The Michigan Daily - Monday, September 20, 1993 - 3
Trotter House sponsors picnic
Students enjoy meeting new people, playing basketball

By SARAH KIINO ~
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
In an effort to unite people of color at the
University, students from a variety of ethnic
backgrounds enjoyed games, chatted and con-
sumed free food during a picnic at the campus
minority student cultural center-the William
Monroe Trotter House - Saturday.
"I came for the basketball tournament,"
admitted first-year engineering student Jens
Abbariao. "It's a good time to relax and meet
people."
"It's a great opportunity for other races to
get to know each other and break down stereo-
types," added Abbariao's teammate, LSA first-
year student Kai Chan.
"In sporting events, people have things in
common. They feel more relaxed in atmo-
spheres like this."
Many students stressed the importance of
the multicultural aspect of the picnic.
"There are so few students of color in most
classes on campus, it's important for students
to mingle with other students of color - not
only from their own background, but others,"
said Valeda Dent, a School of Social Work
graduate student.

I think on a campus this big It's
important for (minority
students) to connect. It's easy
to get lost on this campus if
you can't find your true identity
and where you really belong.'
- Mary Coles
LSA sophomore
Many students came to socialize at the pic-
nic.
Engineering sophomore Cealashea Baggett
said, "It's a place you can network. These
people you meet might be your friends for a
lifetime."
"I want to see people I know and meet some
other people I've never seen before," said LSA
sophomore Mary Coles.
"I think on a campus this big it's important
for (minority students) to connect. It's easy to
get lost on this campus if you can't find your
true identity and where you really belong."
Several picnickers said they thought the
empowerment of minority student unity at the
University, where 22 percent of undergraduates

are people of color, is important.
"There's such a small number (of minority
students) that we should try to get together so
the majority won't overrun the minority. We
need to have a say in what goes on in the
University," Baggett said.
"AtU-M, there are so few students ofcolor,
you feel alone. At events like these, you feel
like you're a part of a majority. You feel like
you belong or that you're connected to a group
and it's a psychological advantage if you see a
lotofpeople like yourself," said Pilgrim Spikes,
an Oxford House minority peer advisor, who
helped organize the picnic.
"No matter where you go in this town you
always feel like you're part of a minority."
The original Trotter House, started in 1971,
burned down in 1972.
In the same year, the present Trotter House
at 1443 Washtenaw Ave. was opened.
The Trotter House maintains an office for
the four largest minority groups-Latinos/as,
African Americans, Asian Americans and
Native Americans.
The house is used for social events, meet-
ings and educational purposes by members of
all minority groups.

PETER MATTHEWS/Daily

LEC alters
rush plans
to get new
recruits
By ANDREA MACADAM
FOR THE DAILY
Following the example of other
universities attempting to counter-
act the national trend of declining
numbers of rushees, the campus In-
terfraternity Council (IFC) has imple-
mented a new system this fall to
make rush easier.
Several changes have been
adopted to make the rush period a
more flexible and less hectic experi-
ence.
Some of these changes include
sending an informative brochure to
all incoming male students, holding
a Fraternity Forum with each chap-
ter represented on the Diag and ex-
tending the rush period from one to
three weeks.
'We've basically broken down
the barriers between us and thepeople
outside the system in order to let
them know what we're all about,"
said IFC President Polk Wagner.
To attract potential rushees, the
IFC sponsored a Second Annual
Reggae Bash and a volleyball tour-
nament last weekend.
Wagner added that the new three-
week period, which officially begins
Sept. 26, allows each individual
house to set its own agenda for ac-
tivities. The rush process will vary
from chapter to chapter, unlike the
previous, more structured system
which required rushees to show up at
select houses every day foraspecific
time.
"The rush system used to be
'Open the doors and let's wait for
people to show up' but that doesn't
do much good," Wagner remarked.
Instead, fraternities are now try-
ing to take a more direct, personal
involvement in the process, he said.
TheIFC'srestructuring comes at
a time when other universities are
also experiencing a decline in the
number of rushees.
Ohio State'sIFC held a fratemity

A baby begins early training for a career in basketball at a Trotter House picnic last Saturday.
'U' office helps
students readjust

Program aims to help
students who studied
abroad find their way
back into life on campus;
students have problems
with language, losing
touch with friends, finding
career use for their
experiences
By JESSICA HOFFMAN
FOR THE DAILY
University students who have re-
cently shaken off the dust from their
studies abroad attended a "re-entry"
gathering to reacquaint them with Uni-
versity life last Friday. .
Students saidthey now see thiscoun-
try through different eyes and feel outof
synch with the place they once called
home. Life at home went on without
them, while they studied in a foreign
land.
The University's Office of Interna-
tional Programs (OIP) has always
planned support programs to help these
students acclimate themselves to their
new homes abroad, but its newest topic
of concern is coming home.
Carol Dickerman,OIP director, said,
"There has been a lot of emphasis on
making the students feel comfortable in
their foreign environments, but we were
not doing enough to talk to them when
they got back."
Aside from the re-entry reception,
which OIP hopes to run annually in the
future, theoffice is proposing new ways
to make the relocation back home as
natural as possible.
Most of the students at the reception
agreed that one of the most difficult
things about returning home is catching
up with friends who have gone on with-
out them while they were away. Friends
were not as eager to hear about those
wild and crazy nights in Seville or Flo-
rence as some returning students would
have liked them to be.
Students at the reception said they
Daily Sports ...
WE KNOW THE
SCORE

