby Days with performances at a lip synch. The event raised $34,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network and Huntsman Cancer Foundation — both
of which are Sigma Chi’s philanthropies — and for each of the sororities’ philanthropies, said Derby Days Director Gregory Smith. Half of the proceeds raised by each sorority go to their individual philanthropies and the other half goes to the Children’s Miracle Network, he said. “It’s not only having the sororities
SEE CHARITY ON PAGE 7
When picketers from the Westboro Baptist Church arrive on the Banks Wednesday at 8:45 a.m., Rutgers Hillel plans to greet them with a sea of red. The Jewish student organization is joining with other organizations around campus to counterprotest the Kansas-based antiSemitic, anti-Catholic and anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, which is scheduled to picket outside Hillel House for 30 minutes. “In the face of this kind of assault, we will not stand idly by,” said Student Board President Hilar y Neher on behalf of Hillel. “We join with our brothers and sisters at Rutgers — across ethnic, religious and gender lines — to condemn the blind hatred spewed by these people.” Neher said anyone is welcome to join the Hillel event as long as they work to make it safe and do not bring offensive signage that will provoke the group. “The event will likely consist of songs and readings from different students and student groups on campus,” Neher said.
At press time, about 2,400 people have indicated they will attend the counterprotest on Hillel’s Facebook event, which is not the only event on Facebook. Hillel plans to gather outside of their building, located at 93 College Ave., at 8:30 a.m. and is encouraging people to wear red University apparel in solidarity. Students began to organize counterprotests after the news of the protest was published, Neher said. “At that point, we realized that Hillel had a choice,” Neher said. “Either we could close our door and go about business as usual with many dif ferent disjointed groups of students protesting outside our building, or we could make the decision to act in hopes not only of combating the message of hate, but of unifying our campus in a way that has not been done in a long time.” The Rutgers University Student Assembly unanimously approved a resolution at their Thursday night meeting, supporting Hillel and calling for students to unite against hate speech.
SEE PROTEST ON PAGE 7
SORORITIES COMPETE IN ‘DERBY DAYS’ TO BENEFIT PHILANTHROPIC GROUPS
INDEX UNIVERSITY Today’s section highlights the different ways in which the University gave back to its neighboring communities over the weekend.
OPINIONS A man was arrested for indecent exposure while walking around nude in his own home at 5:30 a.m. Does he deserve jail time or has society gone too far? UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . 3
The Iota Psi chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity at the University kicked-off its 22nd annual Derby Days “On the Banks” last Sunday with a week of monetary and non-monetary competitive events among six sororities. As the largest greek fall fundraiser, half of the funds raised by each sorority benefits the Children’s Miracle Network at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Huntsman Cancer Foundation — the fraternity’s philanthropies. The rest will benefit each sorority’s philanthropic organizations. “The most important thing about this event is that I know they did it to raise money for all these great causes,” said Derby Days Director Gregor y Smith. “Not only that, I know ever ybody had fun, and I hope this helps bring the greek community together a little bit as well tie in the Rutgers community.”
Senate passes report despite controversy BY ARIEL NAGI AND CAGRI OZUTURK STAFF WRITERS
CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . 12 SPORTS . . . . . . BACK
ONLINE @ DAILYTARGUM.COM
of Derby Days held in various locations throughout campus. The greeks put on their thinking caps Wednesday night at the Jeopardy/Charity Information Night in Scott Hall on the College Avenue campus and Sigma Kappa won first place, Smith said. Sisters of each sorority bid on the brothers of Sigma Chi at the Brother Date Auction Thursday night in Voorhees Hall of the College Avenue campus. Numbers picked out of a hat indicated the points going toward each sorority’s total and funds bid on each brother was counted toward charitable donations, Smith said. Zeta Tau Alpha won first place. — Ariel Nagi
HALLOWEEN MASH-UP
U. delays deciding if federal policy that bans men who have sex with other men from donating blood is discriminatory
OPINIONS . . . . . . . 10 DIVERSIONS . . . . . . 12
The field event competition on Sunday featured an obstacle course, a relay race and a tug-of-war, said Smith, a Rutgers College senior. Sigma Delta Tau sorority won, earning a total of 2000 points. The week continued to unfold Monday with “Penny Wars,” a highly competitive game where sororities collected pennies to count toward their overall points as well as their total money raised, Smith said. Zeta Tau Alpha won the war, set up on the steps of Brower Commons on the College Avenue campus. Any silver coins, dollar bills and checks thrown into any of the teams’ jars were counted as negative points but still counted toward charitable donations, Smith said. Sorority sisters signed the brothers’ T-shir ts on Tuesday’s “Sign-a-Sig,” a non-monetar y event
Confusion, controversy and heated debate filled the Multipurpose Room of the Rutgers-Camden Campus Center during Friday’s University Senate meeting. After deliberation on whether barring men who have sex with men from donating blood violates the University’s nondiscrimination policy and if blood drives should be banned if it does, the
Senate split the report and tabled the statement regarding whether it violates the policy. The rest of the repor t passed unanimously while about seven senators and members of the public spoke against the controversial single sentence, which stated “policies of barring blood donations of men who have sex with men is not a discriminator y practice that violates Rutgers’ nondiscrimination policies.”
SEE REPORT ON PAGE 8
JENNIFER KONG
Eight-year-old city resident Freddie Rameriz, right, plays a game of darts at “Monster Mash” on Saturday at the Cook/Douglass Recreation Center. More than 1,000 children participated in the Halloween experience sponsored by 75 organizations. See UNIVERSITY on PAGE 5.