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(11/11/03 12:00pm)
For anyone seeking an opportunity to interact with Muslim students or a chance to explore a different culture, look no further than the College's Islamic Society.
One of a variety of religious groups on campus, the Islamic Society provides a way for Muslim students to meet and celebrate their faith.
"I think it is nice because it is a way for me to meet other Muslims," President Fatima Mughal said.
Omar Selim, freshman, international business major, is enthusiastic about the organization. "I haven't had much of a chance to be friends with Muslim kids," he said. "This gives me that opportunity."
Manar Darwish has been advising the group for the past three years, ever since her arrival at the College. "The Islamic Society is a way for students to share their heritage," she said.
"I just think, being Muslim, it's nice being able to meet other Muslims," Summer Eishenawy, freshman biology major, said.
The Islamic Society is one of the smaller organizations on campus, a fact Mughal suggests is related to the school's small population of Muslim students.
"I think a lot of people don't know we exist." Mughal said.
As a result, the group has advertised to increase membership. The group publicized its latest event, a Ramadan celebration, which took place this past Friday.
The gathering celebrated the nightly breaking of the fast most Muslims participate in from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the ninth lunar month. The Fast of Ramadan, recognized as the time of the prophet Muhammad's first revelation, is considered the fourth of the Five Pillars of Islam.
Both Muslim and non-Muslim students were encouraged to attend the event, which also included a speaker, Daniel Abdalhayy Moore, a published Sufi poet and a convert to Islam.
The Islamic Society often invites non-Muslim students and welcomes their thoughts and questions.
"I think it's cool when we're able to bring other people in," Mughal said. "We're very open to meeting with people."
Darwish recognizes the group's attempts to spread the awareness of Islam. "They are trying to reach out and give a positive view of themselves," she said.
"I wish people would realize that this group is not just for Muslims," Eishenawy said. "From the other perspective, it's for education."
The Islamic Society hosts an Islamic Awareness Month each year and is planning one for the Spring semester.
The month includes guest lecturers and a Middle Eastern Buffet.
Events like these are particularly important in the wake of Sept. 11. However, the Islamic Society maintains they have experienced very few problems relating to Sept. 11, Darwish said.
"I don't think any of our students experienced any sort of difficulties," Darwish said.
Mughal reported no problems, although some people felt uncomfortable. "After 9/11, a lot of newspapers came here to talk to the club."
Despite the recent racist incident on campus, involving anti-semitic sentiment in the form of a swastika drawn on a Jewish sutden't door, overall the group expressed positive thoughts.
"I do think we have a really good campus," Mughal said. "People are very receptive."
(10/14/03 12:00pm)
The College's Minority Mentoring program earned national recognition this July, when it received the 2003 Noel-Levitz Retention Excellence Award.
"This award is a testament to the students we have here," Wayne Jackson, the Minority Mentoring program coordinator, said.
"One of the most underutilized parts of a campus is students helping students."
Designed to ease the transition from high school to the College for African-American and Hispanic students, the Minority Mentoring program offers resources to incoming freshman and returning sophomores.
The program has helped the College's minority retention rate exceed the state's average of 78 percent and also had a positive impact on minority graduation rates. The College's retention rate is 91.6 percent.
Students in the program can participate in peer tutoring, focus groups and committee run community service projects.
They can also request assistance in seeking scholarships.
In particular, freshmen and sophomores have access to certain programs.
Freshmen can request upperclassmen mentors, while sophomores may request faculty mentors.
Jackson said student participants often benefit from the extra attention they receive through the Minority Mentoring program.
Erika Gonzalez, senior marketing major, has been involved with the program for four years, and has served as a focus group leader for the past three years.
She said the best advantage of the program is students develop close bonds with the College's minority community.
"It provides a strong support system," Gonzalez said.
According to Jackson, many of the students who participate as freshmen later become upperclassmen volunteers.
Michelle Polo, senior psychology major, became involved with the program her freshman year and now acts as a mentor for other incoming students.
"My mentor was very important to me and I found it all very beneficial," Polo said.
Jessica Rivera, senior finance major, has been volunteering as a peer mentor since her sophomore year.
She credits her involvement to the "one on one relationship" she had with her own peer mentor when she was a freshman.
The Minority Mentoring Program plans to participate in the National Black Student Leadership Development Conference.
The organization also plans to establish a Minority Mentoring Alumni Association later this year.
Jackson accepted the award and will host a workshop at the Noel-Levitz National Conference for Student Retention in San Diego.
(10/07/03 12:00pm)
The reorganization of the Office of Student Life is stirring up mixed reactions around campus. As administrative positions change, student-run organizations learned that club advisors are being switched without the input of the student organizations they oversee.
The Student Government Association (SGA) is one of the largest organizations on campus. It is also one of the groups hit the hardest by the changing system.
SGA's co-advisors, Wanda Anderson and Kevin Maldonado, have been reassigned to new positions.
Anderson will now be advising
the Leadership Development Program (LDP), and Maldonado
will oversee the College Union Board (CUB).
Christina Puglia, SGA president, is skeptical of the abrupt change handed down by the administrators.
"I had always been under the impression it was a co-responsibility of the organization and the administration," Puglia said.
SGA wants to look into whether or not student organizations should have had imput in the decision.
SGA's newly assigned advisor is Magda Manetas, the assistant dean of Student Life.
Manetas is advisor to the Jewish Student Union (JSU), a position she will continue to fill. JSU has also recruited an additional advisor, Nadine Stern, associate vice president for information technology.
However, Erica Roth, president of JSU, said the addition was made last spring and was not prompted by the changes in Student Life.
Other groups are going through advising changes, but not as a result of the restructuring. The InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) has, by coincidence, instated a new advisor.
Tori Barrett, the president of IVCF said, "Honestly, I've heard about the change, but we haven't experienced anything."
According to Puglia, the reconstruction is causing several changes, but, "Change isn't necessarily a bad thing."