“What do I do with this new department?” Youdelman recalls asking himself. “We had ideas but we didn’t even have a building at the time.”

After a few months, Vito-Buckley and Youdelman decided on a festival—one that would incorporate music, activities and awareness about the environment. The festival would take place right around Earth Day, which usually falls on April 22, to make students more conscious about the importance of Earth Day and what they can do to help.

“We wanted to create an event that would become a part of the culture and fabric of the university,” said Youdelman.

Youdelman and Vito-Buckely ended up doing just that. Eight years ago, the first ever Earthstock festival, then called “Earthfest” was born. Partnering with the Commuter Student Association, the two departments were able to bring about 25-30organizations to the festival from both on and off campus to talk about their efforts to help the environment. Even without the music, live performances or clowns on stilts, the festival was a hit and the Earth Day celebration was here to stay.

As the years progressed, Earthstock went from a small, unheard of event to a campus-wide tradition. Eventually both the SBU President’s office as well as the Dean of Student’s office became involved allowing the festival to reach more and more vendors each year. As the festival grew in popularity, the numbers of vendors increased year after year, ranging from campus organizations like Campus Residences and the Office of Sustainability to off-campus organizations such as local high schools and businesses.

“It’s truly a community event and we wanted the entire community involved,” said Youdelman. “It puts fun into raising awareness about the environment.”

Today, Earthstock has evolved into a week-long celebration hosting various lectures, keynote speakers, presentations and panels on environmental topics throughout the week and ending the week with the festival. With the help of various departments and organizations on campus, the festival comes together like “clockwork,” according to Youdelman, where in the beginning “it was very stressful.”

With each progressing year, the festival’s popularity grows as more and more vendors try to book a table. Last year, there were 88 exhibitors that showed up to the festival, which was up from the 85 that booked a spot the previous year. This year, according to Robert Drago, the Undergraduate Student Staff Assistant to the Dean of Students who is in charge of vendors, the festival booked over 90 exhibitors, a record high.

“We literally ran out of tables and had to start turning people away,” said Drago. “There are a lot of people out there that want to help and it’s really inspiring. We want to give them a venue to broadcast what they are doing for the environment.”

Today, there is a great deal of variety among vendors as they range from students displaying their work to local businesses showcasing what they are doing to be more environmentally friendly and aware. Some of the more unlikely candidates, like Rewind Board Shop in St. James, made a first-time appearance at this year’s Earthstock displaying their longboards as a form of carbon-free transportation.

“Getting local businesses to sit next to students is powerful and really important since those students can one day work for them,” said Drago. “It’s important that we continue to push the agenda on important issues like the environment and continue to direct conversations and shape discourse since Stony Brook has become such a focal point on Long Island.”

Although this year, Youdelman claims that there were not as many children or people from the greater community as in previous years, he expects next year to be better than ever.

“It’s is a must-have,” said Youdelman. “We have a responsibility as an institution of higher education to lead by example and Earthstock is that example.”

The recent close of the main election and runoffs have resulted in members of the Seawolves for Change party occupying a whopping 22 seats in the organization, something that Machalow has concerns about.

“Unfortunately, you build a ticket to win,” Machalow said. She explained that a common tactic of this year’s election, and one that was often used by the now dominant Seawolves for Change, was to recruit many people that you think can win, and to get them to run alongside you, not concerning themselves with competence or whether or not they’d be good for the job. “We’ve seen that that doesn’t work all the time. You get a senate that doesn’t ask questions, that sits there silently and stares blankly at the chair. It doesn’t work.”

She further elaborated that those recruited into the ranks of Seawolves for Change are those interested in jockeying for university sports clubs.

Machalow also had growing concerns about the campaign tactics of the recent election, believing many of the candidates and parties to be stooping to nefarious and unethical campaigning practices in their quest for seats in the organization, breaking several rules and regulations set forth by USG and the university.

For example, regulations forbid any campaigning within 100 feet of a SINC site, COLA, a computer lab with four or more university-owned computers, as well as campus residences. Reports indicate that numerous parties were in violation of these regulations, and at least one unnamed party was responsible for “dorm storming” as part of the electioneering process. “There were repeated reports of people dorm storming and the elections board has done nothing, as far as I can tell.” she said.

