Do you think Dominican is Haunted?

I recently spoke to CSA member Tim Keenan about the annual CSA Haunted Tours event, which will be occurring Oct. 30 in the Social Hall. Apparently this is a huge event. Last year they had about 250 attendees, which would explain their desperate need for volunteers as Diana questions below. Keenan mentioned that many of the attendees in the past have been families from the outside community because it is a free event.

Keenan also expressed concern about this year's event though because of an article published in today's issue of the Dominican Star entitled "Dominican Ghosts Stories: Fact or Fiction." The story claims that Dominican ghost stories are false and quotes a few sister's. Keenan does not seem to agree with this because he claims his group has been doing research on the ghosts stories for a few years now. He says they have conducted interviews with many faculty and staff who believe Dominican really is haunted. This is where their event begins because they tell the staff and faculty stories during the CSA Haunted tours.

So will the Dominican Star story effect CSA's Haunted tours? Probably not, but the question of Dominican being truly haunted still lingers. It is up to you to decide?

CSA looking for volunteers...

On myDU, there was a notice from Commuter Student Association asking for more volunteers for the third annual CSA Haunted Tours.

Here is what was posted on the myDU page:

Do you have what it takes to be involved in CSA Haunted Tours? Then come and join us at Our Next Meeting: Thursday, October 23rd, 2:30, Lewis Lounge (it’s at the end of the first floor of Lewis by the stairs).
We are still looking for plenty of volunteers to fill positions such as tour leader, spook, social hall leader, and much more. It will be a night of fun, free candy and deserts, and scary stories galore! This is our third time hosting this at Dominican and we hope to truly make it an event to remember! Anyone is welcome to get involved and the actual tours are open to the enitre Dominican community. So, invite everyone to join us at CSA Haunted Tours on Thursday, October 31st from 7pm to 1am in the Social Hall!!!
For more information, contact Tim Keenan at keentim@dom.edu or contact CSA at csa@dom.edu.

My question is has the organization had problems in the past with getting volunteers to take on necessary roles? Or is CSA just getting the word out early to insure more people know about it - and as the day nears, things work out? I've heard that this was a big event for CSA and if they're doing this for the third time, then going by that, I'm guessing gaining volunteers is not too big of an issue. Otherwise why would they continue to organize the event? I personally think it's a cool idea and would consider going on one of the tours. This year will be my last shot, so I might as well.

Always entertaining...

I attended last Wednesday's Resident Student Association (RSA) general meeting, which continued to prove to me that it's one of the most entertaining/fun meetings to attend. It may be due to there being a large pool of residents who can attend the meetings (versus other clubs that are more specialized in interest), that's true, but the energy at the 10 PM meetings is always at pretty high levels. I've been to RSA meetings in years' past, and I don't recall it being as lively as the recent meetings. I do notice that the same group of residents attend the meetings, which helps the liveliness of the meetings considering the group's overall energy.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because of something that happened at last week's meeting. One of the residents who usually attends meetings came to the meeting pretending to be a foreign student looking for where the RSA meeting would be held. He adopted a ridiculous foreign accent (it did its job at making others laugh) and commented on the reception he got from members at the meeting.

An RA who was sitting near him calmly explained to him that he was in the right place. I was sitting in my seat and wondering what was the point of this acting stint. Either way, I have to admit it was pretty funny. It was a good way to get people energetic in the evening when they're probably worn out after a day of classes and homework.

Later on in the meeting, the resident who did the 'foreign student' act asked the others at the meeting about their opinion on his performance. No one could deny it was memorable, though I would love to find out if it was planned. Did the RSA executive board have prior knowledge that it would happen?

Do you attend Mass?

Every Sunday I do my best to attend the 7 p.m. Mass in the Chapel and it always makes me upset to see the lack of participation. The same students, professors, and sisters are at Mass every week. We are a Catholic community and a large part of our community has grown up around the church, gone to Catholic grade schools, high schools, etc. If we have this background, then why do we never fill the chapel on a Sunday night?

It is such a convenient time for students, especially residents, to come to Mass. I can understand if commuters do not go because they are most likely at home, but I even go in sweatpants sometimes, as it is better to go looking like a bum, then not go at all.

Are we all just worn out with Mass? Are that many people not Catholic? Are we cramming in our homework, which we put off the entire weekend, during this time? Are we just too lazy to walk up to the second floor of Lewis on a Sunday night? Please enlighten me.

Printing: out of control?

I know that as a resident without a printer in my room, I'm feeling more and more guilty about printing out long (20 -30 pages) readings for class via the printers on campus (Library, Tech Center, etc.). I have no choice for certain classes since you have to have the readings with you in class. While I see some students with laptops in class, I don't see it as common thing to do. Though bringing your laptop to class where you can view the reading in class without having to print it out (the printed readings are just going to be tossed at the end of the semester anyway) is a smart idea. Especially if you want to do your part to "Go Green."

But still sometimes you have to have a printed out copy just to make quick notes or highlight key passages. And I don't know about anyone else, but I would feel a little awkward if I were typing out notes in class during a lecture. It seems impolite to me. If Dominican were a bigger institution or a state university with big lecture halls, I would feel more comfortable bringing my laptop since with a smaller class size - you feel like you're under the microscope. The only person with a laptop in a class of 30 is like the odd person out. I'm not sure if teachers are even encouraging students to bring their laptops to class. I haven't heard anything about it.

Now I used to have a printer in my room during my freshmen year, but it broke down and I wasn't too eager to print out long readings. I would have to pay for the ink cartridge if it ran out. But having ready access to a printer to print out papers was beneficial. All too frequently, I go to print a paper out on campus and I usually resort to printing at the Tech Center. The Library is always full at the time I need something printed out. I feel like I need to plan time to print so that I'm not in a rush.

Thoughts?

Longer than expected

For the past few weeks in the dining hall, there has been an increasing number of times where the line was backed up due to the ID scanning machine not functioning. Students have to resort to handing their ID over so their names and ID numbers would be written down on a piece of paper. When it happened once, I brushed it off, but I've noticed that the manual system has been occurring with inexplicable frequency. I wonder what is going on? Is it something Chartwell's is "trying" out similar to "Trayless Tuesdays"? Or is it just on some days, the machines are just not working? I understand if it happens once in a while, but I think it's happening too frequently for that to be the reason.

Today around 5:15 PM, I had to manuever my way through a long line of students waiting to show their IDs and get something to eat. While the first half hour or so of dinnertime (which starts at 5 PM) is a busy time and long lines are expected, I'm pretty sure the delay was also attributed to the ID scanning machine being down. I didn't check for sure if the machine was down (I didn't eat dinner in the dining hall), but the line wasn't moving smoothly as it should have if you only had to scan your card and go. Not to mention at lunch today, I had to give my card so my name and ID number could be written down. So it's not too farfetched to assume that at dinnertime, the situation would be the same.

I'm the type of person who sometimes just wants to get their food and sit down without a long delay. For those who don't have night classes, you're better off going to dinner around 6 PM if you want to eat in the dining hall. Or come down a few minutes before 5 PM. The initial rush is ridiculous on some days, which gives me reason to come down later than usual.

Cost of Housing: Just a Typo

After contacting Res Life about the difference in the cost of housing for the same exact room in Centennial for returning and incoming students, I finally received a reply, which stated that this is in fact a typo and has been corrected on the website.

I am glad to find out that some students are not having to pay more money just because they are upperclassmen.