The club meets on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays at 8 p.m. in the hallway between the gym and pool in Pucilo.

The Cool Cats’s practices are always a fun and exciting way to let loose after a day of classes.

All of the Swing Club members are extremely friendly and enjoy having a good time dancing.

The Cool Cats perform East and West coast swing, wedding dances, country line dancing and the waltz.

They teach “signature moves” that typically involve a girl being thrown in the air or flipped upside down.

Kyle Halat spins Virginia O'Sheil concentrates on gettng the steps right. Photo by Christian Shuts.

The club puts on a show at various University events including, basketball games, pep rallies, the cultural showcase, the spring car show and superfest.

The club also performs locally at retirement homes and nearby schools.

Dominique Centofanti, president and five year member as well as instructor says “We do it because we love to dance and it’s a fun way to learn a new skill on campus while making friends.”

The Cool Cats advisor of seven years, Dr. Stratton Chaeffer, started this club after an overwhelming response to a Wellness Week swing dance presentation in the SMC. Members of the club come to his wellness class and teach the students various swing moves.

The Swing Club’s current routine is to  the tune of “Mr.Pinstripe Suit” by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

They are also learning a new routine to a Frank Sinatra/Avril Lavigne mix that will include the waltz.

The Millersville University Swing Club is a great way to get involved in campus activities while meeting new friends, having a great time and dancing.

The upbeat moves and high-tempo music that the Cool Cats use is sure to get poeple off their feet and dancing if they give it a chance.

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The theme of this year’s conference was sustainability, focusing on managing in an economic recession.

This is Millersville’s first win in this competition, with another notable finish in third place last year. SAM is a nationally recognized organization, combining professionals and students to examine the cutting edge of technology and other aspects as they apply to the concept of management.

SAM works closely with campuses, creating “better employees with real world, not just academic, knowledge.” says Collin Moseley, the president of Millersville’s SAM chapter.

In addition to the competition, the SAM conference also holds many information sessions, such as incorporating technology and reducing costs, among others.

In the competition part of the conference, Millersville competed against forty teams, which were separated into three tracks.

Two of these tracks were only for undergraduate students, while a third, “open track” included teams with graduate students as well. Millersville won the Joseph L. Bush Jr. trophy in their track, which contained about 15-17 teams.

The topic of the competition is picked every year by the President of SAM.

This year’s topic was Wynn Resorts Ltd., a resort company with properties in Las Vegas and China.

Each team was to analyze the case, focusing on the improvements that could be made, and then create a 15 minute presentation showcasing how to improve these issues, as well as a three-five year strategic plan for the company. Millersville’s team began by outlining major issues in the company, such as finances, moved on to pros and cons of investing in the property the company owned in China, due to strict government regulation, and finally onto Steve Wynn‘s, the companies aging founder, lack of a successor.

They also suggested that the company find an alternate source of income in smaller, regional gambling locations.

“As an example, think of Penn National Raceway,” says Moseley.

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On Wednesday, March 25, members of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) got a taste of Auntie Anne’s 20th Birthday Campaign. Valerie Kinney, Director of Communications for Auntie Anne’s, was invited by the PRSSA to speak on the behalf of reaching their latest milestone.

Kinney spoke about public relations in the real world and raising brand awareness.
The planned agenda coincides with the curriculum for public relations majors at Millersville.

Students enrolled in both courses, Public Relations Issues and Public Relations Campaigns, are in the midst of creating their own, and working with professional clients in the Lancaster community.

Juniors and seniors of PRSSA cordially welcomed Kinney to their weekly meeting.
This has been the second guest speaker to present for the PRSSA this semester.

The PRSSA is a professional organization designed for public relations majors to learn about the many facets within the field, have access to networking and practice their PR skills with events on campus.

The Millersville chapter believes in hosting expert speakers in the field.

The discussion was relatively informal as students were fully engaged in Kinney’s presentation.

The focus was on Auntie Anne’s latest 20th Anniversary, which was turned into a nationwide campaign.

Their vision, to “give back,” was the inspiration behind the anniversary campaign.

Auntie Anne’s selected 20 outstanding families across the country that has contributed to their community doing good deeds.

