The Times-Delphic

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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER FOR DRAKE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1884

THE TIMES DELPHIC DES MOINES, IOWA | MONDAY, OCT. 31, 2011 | VOL. 131, NO. 18 | WWW.TIMESDELPHIC.COM

Sigma Chi offered ‘restructured’ Derby days Fraternity philanthropy week catered to sorority participants by Kensie Smith

Staff Writer mackensie.smith@drake.edu

Cancer is no laughing topic, but the room was filled with over 200 deep-belly laughs and chuckles. Comedian Drew Michael of the Red Comedy Club in Chicago was the newest event addition to the Sigma Chi fraternity’s philanthropy week, Derby Days. Derby Days is a week of events and fundraising for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation. Jon and Karen Huntsman founded HCF in 1995 to directly benefit the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Jon Huntsman is a Sigma Chi. Prior to fundraising for HCF, Sigma Chi supported the Children’s Miracle Network. Senior Sigma Chi President Alex Newlin said he personally set a goal of raising $4,000 to top last year’s total of $3,200. It was the fraternity’s second year supporting HCF, and Sigma Chi rejuvenated the week’s events. “We knew that we had to restructure Derby Days because there were too many events going on during the week,” Newlin said. “So this summer I sent out an email to some of the girls I knew in every sorority seeking feedback about previous Derby Days. I altered the week to reflect the wishes of the sororities, our main participants in the week.” The fraternity is deeply invested in the cause and hopes to raise awareness for the importance of supporting cancer. The American Cancer Soci-

ety estimates that there will be 17,500 people diagnosed with cancer this year in Iowa alone, and over 1.5 million diagnosed in the United States. It’s estimated that approximately 572,000 people will die this year from cancer. Michael performed in Parents Hall last Tuesday, and his act was one of those changes mentioned by Newlin. The president said that the comedian surpassed his expectations. “The girls put a lot of time, effort and money into the week,” Newlin said. “I wanted them to know that we appreciate all the hard work and provided an event where they could just sit back and enjoy. From the feedback I received so far, it seems to have been a hit.” Throughout the week, sororities picked a holiday theme for a homecooked dinner for the fraternity. Newlin said it’s a mutually beneficial tradition — the sorority participants have fun, and it’s a huge step up from the usual fraternity diet. Sororities compete for points and monetary donations. Points are earned throughout the week through T-shirt sales and events like “sign-aSig,” where the fraternity members have their shirts signed. Kelly green, long-sleeve shirts sold for $15. Penny wars brought out the Lincolns, and sororities dressed up Sigma Chi members for a fashion show. It was announced at Derby Draws last Saturday that the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority had the most points during the philanthropy week.

“Our alumni are outstanding,” Newlin said. “Derby Days is a longstanding tradition, and some recent alumni definitely still participate in the events and donate money.” Almost all the Drake Greek chapters have philanthropy-focused campaigns. Tau Kappa Epsilon also had its philanthropy events last week to support its respective causes. “There has been a great push by the International Fraternal Council to include one another in our philanthropies, and I hope to see future Derby Days incorporate that,” Newlin said. “We had a good amount of people who were unaffiliated with the Greek system attend our comedian this week, and I was so happy to see that.”

AP PHOTO

COMEDIAN DREW MICHAEL

courtesy of SIGMA CHI

Egyptian journalist discusses his experience during the Arab Spring protests last year Staff Writer kelsey.johnson@drake.edu

Malek Mohamed Awny said he feels that the current waves of the social media revolution are changing the face of politics. “Social media helps to bring a new generation of people to the world of politics,” he said. Awny came to Drake last Wednesday to give a lecture called “Digital Revolutions? On the Role of the Media in the Arab Spring.” Awny witnessed the Arab Spring, a wave of protests in the Arab world that have taken place over the last year, while working as a journalist in Egypt. Awny said he believes that the Egyptian people were experiencing widespread frustrations with social injustices, violations of human rights and not having basic needs. He also

said that the Egyptians used social media as a catalyst of the revolution. Social media, he said, differs from traditional media in five simple ways: its ability to appeal to a global audience, accessibility, lack of specific production skills, immediacy and impermanence. “By its very nature, social media is decentralized,” Awny said. “It is not regulated by any centralized organization.” Paige Johnson, a sophomore psychology major, said that she plans on studying abroad in Egypt this summer, and she also said that she learned a lot from Awny’s lecture, “It is amazing to me how only 20 percent of people in Egypt have access to the internet, yet they still manage to use it as a means to spark an entire revolution,” she said. “I use social media all the time, and I’ve never thought about how powerful it actu-

ally is and not just a way to procrastinate doing my homework.” Awny describes this virtual world as a “free expression space” that allows activists to build off the collective consciousness of the people and form underground movements. “Social media helps the word spread quickly to tons of people who could congregate in days or even hours,” he said. According to Awny, the use of social media also helps foster peaceful revolutions. He said that revolutions led by charismatic leaders are generally extreme in nature because followers tend to take on the leader’s extreme, polarized views on issues. Social media, on the other hand, allows for people to come together, discuss issues and compromise on some middle ground, which, according to Awny, “raises the bar for extreme action.”

