The Sphinx and The President

by | Jun 16, 2009 | Chapter Corner, College Days, Featuring Pi Pi Brothers |

During our, the “Internationally Renowned” Pi Pi Chapter’s, annual Black and Gold Ball, themed Leadership in the 21st Century, we awarded our college President the Sphinx Award. The Sphinx Awarded to a student and a faculty, administrator or staff member of the college. The Sphinx Award symbolizes the outstanding effort and contribution the recipient has put forth in bettering the Union College and surrounding community. The student recipient of the award was Cybil Tribe ’11 for her continous community service leadership and involvement. routing code Read more about The President and The Sphinx in the article title Fraternity Lauds President’s Diversity Efforts, which was feature in the Union’s Magazine and on the College’s...

Students Present Lessons Learned in Louisiana

by | Jan 29, 2009 | Chapter Corner, College Days, Featuring Pi Pi Brothers |

After the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 Union College formed a mini-term to Louisiana to assist in the rebuilding of the states Devastated areas. This article is about the knowledge and Western union online insights Union students took away from their time volunteering in Louisiana. routing code  Among other students, featured in the article is Bro. Williams.   To read the Union New’s article you may click here: Students Present Lessons Learned in...

Watson Watch ’09

by | Jan 4, 2009 | Chapter Corner, Featuring Pi Pi Brothers |

The Providence Journal did a piece titled, Nine People to Keep Your Eye On in ’09. Below is an excerpt highlighting the section of the article dedicated to Bro. Watson. Raymond Watson Young professional Raymond Watson came home to make a difference. After college in New York and a master’s degree in community planning from the University of Rhode Island, he could have gone elsewhere. Watson, 29, grew up in Providence’s Mount Hope and Fox Point neighborhoods, though, and family and community matter most to him. So he returned to Mount Hope, where he has been executive director of the Mount Hope Neighborhood Association for two years. Watson has concentrated on getting the 27-year-old association on “solid financial footing” and focusing on programs for 14- to 19-year-olds, an underserved group. The association is also poised to launch a youth council with a first meeting Jan. 15. “I want them to value themselves,” Watson says of the youth he works with. “I think a lot of youth don’t do that.” Watson says his ties to the neighborhood meant he didn’t need to earn the trust of those around him because he already had it. They knew his grandmother Alice Watson, who raised him, and his mother. His grandmother introduced him to an influential civil-rights activist who was her childhood friend. Michael Van Leesten is now chairman of the Black Repertory Company’s board and chairman of the Mount Hope Neighborhood Association. “He inspires me,” Van Leesten says of Watson. routing code “He gives me more than I give him. You don’t have to paint pictures for him. He’s always trying to find...

Critically-acclaimed play well received by Union community

by | Feb 2, 2007 | Chapter Corner, College Days, Featuring Pi Pi Brothers |

Critically-acclaimed play well received by Union community – 02/08/2007 Author: Jasmine Maldonado Featured Brother: Muhammad Djata “On Monday, February 5, U-Program brought the critically- acclaimed play, “”The Meeting,”” by Jeff Stetson, to the Nott Memorial at Union College.  The play generated quite a successful turnout, with an audience of about 50 students, faculty, and members of the general public.  Muhammad Djata of U-Program booked the play under the advice of Kerrie Wolf and also because he “”felt it was fitting, considering the events on campus this past spring and fall”” and viewed the play as “”U-Program’s way of contributing to awareness and eliminating apathy.”” The award-winning play explores the possibilities of a secret meeting between the two civil rights leaders.  It takes place in Malcolm X’s closely guarded Harlem hotel room on February 14, 1965, a week before his imminent assassination.  Malcolm X invites Martin Luther King Jr. to meet with him, King accepts, and the two leaders discuss their political, philosophical, and religious views in relation to the civil rights movement. The play wittingly expresses the dynamics of the leaders’ differing views. Malcolm X, a city man from Harlem and a converted Muslim, hoped to diminish self-hate amongst African-Americans, and, although not in favor of a violent movement, encouraged self-defense violence when necessary.  King, a Christian country boy from Birmingham, Alabama, led a non-violent effort for integration, inspired by Gandhi and Christian values.  Although the two have strong convictions, they come to an understanding of one another as men of faith, fathers, husbands, and leaders. The ultimate comradery between the two leaders seemed unlikely to Abigail Pleeter, ’10,...

Students, faculty return to rebuild New Orleans

by | Jan 11, 2007 | Chapter Corner, College Days, Featuring Pi Pi Brothers |

Students, faculty return to rebuild New Orleans – 01/11/2007 Author: Shauna Keeler Featured Brother: Delon McAllister “For many, the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has been almost entirely forgotten.  However, for the 22 Union students and two faculty members that recently made the trip to New Orleans, the haunting images are still fresh in their minds. Junior Delon McAllister, upon learning of the trip, was “”ecstatic to hear about the opportunity to go to New Orleans. I didn’t think twice about applying because I knew that it would be not only a great opportunity but an enriching experience as well.”” Viktor Olsan, of the Czech Republic, said “”we didn’t hear too much in the Czech Republic about what happened in New Orleans,”” and he attended the trip not quite knowing what to expect.  McAllister on the other hand, went to New Orleans “”with the preconceived notion that the people would be in poor spirits. However, the people that I was privileged to speak with showed only optimism.  This only accentuates the endearing and strong character of these New Orleans natives,”” he stated. This is the second volunteer trip that Union students and faculty have taken down to New Orleans. The first group went down during winter break in 2005. From December 3 until December 9, the volunteers began their days by waking up around 5:30 a.m., in order to be at the site by 7 a.m. “”They worked until about 2:30 every afternoon, which sounds like a short work day, but everyone was doing hard physical labor,”” said Professor Janet Grigsby of the Sociology Department, who spent...