In addition, the Student Conduct Code forbids candidates and parties from posting a message on multiple listservs in the attempt to reach the most people possible. “I would argue that at least one party went to multiple listservs with the same message,” Machalow said.

Campaigning parties were also guilty of directly violating electioneering regulations concerning the posting of fliers and other campaign materials on community bulletin boards. A notable example is the reporting of former presidential candidate of the Students United Party, Adil Hussain, for violating posting statutes.

“It was just disgusting. The whole thing makes me sick,” she said.

Another reservation Machalow has is the lack of experience and knowledge of the new senators and executive board members.

“Amy [Pomeroy] was a voting member of USG SAB and a front desk girl,” she said, further explaining that Pomeroy’s sole experience in the senate was a single day in which she proxied a senate meeting last year. “She spent the entire meeting on her phone and has been reported as saying that she never wanted to attend another senate meeting. She’s going to be running meetings next year.”

Machalow also believes that in order to adequately serve as an officer of USG, and especially the position of Executive Vice President, they must have experience as a senator first. “You don’t learn parliamentary procedure by reading Robert’s Rules of Order, as beautifully annotated as my copy is,” she said, gesturing to her copy. “You learn it by doing it and acting it out.”

“I still know the laws better than anyone else. I can talk parliamentary procedural circles around people.” she added.

Questions were also raised about the legitimacy of the current election board. “I’d be very interested to know if we actually had a full elections board. We [USG] are required to have between 5 and 15 people. I can only think of four,” she explained. Having a full elections board is important because they are the ones responsible for regulatory matters concerning parties and candidates, and an incomplete board would result in inadequate regulation.

“Elections should be easy, but they’re not. Especially when you don’t have an elections board that knows what it’s doing,” said Machalow.

A little known fact brought up by Machalow was the requirement of all parties and candidates to officially declare all campaign expenditures and donations to the elections board within 10 days of the conclusion of an election.

“I’d be very interested to know if Seawolves for Change declared their shirts, or if SUP declared their pens. Because, fun fact, the election laws state that if you don’t do this you are ineligible to take the office you won and also ineligible to hold any other position in USG.” However, Machalow doubts that the current elections board will take any action if there is a violation of the laws.

Ultimately, it isn’t Machalow that will have to deal with the newly elected members, it is the very student body that voted them in. The student body that they are to serve.

“The students will get the government they elect. If they choose to elect incompetent and corrupt individuals, the government will reflect that.”

Almost every club received a small increase in their funding, while some, like the Fine Arts Organization and the Japanese Student Organization, received double the amount of the previous year’s allocation.

There were, however, some notable exceptions to the increased funding. A number of religious organizations—Catholic Campus Club, Gospel Choir, Hillel, Orthodox Christian Fellowship, Intervarsity—all received a decreased amount in comparison to last year’s budget.

The political clubs also saw a change with the College Republicans shrinking from $15,070 in the 2011-2012 academic year to $8,384 for 2012-2013. Interestingly, they still received more than the College Democrat’s $7,500 budget.

Another development was the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transsexual Alliance’s budget increase. In the drastic 2011-2012 budget cuts that consumed almost every club, aside from the Student Activities Board, the LGBTA dropped from $13,500 to $8,489.

According to the LGBTA’s secretary, Nolan Theodore, the club was “not able to function to our optimum level this year” due to the budget cuts and a speaker cap that has since been repealed.

Thomas Kirnbauer, the 2011-2012 USG treasurer, said that the reason for some of the decreases in funding was the fact that 15 clubs did not send in their budget applications, even when the deadline was extended. As a result, any club that wanted to apply for funding in the Spring could only receive 66 percent of the previous year’s budget.

“If a club doesn’t apply in Spring, then we don’t want to reward them when they apply later,” Kirnbauer said when explaining the law.

There is also the option of event grants, an opportunity for event funding that was provided after last year’s budget cuts. Of course, any organization that does not host events cannot apply for this extra funding.

Kirnbauer’s successor, Allen Abraham, said in an email that the process of applying for funding would be simplified when he takes over office.

