Volume XLIV, Issue 7

Page 1

observer the

volume xliv, issue 7

friday, 10/05/12

Student duo to President Obama’s religious host major laser tag event on advisor speaks to campus audience campus Saturday >>mikeMCKENNA research&innovationsREPORTER<<

>>brianSHERMAN campus.eventsREPORTER<<

Last Friday, Sept. 28, part of President Barack Obama’s campaign made a stop at Case Western Reserve University. While it may not have been Obama himself visiting that night, his administration’s religious adviser Joshua DuBois spoke to about 60 people, most of whom were CWRU students, in the Thwing Ballroom. Case Democrats organized the event. DuBois answered attendees’ questions about the role of faith in government and what it is like to work for the president, and discussed the relationship between church and state. One of the major points Dubois emphasized during his speech was that while church and state should remain separate from a political standpoint, faith should be considered and examined by political leaders, since faith often plays an integral role in a person’s values. “There are a lot of people in the country who are motivated by their faith and values, and it’s important to communicate what your candidate’s values are, and see if there is some alignment, and, if there is alignment, see why they should consider supporting your candidate,” DuBois said during his speech. Later in the night, DuBois added that more people of faith should “come out of the closet and talk about who they are, what their values are, and what they believe.” “There are people of value

Students of Case Western Reserve University are no strangers to long hours of studying, even on weekends, and that mentality is undeniably part of CWRU’s reputation. “It’s Laser Tag!” aims to soften that image. This Saturday, Oct. 6th, the Case quad will be completely commandeered for the game. “It’s Laser Tag!” is a free event from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., with registration opening at 8 p.m. This student-run event, open to CWRU, Cleveland Institute of Art, and Cleveland Institute of Music students, as well as faculty, staff, and friends of the university, will feature a large outdoor laser tag arena encompassing the entire quad, free food, free neon t-shirts, strobe lights, fog machines, as well as live music from seven DJs and a live band. The laser tag arena will be able to host up to 50 players at a time and will have barriers designed by CWRU’s various Greek chapters, modeled after their Greek letters. The DJs are DJ Deeb, DJ Pretty Ricky, Pruvit, DJ Mobitus, Friendly Fire, DJ Vol Mek, MWMW; the live band is Blank. The event creators, Paige Veta and Chrissy Cavasinni, want to prove that CWRU students make time for non-academic activities. “We study hard, we work hard, and now we play hard!” exclaimed Veta. Veta and Cavasinni began planning for the event in March, wanting to organize something fun for the whole student body by themselves. “We originally wanted to play laser tag after having a conversation of fun things kids do, and we started looking for locations when we came across outdoor laser tag equipment,” said Veta. “We started talking to our friends to see if they wanted to chip in and play too, and things just kept snowballing to our current event of hundreds of people playing laser tag on the quad all night long!” The event was originally planned to take place last semester, but it was postponed due to concerns about the liability of two

arianna wage / observer President Obama’s religious adviser Joshua DuBois spoke to about 60 attendees on Friday, Sept. 28 in the Thwing Ballroom. and beliefs all around us, they may not call themselves ‘X’ but they are motivated by a system of values,” DuBois said. During the question and answer portion, freshman Brylan May, a member of Case Democrats, was the first student to ask DuBois a question. May wondered if the president consulted with DuBois before he publicly announced his support of gay marriage on May 9. May says that he was impressed with DuBois’ openness and honesty. “I thought he was really straightforward. He wasn’t too political in his answer. He didn’t

try to dodge like a lot of politicians,” May said. In response to May’s question, DuBois stated that the president’s stance was not a formulaic stance, but a “deeply personal” choice that he made. “It was really made on the basis of friendships that he has had. It wasn’t necessarily an equation that we set down and said ‘Look, here are the pros and cons’,” DuBois said. “It was more of a personal decision.” During his time speaking, DuBois also lauded CWRU’s involvement in the President’s Interfaith and Community Ser-

vice Challenge. This initiative, started in 2010, seeks to bring together people of different religious backgrounds. According to DuBois, the challenge looks to create the next generation of leaders that can “better navigate religious differences.” This is the second year that CWRU has participated in this challenge. Last year, the efforts consisted of three retreats with student leaders of various faithbased groups. Newman Catholic Campus Minister Tony Vento, who sits on

to OBAMA | 6

Kappa Alpha Theta sponsors annual KATwalk event staffREPORTS<< On the evening of Saturday, Oct. 6, the Eta Pi chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta women’s fraternity will be opening up the runway in the Thwing Ballroom from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for its fifth annual KATwalk philanthropy event, a mock fashion show that lets student organizations from across campus flaunt their modeling skills while raising money for Voices for Children, a program created by the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Lorain County. “It has been a part of our chapter since our founding, which was five years ago in 2007,” said Christie Ellis, Chief Marketing Officer of Case Western Reserve University’s chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta. Last year, KATwalk raised $2976 and won the Pitte Cup, awarded annually for the most

successful Greek philanthropy event on campus. The sorority’s goal this year is to raise an amount close to $3000 once again. “It is a funny way to get to know the personalities of the different organizations on campus,” said Kate Morgenstern, member of Kappa Alpha Theta and lead organizer of this year’s event. “There are some groups year after year that put together some really awesome outfits.” This year, student organizations and other Greek chapters will compete for the best and most entertaining personally designed outfits in the following categories: “Case-wear” to show off Spartan pride, “Green-wear” to reflect CWRU’s sustainability efforts, “Patriotic-wear” for the upcoming presidential election, and “your-wear,” a looser category that gives freedom to the par-

to KATWALK | 3

to LASER TAG | 5

index shannon snyder / observer Kappa Alpha Theta will be opening up the runway in the Thwing Ballroom from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for its fifth annual KATwalk philanthropy event this Saturday.

1 news 7 A&E 10 opinion 12 fun page 20 sports


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.