“The key is that people say we look like a pretzel, but we don’t taste like one,” said Kinney.

Auntie Anne’s has made their good fortune sticking to their family roots, which is reflected on the success of their business and franchises.

Corporate headquarters are located on West Chestnut Street in downtown Lancaster, just miles from campus.

Students began fielding questions for Kinney, including some regarding her role as the director of communications.

“I had an early jump into the real world,” answered Kinney about climbing the corporate ladder after graduating from Elizabethtown College.

She credited her advertising experience and ability to develop relationships the reason for achieving her position.

“In the world of PR you’re always looking for something to celebrate,” said Kinney, who has been with Auntie Anne’s for over five years.

“I think that it was extremely useful to see a local company go worldwide,” said senior Lucas Neider. “It’s an integral part of public relations.”

Not only have public relations majors been given the chance to hear from outside professionals, but their own professors have served them with the same guidance.

Communication and Theatre Chair, Dr. Thomas Boyle, Dr. Jennifer F. Wood, and Dr. Theresa Russel-Loretz, are all professors who have had experience in their profession outside of the classroom.

“Having professors and guest speakers gives us a more direct feeling of what we’re going to do with our degrees,” said Sigafoos. “It gives us a greater context for where our professional careers are heading.”

As questions winded down, Kinney showed students a short film which documented the Auntie Anne’s 20th Birthday Campaign and program, “What a Difference a Family Makes: A New Twist on Giving Back”.

“With public relations there is no guarantees,” said Kinney.

Auntie Anne’s used social networking tools such as Facebook, along with PR Newswire to get their message out there.

Free pretzel days were also included in their campaign as well as an appearance on the CBS Morning Show, which gave Auntie Anne’s a spotlight into the media.

Concluding the presentation, Kinney made apologies for not bringing free pretzels for the PRSSA.

Instead each attendee received a coupon for a free pretzel.

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The debate was somewhat informal with candidates often exceeding their time allowed, and confusion as to who went first.

Apart from it’s lack of structure, the debate went well, and all candidates were given ample time to state their qualifications.

The debate between presidential candidates was first and began with the moderator asking questions, and then each potential president had three minutes to state their view.

The biggest topic at hand was how the president will interact with the on campus organizations.

Junior Dave Roche planned a Board of Student Organizations in which all clubs would send a representative to speak with the senate. Junior Mackenzie Wrobel intends to create a “Big 10”, and she will meet with the 10 largest groups on campus.

Junior Machenzie Wrobel proposes a "Big 10" plan during the Student Senate Debate on Wednesday, March 18. Photo by David Lu.

After the debate portion, the candidates fielded questions from the somewhat sparse audience.

Most questions were somewhat ignorant in that the asker was rephrasing a topic already covered.

Other questions were downright confusing and appeared to be ploys to stump the candidate opposite of their support.

Other offices up for debate included; Vice President, Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer and Recording Secretary.

These debates were done according to the same format the presidential debate was.

The Vice Presidential debate went quickly, both candidates displayed knowledge of the topics. Juniors Dan Aiello and Mike Collins both expressed a desire to walk around the campus and ask students about their concerns.

The debate for Corresponding Secretary featured a great deal of talk about Student Senate’s lack of diversity, and how the candidates will improve the number of minority members.

The position constitutionally is that the elected corresponds with all organizations on campus; one candidate plainly stated to do just that, seek out every organization, including the diverse groups.

Freshman Sarah Darling, sophomore Brandy Jackson, and Ruth Simeon are all running.

Following this debate, much of the audience left the event, leaving student senate members, and a small number of concerned students.

The Treasurer and Recording Secretary ran unopposed, but both candidates seemed more than capable of completing the task required.

Overall, each candidate had displayed extreme eloquence and had ideas that will nonetheless, help Millersville in it’s quest to be a more unified campus.

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Returning on Thursday, March 12, they were denied the support of the senate on a 19-4 vote.

“We wanted the support of the organization,” said Paul Sayko, member of SDS. “If we’re going to get this up and running by summer classes we need to start now.”

Shannon Farrelly, president of Student Senate, is in support of the idea that SDS is presenting, but believes it would be too difficult to get the list together before fall 2009.