“By remedying certain problems with the budget I meant that I want to make the process fairer and simpler,” said Abraham. “I will talk with club leaders next year to see where they face difficulty and look into ways to simplify the process.”

Abraham also mentioned that it is not fair to say what clubs deserve the most revision and that the process of allocation depends on who is eligible and who actually applies.

One organization that has undergone much scrutiny is the Student Activities Board, a USG agency that is in charge of providing on-campus entertainment as well as organizing events like Roth Regatta and Wiz Khalifa concert.

In the last budget, SAB received $534,887, the largest allocation of funds to any club. There were rumors circulating that $100,000 of the SAB budget was not spent, but according to Kirnbauer “there was a huge misconception,” and the rumors were unsubstantiated.

He did mention, however, that SAB had a few issues with booking artists to come out to Stony Brook and perform.

“The biggest problem is definitely the athletics arena,” said Kirnbauer when describing the difficulties with booking talent. “We have to book a year in advance, we only get one day for prep and one day for pack-down. It’s hard to find big names to perform on specific dates.”

He also mentioned that SAB was a new organization within USG, so they were learning while on the job.

According to Kirnbauer, SAB will begin booking the Student Activities Center ballroom for every Thursday to provide a space for incoming performers. This will hopefully alleviate the problem of venue space and prevent awkwardly timed concerts, like last semester’s Sunday night Chiddy Bang concert.

With the academic year drawing to a close, we look forward, with hope, to a year full of activities and events hosted by Stony Brook’s clubs. Perhaps we will finally return to the glory days of Stony Brook’s concert series.

“We never know our life’s chances, until we know our life’s choices,” Smiley said. He is the host of several public television and radio shows, including PBS’ late-night talk show Tavis Smiley and co-hosts Smiley & West, with fellow event speaker, Cornel West. Smiley inspires the next generation as a broadcaster, author, advocate and philanthropist, and continues to be an influential voice for change.

“This is a love tour, that’s really what it is,” said West. He is one of the nation’s leading public intellectuals, and is an educator and philosopher. West is a university professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, and holds more than 20 honorary degrees.

Smiley started off the presentation by getting right down to business, letting the packed house know that we “need to care about the least among us.”

He spoke about his relationship with Bill Clinton, and his thoughts about what he refused to call welfare “reform.”

“Bill Clinton is my friend,” Smiley said, “but he was wrong to sign that welfare bill 15 years ago.”

The discussion of Clinton brought up the subject of the presidential debates, and Smiley made it a point to say, “In the three presidential debates in 2008, you never heard the words ‘poor’ or ‘poverty’ once.”

Smiley openly talked about his childhood, “I know this story because I lived this story.” Coming from a family of 13 kids, he lived in a three-bedroom, one-bathroom trailer. “You can build an entire life on hope, but even hope these days needs help,” Smiley added.

Smiley cleared his throat and introduced the audience to West, who stood up and asked the audience, “What does it mean to be human?”

West effectively used his witty charm and humor to highlight the histories of poverty in different racial communities, while bringing the diverse audience together in recognizing this growing problem in America.

“For so long, poverty has been associated with people of color,” West said, then adding, “but [then] it starts spilling over on the vanilla side of town.” Laughter filled the room, and for the first time, poverty was looked at as something more than just a burden in life, but an obstacle that could be conquered. “Only the strong survive it,” said West. “It requires being creative.”

Following the talk, a Q&A was held, giving the audience a chance to question Smiley and West. When asked what Stony Brook University’s role is in breaking poverty, West said, having a voice in our society is something that we can all do. “Students should always be a part [of] the community,” West added.

As the night came to a close, the audience rose and the sound of clapping echoed through the Staller Center. Poverty is something that needs to be addressed, “sooner than right now, and quicker than at once,” Smiley said.

This semester Lubitz managed to balance her 23 credit schedule with singing the national anthem at Basketball games, participating in and helping organize on campus events such as Earthstock and Elect Her, and heavily campaigning for the presidency.

Lubitz, an avid Star Wars fan and commuter who grew up very close to campus likes to say she’s been attending Stony Brook since the sixth grade, when she started spending her summers here at science camp.

