Hey Ladies,
So last week was a pretty relaxed week. We had the first degree of initiation which went well. The new spring members are very excited to become Alpha Chi's and their second degree of initiation has been scheduled for March 20th. Yay! Also last week we had profiles due to live in the house, the exciting news about this is that we had over 70 girls apply to live in the house!!! It made me so happy to see that so many girls want to be actively involved in the chapter.
This week we have a lot going on. We have a Dance Marathon fundraiser tonight at Ghengis Grill on Appallachee Parkway so if you are in the area feel free to stop by. :) Also our VP Philathropy, Stacia Dudley, approached me last night at chapter and told me that she had received some donations from alumnae in the last week after my last post and I just wanted to say thank you. Your support is very encouraging and we all really appreciate it.
On that note, Stacia asked me to mention that our annual event PAR-TEE is going to be on April 9th :) If any alumnae or your significant others would like to play in the golf tournament or you are in the area and would like to help out please let me know and I can get you all the information! Also we are doing something a little special this year. we realized that over the last few years we haven't been fully utilizing all the people who want to help out but can't make it to Tallahassee to participate due to work and other obligations so this year we are a virtual golfer experience for all those individuals. If you would like to be a virtual golfer to support the womens refuge house please let me know!
Well that's all I have for this blog but I do have a serious question for all my amazing alumnae out there... Do any of you play the piano that would be interested/ able to come and participate in the preference round of recruitment in the fall?!?!?! Let me know :) THANK YOU
LITB
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Mental Health Needs Seen Growing at Colleges
As you know the "Fratty Friday" posts discuss greek life both on the campus of Florida State and trends across the nation. As this article, from NY Times illustrates, the number of students attending college with Mental Health issues is growing. If you identify with this article or you have a friend or sister who does, please contact the counseling center, a doctor or another adult/advisor for help.
By TRIP GABRIEL
STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Rushing a student to a psychiatric emergency room is never routine, but when Stony Brook University logged three trips in three days, it did not surprise Jenny Hwang, the director of counseling.
It was deep into the fall semester, a time of mounting stress with finals looming and the holiday break not far off, an anxiety all its own.
On a Thursday afternoon, a freshman who had been scraping bottom academically posted thoughts about suicide on Facebook. If I were gone, he wrote, would anybody notice? An alarmed student told staff members in the dorm, who called Dr. Hwang after hours, who contacted the campus police. Officers escorted the student to the county psychiatric hospital.
There were two more runs over that weekend, including one late Saturday night when a student grew concerned that a friend with a prescription for Xanax, the anti-anxiety drug, had swallowed a fistful.
On Sunday, a supervisor of residence halls, Gina Vanacore, sent a BlackBerry update to Dr. Hwang, who has championed programs to train students and staff members to intervene to prevent suicide.
“If you weren’t so good at getting this bystander stuff out there,” Ms. Vanacore wrote in mock exasperation, “we could sleep on the weekends.”
Stony Brook is typical of American colleges and universities these days, where national surveys show that nearly half of the students who visit counseling centers are coping with serious mental illness, more than double the rate a decade ago. More students take psychiatric medication, and there are more emergencies requiring immediate action.
“It’s so different from how people might stereotype the concept of college counseling, or back in the ’70s students coming in with existential crises: who am I?” said Dr. Hwang, whose staff of 29 includes psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and social workers. “Now they’re bringing in life stories involving extensive trauma, a history of serious mental illness, eating disorders, self-injury, alcohol and other drug use.”
Experts say the trend is partly linked to effective psychotropic drugs (Wellbutrin for depression, Adderall for attention disorder, Abilify for bipolar disorder) that have allowed students to attend college who otherwise might not have functioned in a campus setting.
There is also greater awareness of traumas scarcely recognized a generation ago and a willingness to seek help for those problems, including bulimia, self-cutting and childhood sexual abuse.
The need to help this troubled population has forced campus mental health centers — whose staffs, on average, have not grown in proportion to student enrollment in 15 years — to take extraordinary measures to make do. Some have hospital-style triage units to rank the acuity of students who cross their thresholds. Others have waiting lists for treatment — sometimes weeks long — and limit the number of therapy sessions.
Some centers have time only to “treat students for a crisis, bandaging them up and sending them out,” said Denise Hayes, the president of the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors and the director of counseling at the Claremont Colleges in California.
“It’s very stressful for the counselors,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like why you got into college counseling.”
A recent survey by the American College Counseling Association found that a majority of students seek help for normal post-adolescent trouble like romantic heartbreak and identity crises. But 44 percent in counseling have severe psychological disorders, up from 16 percent in 2000, and 24 percent are on psychiatric medication, up from 17 percent a decade ago.
The most common disorders today: depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, alcohol abuse, attention disorders, self-injury and eating disorders.
Stony Brook, an academically demanding branch of the State University of New York (its admission rate is 40 percent), faces the mental health challenges typical of a big public university. It has 9,500 resident students and 15,000 who commute from off-campus. The highly diverse student body includes many who are the first in their families to attend college and carry intense pressure to succeed, often in engineering or the sciences. A Black Women and Trauma therapy group last semester included participants from Africa, suffering post-traumatic stress disorder from violence in their youth.
Stony Brook has seen a sharp increase in demand for counseling — 1,311 students began treatment during the past academic year, a rise of 21 percent from a year earlier. At the same time, budget pressures from New York State have forced a 15 percent cut in mental health services over three years.
Dr. Hwang, a clinical psychologist who became director in July 2009, has dealt with the squeeze by limiting counseling sessions to 10 per student and referring some, especially those needing long-term treatment for eating disorders or schizophrenia, to off-campus providers.
But she has resisted the pressure to offer only referrals. By managing counselors’ workloads, the center can accept as many as 60 new clients a week in peak demand between October and the winter break.
“By this point in the semester to not lose hope or get jaded about the work, it can be a challenge,” Dr. Hwang said. “By the end of the day, I go home so adrenalized that even though I’m exhausted it will take me hours to fall asleep.”
For relief, she plays with her 2-year-old daughter, and she has taken up the guitar again.
Shifting to Triage
Near the student union in the heart of campus, the Student Health Center building dates from the days when a serious undergraduate health problem was mononucleosis. But the hiring of Judy Esposito, a social worker with experience counseling Sept. 11 widows, to start a triage unit three years ago was a sign of the new reality in student mental health.
At 9 a.m. on the Tuesday after the campus’s very busy weekend, Ms. Esposito had just passed the Purell dispenser by the entrance when she noticed two colleagues hurrying toward her office. Before she had taken off her coat, they were updating her about a junior who had come in the previous week after cutting herself and expressing suicidal thoughts.
Ms. Esposito’s triage team fields 15 to 20 requests for help a day. After brief interviews, most students are scheduled for a longer appointment with a psychologist, which leads to individual treatment. The one in six who do not become patients are referred to other university departments like academic advising, or to off-campus therapists if long-term help is needed. There are no charges for on-campus counseling.
This day the walk-ins included a young man complaining of feeling friendless and depressed. Another student said he was struggling academically, feared that his parents would find out and was drinking and feeling hopeless.
Professionals in a mental health center are mindful of their own well-being. For this reason the staff had planned a potluck holiday lunch. While a turkey roasted in the kitchen that serves as the break room, Ms. Esposito helped warm up candied yams, stuffing and the store-bought quiche that was her own contribution.
Just then Regina Frontino, the triage assistant who greets walk-ins at the front desk, swept into the kitchen to say a student had been led in by a friend who feared that she was suicidal.
Ms. Esposito rushed to the lobby. From a brief conversation, she knew that the distraught student would have to go to the hospital. The counseling center does not have the ability to admit suicidal or psychotic students overnight for observation or to administer powerful drugs to calm them. It arranges for them to be taken to the Stony Brook University Medical Center, on the far side of the 1,000-acre campus. The hospital has a 24-hour psychiatric emergency room that serves all of Suffolk County.
“They’re not going to fix what’s going on,” Ms. Esposito said, “but in that moment we can ensure she’s safe.” She called Tracy Thomas, an on-call counselor, to calm the student, who was crying intermittently, while she phoned the emergency room and informed Dr. Hwang, who called the campus police to transport the young woman.
