for college students by college students

Bully-Free Campus

OU student organization hosts event.

Dovid Roetter } jewish@edu writer

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s college students across the
country were feeling threat-
ened by the results of the
2016 presidential election,
students at Oakland University were put-
ting the final additions on a semester-long
project to host an Anti-Bullying Awareness
Day on campus.
Members of the Jewish Student
Organization (JSO), OU Catholic
Student Society, Students For
Israel, Students Toward Understanding
Disabilities (STUD), Hillel of Metro
Detroit and the Center for Religious
Understanding began planning the event
together last year. They also worked with
the school’s Center for Student Activities
and Leadership Development (CSA).
As president of the JSO, I visited all the
booths at last fall’s Student Organizational
Fair and passed out invitations to co-host
an anti-bullying day in November. Although
many groups expressed interest, five orga-
nizations committed to be co-sponsors.
The co-hosting groups reached out
to WXOU, the college’s radio station, for an
event DJ, and the Oakland Post, the col-
lege’s weekly newspaper, for an ad to help
promote the event. CSA Director Jean-Ann
Miller worked with us to have all the proper
paperwork and necessary speakers.
STUD President Tia Falzarano created an
Anti-Bullying Jeopardy game for the guests
to win prizes.“Not only do players have a
potential of winning prizes, but they also
will gain knowledge and awareness of dif-
ferent cultures, races, etc.,” she said.
“How does spreading awareness about
religions and disabilities correlate with
bullying? Bullies tend to pick on people

who are different from them. Educating
players about these differences will help
them understand the differences and that
all people are equal regardless of their reli-
gion, race, etc.”
The event was held on Nov. 28 last year.
At the sign-in table, there was free litera-
ture about bullying and how to prevent it,
along with dozens of “Keep Smiling” cards
reminding students of the value of a smile
and importance of showing gratitude. The
tables inside had flyers and lists of various
help hotlines students could use, if needed.
Inside the decorated room, there was
space for dancing, a buffet and a giant tic-
tac-toe game created on the floor.
With about 80 students at the event’s
peak, students quickly began to play games
together, laugh, dance and simply have a
great time.
After I welcomed people to the event,
Falzarano spoke for a few minutes about
how one of the biggest issues with today’s
society is bullying, largely due to a lack of
education. She stressed that it is never the
victim’s fault.
“What comes off as weird or strange to
someone is completely normal to a person
with a specific religion, disability and/or
culture,” she said. “An important part of
anti-bullying awareness is to inform others
of differences.”
We did our best to ensure that OU stu-
dents would feel safe and bully-free on the
campus we are so proud to be a part of. @

Dovid Roetter is a junior at Oakland University .
He lives in Oak Park and is the president of the OU
Jewish Student Organization.

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April 6 • 2017

jn

Dovid Roetter, president of the OU Jewish Student
Organization, at the anti-bullying event with a superhero