“I have a driving passion for the University,” Lubitz said of her decision to run for president.

As a very active member of the campus community, she feels she understands  what USG could do to have a stronger presence among the student body.

“It’s sad that a lot of students don’t know who is representing them,” she said. “I want the senators to get out of the office to really talk to people and see what is happening and what needs to happen.”

Lubitz is a member of many on campus clubs and organizations, including the Commuter Student Association and the Pre-Vet Society.  Her involvement with clubs, as well as her position as a senator, has given her a unique perspective of the relationship USG has with such organizations.

“The combination of everything I’ve done has prepared me for this,” Lubitz said.

Lubitz, a member of the Seawolves for Change party, promised improved communication as a major part of her platform.

“We need to open up and reach out to more organizations,” Lubitz said. “People need to know and be reminded of deadlines and important dates.”

Her first step in closing the gap between USG and clubs would include making sure USG has up-to-date contact information for Executive Board members of clubs so that they can send out e-mails and notices to groups efficiently.

“It does no good if we have the e-mail address of the club president from 2009 listed,” Lubitz said.

She also would like to hold more town hall discussions for students to voice their opinions.

“I want to make Stony Brook a much closer community,” Lubitz said.  “We are all representatives of the same school.”

Another of her proposed improvements for USG includes working with the Student Activities Board to plan bigger and better events.

“If you’re going to do it, you have to do it right,” Lubitz said of the major events on campus.  “I want events that people will remember.”

In response to all the budget issues SAB has faced in the past two years, Lubitz thinks a better watch of the agency is necessary.

“They need a substantial budget to do what they do,” she said. “We have to closely monitor that large amount to make it work.”

Of all the things she has done on campus, there are several that stand out as inspiration for her choice to run.  The Elect Her event, of which Lubitz served as a student liason and spoke at as part of a panel, held in mid-March was a major milestone for her campaign.

“It was a wonderful experience,” Lubitz said of the training session that Stony Brook was chosen for based on an application submitted by Executive Vice President Deborah Machalow.

“I was able to apply the lessons learned there to my campaign,” Lubitz said. “It made me more willing to take on this challenge.”

Lubitz also feels the class SOC 268: Theory and Practice in Student Leadership was beneficial to her campaign.

“I really learned about myself as a leader,” she said of the class.

As for all the clubs and organizations Lubitz is currently involved in, she will have to wait and see if her schedule next year will allow her to continue.

“My elected position comes first,” she said. “I don’t want to spread myself too thin.”

Wiz Khalifa, whose real name is Cameron Jibril Thomaz, makes a living off rapping about weed and other similar motifs that have pervaded hip-hop ever since Snoop Dogg found his lazy drawl.

Freezing outside of the Pritchard Gym along with thousands of students and a handful of cops I took out my headphones and iPod. The first song to play was Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” whose bellow of a refrain goes, “everybody must get stoned!”

Wiz is like the bastard son of the ’60s, sympathizing with the freewheeling, anti-authoritarian mentality of that time. Dylan’s song was so controversial that it was banned on BBC when it came out in 1966 for fear of the prevalence of “drug songs,” yet his songs are tame by Wiz Khalifa’s standards. Wiz’s work houses such song titles as “You Can Put it in a Zag, I’mma Put it in a Blunt,” “Good Dank” and “Reefer Party.”

It’s no surprise that Wiz’s most well-received song at the concert was his collaboration with Snoop Dogg, “Young, Wild and Free.” The crowd joined in singing along to the chorus that goes, “So what we get drunk?/So what we smoke weed?/We’re just having fun/We don’t care who sees/So what we go out?/That’s how its supposed to be/Living young and wild and free.”

There was a reason Wiz performed in front of a large, white-graffitied peace sign, a modernization of an old theme. Music and marijuana have gone hand-in-hand even earlier than that—in Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” and The Beatles’ “Got To Get You Into My Life,” for example—but never quite to this extent. “All I do is mary, mary, mary/I ain’t fuckin’ with no other drug,” Wiz raps in “Mary 3x,” performed halfway through Wiz’s set, which was sandwiched between performances by R&B singer Miguel and dubstep artist DJ MiM0SA.