When Ms. Esposito heard the crackle of police radios in the hallway, she went to tell the student for the first time that she would have to go to the hospital.
“This is not something students love to do,” Ms. Esposito recounted. The young woman told her she did not want to go. Ms. Esposito replied that the staff was worried for her safety, and she repeated the conversation she had had earlier with the young woman:
Are you having thoughts about wanting to die?
Yes.
Are you afraid you are actually going to kill yourself?
Yes.
She invited a police officer into the counseling room, and the student teared up again at the sight of him. Ms. Esposito assured her that she was not in trouble. Meanwhile, an ambulance crew arrived with a rolling stretcher, but the young woman walked out on her own with the officers.
Because Ms. Thomas, a predoctoral intern in psychology, now needed to regain her own equilibrium before seeing other clients, Ms. Esposito debriefed her about what had just happened.
Finally she returned to her office, having missed the holiday lunch, and found that her team had prepared a plate for her.
“It’s kind of like firemen,” she said. “When the fire’s on, we are just at it. But once the fire’s out, we can go back to the house and eat together and laugh.”
Reaching Out
Even though the appointment books of Stony Brook counselors are filled, all national evidence suggests that vastly more students need mental health services.
Forty-six percent of college students said they felt “things were hopeless” at least once in the previous 12 months, and nearly a third had been so depressed that it was difficult to function, according to a 2009 survey by the American College Health Association.
Then there is this: Of 133 student suicides reported in the American College Counseling Association’s survey of 320 institutions last year, fewer than 20 had sought help on campus.
Alexandria Imperato, 23, remembers that as a Stony Brook freshman all her high school friends were talking about how great a time they were having in college, while she felt miserable. She faced family issues and the pressure of adjusting to college. “You go home to Thanksgiving dinner, and the family asks your brother how is his gerbil, and they ask you, ‘What are doing with the rest of your life?’ ” Ms. Imperato said.
She learned she had clinical depression. She eventually conquered it with psychotherapy, Cymbalta and lithium. She went on to form a Stony Brook chapter of Active Minds, a national campus-based suicide-prevention group.
“I knew how much better it made me feel to find others,” said Ms. Imperato, who plans to be a nurse.
On recent day, she was one of two dozen volunteers in black T-shirts reading “Chill” who stopped passers-by in the Student Activities Center during lunch hour.
“Would you like to take a depression screening?” they asked, offering a clipboard with a one-page form to all who unplugged their ear buds. Students checked boxes if they had difficulty sleeping, felt hopeless or “had feelings of worthlessness.” They were offered a chance to speak privately with a psychologist in a nearby office. Sixteen said yes.
The depression screenings are part of a program to enlist students to monitor the mental health of peers, which is run by the four-year-old Center for Outreach and Prevention, a division of mental health services that Dr. Hwang oversaw before her promotion to director of all counseling services.
She is committed to outreach in its many forms, including educating dormitory staff members to recognize students in distress and encouraging professors to report disruptive behavior in class.
In previous years, more than 1,000 depression screenings were given to students, with 22 percent indicating signs of major depression. Dr. Hwang credits that and other outreach efforts to the swell of new cases for counseling. “For a lot of people it’s terrifying” to come to the counseling center, she said. “If there’s anything we can do to make it easier to walk in, I feel like we owe it to them.”
Stony Brook has not had a student suicide since spring 2009, unusual for a campus its size. But Dr. Hwang is haunted by the impact on the campus of several off-campus student deaths in accidents and a homicide in the past year. “With every vigil, with every conversation with someone in pain, there’s this overwhelming sense of we need to learn something,” she said. “I think about these parents who’ve invested so much into getting their kids alive to 18.”
One student who said yes to an impromptu interview with a counselor after filling out a depression screening was a psychology major, a senior from upstate New York. As it happened, Dr. Hwang had wandered over from the counseling center to check on the screenings, and the young woman spent a long time conferring with her, never removing her checked coat or backpack.
“I don’t have motivation for things anymore,” the student said afterward. “This place just depresses me the whole time.”
She had been unaware that students could walk in unannounced to the counseling center. “I thought you had to make an appointment,” she said. “Yes,” she said, “I’ll do that.”
By TRIP GABRIEL
STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Rushing a student to a psychiatric emergency room is never routine, but when Stony Brook University logged three trips in three days, it did not surprise Jenny Hwang, the director of counseling.
It was deep into the fall semester, a time of mounting stress with finals looming and the holiday break not far off, an anxiety all its own.
On a Thursday afternoon, a freshman who had been scraping bottom academically posted thoughts about suicide on Facebook. If I were gone, he wrote, would anybody notice? An alarmed student told staff members in the dorm, who called Dr. Hwang after hours, who contacted the campus police. Officers escorted the student to the county psychiatric hospital.
There were two more runs over that weekend, including one late Saturday night when a student grew concerned that a friend with a prescription for Xanax, the anti-anxiety drug, had swallowed a fistful.
On Sunday, a supervisor of residence halls, Gina Vanacore, sent a BlackBerry update to Dr. Hwang, who has championed programs to train students and staff members to intervene to prevent suicide.
“If you weren’t so good at getting this bystander stuff out there,” Ms. Vanacore wrote in mock exasperation, “we could sleep on the weekends.”
Stony Brook is typical of American colleges and universities these days, where national surveys show that nearly half of the students who visit counseling centers are coping with serious mental illness, more than double the rate a decade ago. More students take psychiatric medication, and there are more emergencies requiring immediate action.
“It’s so different from how people might stereotype the concept of college counseling, or back in the ’70s students coming in with existential crises: who am I?” said Dr. Hwang, whose staff of 29 includes psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and social workers. “Now they’re bringing in life stories involving extensive trauma, a history of serious mental illness, eating disorders, self-injury, alcohol and other drug use.”
Experts say the trend is partly linked to effective psychotropic drugs (Wellbutrin for depression, Adderall for attention disorder, Abilify for bipolar disorder) that have allowed students to attend college who otherwise might not have functioned in a campus setting.
There is also greater awareness of traumas scarcely recognized a generation ago and a willingness to seek help for those problems, including bulimia, self-cutting and childhood sexual abuse.
The need to help this troubled population has forced campus mental health centers — whose staffs, on average, have not grown in proportion to student enrollment in 15 years — to take extraordinary measures to make do. Some have hospital-style triage units to rank the acuity of students who cross their thresholds. Others have waiting lists for treatment — sometimes weeks long — and limit the number of therapy sessions.
Some centers have time only to “treat students for a crisis, bandaging them up and sending them out,” said Denise Hayes, the president of the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors and the director of counseling at the Claremont Colleges in California.
“It’s very stressful for the counselors,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like why you got into college counseling.”
A recent survey by the American College Counseling Association found that a majority of students seek help for normal post-adolescent trouble like romantic heartbreak and identity crises. But 44 percent in counseling have severe psychological disorders, up from 16 percent in 2000, and 24 percent are on psychiatric medication, up from 17 percent a decade ago.
The most common disorders today: depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, alcohol abuse, attention disorders, self-injury and eating disorders.
Stony Brook, an academically demanding branch of the State University of New York (its admission rate is 40 percent), faces the mental health challenges typical of a big public university. It has 9,500 resident students and 15,000 who commute from off-campus. The highly diverse student body includes many who are the first in their families to attend college and carry intense pressure to succeed, often in engineering or the sciences. A Black Women and Trauma therapy group last semester included participants from Africa, suffering post-traumatic stress disorder from violence in their youth.
Stony Brook has seen a sharp increase in demand for counseling — 1,311 students began treatment during the past academic year, a rise of 21 percent from a year earlier. At the same time, budget pressures from New York State have forced a 15 percent cut in mental health services over three years.
Dr. Hwang, a clinical psychologist who became director in July 2009, has dealt with the squeeze by limiting counseling sessions to 10 per student and referring some, especially those needing long-term treatment for eating disorders or schizophrenia, to off-campus providers.
But she has resisted the pressure to offer only referrals. By managing counselors’ workloads, the center can accept as many as 60 new clients a week in peak demand between October and the winter break.