Awny also said that some American revolutions, such as Occupy Wall Street, exist in completely different contexts. He said that social media can be instrumental in unifying people in a common movement with specific goals but cannot create the same unity in this form of social conflict. “Social media can’t make social change but political change,” he said. Regardless of what impact social media will continue to play in the next waves of Arab revolutions or in movements across the globe, Egypt stands in a unique position of paving the way for social media and its place in politics. “I can’t wait to go and see what’s next for Egypt first-hand,” Johnson said. “This kind of revolution is unprecedented, and there is no way of knowing for sure what is to come.”

Drake professor reads from her unpublished works by Taylor Soule

Staff Writer taylor.soule@drake.edu

Amy Letter, assistant professor of fiction and new media at Drake, took to the lectern last Wednesday night in the Cowles Library Reading Room as part of Drake’s Writers and Critics Series. Reading from her unpublished work “Blue Alyssa and the Sad Gray Crab,” Letter left her audience pondering the nature of time and the power of love. Letter, who joined the Drake English faculty at the start of this semester, entered her first year of college at Florida Atlantic University as a chemistry major. While taking a poetry class as an undergraduate, Letter fell in love with writing, marking a turnaround in her life. After earning her bachelor’s degree in English, writing and rhetoric from FAU, Letter received her master’s degree of fine arts in creative writing from the University of Arkansas. She taught at FAU before joining the faculty at Drake. Letter’s work includes short fiction, poetry and

nonfiction. Described by Letter as a “science fiction romance about the nature of time and the limits of humanity,” the reading featured a unique amalgamation of science and creative writing. Inspired by a particle accelerator that could literally alter the passage of time, Letter has been focusing on the dynamic of time in recent writings. “I’ve been writing a lot of stories lately about time and breaking time and about time doing unexpected things,” Letter said. “Composing stories is to have a weird relationship with time because you’ll spend two years writing a story someone is supposed to read in 20 minutes. Within stories, you can read the story of a lifetime in an hour. Stories are always messing with our perception of time.” Letter said she hopes that “Blue Alyssa and the Sad Gray Crab” will be an attractive concept to mainstream literary journals open to science fiction as she looks for publishing outlets. The piece, which she said is finished, features references to Letter’s home state of Florida. However, she has enjoyed adjusting to life in Des Moines.

inside

by Lauren Ehrler

Staff Writer lauren.ehrler@drake.edu

Social media as a catalyst for revolution

by Kelsey Johnson

Tentative dates for J-Term set, Faculty Senate to vote and approve

“In my entire life before here, I’ve owned one coat, and it didn’t get a lot of use,” Letter said. “So, there’s a lot to get used to here. Des Moines is a great city. It’s really beautiful. It’s amazing how friendly people are. It’s relaxed, very trusting. When you cross the street, people stop for you instead of speed up.” Letter described the people living in Florida as having an “aggressive” lifestyle. As an artist and a professor, Letter hopes to push her students to embrace creativity and reach their potential, an aspiration she has found incredibly fun thus far. “I’ve been having so much fun since I’ve been here,” Letter said. “The students have been fantastic. I’ve just really found students here to be so interesting. They’re inventive and insightful. “One of my biggest goals is to encourage my students to their fullest extent to feel their art, love their art, make it the best they possibly can,” she added. “I’m all about people being as creative as possible. The things people do in life and in school and in every other context should not just

be words on a page. They should be more than that.”

TAYLOR SOULE| staff photographer

AMY LETTER reads from “Blue Alyssa and the Sad Gray Crab.”

Student Body President Greg Larson laid out plans for what he sees as the future of strategic meetings at last Thursday’s session. “I hope we can transition this into a forum where all students can come and feel comfortable to speak,” Larson said. Student Senate currently has one strategic meeting per month where it discusses issues collected from students. “This (new) setting will not necessarily be us talking about these issues… but more so a setting where students are comfortable being at,” Larson added. Larson’s plan to make the meetings more inviting for students went along with Sen. Carly Hamilton’s suggestion to hold Senate meetings in a more public place on campus, such as Pomerantz stage. “Let (students) know where (the meeting) is, let them know when it is…then we can really hear from students what we need to fix,” Hamilton said. Larson also announced the upcoming formation of two Ad Hoc committees for the Quasi-Endowment Fund as well as for the 2012 presidential election. President David Maxwell’s fireside chat has also been moved to Nov. 16. In senator reports, Sen. David Karaz announced further progress has been made on the creation of a J-Term. The term would start no earlier than Dec. 27 and end around Jan. 23, according to Karaz. “We’re hoping (these dates) can be brought to table by November for Faculty Senate,” Karaz said. “Things seem to be going in the right direction.” A number of campus organizations also received funding at last Thursday’s meeting. The Drake Dance Team was allocated $758 for choreography fees and registration associated with the Iowa State Dance/Drill Team Championships. The Drake men’s club volleyball team also received $1,000 for registration costs to enter both the Midwest Plains Volleyball Conference and the Winona State volleyball tournament. Both allocations passed unanimously. The Coalition of Black Students allocation, however, required more in-depth discussion by senators before passing the motion. CBS requested $2,872.04 for registration and transportation fees associated with sending 12 members to the National Black Student Union Conference. Some senators questioned the need to send 12 members of CBS to the conference when the organization already is strong on campus. “I feel if we are going to use student funds to send organizations to conferences, we should use it to send struggling organizations,” Sen. Adam Lutz said. Other senators also questioned how much direct programming would be brought to Drake as a result of such a large number of students attending. “I think it’s a deeper question rooted in whether or not we are investing in programming brought back to Drake or the leadership development of members,” Sen. Erin Hogan said.

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