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Volume 117
| Issue 1
NEXT ISSUE: All the details of the new alcohol policy, what’s changed, and how it affects you
Rollins College
Friday | August 27, 2010
ROLLINS TOMOKAN YEARBOOK, 1980
Florida’s Oldest College Newspaper, Est. 1894
PHOTOS BY SPENCER LYNN Fire Dancers: A troupe of Polynesian dancers and performers displayed their fiery talents in front of the campus center during the R-Big Event. The fire dancers wowed the audience with their daring moves, tossing, kicking, and even licking the flames from the lit torches.
A Fiery Welcome Back at R-Big Event The revamped involvement fair goes all out with fire dancers, stilt walkers and a massive student organization turnout
Louisa Gibbs The Sandspur
Remember the giant dinosaur blow-up on Mills Lawn? Students can thank the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) and the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership (OSIL) for hosting this year’s Involvement Fair, re-named “R-Big Event.” It most certainly gave the students a great end to their first day of the academic year. Despite the unpredictable Florida weather, hundreds of first-years and upperclassmen joined the festivities held at the Cornell Campus Center where they found hula and fire dancers, a comedian illusionist, a step show from Sigma Gamma Rho, a free dinner, and more excitement. The purpose of the
Involvement Fair is to show students exactly what happens at Rollins and how to be a part of that. The best way to get involved is to find an organization that best reflects the values, beliefs and interests of a student. It is also a great way to meet people and make friendships that will last a lifetime. In past years, the Involvement Fair has been held in the Alfond Sports Center at the end of orientation week. However, this year OSIL and OMA realized that this structure prevented upperclassmen from learning about the various opportunities available for getting involved at Rollins. Brent Turner, director of OSIL, said, “Inviting both new and returning students as well as faculty and staff to the event
created a very energetic Cornell Campus Center!” The organizations featured at the fair ranged from cultural to athletic to social justice, and so forth. All of the tables had information about the organization’s purpose, activities and— in many cases—candy! Mahjabeen Rafiuddin, director of OMA, was pleased with the large amount of interest shown in the Rollins cultural and social justice groups. "Our 17 cultural organizations collected several pages of names of students who are are interested in getting involved with the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Students don't have to be African American/Black in order to join Black Student Union or Latino/a to join the Latin American Student Association.” Kelsey Beaumont ‘12 at-
SPENCER LYNN Card Tricks: Illusionist, Erik Olson, performed for crowds both at the Dave’s Down Under stage and the Skillman Dining Hall where the involvement fair was held.
tended R-Big event and shared, “as a peer mentor, it was great to see the first-years getting to know the organizations on campus and starting their journey towards global citizenship and responsible leadership.” Jamie Pizzi ‘14 thoroughly enjoyed the fair. “The organizers did a really great job building interest in the opportunities available at Rollins and ways to get involved. It’s a shame the fair got moved inside because the dining hall quickly became
crowded and hard to move around or ask questions. Nevertheless, there are many organizations at Rollins I look forward to taking part in, like the newspaper.” If anyone missed out, Chase Hall houses the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership, where you can stop by to find out how you can get involved on campus.
More R-Big Event Coverage on page 4
The Sane Opposition
Brendan Monroe The Sandspur
ASSOCIATED PRESS Heated Debate: Pedestrians stop to argue with protesters standing before the site of a proposed mosque near ground zero in New York.
Islamic sentiments. They seem to be saying blame Muslims and immigrants in general for the problems people face and what better way to channel those fears than into conservatively led opposition to the Cordoba Initiative’s construction plans. The matter is made worse by the right’s absurd argument that building a mosque near ground zero is somehow the equivalent of brandishing a swastika outside of the Holocaust Memorial Museum or housing a memorial to Hitler outside of Auschwitz. These and other comparisons are reckless because they cast adherents of an entire religion into a category of people as demented and sick as the Nazis were.
Do not deny it; everyone has an opinion on the plan by the Cordoba Initiative to build a “community center” and mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It is highly likely that a person’s political and religious beliefs already determine what side of the issue he or she is on. Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and Rush Limbaugh, along with the rest of the tea-crazed right lie predictably in opposition. The problem is not simply that they are in opposition but that they and other members of the extreme right are funneling American fears about the current state of the economy and high unemployment into anti- Continued on OPINIONS page 3
The opinions on this page and in the opinions section do not necessarily represent the view of The Sandspur or The Sandspur Staff.