By Jackie Delaney Production Manager
The Student Finance Board met on Wednesday, Sept. 9, to review requests for several events rich in culture and diversity.
First, Student Government requested $615.69 for a new event called “A Touch of Home.” According to the information packet, the purpose of the event is to “promote cultural awareness through the participation and demonstration of dances, Greek strolls, music and food.”
Vice President of Equity and Diversity Priscilla Nuñez described the event as “culturally based.” She said SG plans to offer dance workshops, a Henna tattoo station and “a map where students are able to put a sticker on where they’re from.” "A Touch of Home" will be held in Alumni Grove on Monday, Sept. 28, during Meal Equivalency hours. It was fully funded by the board.
Next, the Muslim Student Association presented for $7,315.86 for its annual Eid Dinner. This event is MSA’s biggest event of the semester. The holiday celebrates “the sacrifice that Abraham made for the sake of God, a major event in all three Abrahamic religions,” according to MSA’s proposal. This dinner will be the group’s 10th Annual Eid Dinner, which has in the past helped to “bring campus together” and “shed light onto what Muslims are like and what our traditions are,” MSA President Heba Jafri said.
The event will feature a performance by well-known Muslim comedian Azhar Usman. Attendees will receive a wristband after he performs, which will be used as a ticketing system to eat dinner afterwards. The event, which was fully funded, will run from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30, in the Decker Hall Social Space.
Chi Upsilon Sigma, the College’s Latin sorority, then presented for four different events. The first request was $180 for a tabling event in the Student Center called “De-Talks,” a program that plans to “educate the campus community on healthy ways to detox,” according to the sorority's proposal.
The table will be facilitated by a nursing student, who will provide samples and recipes that aim to detox in different ways. The request was fully funded, and the program will run during Meal Equivalency hours, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25.
Chi Upsilon Sigma then requested $93 for a program called “I Am Not My Hair.” The organization aims to discuss the culture of hair, providing “natural remedies to use for their hair,” said the group. It is designed for “women of color who, due to the type of hair they have, usually suffer from insecurity issues,” according to the proposal packet. The organization plans to use natural ingredients like avocados, aloe vera and eggs to create hair products for attendees to take home. SFB fully funded the event, which will take place on Monday, Sept. 21, at 8:30 p.m. in Social Sciences room 225.
The sorority then presented for “What Not to Wear: Career Edition,” an event it is co-sponsoring with the Career Center. The event aims to “educate the campus community on what to wear for a professional setting, including interviews or in a career field,” according to the sorority. The sisters of the sorority will be modeling different outfits and the Career Center will critique how each is appropriate or inappropriate for the professional world. There will also be a raffle for two $55 gift cards, which SFB stipulated must be from a clothing store, for winners to spend on professional clothes. The program was fully funded and will be held in Education Building room 115, on Thursday, Sept. 24.
Chi Upsilon Sigma’s last proposal was for "Diamonds of Sierra Leone," an event that will educate the community, covering “the history surrounding diamonds of Sierra Leone, the Civil War of 1991, the new Kimberly Process, life within Sierra Leone during the late 1900s, as well as the horrors its people faced until recently,” according to the information packet.
The request, which was $50 for plastic diamond rings to distribute to the audience, was fully funded by SFB. The program will start at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22, in Social Sciences Building room 223.