According to Farrelly, it has never been a tradition of Student Senate to sign petitions, although they do support the idea of having textbooks available to students at an earlier time.

After being turned down by Student Senate, SDS went to individual departments to get support.

Chair of the social work department, Kathryn Gregoire, already posts a list of required textbooks for students in the masters program. Students can even post used books to sell to classmates on a discussion board that only social work majors have access to.

With 70 graduate students and over 200 undergraduates, Gregoire has been working hard to get a list together for all students in the program.

“We decided we’re going to begin talking with the chairperson of each department to see if it would be feasible for a booklist to be created and made accessible for students prior to the start of the semester,” said Josh Redd of SDS. “The social work department even showed us how they utilize Blackboard to post the booklist and allow majors to communicate with each other to find used copies of books.”

By July 2, 2010 professors will be required to list textbooks as a result of the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Student Services is hoping to work together on this and have an available list by fall 2009.

“Student Services doesn’t have to do this,” Farrelly said. “It’s required of the University, not the bookstore, but they’re going to work together with us to have it come from a central location rather than multiple departments.”

Farrelly believes it would be too difficult to have a list available by summer of 2009.

“It’s already going to happen, and rushing into it for summer classes would be very difficult,” Farrelly said.

SDS plans to continue approaching other departments for support to get the book list by summer session.

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The Amnesty International club welcomed Jen Horwitz, the mid Atlantic field organizer for Amnesty to lead the group of less than 15 members of the club and student walk-ins.

The club held an ideas fair prior to the speaker where pizza and soda were offered to students that were interested in learning about amnesty and the Millersville chapter of the club.

“Have some pizza, save a life!” joked Dori Kenyon, senior and founder of the Amnesty club.

Horwitz began the discussion with informing the group of students on background of Amnesty International.

She interacted with the audience by asking for a raise of hands for anyone who knew how Amnesty was founded.  Several hands were raised, and Horwitz allowed Kenyon to explain the story behind Amnesty.

Kenyon gave a knowledgeable explanation on the background of Amnesty stating that it is an international rights organization founded by lawyer Peter Benenson In 1961.

Benenson read in a newspaper article about two Portuguese students who were sentenced to seven years in prison for toasting to liberty at a bar. Kenyon explicated Benenson’s belief, “that there was something he needed to do so he wrote a letter to the paper, and he called on some friends to get other individuals active to free these Portuguese students and it worked, and amnesty was born.”

Horwitz speech was informative. She touched on many issues that amnesty is working with in Pennsylvania.

“One of the things we are going to do is have lobby days in April. Horwitz said, “We are asking people in different states to consider leading a delegation of people to visit a particular member of office about a particular issue.”

This April, the issue Amnesty is aspiring for is accountability, by examining alleged wrongdoing during the Bush administration.

“In terms of what we are doing about accountability, Senator Leahy has been calling for the United States to have a commission to investigate what is happening,” said Horwitz.

“Amnesty wants to find out what happened, what we need to learn about it, and what we need to do to move forward.”

Students participate in conversation about international rights on Amnesty International Day. Photo by Christian Shuts.

Horwitz stressed the importance of having students of a high school and college age join the delegation; “Having students participate resonates with members of Congress because they are the new voting generation.”

The topic then turned to International Women’s Day, which was Sunday, March 8.
Women’s Day recognizes the achievements of women.

The day also recognizes that women are much more at risk to experience sexual violence in their lifetime and be affected by those issues.

In regards to the issue of women’s violence, Amnesty will be having a nationwide call in week.

“We are asking people across the country to call their senators to ask them to co-sponsor The Maze of Injustice” Horwitz explained.

The Maze of Injustice is a critical human rights problem. More than one in three Native American or Alaska Native women are raped at some point in their life.

Amnesty is trying to take action against sexual violence of native women.

However, it is difficult because federal laws and policies undermine the ability of tribal governments, police and courts to respond to crimes of sexual violence against these women.

The room fell silent after Horwitz’s explanation of the injustices that Amnesty is trying to overcome until a student spoke up to ask how he could target people into caring about these issues. “It is being able to tell your own personal story,” Horwitz said.

“It is to create a personal connection. To hear a story from one of the rape victims was life changing. After hearing her story, I cannot, not do something.”