“By this point in the semester to not lose hope or get jaded about the work, it can be a challenge,” Dr. Hwang said. “By the end of the day, I go home so adrenalized that even though I’m exhausted it will take me hours to fall asleep.”
For relief, she plays with her 2-year-old daughter, and she has taken up the guitar again.
Shifting to Triage
Near the student union in the heart of campus, the Student Health Center building dates from the days when a serious undergraduate health problem was mononucleosis. But the hiring of Judy Esposito, a social worker with experience counseling Sept. 11 widows, to start a triage unit three years ago was a sign of the new reality in student mental health.
At 9 a.m. on the Tuesday after the campus’s very busy weekend, Ms. Esposito had just passed the Purell dispenser by the entrance when she noticed two colleagues hurrying toward her office. Before she had taken off her coat, they were updating her about a junior who had come in the previous week after cutting herself and expressing suicidal thoughts.
Ms. Esposito’s triage team fields 15 to 20 requests for help a day. After brief interviews, most students are scheduled for a longer appointment with a psychologist, which leads to individual treatment. The one in six who do not become patients are referred to other university departments like academic advising, or to off-campus therapists if long-term help is needed. There are no charges for on-campus counseling.
This day the walk-ins included a young man complaining of feeling friendless and depressed. Another student said he was struggling academically, feared that his parents would find out and was drinking and feeling hopeless.
Professionals in a mental health center are mindful of their own well-being. For this reason the staff had planned a potluck holiday lunch. While a turkey roasted in the kitchen that serves as the break room, Ms. Esposito helped warm up candied yams, stuffing and the store-bought quiche that was her own contribution.
Just then Regina Frontino, the triage assistant who greets walk-ins at the front desk, swept into the kitchen to say a student had been led in by a friend who feared that she was suicidal.
Ms. Esposito rushed to the lobby. From a brief conversation, she knew that the distraught student would have to go to the hospital. The counseling center does not have the ability to admit suicidal or psychotic students overnight for observation or to administer powerful drugs to calm them. It arranges for them to be taken to the Stony Brook University Medical Center, on the far side of the 1,000-acre campus. The hospital has a 24-hour psychiatric emergency room that serves all of Suffolk County.
“They’re not going to fix what’s going on,” Ms. Esposito said, “but in that moment we can ensure she’s safe.” She called Tracy Thomas, an on-call counselor, to calm the student, who was crying intermittently, while she phoned the emergency room and informed Dr. Hwang, who called the campus police to transport the young woman.
When Ms. Esposito heard the crackle of police radios in the hallway, she went to tell the student for the first time that she would have to go to the hospital.
“This is not something students love to do,” Ms. Esposito recounted. The young woman told her she did not want to go. Ms. Esposito replied that the staff was worried for her safety, and she repeated the conversation she had had earlier with the young woman:
Are you having thoughts about wanting to die?
Yes.
Are you afraid you are actually going to kill yourself?
Yes.
She invited a police officer into the counseling room, and the student teared up again at the sight of him. Ms. Esposito assured her that she was not in trouble. Meanwhile, an ambulance crew arrived with a rolling stretcher, but the young woman walked out on her own with the officers.
Because Ms. Thomas, a predoctoral intern in psychology, now needed to regain her own equilibrium before seeing other clients, Ms. Esposito debriefed her about what had just happened.
Finally she returned to her office, having missed the holiday lunch, and found that her team had prepared a plate for her.
“It’s kind of like firemen,” she said. “When the fire’s on, we are just at it. But once the fire’s out, we can go back to the house and eat together and laugh.”
Reaching Out
Even though the appointment books of Stony Brook counselors are filled, all national evidence suggests that vastly more students need mental health services.
Forty-six percent of college students said they felt “things were hopeless” at least once in the previous 12 months, and nearly a third had been so depressed that it was difficult to function, according to a 2009 survey by the American College Health Association.
Then there is this: Of 133 student suicides reported in the American College Counseling Association’s survey of 320 institutions last year, fewer than 20 had sought help on campus.
Alexandria Imperato, 23, remembers that as a Stony Brook freshman all her high school friends were talking about how great a time they were having in college, while she felt miserable. She faced family issues and the pressure of adjusting to college. “You go home to Thanksgiving dinner, and the family asks your brother how is his gerbil, and they ask you, ‘What are doing with the rest of your life?’ ” Ms. Imperato said.
She learned she had clinical depression. She eventually conquered it with psychotherapy, Cymbalta and lithium. She went on to form a Stony Brook chapter of Active Minds, a national campus-based suicide-prevention group.
“I knew how much better it made me feel to find others,” said Ms. Imperato, who plans to be a nurse.
On recent day, she was one of two dozen volunteers in black T-shirts reading “Chill” who stopped passers-by in the Student Activities Center during lunch hour.
“Would you like to take a depression screening?” they asked, offering a clipboard with a one-page form to all who unplugged their ear buds. Students checked boxes if they had difficulty sleeping, felt hopeless or “had feelings of worthlessness.” They were offered a chance to speak privately with a psychologist in a nearby office. Sixteen said yes.
The depression screenings are part of a program to enlist students to monitor the mental health of peers, which is run by the four-year-old Center for Outreach and Prevention, a division of mental health services that Dr. Hwang oversaw before her promotion to director of all counseling services.
She is committed to outreach in its many forms, including educating dormitory staff members to recognize students in distress and encouraging professors to report disruptive behavior in class.
In previous years, more than 1,000 depression screenings were given to students, with 22 percent indicating signs of major depression. Dr. Hwang credits that and other outreach efforts to the swell of new cases for counseling. “For a lot of people it’s terrifying” to come to the counseling center, she said. “If there’s anything we can do to make it easier to walk in, I feel like we owe it to them.”
Stony Brook has not had a student suicide since spring 2009, unusual for a campus its size. But Dr. Hwang is haunted by the impact on the campus of several off-campus student deaths in accidents and a homicide in the past year. “With every vigil, with every conversation with someone in pain, there’s this overwhelming sense of we need to learn something,” she said. “I think about these parents who’ve invested so much into getting their kids alive to 18.”
One student who said yes to an impromptu interview with a counselor after filling out a depression screening was a psychology major, a senior from upstate New York. As it happened, Dr. Hwang had wandered over from the counseling center to check on the screenings, and the young woman spent a long time conferring with her, never removing her checked coat or backpack.
“I don’t have motivation for things anymore,” the student said afterward. “This place just depresses me the whole time.”
She had been unaware that students could walk in unannounced to the counseling center. “I thought you had to make an appointment,” she said. “Yes,” she said, “I’ll do that.”
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Physical and Emotional Abuse..
Physical abuse and domestic violence
When people talk about domestic violence, they are often referring to the physical abuse of a spouse or intimate partner. Physical abuse is the use of physical force against someone in a way that injures or endangers that person. Physical assault or battering is a crime, whether it occurs inside or outside of the family. The police have the power and authority to protect you from physical attack.Sexual abuse is a form of physical abuse
Any situation in which you are forced to participate in unwanted, unsafe, or degrading sexual activity is sexual abuse. Forced sex, even by a spouse or intimate partner with whom you also have consensual sex, is an act of aggression and violence. Furthermore, people whose partners abuse them physically and sexually are at a higher risk of being seriously injured or killed.It Is Still Abuse If . . .
- The incidents of physical abuse seem minor when compared to those you have read about, seen on television or heard other women talk about. There isn’t a “better” or “worse” form of physical abuse; you can be severely injured as a result of being pushed, for example.
- The incidents of physical abuse have only occurred one or two times in the relationship. Studies indicate that if your spouse/partner has injured you once, it is likely he will continue to physically assault you.
- The physical assaults stopped when you became passive and gave up your right to express yourself as you desire, to move about freely and see others, and to make decisions. It is not a victory if you have to give up your rights as a person and a partner in exchange for not being assaulted!
- There has not been any physical violence. Many women are emotionally and verbally assaulted. This can be as equally frightening and is often more confusing to try to understand.
