Brown and White Vol. 127 no. 5

              The Brown and White
Vol. 127 No. 5
Friday, September 19, 2014
‘All the Lehigh News First’
Office of Student Activities updates campus club requirements
By LAURA MELONE
B&W Staff
By KAREN KONKOLY
B&W Staff
See CLUBS Page 2
The Office of Student Activities recently changed the requirements for student-run organizations and clubs that are both approved by the Student Senate and affiliated with Lehigh in an effort to help each club reach its fullest potential.
Part of the process includes max­imizing club efficiency by providing more officer training. In the past, training for club officers was an hour long and did not formulate a strong bond between each club and the Office of Student Activities. As­sistant Director of Student Activities Aarsenio Perry said the Office of Stu­dent Activities is currently trying to offer support so students may feel better prepared to take on the im­portant role of leading a club.
“This year, the training focused on helping clubs and organizations understand financial accounts; fund­ing opportunities; blueprint; maxi­mizing their executive boards and general memberships; and program­ming and utilizing the HUB,” Perry said.
Instead of allowing student-run
The Africana studies program at Lehigh continues to expand its influence on campus by hosting speakers and creating new ave­nues for interested students.
“Students are able to gain a multiplicative, human experience understanding of what it means to think about race along with gen­der and inequality,” said Monica Miller, professor of religion and Africana studies.
The Africana Studies Student Association is one new elements of the program that reflects its grow­ing presence at Lehigh.
The association provides a plat­form for Africana studies majors and minors to network with one another and participate in op­portunities to research and study within the field.
Africana studies was the first academic program at Lehigh to get a “cluster” of faculty employees. A cluster is an interdisciplinary suite that employs professors from a variety of different disciplines to branch out and teach Africana studies classes.
James Peterson, director of Af­ricana studies, was recruited in 2011 to rebuild the program. This year, three new professors were hired, expanding the program that has been growing since it first started at Lehigh 20 years ago. In total, eight professors have been hired as part of this cluster to teach Africana studies from a va­riety of different disciplines across campus.
Some of the disciplines range from religion studies, to theatre, to political science and more.
According to Peterson, the Afri­cana studies program enables pre­doctoral and postdoctoral fellows to be housed in various depart­ments at Lehigh and continues to attract ‘A’-rate professors.
Each new professor adds to the number of courses offered in the
Anna Simoneau, ’18/B&W Staff
Students visit the SOuRCe located on the second floor of the UC on Tuesday. The SOuRCe is a resource center for informa­tion on student-run clubs on campus.
Anna Simoneau, ’18/B&W Staff
Assistant director of the Office of Student Activities Aarsenio Perry works in his office. The OSA enacted several changes to the way new clubs can register.
organizations and clubs to start the event-planning process at random times, the office is requiring every club and organization to complete the event-planning process on the HUB at the beginning of the school year. Once the form is completed, it is sent to the Office of Student Activ­ities and reviewed by Matt Kitchie, senior assistant dean of students and director of student activities, and his associates at the Office of Student Activities.
Perry said this is not a big change for the executive boards of clubs and student organizations, however, as student groups were required to complete the form in previous years. Now, the process of approving events is expedited for the Office of Student Activities and the Student Senate so that all mandatory forms are com­pleted before the initial planning of on- and off-campus events.
Along with mandatory forms, the Office of Student Activities also now requires each club or organization to fulfill an officer transition checklist. This checklist includes how to navi­gate the HUB, information on host­ing on- and off-campus events, and contact information for club advis­ers. New officers also must obtain all of the contact information for their specific organizations and provide that to the Office of Student Activi­ties. The purpose is to enable the Of­fice of Student Activities to contact any member of the club or organi­zation, not only its executive board members.
“There is more cohesion between the executive board and universi­ty itself, as well as more cohesion between the members of the club and its executive board,” said Staci
Africana studies program, but en­rollment is not an issue and the classes easily fill up. The diversity of disciplines within the Africana studies courses makes them ap­peal to students across all majors and colleges. Miller said the pro­gram provides students with an interdisciplinary education, where they can walk into any classroom and see a huge variety of disci­plines being represented.
“Africana is not only interdisci­plinary but our classes make use of those interdisciplinary tools, so students get a breadth and a depth of disciplinary training,” she said.
Peterson said he came here with a vision to produce topical, global­ly relevant programs that are not only compelling and attractive to students but that also help the Le­high community improve campus climate.
By co-sponsoring with other Le­high organizations committed to
See AFRICANA Page 4
‘The Vagina Monologues’ prepares for closing show
By CHRISTINA HOLDEN
B&W Staff
The Lehigh Women’s Center will present its last production of “The Vagina Monologues” this Febru­ary in an effort to find alterna­tive ways to raise money for and awareness of gender violence in the future.
The Women’s Center has held the production for more than a de­cade.
“The Vagina Monologues” be­gan as a series of hundreds of in­terviews conducted by playwright Eve Ensler, all of which focused on different issues women have faced with regard to gender roles and gender violence.
The award-winning play is part of a worldwide movement about
See MONOLOGUES Page 2
Africana studies expands program, broadens reach on Lehigh campus
New rules and procedures