“These stories create a human face to the regions of the world that these problems are real and to help one person, that’s a victory” Kenyon said.

Students responded to the  information that was presented by Horwitz. “I feel a sense of global citizenship, bigger than the county I am a part of, I feel so connected how can I not help?” said senior Kelly Mader.

The Millersville chapter of Amnesty international is always looking for supporters and students to join their organization.

The club meets in McComsey room 303 on Wednesday at 9 p.m. Visit www.amnesty.org to find out more information on human rights issues.

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In 2004, “the State Supreme Court struck down…tax levied on residential lease transactions to Millersville Borough…so, the borough is required to pay back, plus interest.”

The State Supreme Court deemed the receiving of these funds as unconstitutional in 2004 and the Borough faces an annual debt of $30,000 from not receiving these funds.

The Borough has to pay back all such funds received between 2005 and 2008.

Slabinski has been with the University for 39 years, and over those years has regularly contributed to the Millersville community. Over the 29 years that SLI has been with the University, it has been the largest taxpayer in the borough—and voluntarily.

Because the University itself is forbidden by law to pay even a dime in property taxes (taxes that aid the Millersville community), Student Lodging Inc. has taken it upon itself to provide a sort of upkeep of the community.

“This gift continues the town partnership which includes such programs as the Millersville Parade, Community Day and financial assistance to the volunteer fire department,” said Dick Moriarty, mayor of Millersville Borough.

“Other joint programs include the Marauder Gold card, having a student representative sit on the Borough Council and having a Borough Council member sit on the University’s Master Plan.”

Out of the regular $400,000, Penn Manor receives approximately $290,000 annually, the Millersville Borough approximately $150,000.

The Millersville Business Association, the Millersville Borough Council, Penn Manor School District, Millersville University and the Millersville Ministerial Group appeared in the Borough Council chambers on Jan. 26 in order to give the new Vision 2020 a way forward.

“Millersville will realize its full potential as a vibrant community and a thriving college town,” read the first sentence of the Vision 2020 statement signed on Jan. 26.

“Vision 2020 is a concept that has been talked about with the leadership and the community and the University, oh, for a couple years,” said Slabinski.

Slabinski said that the $10,000 contribution to the Borough is merely a “gesture to show our continued support” of the long-standing vision.

Without the annual contributions that the Student Lodging Inc. and Student Services Inc. gives the University in particular, Slabinski explains that all student activities would have to be paid for out of the student activities fee.

Student Lodging Inc. owns and operates Brookwood Apartments, Wellness Apartments, Shenks Hall and Reighard Hall.

The revenue from those apartments is where the contributions come from, and it only seems fair that the money go back to the community it comes from.

“Millersville University and Millersville Borough have a lengthy history of serving both students and residents,” explained Borough President Scott Baile., “And for that reason it fits the vision to support the community in which the students live and work and gain their educations.”

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One such issues that was addressed this week was an upcoming financial meeting that will be held on Feb. 12 that will address the possible increases in student funds.

At this meeting on Thursday, the Provost will be there to talk about the budget for the school and the economic issues that are being addressed in this tough, financial time.

President of Student Senate, Shannon Farrelly, expressed her concern for the students to attend this meeting, “We need to get more students in here to they know what’s going on around campus,” said Farrelly. “They should know about the possible increases that might happen around campus.”

The financial meeting will be taking place, Thursday, Feb. 12 in SMC 161 at 7:15 p.m. All students are encouraged to attend; there will also be refreshments provided.
Another topic at this weeks meeting was the motion to grant permanent status to a new fraternity on campus.

The brothers of Lambda Sigma Upsilon, Inc. attended this weeks meeting to see if their request for permanent statue in the University would be granted.

The fraternity was represented by their president and vice president where they talked about their fraternity’s mission at Millersville. President Rivera stated that, “Our organization is about bringing diversity to the students.”

This Latino fraternity has been around campus since last spring and has been working tirelessly to promote their message.

“We’re also about academic excellence and community service. We’re working, our philanthropy is HIV/AIDS awareness, because one of our founding brothers died from the illness.”

This national fraternity requires that its perspectives have 12 credits, the same for all of Greek life, and that their GPA is a 2.5 or higher.