Emotional abuse: It’s a bigger problem than you think
When people think of domestic abuse, they often picture battered women who have been physically assaulted. But not all abusive relationships involve violence. Just because you’re not battered and bruised doesn’t mean you’re not being abused. Many men and women suffer from emotional abuse, which is no less destructive. Unfortunately, emotional abuse is often minimized or overlooked—even by the person being abused.Understanding emotional abuse
The aim of emotional abuse is to chip away at your feelings of self-worth and independence. If you’re the victim of emotional abuse, you may feel that there is no way out of the relationship or that without your abusive partner you have nothing.Emotional abuse includes verbal abuse such as yelling, name-calling, blaming, and shaming. Isolation, intimidation, and controlling behavior also fall under emotional abuse. Additionally, abusers who use emotional or psychological abuse often throw in threats of physical violence or other repercussions if you don’t do what they want.
You may think that physical abuse is far worse than emotional abuse, since physical violence can send you to the hospital and leave you with scars. But, the scars of emotional abuse are very real, and they run deep. In fact, emotional abuse can be just as damaging as physical abuse—sometimes even more so.
Economic or financial abuse: A subtle form of emotional abuse
Remember, an abuser’s goal is to control you, and he or she will frequently use money to do so. Economic or financial abuse includes:- Rigidly controlling your finances.
- Withholding money or credit cards.
- Making you account for every penny you spend.
- Withholding basic necessities (food, clothes, medications, shelter).
- Restricting you to an allowance.
- Preventing you from working or choosing your own career.
- Sabotaging your job (making you miss work, calling constantly)
- Stealing from you or taking your money.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Alumnae Spotlight: Amanda DeYoung
Amanda DeYoung was initiated into Alpha Chi Omega in 2003. During her time at Beta Eta, she served as the T-Shirt Chair and was slated into the Warden position. She was also active in Homecoming events and participated in the 32 hours of Dance Marathon as a dancer her Senior year. Outside of Alpha Chi, Amanda was involved in the Fashion Merchandising Program at FSU and studied abroad during her Junior Year to Milan, Paris and London. She majored in Marketing and graduated in 2006.
Amanda now lives in the Atlanta, Georgia area and is working in Commercial Real Estate as a Commercial Property Manager, which keeps her extremely busy. She manages commercial properties on behalf of her clients with her portfolio including office buildings, large retail centers and industrial warehouses in and around the Atlanta area. In the free time that she can find, she likes to run half marathons, travel to new places, be outdoors and on the water and keep up with her puggle, Snoop!
She is involved in the local Atlanta Seminole Club and she is a Seminole Booster. She takes opportunities to get down to Tallahassee for a few games a year and never misses Homecoming. She even gets to a few away games each season. She remains great friends with many of her Alpha Chi sisters - including both her Big (Shanna Houraney, 01) and her Little (Katherine Elza, 04) - and they are fortunate to get away a couple times a year to take trips and see one another.
Amanda says, “When I joined Alpha Chi, I was joining a sorority...but what I got out of Alpha Chi became so much more than a sorority. The bonds and the friendships that came out of my years there gave me a solid foundation to become the person I am today.”
As an active member of Xi Omega Xi, Amanda was an integral part of the special event team for Xi Omega Xi’s 1st Annual Lucky Stars Reunion weekend in November 2010.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Spring Has Sprung
Hello to all my lovely sisters,
This last week was a busy week with all the new Spring Members and individual activities on throughout the house.
Monday- Martin Luther King Holiday
Tuesday- We had a mini bid day for our new spring members. This was a blast! We had dessert pizza and sparkling cider. The new girls really felt welcomed as their Alpha's led them around the house and helped them with some of the basics such as meals and forum information.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday- We didn't have any specified events for these days but we have been hard at work with Dance Marathon right around the corner. If you would like to donate to our team i posted the link below along with step by step directions to donating.(http://dm.fsu.edu/?page_id=6
-Step 1: Scroll down to Get Involved
-Step 2: Click on Donate to an Individual/Team
-Step 3: Click on the tab that says Team Search
-Step 4: Type in Alpha Chi Omega
-Step 5: In the upper left hand corner click on Make a donation and donate whatever amount you would like :)
*even if its just a dollar :) Every dollar helps.
Saturday- We did a Dance Marathon Fundraiser where we were assigned a corner to stand and collect funds in giant tubs from all the cars going by and it was a great success.
Sunday- Today we had a Chi Connection where the seniors talked to the chapter about personal development and how to present ourselves to the Greek community and other fellow students. It was great way for our seniors to interact with some of the new members since they are so busy with graduation details at this time of the year. We also had a risk management meeting which was a informative presentation about the affiliation of alcohol with the Greek community and the power we have to change that negative connotation.
It was a really great week and with a busy week ahead of us i will have a lot to update you on next week!! Until then LITB <3
**If you have any questions about DM or anything in general feel free to email me at Erica.Heinrichs@fsu.edu
This last week was a busy week with all the new Spring Members and individual activities on throughout the house.
Monday- Martin Luther King Holiday
Tuesday- We had a mini bid day for our new spring members. This was a blast! We had dessert pizza and sparkling cider. The new girls really felt welcomed as their Alpha's led them around the house and helped them with some of the basics such as meals and forum information.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday- We didn't have any specified events for these days but we have been hard at work with Dance Marathon right around the corner. If you would like to donate to our team i posted the link below along with step by step directions to donating.(http://dm.fsu.edu/?page_id=6
-Step 1: Scroll down to Get Involved
-Step 2: Click on Donate to an Individual/Team
-Step 3: Click on the tab that says Team Search
-Step 4: Type in Alpha Chi Omega
-Step 5: In the upper left hand corner click on Make a donation and donate whatever amount you would like :)
*even if its just a dollar :) Every dollar helps.
Saturday- We did a Dance Marathon Fundraiser where we were assigned a corner to stand and collect funds in giant tubs from all the cars going by and it was a great success.
Sunday- Today we had a Chi Connection where the seniors talked to the chapter about personal development and how to present ourselves to the Greek community and other fellow students. It was great way for our seniors to interact with some of the new members since they are so busy with graduation details at this time of the year. We also had a risk management meeting which was a informative presentation about the affiliation of alcohol with the Greek community and the power we have to change that negative connotation.
It was a really great week and with a busy week ahead of us i will have a lot to update you on next week!! Until then LITB <3
**If you have any questions about DM or anything in general feel free to email me at Erica.Heinrichs@fsu.edu
Friday, January 21, 2011
Top Fraternities
Last Friday we blogged, about top sororities websites. Edu in review's blog also posted an article on their site ranking fraternities based on website traffic. Check out the article below
The fraternity culture in a year end review has been the source of numerous news stories. From the TBS premiering of the new fraternity inspired show Glory Daze to the anti-hazing Twitter campaign initiated by Sigma Nu. It seems that because of these headlines and many more, fraternities were heavily trafficked for online news and information. Here is a list of the most popular fraternities of 2010 based on website traffic:
1. Kappa Sigma: Kappa Sigma, also commonly referred to as Kappa Sig, was founded in 1869 at the University of Virginia. The founding fathers of Kappa Sig started the fraternity based on the traditions of the ancient order of Bologna, Italy and its colors are scarlet, white and emerald green.
2. Sigma Chi: Founded in 1855 on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, the two official philanthropies for the Sigma Chi fraternity are the Children’s Miracle Network and the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
3. Alpha Phi Alpha: Founded in 1906 on the campus of Cornell University and its colors are black and old gold. Its official philanthropies are the March of Dimes, Head Start, Boy Scouts of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
4. Pi Kappa Alpha: Pi Kappa Alpha members, also commonly known as Pike, was founded in 1868 on the campus of the University of Virginia.
5. Lambda Chi Alpha: Founded in 1909 at Boston University, Lambda Chi Alpha is commonly known as Lambda Chi. Colors for Lambda Chi Alpha are purple, green and gold, the symbols are the cross and the crescent and its flower is a white rose.
6. Sigma Alpha Epsilon: Commonly also known as SAE, Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded in 1856 at the University of Alabama. The official philanthropy of Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the Children’s Miracle Network.
7. Phi Kappa Psi: The official philanthropy of Phi Kappa Psi is the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and it was founded in 1852 at Jefferson College.