This was the first song in what can be described as a marijuana medley, seguing in “In the Cut”—as in, “in the cut, rollin’ doobies up”—then into “Still Blazin’,” finally topping it off with cover of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry.”

Wiz, wearing an embellished jean jacket and dark blue skinny jeans, began his set with “When I’m Gone,” the lead track of his major label debut Rolling Papers. “When I’m Gone” is a song about spending your money to enjoy the high life. “Back in the day money was short, I’m making it taller/You know what I mean, some say it’s a problem/Blowing my greens, not saving my collards/No NBA, they say I’m a baller/Live for today, it’s not like my father,” Wiz rapped, to adoring cheers. Wiz certainly holds up to it. In a 2010 YouTube video, he claimed that he spent $10,000 on weed a month.

As Wiz Khalifa rapped about Mary Jane and bitches, into a microphone covered in afghans, the stench of weed permeated the crowd, and it wasn’t even coming from the artist who just the day before was busted for pot possession. Every once in a while, a puff of smoke would rise from the pit in front of the stage, to which Wiz would respond with his cackle of a laugh, affirming a connection with the audience, a shared civil disobedience.

As the academic year draws to a close, the Undergraduate Student Government prepares for a new beginning.

Anna Lubitz, a sophomore biology major and music minor, was elected President by a margin of over 300 votes. Lubitz, who has served as a USG Senator since the Spring of 2011, beat out USG Vice President of Academic Affairs Adil Hussain and Juan Pablo Cordon.

Lubitz, a member of the Seawolves for Change party, received 903 votes, while her competitors did not receive as many votes combined. Hussain earned 612 votes and Cordon 242.

Allen Abraham will serve as Treasurer after narrowly defeating Cyril Kattuppallil. Abraham won with 865 votes, while Kattuppallil received a close 837.

Sophia Marsh and Amanda Cohen, both running unopposed, took the positions of Vice President of Communications and Vice President of Clubs and Organizations respectively. Derek Cope will serve as the new Vice President of Academic Affairs.

This week’s elections also included the vote to make the Student Activity Fee optional for all students. Students voted 1120 to 963 to keep the fee mandatory, ensuring that student clubs will still be able to function for the next two years.

The election for executive vice president and vice president of student life are going to be up for another vote soon in a runoff election, as the candidates running did not receive a majority win of votes cast. Aimee Pomeroy and Jason Sockin will go up against each other for EVP, having knocked Kia Valkonen out of the race. For the VP of Student Life, Patrick Abelein and Nicholas Ela will face-off in another election without Tyrik Jiang on the ballot.

Only about 2,000 students voted in the election over the past four days, despite the online convenience of the voting system through SOLAR.

Some students, such as sophomore biology major Tenzeeila Ali, think this low voting turnout is due to a lack of publicity.

“I didn’t even know it was happening,” said Ali. “I would have voted if I’d realized.”

Syed Karim, a senior biology major, agreed. He felt there was much more the candidates could have done to make students aware.

“People running could’ve been around more,” Karim said. “They could’ve come by lecture halls or something.”

Although the number of students that voted only represented a small percentage of the student body, it was still an increase over the number of students who voted last year.

Wiz Khalifa, the joint-loving hip-hop artist leading the current generation of post-Kanye West rappers, is currently set to perform at Stony Brook University’s end-of-the-year concert on April 27. The Undergraduate Student Government, under its event-planning wing, the Student Activities Board, has confirmed a bid contract with Wiz for $85,000 and is in the negotiating stages of finalizing a confirmed contract, according to Special Programming Agency Director Jackie Cowles and USG President Mark Maloof. Opening for Wiz will be R&B artist Miguel Jontel, who is set to perform for $15,000, as well as a currently undisclosed opener of Wiz’s choosing for roughly $1,500. The entire show is projected to cost SAB around $215,000, with $100,000 going to production.