would like to see more student-to-stu-
dent interactions, like the re-entry re-
ception, so they can rattle and hum
about their experiences and maybe even
chit-chat in the language they grew
accustomed to using.
Heidi Neuroth, an LSA senior, ut-
tered aGerman word in a fluent English
conversationwhilespeakingaboutwhat
it was like to study at the University of
Freiberg in Germany. She quickly ex-
cusedherselfofthislinguisticmismatch.
Doug Holst, whoresidedinSantiago,
Chile, last spring, had the same prob-
lem. He could not recall the English
translation for a Spanish word he had
had in mind.
Another concern for returning stu-
dents is how they should incorporate
this new experience into the profes-
sional capacity of their lives.
For Maggy Wroblewski, an LSA
senior, this means a career in interna-
tional law. "I am hoping to use the
language and cultural experience in in-
ternational law one day."
OIP is planning to work with Career
Planning andPlacement(CP&P) tohelp
students market their foreign fluency
through resumes and job placements.
OIP has recently implemented the
Student Advisory Board to suggestnew
solutions to foreign culture shock, re-
entry when returning home and im-
proving the program in general. It will
also play an integral part in promoting
the CP&P services.
No matter what country orhow long
the visit, most students conceded that
they felt their own internal growth. They
came back a little bit different with new

PETER MATTHEWS/Daily

A fraternity member smashes the ball during a volleyball game as part of a pre-Rush event sponsored by the Interfraternity
Council Saturday.

forum in hopes that more people
would become informed and get in-
volved, said Jeff Hunsaker, the OSU
Rush Council coordinator.
Peter Lee, IFC president at Indi-
anaUniversity, reported that the num-
ber of rushees nearly tripled from
last fall after similar changes were
made within their system.
While an increase at the Univer-
sity remains to be seen, Delta Chi
President David Karow is confident
of the new changes.
"I think in the long run (the
changes) are going to help the whole
system because (they) will force each
individual house to sell themselves
more so than they've had to in the
past," he said.
Tun Schuster, IFC's vice presi-
dent for programming and Alpha

Tau Omega member, agreed, al-
though he admitted there are mur-
murs of concern among a few of the
larger chapters as to the necessity of
the new system.
"Some of the bigger houses
haven't seen a decline in the num-
bers so they don't see a need for a
change," he said, adding that the
new system is a way of preventing
problems.
Theta Chi Vice President Kirk
Wolfe was optimistic that animosity
towards the changes would diminish
once rush began.
"The larger houses can stick to a
shorter system if they want to be-
cause (the changes) basically allow
for more flexibility," he said.
Despite uncertainty concerning
the new system, Wagner said he sees

the changes as necessary.
He reports that the Greek system
cannot rely on tradition as ameans to
attract potential members because
the parents of incoming students at-
tended college in the early 1970s, a
time when fraternity membership
was at its all-time low.
"In general, I think fraternities
are realizing that a new group of
people are coming to college and
that they have to make some changes
to accommodate them," he said.
The Fraternity Convocation,
which will provide information about
fraternity life, is tomorrow at 7:30
p.m. in the Michigan Union Ball-
room.
The Forum will be held in the
Diag on Sept.22 and 23 from 11 a.m.
to 4 p.m.

ideals or perspectives.
Neuroth said, "You learn more about
your own country when you're abroad
then you do when you are living in the
U.S."
Lynn Hill Aguado, who traveled to
Seville, Spain in '89 and '90 and coor-
dinated the reception, picked up some-
thing different on her journey -her
husband, Noberto Aguado.
Mr. Aguado said, "I am her souve-
nir!"

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Student groups
Q Comedy Company, writer's
meeting, Michigan Union, Room
2105, 7 p.m.
Q Hillel, Shulchan Ivrit, Michigan
Union, Tap Room, 12 p.m.; Stu-
dents for Secular Humanistic Ju-
daism, mass meeting, Hillel, 8
p.m.; Israel-Michigan Political
Affairs Committee, mass meet-
ing, Hillel, 7 p.m.
Q Russian and East European
Studies, student meeting, Lane
Hall, Commons Room, 4 p.m.

St.
0 TaeKwonDoClub,regularwork-
out, CCRB, Room 2275, 7 p.m.
U U-M Synchronized Swimming,
mass meeting, Canham Natato-
rium, Pool, 8:30 p.m.
Events
U Keiichi Cho, speaking on FDG in
AD, sponsored by the neuro-
science department, Univerisity
Hospital, Room 1H203, 12 p.m.
U FestifA, Diag, 11 am.-4 p m

9 am.-8 p.m.

Student services
( Career Planing and Placement,
Interviewing, Angell Hall, Audi-
torium C, 5:10 p.m.
~ Psychology Academic Peer Ad-
vising, sponsored by thepsychol-
ogy department, West Quad,
Room K103, 11 a.mA- p.m.
J Safewalk Nighttime Safety
Walking Service, UGLi, lobby,
936-1000, 8p.m.- 1:30 p.m.
[D SUDrnort Qroutn for adults who

JESUS
THROUGH THE
CENTURIES
A Study/Discussion
Wednesdays from 6-7 pm
Beginning September 15
Lutheran Campus Ministry
801 S. Forest (at Hill)
Free, Refreshments
Provided


tudent
A lumni
Council
Mass Meetings
7:00 PM
Monday, September 20th
Tuesday, September 21st

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