8. Phi Delta Theta: Founded in 1848 on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and the official philanthropy of Phi Delta Theta is Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association. Phi Delta Theta is commonly known as Phi Delt and its colors are azure blue and argent white.
9. Tau Kappa Epsilon: Also commonly known as Teke, Tau Kappa Epsilon was founded at Illinois Wesleyan University in 1899. The official philanthropy of Tau Kappa Epsilon is the Alzheimer’s Association and their official flower is the red carnation.
10. Sigma Phi Epsilon: Founded in 1901 at Richmond College, which is now the University of Richmond, and YouthAids is their official philanthropy. Also known as SigEp, they also had all of their nationwide chapters donate to the relief fund after Hurricane Katrina.
The fraternity culture in a year end review has been the source of numerous news stories. From the TBS premiering of the new fraternity inspired show Glory Daze to the anti-hazing Twitter campaign initiated by Sigma Nu. It seems that because of these headlines and many more, fraternities were heavily trafficked for online news and information. Here is a list of the most popular fraternities of 2010 based on website traffic:
1. Kappa Sigma: Kappa Sigma, also commonly referred to as Kappa Sig, was founded in 1869 at the University of Virginia. The founding fathers of Kappa Sig started the fraternity based on the traditions of the ancient order of Bologna, Italy and its colors are scarlet, white and emerald green.
2. Sigma Chi: Founded in 1855 on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, the two official philanthropies for the Sigma Chi fraternity are the Children’s Miracle Network and the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
3. Alpha Phi Alpha: Founded in 1906 on the campus of Cornell University and its colors are black and old gold. Its official philanthropies are the March of Dimes, Head Start, Boy Scouts of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
4. Pi Kappa Alpha: Pi Kappa Alpha members, also commonly known as Pike, was founded in 1868 on the campus of the University of Virginia.
5. Lambda Chi Alpha: Founded in 1909 at Boston University, Lambda Chi Alpha is commonly known as Lambda Chi. Colors for Lambda Chi Alpha are purple, green and gold, the symbols are the cross and the crescent and its flower is a white rose.
6. Sigma Alpha Epsilon: Commonly also known as SAE, Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded in 1856 at the University of Alabama. The official philanthropy of Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the Children’s Miracle Network.
7. Phi Kappa Psi: The official philanthropy of Phi Kappa Psi is the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and it was founded in 1852 at Jefferson College.
8. Phi Delta Theta: Founded in 1848 on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and the official philanthropy of Phi Delta Theta is Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association. Phi Delta Theta is commonly known as Phi Delt and its colors are azure blue and argent white.
9. Tau Kappa Epsilon: Also commonly known as Teke, Tau Kappa Epsilon was founded at Illinois Wesleyan University in 1899. The official philanthropy of Tau Kappa Epsilon is the Alzheimer’s Association and their official flower is the red carnation.
10. Sigma Phi Epsilon: Founded in 1901 at Richmond College, which is now the University of Richmond, and YouthAids is their official philanthropy. Also known as SigEp, they also had all of their nationwide chapters donate to the relief fund after Hurricane Katrina.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Signs of an abusive relationship
There are many signs of an abusive relationship. The most telling sign is fear of your partner. If you feel like you have to walk on eggshells around your partner—constantly watching what you say and do in order to avoid a blow-up—chances are your relationship is unhealthy and abusive. Other signs that you may be in an abusive relationship include a partner who belittles you or tries to control you, and feelings of self-loathing, helplessness, and desperation.
To determine whether your relationship is abusive, answer the questions below. The more “yes” answers, the more likely it is that you’re in an abusive relationship.| SIGNS THAT YOU’RE IN AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP | |
| Your Inner Thoughts and Feelings | Your Partner’s Belittling Behavior |
Do you:
| Does your partner:
|
| Your Partner’s Violent Behavior or Threats | Your Partner’s Controlling Behavior |
Does your partner:
| Does your partner:
|
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Alumnae Spotlight: Shannon Falzone
Shannon pledged AXO in 2000 and held positions such as Line Dance Chair for 2 years, VP Risk Management, and was always involved in Homecoming activities. She was an Emerging Leader and part of Golden Key Honor Society She graduated in 2004 from the school of Communications.
Since graduating, she moved to Orlando, FL where for her first year out of college she got to travel and attend huge events such as Super Bowl, Sturgis, and many Nascar events while working for Jack Daniels and Miller Lite.
She has now been in radio in Orlando for 6 years and holds the position of National Promotions and Sales Coordinator.
She has been the recruitment advisor at Stetson University for the last 4 years and has been able to share this experience with her friend and sister Carolina Castaneda (NM’00) and Allison Goodman (NM’03).
She has been on the board for the Orlando Seminole Club for 3 years (Special Events) and has had the opportunity to work with the Seminole Boosters and Alumni Association on various school and local events.
She attends as many football games back at Florida State as possible, and has had the great opportunity to travel to away games and stay with some of our sisters.
Shannon was an integral part of the special event team for Xi Omega Xi’s 1st Annual Lucky Stars Reunion weekend in November 2010.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Executive Retreat 2011!!
Hello to my beautiful sisters!
Hi! My name is Erica Heinrichs and i was recently elected our Vice President of Fraternity Relations. So I will post a blog weekly on Monday mornings to update all the followers on what the chapter has done in the previous week and any upcoming events that we may have (possibly a couple just for fun too). I have never blogged before so this will be an all new and fun experience for me. :) So this past week for Alpha Chi was a cluster of fun, excitement and anticipation. We have been having our Spring Recruitment due to the increase in total for Florida State's campus so our VP Recruitment, Rachel Richards, and her committee have been hard at work finding amazing girls who exemplify all 5 criteria to join our sisterhood. We have already had 8 girls accept their bids and they are looking forward to their upcoming education and initiation. Here was last weeks breakdown...(I'm a list kind of person lol)
Monday & Tuesday -
We had girls over for lunches and dinners for Spring Recruitment.(YAY!) Also, We had our first executive meeting for the new Executive Board 2011. Additionally, Our Education Committee held a meeting for all future mystagogues/bigs for the new Spring new members. This was a really good opportunity for some of our seniors to get involved with the new pledge class coming so they can teach them how the ladies of Alpha Chi present themselves and participate in events.
Wednesday-
This was a big night for us because it was the night of Winterfest which was the Greek communities formal way of allowing girls going thru spring recruitment to interact with all of the sororities on campus instead of a select few where they may previously know someone. We met some great girls and got positive feedback on our house.
Saturday Thru Monday-
This weekend was actually our annual Executive Board retreat!!! We spent the weekend on St. George Island at an amazing beach house called Beach Fever. We spent the weekend learning in depth about our individual responsibilities for our positions as well as discussing out goals for the future. We also made the calendar for the upcoming months which included planning social events, sisterhood activities, chapters, recruitment workshops, ritual workshops, chi connections, academic study groups, senior appreciation activities,initiation, education for new members, Pahellenic activities,Par- tee, and the list goes on. It was a very productive weekend. I think we have a very solid executive board that has a lot of fresh idea for the future which with a little time and effort are not unattainable. We have a lot of work ahead of us but we would be lost without our advisors, Britain Dwyre, Jennifer Butler & Amy Zoldak. They are the glue that holds us together. So below is a link so you can see the amazing property and then i added some pictures from the retreat.
That's all i have for now but feel free to contact me anytime! My email is Erica.Heinrichs@gmail.com so if you have any questions or would like more information on anything I mention just let me know because I'd be glad to share whatever I have. HAVE A GREAT MARIN LUTHER KING DAY! LITB
Friday, January 14, 2011
Top Sororities Websites 2010
Edu in review's blog had an article recently ranking the top sororities based on their website traffic. I am proud to say that Alpha Chi Omega was high ranking.. If you haven't been lately be sure to check it out, and use your bond number to log in, update your mailing information, etc.
