By Rachel Noguera//Racial prejudice and brutality recently have made headlines all over the country. Hood College’s Black Student Union (BSU) has organized various programs and demonstrations, such as the Pillars of Injustice, in order to raise awareness for this issue. The multicultural affairs department of Hood decided to take a different approach by showing the Academy Award winning film, King: A Filmed Record…Montgomery to Memphis, dedicated to illustrating civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life.
Archives for August 2015
Campus Activities Board keeps students busy
By Kaijia Gao//Campus Activity Board(CAB) is a very popular club that organizes events and activities for students at Hood College, May Madness is the biggest event coming this year.
CAB is formed by six executive members, 20 board members, a club chair and a club adviser. The club always makes sure to organize an event on campus or off campus at least once a week. CAB has held several big successful events like May Madness, Messiah semi-formal dance, Fall Frenzy, New York trips and pool parties.
Le Nguyen, the associate chair of series events, said “When we run an event, we use half an hour or one hour to set up time. And we usually need five people running an event.”
Nguyen said CAB try to keep a variety of different events on campus, so the club does not repeat the same events in one semester.
Annie Mercer, the Campus activities board chair, said, “The way that we do our events is we have a kind of list in our head that students traditionally likes. We get together, and we think about all different things that we have done in the past and then we look at our calendars see the best way to put these on the calendar. ”
Nguyen said the CAB members goal is trying to do their best to make more new trips and game shows for the students.
To set up an event, club members also need to think about the budgets. For big events, like trips, it takes about $1,000. If there is not enough money for the event, CAB will delay that project until next semester or later.
“We do not have an endless budget, so we do have to make concession on things and we try to plan larger events and events that do not cost much money,” Mercer said, “and I don’t know how much money we have exactly.”
This year, adviser Don Miller left, so Gretchen Nonemaker is the new adviser who works along with the club.
“I think she’s a lot younger, so she connects with us better. And she’s a lot more open to new ideas and new possibilities. She is really flexible and open-minded, ” Nguyen said.
Mercer said Miller and Nonemaker look at things differently, and she added “I really learned a lot from Don, but I think Gretchen has lots of great ideas, so I am really excited to see those great ideas coming this year.”
This year, CAB planned some new ideas like paintball, putt-putt, zip lining and many other interesting events.
Many students participate in the events that are organized by CAB.
“I went to many trips before,” said Minha Kim, an exchange student from South Korea. She said after she joined the events that were held by CAB, she got into the community very quickly.
Kim said “They gave me opportunity to go outside.” She continued “I learned American culture from the activities, and saw what kind of things people do here. It was awesome to have a chance to really experience American culture. I really like it.”
Students complain about snow policies
By Jared Bileski //Students at Hood College are concerned about the college’s policies toward snowstorms. Students living on campus are not as affected, but commuter and off campus housing residents are most certainly affected when the white stuff hits.
“Sometimes the drive to campus just doesn’t feel safe,” says junior Jack Zuckerberg. “With the amount of snow we’ve had this winter I get concerned.”
Zuckerberg is a resident at the sunset apartments, part of Hood’s off campus housing. Many residents there have cited issues with the parking situation at the complex, and the roads leading to campus. “Compared to the campus snow clearing, it’s night and day,” noted Zuckerberg.
The first major snowfall this semester on Feb. 17 was met with a two hour delay, and then a decision to close the school. Many students took to social media platform Yik-Yak to voice their displeasure with the lack of immediate cancellation.
“I had to dig two feet of snow away from my back bumper after the last storm” said Hood Junior Tucker Palmer. Students have been very skeptical as to how Hood decides to close the school and what those criteria are.
Many have speculated that Hood is being overly cautious after having too many snow days in early 2014. Hood’s inclement weather policy states “the College makes every effort to remain open at all times.” However, many students’ ideas of weather safe to stay open in differs from the campus safety definition.
Commuter students seem to be getting the brunt of the problems, as they are the ones who have to face road conditions.
This year, the Frederick County Government has changed the way the roads are plowed. The website says, “Due to budget concerns … we are changing the way we plow roads. We will plow 2 lanes on all roads so that cars may pass. We will not be clearing curb-to-curb as we have done in the past seasons.”
This is has sparked concern in some commuter students who drive every day. Some have found that 7th Street is better to use to reach Hood than Rosemont Ave. “It’s always easier to get to, and less snowy” said commuter student Evan Clough.
Frederick County’s Priority County Roads Map notes that “Emergency Service Access” is a top priority for snow clearing. This suggests that 7th street and roads leading to Frederick Memorial Hospital would be cleared first, benefitting traffic bound for Hood.
Hood’s Director of Facilities John Wichser says that on campus, he “felt [Hood Facilities workers] did a good job at clearing pathways on time.” The campus facilities team works to clear snow on campus, which only helps resident students.
Students agree. “For the time it too clear all of that snow, I was impressed,” said Junior Tai Foster. “Campus was easy to get around after storms – it was never an issue.”
Dealing with more snowfall than usual can be difficult for cities on the east coast, some of which only get no more than a week or two of heavy winter weather. Better snow removal equipment costs money to maintain, and is expensive to keep if it will only be used for one month.
Is Football in Hood’s Future?
By James Brown//Hood College may soon be welcoming its own football program in the near future. Hood athletic director Tom Dickman says there has been conversations of their being a football team as early as the fall of 2016. Dickman noted that there are many factors that will influence the start of a football program.
The beginning of starting team would consist of finding a coach. Dickman would like to have a coach selected a year before playing. The process of finding a coach would be “advertised but we would possibly look for a local high school coach with connections within the area for recruiting purposes.” After finding a coach, the Blazers would need to find players willing to play in a brand new program. The players recruited to play football would potentially impact campus life by increasing class size and the amount of space in the dining hall and dormitories would decrease. The athletic facilities would need expanded as well. The Hodson Fitness Center would need to be bigger to accommodate an entire football team. BB&T arena would also need to add an additional locker room to the facility.
Dickman isn’t sure exactly where the team would play but said that the Blazers could rent a local football field to play its games. Dickman believes that the team could practice on the turf field if football lines are painted on it. However, it would be difficult for the team to find field time due to the schedules of other fall sports like field hockey and soccer. The lack of day light could also be an obstacle to work around.
The biggest obstacle would be the start up fees. The team would need a minimum of three full time coaches, a locker room, and equipment. The effects on campus life would also require money to be spent. Dickman believes the fees to start a program would build up quickly and be expensive but couldn’t give an estimate.
Dickman believes that the community, student population, and alumni would embrace the football team. Football offers an athletic event as well as a social event due to traditional tailgating which could lure in more fans. In order for that to be possible more parking would have to be put in place which is yet another expense.
Around campus, students believe that a football team would benefit the school. Sophomore Alex Villegas believes that a football team would be a great addition to Hood athletics. Villegas said “it would be nice to see a football team at hood. I would definitely go to games and tailgate if that would be allowed. That’s something I think a lot of students would be interested in.” Sophomore Nick Druelinger is in favor of a football team as well saying “”I think a football team energizes a campus. Games are an event everyone can look forward to. People from all circles go and interact and have a good time.”
Hood would play in the Division III Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC). There are currently 10 teams within the conference with football programs. Stevenson University and Misericordia University are the last two teams within the conference to add a football program within the last 10 years. Misericordia struggled this season ending the year with a record of 1-9. Stevenson was successful this past season finishing 8-3 while winning the ECAC Southeast Bowl.