Ms. Greek contest
Danielle Hickey Emerald
Ashley Ponciano of Kappa Kappa Gamma (center) impresses the audience with her
“iron stomach” talent, with the help of Mike O’Brien of Sigma Phi Epsilon and Katie
Filker of Kappa Kappa Gamma (right).
Several hundred people turned out for the first ever Ms. Greek competition Tuesday
night in the EMU Ballroom, hosted by Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Eight sororities elected
a candidate to represent each of their houses in the competition, which featured a
video contest, a dance routine, a talent show, a formalwear competition and a ques
tion-and-answer session.
All proceeds from the event will be donated to Sexual Assault Support Services. Beta
Theta Pi estimated profits of between $2,000 and #3,000 through T-shirt sales and
admission to the show.
In a serious moment, SASS spokeswoman Michelle Edwards asked members of the
audience to stand if they knew someone who had been a victim of sexual assault.
Nearly the entire audience rose to its feet.
Internet aids peace
Peace activists and protesters around
the world use the Internet to gain
support and exchange information
Ali Shaughnessy
Environment/Science/Technology Reporter
Peace activism has been around for years,
and the development of mass communication
tools, such as the Internet, has allowed protest
ers across the globe to unite, as was seen Feb.
15 and Jan. 18 in worldwide protests against the
potential war in Iraq.
Although the birth of the Internet was in
1981, it wasn’t until the early 1990s that the re
source started to take shape. The widely
known, user-friendly face of technology didn’t
fully catch on until about five years ago.
“Internet communication is expanding and
increasing with interaction,” University Profes
sor Kyu Youm said.
Youm, who is the Jonathan Marshall First
Amendment Chair and specializes in mass
communication law, also said many peace-ori
ented activists find the Internet to be an ef
fective way to let each other know what
is happening.
Within the past year, various parties have
emerged from the woodwork of peace activism
to use the power of technology to get informa
tion to potential activists around the world.
Brian Bogart, a graduate student at the Uni
versity, started IntelligentFuture, one such
group, to meet his master’s requirements. Boga
rt, who started the project with the hopes of
bringing a peace group to the University, said
the group is “seeking a way to maximize the ef
fectiveness of the global peace movement to
create a world without war by 2100.”
IntelligentFuture is an idea that has been
tossed around in an online chat forum for the
past several years. It took form as an organiza
tion in September 2001, when Bogart came
back to the University to get his graduate de
gree. After he found allies with Students for
Peace in mid-October, however, he decided to
work with them and cosponsor events, such as
peace rallies.
“It’s really great to get an e-mail from some
one in Syria talking about a demonstration,”
Bogart said. “I don’t think we could have done
that a long time ago. In fact, I’m sure of it.”
Bogart is also in favor of using technology to
upgrade the current activist movement. Al
though he has been actively involved with
peace marches since his first in 1964, he said e
mail and the Web are helping to organize rallies
better than the news media did in the ’60s.
“Most of us rely on e-mail a lot,” he said. “I
know I have connections to hundreds of peace
groups around the country.”
"E-mail and Web pages work
wonderfully and effectively
at getting a lot of information
out to a lot of people in
a timely manner."
Carol Van Houten
peace activist
While the rallies that took place Feb. 15 had
multiple organizers, including International
ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice,
groups were unified with each other through
both e-mail and the Internet.
Carol Van Houten, a peace activist involved
with United for Peace and Justice, said technol
ogy is aiding in the ability to make information
quickly available.
“E-mail and Web pages work wonderfully and
effectively at getting a lot of information out to
a lot of people in a timely manner,” she said.
Van Houten added that e-mail and the Inter
net are key components of the current organiz
ing of peace activism.
“(Internet was) not something we had when
organizing before,” Van Houten said. “Hence,
for the first time, we have an anti-war effort at
full steam before the war. During Vietnam, it
took years to get where we are today with re
gards to Iraq.”
Contact the reporter - <
atalishaughnessy@dailyemerald.com.
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