The sorority culture in a year end review has been the source of numerous news stories. From the Fraternity and Sorority Concert Series to the sorority girls at Florida State University who fell victim to an online predator. It seems that because of these headlines and many more, sororities were heavily trafficked for online news and information. Here is a list of the most popular sororities of 2010 based on website traffic:
The sorority culture in a year end review has been the source of numerous news stories. From the Fraternity and Sorority Concert Series to the sorority girls at Florida State University who fell victim to an online predator. It seems that because of these headlines and many more, sororities were heavily trafficked for online news and information. Here is a list of the most popular sororities of 2010 based on website traffic:
- Pi Beta Phi: Founded at Monmouth University in 1867 although its original name was I.C. Sorosis. Pi Beta Phi, also commonly known as Pi Phi’s symbols are the arrow, angel, and its colors are wine and silver blue. Pi Beta Phi was the first sorority to be a national organization.
- Alpha Chi Omega: Founded at DePauw University in 1885 and was first founded around the school of music. Commonly known as A Chi O, Alpha Chi Omega’s philanthropy is the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation, which focuses on domestic violence awareness and prevention.
- Delta Gamma: Delta Gamma, known commonly as DG, was founded in 1873 on the campus of the Lewis School for Girls in Oxford, Mississippi. The official philanthropy for Delta Gamma sorority is Service for Sight, which helps those who are visually impaired. The symbol of DG is the anchor and its colors are blue, pink and bronze.
- Kappa Delta: Founded at the State Female Normal School in Farmville, Virginia, known today as Longwood University in 1897, Kappa Delta supports four philanthropies Girl Scouts of the USA, Prevent Child Abuse America, Children’s Hospital of Richmond, Virginia and Orthopaedic Research Awards. Kappa Delta’s colors are olive green and pearl white, and it is commonly known as KD.
- Delta Zeta: Commonly known also as DZ, was founded in 1902 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio the same year that women were given status to enroll as full-time students at the school. DZ’s colors are green and rose and its philanthropies are the Painted Turtle and the Starkey Hearing Foundation.
- Kappa Kappa Gamma: Founded on the campus of Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois in 1870, Kappa Kappa Gamma is known commonly as also KKG or simply, Kappa. Its colors are dark and light blue and the official philanthropy of Kappa Kappa Gamma is Reading is Fundamental.
- Chi Omega: Founded in 1895 at the University of Arkansas, Chi Omega is also commonly known as Chi O. Chi O is the largest sorority in America, according to the National Panhellenic Conference. The official philanthropy of the Chi Omega sorority is the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
- Delta Delta Delta: Known commonly as Tri Delta or Tri Delta, Delta Delta Delta was founded in 1888 at Boston University. Their national philanthropy is St. Jude and Cancer Research and it is widely known that March is St. Jude/Tri Delta month.
- Zeta Tau Alpha: Founded in 1898 at the State Female Normal School, which is now Longwood University, The Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the Zeta Tau Alpha national philanthropy as is breast cancer research and awareness. Zeta Tau Alpha colors are turquoise and steel gray and its symbols are the five pointed crown and strawberry.
- Delta Sigma Theta: Founded in 1913 at Howard University, Delta Sigma Theta boasts that it is the largest sorority in the world. Sorority members are known commonly as Deltas and its colors are crimson and cream.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
After Months in Limbo, Paterson Aide Charged in Abuse Case Is Fired
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
He got his start as an intern but rose to become one of Gov. David A. Paterson’s most trusted and powerful aides, with a designated room at the Executive Mansion in Albany for overnight stays.
But he became embroiled in a domestic violence case, fueling a scandal that crippled Mr. Paterson politically and led the governor to abandon his campaign for a second term. And in November, Mr. Paterson finally fired the aide, David W. Johnson, who had been by the governor’s side for most of his adult life, the administration confirmed on Monday.
Mr. Johnson’s termination, according to payroll records, came one day after a Bronx judge denied a motion to dismiss a domestic violence charge against him.
Mr. Johnson was suspended on Feb. 25 after a report that he had assaulted his former companion, Sherr-una Booker, at her home on Oct. 31, 2009. Further revelations, including that the Paterson administration had intervened in the case and contacted Ms. Booker after the episode, wracked Mr. Paterson’s administration this year. But Mr. Johnson remained technically on the state payroll, granted so-called discretionary leave for almost nine months, drawing no salary. He remained a member of the administration even after his arrest in August on charges of assaulting Ms. Booker, and he was not formally fired until Nov. 19, according to state payroll records.
Mr. Johnson’s lawyer, Oscar Michelen, said his client had not taken a new job.
“He’s not employed,” Mr. Michelen said. “I can say he has not started a new position anywhere.”
Jessica Bassett, a spokeswoman for Mr. Paterson, declined to comment on the timing of Mr. Johnson’s dismissal. But on Nov. 18, one day before he was fired, the judge in Mr. Johnson’s case, Miriam R. Best, denied a motion by Mr. Johnson’s lawyer to dismiss the case for lack of evidence. Judge Best also extended an order of protection against Mr. Johnson.
Ms. Booker had accused Mr. Johnson of tearing off her Halloween costume, choking her and shoving her into a dresser.
Asked if Mr. Johnson was discussing a potential plea deal with prosecutors, a spokesman for the Bronx district attorney, Robert T. Johnson, said he could not comment on pending cases. No trial date has been scheduled in the domestic violence case.
Mr. Michelen said that Mr. Johnson was preparing to go to trial.
Mr. Michelen also said there was no particular significance to the date of Mr. Johnson’s termination and described it as a housekeeping matter that accompanied the winding down of Mr. Paterson’s term and the conclusion of an inquiry into the administration’s handling of Mr. Johnson’s domestic violence case. Mr. Johnson asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in that investigation and refused to provide testimony.
In addition, Mr. Johnson was a central figure in a series of investigations into how he acquired tickets to the 2009 World Series for himself, Mr. Paterson and several others.
The Albany County district attorney, P. David Soares, is weighing perjury charges against Mr. Paterson stemming from the investigations into the World Series tickets.
Mr. Johnson’s departure represents a coda of sorts to Mr. Paterson’s tumultuous three years in office, a period during which the governor sought to address New York’s fiscal crises while buffeted by scandals and resignations.
Mr. Johnson began his career as an intern and then a driver in Mr. Paterson’s district office, when the governor, a Democrat, was a state senator from Harlem. He ultimately became the governor’s closest confidant, a man whose day-to-day job — as Mr. Paterson’s “body man” — belied his influence and reach in the executive chamber.
In July, Judith S. Kaye — the special counsel assigned by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo to investigate whether Mr. Paterson had sought to persuade Ms. Booker not to pursue charges against Mr. Johnson — concluded that Mr. Paterson had indeed spoken with Ms. Booker and had urged her to help him contain any political fallout, but that the governor’s actions and those of other aides were not criminal.
Such was Mr. Johnson’s perceived power in the Paterson administration that a job offer from a Pennsylvania lobbyist came in within days of his suspension.
He did not accept the offer.
But he became embroiled in a domestic violence case, fueling a scandal that crippled Mr. Paterson politically and led the governor to abandon his campaign for a second term. And in November, Mr. Paterson finally fired the aide, David W. Johnson, who had been by the governor’s side for most of his adult life, the administration confirmed on Monday.
Mr. Johnson’s termination, according to payroll records, came one day after a Bronx judge denied a motion to dismiss a domestic violence charge against him.
Mr. Johnson was suspended on Feb. 25 after a report that he had assaulted his former companion, Sherr-una Booker, at her home on Oct. 31, 2009. Further revelations, including that the Paterson administration had intervened in the case and contacted Ms. Booker after the episode, wracked Mr. Paterson’s administration this year. But Mr. Johnson remained technically on the state payroll, granted so-called discretionary leave for almost nine months, drawing no salary. He remained a member of the administration even after his arrest in August on charges of assaulting Ms. Booker, and he was not formally fired until Nov. 19, according to state payroll records.
Mr. Johnson’s lawyer, Oscar Michelen, said his client had not taken a new job.
“He’s not employed,” Mr. Michelen said. “I can say he has not started a new position anywhere.”
Jessica Bassett, a spokeswoman for Mr. Paterson, declined to comment on the timing of Mr. Johnson’s dismissal. But on Nov. 18, one day before he was fired, the judge in Mr. Johnson’s case, Miriam R. Best, denied a motion by Mr. Johnson’s lawyer to dismiss the case for lack of evidence. Judge Best also extended an order of protection against Mr. Johnson.