The pick of Wiz for the yearly spring show is a very welcome shift from the divisive artists that have filled the slot in previous years to a musician with one of the broadest appeals of any pop star today. In the past four years, USG has brought big-name artists, but never without accusations of having wasted money with intentions driven by misguided tastes and expectations, resulting in disappointing concerts that only remind those students well-versed in the history of the Stony Brook Concert Series that we are failing to live up to a once-glorious musical legacy.

For instance, in 2009 we saw Hellogoodbye, a not-so-relevant indie pop band, and the rapper, Fabolous. It was a failed effort at pulling together two polar opposite artists in the hopes of appealing to the tastes of a vast student body that, in the eyes of the old SAB, was comprised of either rap fans or rock fans—perhaps a racially charged notion. The following year’s Brookfest featured a similar combination of rapper Wale and indie pop duo Matt & Kim. Though they are both college-oriented, and reflect—again—SAB’s catering to vastly different audiences, and the result was an even more discomforting clash of styles and an event that drew a small fraction of what the audience could have been.

Last year’s concert could be—and should be—considered a success, if assessed on attendance alone. Grammy-nominated Bruno Mars and R&B soul musician Janelle Monáe drew lines hours before tickets went on sale, and the show sold out easily. Those chart-topping artists were consistent in genre, and appealed to what is probably the largest demographic of Stony Brook students, if that demographic is simply a generalized group of people that have turned on the radio in the past year and have some semblance of an idea of what modern pop music sounds like. Both artists receive consistent airplay and are, to the average listener, famous enough to warrant a “Wow, we got him?” or “Hey, I’ve heard that ‘Grenade’ song.” But they were not college acts. College acts do not stand in front of the Grammy crowd dressed like an absolute clown—one who is shamelessly bastardizing ‘50s rock n’ roll—and dance back and forth while showcasing a doctored smile and a Jimmy Neutron haircut.

It may have sold out the Sports Arena in record-breaking time, and everyone who attended undoubtedly had one of the more memorable experiences Stony Brook has offered him or her, but judging Stony Brook’s fun capabilities in a broader context would illustrate how limited our campus experience has been. And because Bruno Mars is by no stretch of the imagination a “college act,” last year’s concert left many students—including those who were led to believe that acts like Best Coast and Immortal Technique were setting an appropriate college-geared trend—tremendously disappointed.

But Wiz Khalifa is absolutely and undeniably a college-oriented artist. His appeal begins—not surprisingly—in the rap community and continues into Top 40 territory (see the chart-topping “Black and Yellow”) before settling into the college rap scene. He is also easily one of the most accessible hip-hop artists out there, in that he consistently outshines fame-bathing imitators like Big Sean, stylishly and effortlessly out-rhymes lyrical heavyweights like Lupe Fiasco and stands tall against the hip-hop goliaths of Degrassi and Young Money fame who dominate the airwaves. His lyrical themes, which revolve around an obsessive love of weed and an introspective reflection on fame, simultaneously influence and draw strength from the lifestyle of lackadaisical college students, on top of effectively evolving a hip-hop aesthetic dominated by late teenagers and early 20-somethings.

It would be hard for anyone, even those not well-versed in modern hip-hop, to not appreciate the insight and desire for change exhibited by this year’s USG in making this decision. While the contract is not officially set in stone until Wiz gives his final sign-off in the coming weeks, it is unlikely he will pull out of a confirmed bid contract pending unforeseen circumstances outside USG’s control. That said, April 27 is a day that may finally wear the Stony Brook Concert Series title with pride, and see record-breaking lines weaving through the Academic Mall.

Check out USG’s official Facebook event page here. Tickets go on sale, $5 for students and $20 for non-students, this Thursday, April 19 at 9 a.m. Each student may purchase one student ticket and one off-campus ticket.

Vote

Questions for candidates:

1. Out of all the 16,000 students on campus, what makes you the most deserving student to influence the more $3.1 million budget funded by our student activity fee?

2. What experience do you bring to the position you are running for? Why are you qualified?

3. Is this your first time getting involved in USG? If so, why are you interested in getting involved? If not, why do you wish to be involved again?

4. What do you think is the best thing about USG and if elected, how do you plan to continue that?

5. On a scale of 9-10* (10 being the highest) how successful were the past two semesters for USG?

6. What are USG’s biggest flaws, and how do you plan to correct those? For those currently in USG, what have you done to try to correct those flaws?