The last important issue that was addressed at the Student Senate meeting was the changes in health services that went into affect on Monday. During the semester, Health Services had an Interim Medical Director, or a part-time doctor, Dr. Riggiliano.
During his time, Dr. Riggiliano wanted to go back to his position at Health Services, before he was the Medical Director.

This change will affect the office hours that were already changed at the beginning of this semester.

The hours will now be Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and there will be no hours on Saturday, until they find a replacement.

Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Aminta Hawkins-Breaux stated, “The union representative have been made aware, now we just want to make sure that we dot all of our Is and cross all of our Ts before anything it made official.”

There was email sent out to campus to make student aware of the changes, but if there is any further questions, just notify Health Services.

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On Saturday, Jan. 24, 11 members of the Ocean Science Club participated in this year’s 13th annual Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plunge.

The Polar Bear Plunge is a charity event that asks men and women to take a dip into the icy waters of the Chesapeake Bay in order to raise money for Special Olympics Maryland.

In efforts to transform the science based club into an organization that is more community service active, club President and senior Justin Gilchrist, and Vice President and senior Alex Davies, decided that their club would participate in the plunge as a way to serve the community.

Ocean Science Club departed from Millersville University at 9:30 a.m. and parked at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. From there, the students were shuttled to Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis, MD at noon to witness a bittersweet spectacle.

There were thousands of people and activities to watch, such as a costume contest. Senior John Potter described the atmosphere as, “harmonious chaos, everyone was in good spirits, but not, knowing what they soon had to do.”

The day of the plunge was just above freezing at 36 degrees and windy, the water however was covered with ice at 33 degrees.

At 1 p.m. it came time to plunge.  The students ran into the water and after 20 seconds ran right back out. Some students submerged their entire bodies into the icy bay, while others went up to their mid torso.  Many participants seemed to be unfazed by the cold waters and were asked to exit the Chesapeake for the safety of the divers that were lifeguarding.

“Terrifying,” was the word Potter used to describe the experience. “You initially think this is cold, [but] when you run out your muscles feel like they are ripping apart, everything is so tight.”

The plungers then had to run 300 yards wearing only their bathing suits, in the cold and wind.  Not knowing where to put their dry clothes, they left them 300 yards away. The club believed that running to their clothes in 36 degrees was the worst part of the experience.

The day turned out to be a success.

The club raised a total of $1595.00 from 35 sponsors.  The Polar Bear Plunge raised 2.5 million dollars, with over 11,000 plungers.

Ocean Science Club is planning on plunging again next year.

Davies assured, “Plunging was a good experience, people coming together for a good cause, and not dying of hypothermia, I would definitely do it again.”

If you would like to join ocean science club, email millersvilleosc@gmail.com for information  on upcoming events.

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Riordan will be taking a position as vice president of student development at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.

As a resident assistant in college, Riordan knew that he wanted to continue working with college students.

“I fell in love with college students and have loved working with them ever since,” Riordan said.

His impression has been left on countless students as he has acted as advisor to Student Senate, oversaw the senior gift committee and helped developed Maraudership.

He continues to keep in contact with students who have graduated from MU.

“I’m going to miss the students, no questions about it,” Riordan said.

Riordan has also helped develop the freshman year experience, freshman candlelight ceremony, renovation of resident halls and the move of summer orientation to fall orientation.

Senior Matt Rogers worked with Riordan on the senior gift committee, student programs office, and the academic theme committee.

After working closely with him over summer orientation, Rogers learned to appreciate the times Riordan advised him.

“His insight is something I’m really thankful for and he was such a positive influence on campus.” Rogers said. “The position at Lynn will be perfect for him.”

“We’re very happy for him, but also sad to see him go,” said Joe Benisch, junior and treasurer of Student Senate. “He’s always pushing us to try new things out to go with the changes of the school. He’s been the backbone to whatever we decide to do.”

A farewell reception will be held in Riordan’s honor on Dec. 11 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Lehr dining room.

Riordan is embarking on new territory while leaving behind old friends. “I would like students to continue to try and make a difference everyday in themselves,” Riordan said. “The have meant so much to me over the years and I don’t think I’ll ever forget them.”

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