Ms. Booker had accused Mr. Johnson of tearing off her Halloween costume, choking her and shoving her into a dresser.
Asked if Mr. Johnson was discussing a potential plea deal with prosecutors, a spokesman for the Bronx district attorney, Robert T. Johnson, said he could not comment on pending cases. No trial date has been scheduled in the domestic violence case.
Mr. Michelen said that Mr. Johnson was preparing to go to trial.
Mr. Michelen also said there was no particular significance to the date of Mr. Johnson’s termination and described it as a housekeeping matter that accompanied the winding down of Mr. Paterson’s term and the conclusion of an inquiry into the administration’s handling of Mr. Johnson’s domestic violence case. Mr. Johnson asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in that investigation and refused to provide testimony.
In addition, Mr. Johnson was a central figure in a series of investigations into how he acquired tickets to the 2009 World Series for himself, Mr. Paterson and several others.
The Albany County district attorney, P. David Soares, is weighing perjury charges against Mr. Paterson stemming from the investigations into the World Series tickets.
Mr. Johnson’s departure represents a coda of sorts to Mr. Paterson’s tumultuous three years in office, a period during which the governor sought to address New York’s fiscal crises while buffeted by scandals and resignations.
Mr. Johnson began his career as an intern and then a driver in Mr. Paterson’s district office, when the governor, a Democrat, was a state senator from Harlem. He ultimately became the governor’s closest confidant, a man whose day-to-day job — as Mr. Paterson’s “body man” — belied his influence and reach in the executive chamber.
In July, Judith S. Kaye — the special counsel assigned by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo to investigate whether Mr. Paterson had sought to persuade Ms. Booker not to pursue charges against Mr. Johnson — concluded that Mr. Paterson had indeed spoken with Ms. Booker and had urged her to help him contain any political fallout, but that the governor’s actions and those of other aides were not criminal.
Such was Mr. Johnson’s perceived power in the Paterson administration that a job offer from a Pennsylvania lobbyist came in within days of his suspension.
He did not accept the offer.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Alumnae Spotlight: Carolina Castaneda
Carolina is a Fall 2000 initiate. During her time at Beta Eta she participated in Tiger Toss, served as PACE, Sisterhood Support Chair, Banner Chair and House Manager. She was also a proud Seminole Ambassador and Lady Spirithunter. Carolina graduated in 2003 with a BA in Communications and a minor in Art.
Currently living in Orlando, Florida, Carolina has an exciting sports marketing career as a Media Manager at Golf Channel. She's continued her sorority experience by serving as the VP Communications and VP Fraternity Relations advisor for Alpha Chi’s Stetson University chapter for over three years. She also coordinates activities for the Orlando Beta Etas.
Carolina is currently pursuing a Masters in Liberal Studies at Rollins College. When she’s not working, advising or studying she enjoys running -- last year Carolina ran two half marathons! Her passions also include travel, dancing, yoga, art, her dog Rocco and cooking; she has a vegetarian cooking and fitness blog: www.peasinablog.com
Some of her best memories are from her time at Beta Eta. From the Lucky Stars Reunion this past homecoming, to the amazing friendships she created, Alpha Chi Omega is an important part of who she is today. She hopes all of us continue to seek the heights.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Top Sororities from
The article below is from Edu in review's blog. It gives a good deal of info about some of the "biggest" and more prominent sororities in the nation.
There’s obviously been a lot of passionate commentary posted here. We won’t disagree that the sororal community is one that is strong. When this article was first created nearly two years ago, it was done so as a way to capture all of our sorority profiles in one place (and at that time, we’d, admittedly, only completely ten), it was never meant to place one above another or diminish the value of another. Although, we recognize, the headline says otherwise. Since that time we’ve written, to the best of our knowledge, profiles on most, if not all, of the major collegiate sorority organizations in the U.S. You can find those here.
The list of ten presented here is in alphabetical order, again, in no way meant to give preference.
Being a part of a Greek organization is often the first order of business for life on campus for college freshman. Typically a rush week just prior or at the start of the fall semester makes it possible for women to visit each sorority house on campus, before an invitation is extended to join one house or another. These sororities can be a major part of a student’s college career, being a source of social activies, cultivating relationships and keeping students accountable for their academic performance.
Ten sororities stand out as some of the oldest, largest and most popular Greek organizations for women. Learn more about their histories, philanthropic efforts, traditions and even celebrity alumnae.
Alpha Chi Omega
Founded 1885 on the Depauw University campus in Greencastle, IN by the dean of the music school, in an effort to cultivate a music culture for women. The Alpha Chis support charities for domestic violence, and famous alumnae include former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Bachelorette Trista Rehn Sutter.
Alpha Phi
Alpha Phi was the fourth Greek organization ever founded for women, in 1872 at Syracuse University. The sorority promotes sisterhood and character with philanthropic efforts focused on cardiac care and research. Famous alumnae include actress Jeri Ryan and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey.
Chi Omega
The Chi Omega sorority was founded at the University of Arkansas in 1895, with the purpose of promoting friendship, scholarship, campus socializing and personal and career development. The Chi-O women support the Make-A-Wish Foundation and is currently the nation’s largest sorority. Celebrity alumnae include actress Lucy Liu and Tamira Cole, the sorority’s first black member and 2009 Miss Black Kentucky.
Delta Delta Delta
Not feeling as though they fit in with the other sororities at Boston University, four women began Delta Delta Delta in 1888. Their goal was for the women to be “kind alike to all” and to “think more of inner self and character than of personal appearance.” The Tri-Delts support children’s cancer charities, namely St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. In 1992, a famous SNL skit made the sorority a household name. Celebrity alumnae include actress Elizabeth Banks and CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric.
Delta Gamma
In 1873 at the Lewis School for Girls, Delta Gamma began with a purpose of helping women strive for excellence. The sorority has historical ties with the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. The philanthropic efforts of the DGs is focused on Service for Sight, matching their motto to “Do Good.” Celebrity alumnae of Delta Gamma include actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and ESPN Sports Reporter Jill Arrington.
Delta Zeta
Delta Zeta was founded at Miami University in Ohio in 1902 by six women. This was the same year that women were given status to enroll as full-time students at Miami University. Their purpose was to cultivate friendship, knowledge, social culture and unity. The Delta Zeta women support organizations for the hearing or speech impaired. Famous alumnae include The View co-host Joy Behar and “Brady Bunch mom” Florence Henderson.
Kappa Delta
The sorority was founded in 1897 at the State Female Normal School, now Longwood University, by four women aged 15 to 23. Their objective was to perpetuate friendship, fellowship and sisterly love. The Kappa Deltas support four organizations — Girl Scouts, Prevent Child Abuse America, Children’s Hospital of Richmond, Virginia and Orthopaedic Research Awards. Famous Kappa Delta alumnae include former Miss USA and actress Ali Landry and the Army’s first three-star general Claudia Kennedy.
Kappa Kappa Gamma
The KKG sorority was founded at Monmouth College in 1870 by six women. It remains one of the oldest and largest active Greek organizations. The principle ideals set forth by the founding women were friendship, scholarship and leadership. The official philanthropy of Kappa Kappa Gamma is Reading is Fundamental. Famous Kappa alumnae include actresses Ashley Judd and Sophia Bush.
Pi Beta Phi
The Pi Beta Phi sorority was also founded at Monmouth College in 1867 by a group of women who wanted their own version of the men’s secret societies. The Pi Phis philanthropic efforts focus on literacy organizations like Champions Are Readers. Celebrity alumnae include actress Jennifer Garner and former First Lady Barbara Bush.
Zeta Tau Alpha
The State Female Normal School, now Longwood University, also produced the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. Founded in 1898 by nine women pursuing education degrees with the purpose of promoting friendship and happiness that would help build a purer womanhood. The Zetas philanthropic work benefits breast cancer awareness, with their national charity being The Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Famous ZTA alumnae include ESPN reporter Erin Andrews and President Gerald Ford’s daughter Susan Ford Bales
There’s obviously been a lot of passionate commentary posted here. We won’t disagree that the sororal community is one that is strong. When this article was first created nearly two years ago, it was done so as a way to capture all of our sorority profiles in one place (and at that time, we’d, admittedly, only completely ten), it was never meant to place one above another or diminish the value of another. Although, we recognize, the headline says otherwise. Since that time we’ve written, to the best of our knowledge, profiles on most, if not all, of the major collegiate sorority organizations in the U.S. You can find those here.