7. Do you think it’s right for USG to give SAB the same budget next year despite a surplus of over 100,000 for this year?

8. Do you think that putting on successful campus events should be prioritized over increasing clubs’ budgets?

9. Representing the student body sometimes means taking a firm stance against administration policies. How willing are you to speak up on behalf of the student body, even when it means conflicting with administrators?

*Please note we intentionally asked for a scale of 9-10.

Click links to see responses

For USG President:

Adil Hussain

Anna Lubitz

For Executive Vice President:

Jason Sockin

For Treasurer:

Allen Abraham

For Vice President of Student Life:

Nicholas Ela

Tyrik Jiang

For Vice President of Communications:

Sophia Marsh

Vice President of Academic Affairs:

Zachary Guarnero

List of candidates who did not respond to survey:

President: Juan Pablo Cordon

Vice President: Aimee Pomeroy, Kia Valkonen

Treasurer: Cyril Kattuppallil

Vice President of Student Life: Patrick John Abelein

Vice President of Clubs and Organizations: Amanda Cohen

Vice President of Academic Affairs: Derek Cope

Zuccotti Park came alive with protesters once again Saturday, March 17, as Occupiers took up their former post to celebrate the six-month anniversary of the movement that swept across the entire world last fall.

Occupy Wall Street began in September as a response to the growing inequality of wealth distribution, the unchecked corporate crime wave and a general discontent with greed and corruption among the wealthy. Protesters marched to Battery Park and then returned to Zuccotti for a 24-hour reoccupation of the park.

The NYPD was already at Zuccotti waiting for the Occupiers to return. They lined the perimeter of the park, with plastic handcuffs at the ready.

Ydanis Rodriguez, a democratic city councilman, was arrested November 15. He said it’s not the first time he has been a part of a social movement, having protested against tuition hikes in 1989 at City College.

He is also among those who are mad about the treatment of the demonstrators. “They cannot violate our freedom of speech,” he said. However, Rodriguez said he does feel optimistic about the prospects for the movement. “It’s a new beginning,” he added, breaking into a smile.

From college kids to married couples, people of all ages showed up for the protest. Some were veterans of the movement, while others had only attended a few times.

Janna Powell, a student at Hampshire College made the trip from Massachusetts to join the protest.
“We’ve gotten to a point where people are sick of the unfairness,” she said. “We’re all here to show solidarity.”
Robert Reiss said that he had been there since the first ten minutes of the occupation. Reiss sees the movement in a historical continuity. “I think that our purpose here is to complete the unfinished business of FDR’s New Deal,” he said.
Some had a more philosophical outlook on their purpose. Chris Black was at the occupation for the first time on Saturday. “I think what’s important isn’t what happens in the park, it’s what people take away from the park,” said Black.
He observed that the relationships among the Occupiers were those of a family. “I think there’s a lot of kinship here, which is why people keep coming back,” he said.

Melissa Freedman, an attorney, was upset with the police response of the arrests of demonstrators. “They do it to criminalize dissent,” she said. She continued that the police commit constant First Amendment violations, and make arbitrary rules to facilitate that.
“It was like we were a virus to them,” Freedman added, referring to politicians like Bloomberg. “At its heart, it’s anarchism, and [dissidents] don’t believe in top-down.”

Andrea Haenggi, a choreographer also in attendance, and her partner Robert Neuwirth, gave protesters the opportunity to “slow down and really observe” by loaning out typewriters.
“We want people to really experience this in a different way,” said Haenggi. “Everyone just sees and tweets now. It’s not the same as observing.”

Protester Jennifer Norval took advantage of the opportunity to use a typewriter at this weekend’s reoccupation. “A photo is so instant, one moment in time, so you lose the value,” she said.

According to the New York Times, police entered the park at 11:30 P.M., arrested protesters for trespassing and closed the park. According to police, 73 people were detained.

During the day protesters seemed prepared to continue their occupation until they could really make something happen.
“I have occupation in my heart,” said Ben Maurer, a long time Occupier, “and this is our last hope to make a difference.”