The list of ten presented here is in alphabetical order, again, in no way meant to give preference.
Being a part of a Greek organization is often the first order of business for life on campus for college freshman. Typically a rush week just prior or at the start of the fall semester makes it possible for women to visit each sorority house on campus, before an invitation is extended to join one house or another. These sororities can be a major part of a student’s college career, being a source of social activies, cultivating relationships and keeping students accountable for their academic performance.
Ten sororities stand out as some of the oldest, largest and most popular Greek organizations for women. Learn more about their histories, philanthropic efforts, traditions and even celebrity alumnae.
Alpha Chi OmegaFounded 1885 on the Depauw University campus in Greencastle, IN by the dean of the music school, in an effort to cultivate a music culture for women. The Alpha Chis support charities for domestic violence, and famous alumnae include former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Bachelorette Trista Rehn Sutter.
Alpha PhiAlpha Phi was the fourth Greek organization ever founded for women, in 1872 at Syracuse University. The sorority promotes sisterhood and character with philanthropic efforts focused on cardiac care and research. Famous alumnae include actress Jeri Ryan and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey.
Chi OmegaThe Chi Omega sorority was founded at the University of Arkansas in 1895, with the purpose of promoting friendship, scholarship, campus socializing and personal and career development. The Chi-O women support the Make-A-Wish Foundation and is currently the nation’s largest sorority. Celebrity alumnae include actress Lucy Liu and Tamira Cole, the sorority’s first black member and 2009 Miss Black Kentucky.
Delta Delta DeltaNot feeling as though they fit in with the other sororities at Boston University, four women began Delta Delta Delta in 1888. Their goal was for the women to be “kind alike to all” and to “think more of inner self and character than of personal appearance.” The Tri-Delts support children’s cancer charities, namely St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. In 1992, a famous SNL skit made the sorority a household name. Celebrity alumnae include actress Elizabeth Banks and CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric.
Delta GammaIn 1873 at the Lewis School for Girls, Delta Gamma began with a purpose of helping women strive for excellence. The sorority has historical ties with the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. The philanthropic efforts of the DGs is focused on Service for Sight, matching their motto to “Do Good.” Celebrity alumnae of Delta Gamma include actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and ESPN Sports Reporter Jill Arrington.
Delta ZetaDelta Zeta was founded at Miami University in Ohio in 1902 by six women. This was the same year that women were given status to enroll as full-time students at Miami University. Their purpose was to cultivate friendship, knowledge, social culture and unity. The Delta Zeta women support organizations for the hearing or speech impaired. Famous alumnae include The View co-host Joy Behar and “Brady Bunch mom” Florence Henderson.
Kappa DeltaThe sorority was founded in 1897 at the State Female Normal School, now Longwood University, by four women aged 15 to 23. Their objective was to perpetuate friendship, fellowship and sisterly love. The Kappa Deltas support four organizations — Girl Scouts, Prevent Child Abuse America, Children’s Hospital of Richmond, Virginia and Orthopaedic Research Awards. Famous Kappa Delta alumnae include former Miss USA and actress Ali Landry and the Army’s first three-star general Claudia Kennedy.
Kappa Kappa GammaThe KKG sorority was founded at Monmouth College in 1870 by six women. It remains one of the oldest and largest active Greek organizations. The principle ideals set forth by the founding women were friendship, scholarship and leadership. The official philanthropy of Kappa Kappa Gamma is Reading is Fundamental. Famous Kappa alumnae include actresses Ashley Judd and Sophia Bush.
Pi Beta PhiThe Pi Beta Phi sorority was also founded at Monmouth College in 1867 by a group of women who wanted their own version of the men’s secret societies. The Pi Phis philanthropic efforts focus on literacy organizations like Champions Are Readers. Celebrity alumnae include actress Jennifer Garner and former First Lady Barbara Bush.
Zeta Tau AlphaThe State Female Normal School, now Longwood University, also produced the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. Founded in 1898 by nine women pursuing education degrees with the purpose of promoting friendship and happiness that would help build a purer womanhood. The Zetas philanthropic work benefits breast cancer awareness, with their national charity being The Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Famous ZTA alumnae include ESPN reporter Erin Andrews and President Gerald Ford’s daughter Susan Ford Bales
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Derby players to wear ribbons for domestic violence campaign
above is the poster produced to encourage fathers to play a positive role in ensuring their children find violence against women unacceptable.
1 Jan 2011
Footballers in the Hearts vs Hibs new year derby match will today wear white ribbons as part of a new campaign to halt domestic violence.
All frontline Lothian and Borders Police officers will also wear white ribbons, and campaign messages will be sent out via Bluetooth to mobile phones in the stadium and the immediate area.
The campaign will also feature on the stadium’s LCD screen, the match programme, and posters and postcards distributed nearby.
Designed to make men think about how their actions influence the actions of their children, the campaign features a father and son playing football, and has the slogan: “You’re his role model. Teach him violence against women is never OK.”
Created in conjunction with White Ribbon Scotland – the Scottish organisation which forms part of the global campaign to get men to take more responsibility for reducing the level of violence against women - the new push encourages men not to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women.
Approximately 5% of all annual domestic abuse incidents force-wide are reported between December 24 and January 4, reaching a high on New Year’s Day.
Inspector Paul Matthews said: “It’s a harsh fact, but call-outs for domestic abuse traditionally peak on New Year’s Day. Alcohol and post-Christmas stress both play their part, although every situation is different.
Hearts manager Jim Jefferies, said: “Hearts is proud to support this campaign, particularly at our biggest match of the season. Any act of violence is cowardly, and we’re very enthusiastic and strong as a club in supporting this very important message.”
Hibs manager Colin Calderwood said: “Any form of violence against women should not be tolerated – it is not acceptable behaviour – and hopefully our involvement will have a positive impact on getting that message across.”
Callum Hendry, Campaign Co-ordinator for the White Ribbon Scotland campaign, said: “This is a great opportunity to get the message out to an audience of thousands of men and boys that violence against women is unacceptable, and that they can play a significant part in its prevention.”
The original article is heraldscotland.com
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Formal!!!
view when you enter the formal from the foyer
view of far side of formal, outer wall, tri-delta side
above fireplace, Beta Eta founders composite
Piano, with built in trophy cabinet to the right of the fireplace.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Back to School!
The chapter house will open today, and the spring term will start tomorrow. Congratulations to the 2011 Executive Board..
President Jaclyn
VP CRSB Lindsey
VP Communications Jenna
VP Finance Amanda
VP Education Caitlin
VP Fraternity Relations Erica
House Manager Brittany
VP Intellectual Development Libby
Vp Membership Development Kate
VP Panhellenic Kate
VP Philanthropy Stacia
VP Recruitment Rachel
VP Risk Management Katherine
We look forward to updating you on collegiate events this semester.
Some of the events to look forward are:
Executive Board retreat
Leadership Academy Recap
Dance Marathon
Hera Day Festivites
Beta Eta Founders Day
Semiformal
Hayride
If there is anything you would like to see us blog about please feel free to leave a comment below!
President Jaclyn
VP CRSB Lindsey
VP Communications Jenna
VP Finance Amanda
VP Education Caitlin
VP Fraternity Relations Erica
House Manager Brittany
VP Intellectual Development Libby
Vp Membership Development Kate
VP Panhellenic Kate
VP Philanthropy Stacia
VP Recruitment Rachel
VP Risk Management Katherine
We look forward to updating you on collegiate events this semester.
Some of the events to look forward are:
Executive Board retreat
Leadership Academy Recap
Dance Marathon
Hera Day Festivites
Beta Eta Founders Day
Semiformal
Hayride
If there is anything you would like to see us blog about please feel free to leave a comment below!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)