Mount Clemens sophomore Erica Freckleton practices juggling for the first time while in front of the Juggling and Circus Arts Club booth during RSO night Monday evening at the CMU Events Center. "It was a lot easier than I thought," said Freckleton. "I have absolutely no hand-eye coordination so I'm sure that if I can do it anyone can do it." (Charlotte Bodak/Staff Photographer)

Michelle Shamaly said about 80 registered student organizations participated in the Student Government Association’s second RSO Spotlight event.

The event was held at 7 p.m. Monday in the Events Center.

“This is our second year hosting this event; it used to be run through the Office of Student Life,” Shamaly said.

Last year was a much smaller event held in the Bovee University Center Rotunda and this year the amount of participation has increased significantly, she said.

“Since most of SGA is organized by different representatives of different organizations, we wanted to give them a chance to showcase their organizations and (get) more members,” Shamaly said.

She said this event gave the RSOs experience promoting their organizations and a chance to network with other organizations while building a community.

“I think it is important because not everyone can come to the fall semester MAINstage and it is just a really good way to get your organization out there,” said Mesick sophomore Anelisa Bailey.

Bailey is a member of Spanish Club, which is open to all students.

“Anybody in any Spanish class is able to come to Spanish Club,” she said. “It is a way to practice the language and we put on fun activities.”

Other RSOs present included the Justice Society, based through the criminal justice program, MHTV, CMU’s student-run television station, and Spectrum (formerly the Gay/Straight Alliance), who advocate for the LGBTQ community.

“It is good if there are people that came in for the spring semester and not the fall, so they can come out and see what the RSOs are about,” said Harbor Springs senior Seth Garson.

RSOs that were founded this semester were in attendance as well, including the Juggling and Circus Arts Club.

“The main focus of our RSO is to bring together people with similar interests and help each other get better at our individual disciplines,” said Brighton junior Matthew Peplinski.

As the founder and president of the new organization, Peplinski said he was hoping the event would give them the chance to have people become interested, even if they do not have past experience.

“It is basically about getting together and having fun,” Peplinski said. “One really nice thing about juggling and circus arts is that there is no pressure, because it is not a sport — you do not have to worry about being bad at it.”

During the event, Peplinski and East Lansing freshman Noah Benallack demonstrated and taught students who approached their table juggling and other circus arts.

“It is all about getting better at what you do, finding what you love to do and just having fun,” Peplinski said.

Sparta junior and SGA senator Spencer McKellar said he would like to see the event return every year because RSOs need something similar to MAINstage during the spring semester.

“I feel this is a great avenue to promote all the different things we have to offer on this campus,” McKellar said.

When students start in the fall they feel overwhelmed, but in the spring they have more time to get acclimated, said Detroit junior Laci Bosquez.

“I really enjoy getting to know people that run the clubs and having the opportunity to see what the clubs are showcasing,” Bosquez said.

Mount Pleasant junior and SGA member Sean Kolhoff planned and organized the RSO Spotlight.

“If students have an organization they belong to, it gives them further reasons to want to stay on campus and continue throughout college for all four years,” Kolhoff said.

“We believe this is a great way to provide the same great publicity and PR for our organization that MAINStage provides at the beginning of the fall semester,” said Bryan Shelby, SGA representative for Alpha Phi Omega and Port Huron senior.

SGA’s Growth and Development Committee planned the event, which they described as a “mini-MAINstage” in a news release.

“It is put on to create awareness of all of the RSOs for the students and create an opportunity for people to get involved,” said Jennifer McNairnie, SGA press secretary assistant and Lake Orion junior.

McNairnie said the RSOs would be given an opportunity to recruit and network in a similar way to the much larger fall event.

“This is a great opportunity we have to spread our message of service, leadership and friendship to the rest of campus,” Shelby said.

This event is open to all students.

“It is a great way for RSOs to get exposure that they otherwise would not have,” said Keith Guyot, Sigma Tau Delta president and Flat Rock senior.

SGA Press Secretary and Clinton Township senior Michelle Shamaly said the purpose of the RSO Spotlight is to bring all student organizations together for a great opportunity and for students looking to get involved and reach out to make connections.

“Students can walk around and find out about things that they are interested in instead of RSOs going to find out who might be interested,” Guyot said.

The sudden arrival of the RSOs to voice their dissent against a proposal created largely in response to inactivity and poor attendance by SGA representatives was a bizarre, kind of self-incriminating hypocrisy, but it’s one well-known to many governing bodies.

Their vocal arrival is little different from the normally-stale school board meetings that suddenly explode with participation the minute budget cuts make the agenda, or city council meetings packed with citizens because of a proposed ordinance.

Or the typical college student, apathetic of the political process until an issue comes to the forefront that they become interested in.

Everyone, no matter their varying degrees of interest, deserves an opportunity — a forum — to let their voice be heard. Whether the SGA decides to listen is another story, but a fierce opposition to a proposal should at least be considered.

Toeing the line between mob rule and an oligarchy is a problem which has plagued representative democracies since their first inception. So simply doing away with more than half of campus’ representatives is going to cause some understandable backlash — despite however much representing those representatives actually do.

The problem simply is not that easy to fix.

The self-interest betrayed by the swollen attendance could be damning, but if anything, it reveals something more complicated. If RSOs only show interest in the goings on at SGA when they are facing an existential threat, then how can we expect a unicameral Senate to avoid making self-preservation its primary goal?

It’s all gotten a bit cliquey, really.

How can we, or the E-Board of SGA, say for sure what course is best for student government? Fittingly, the issue will be placed on the general election ballots. Let’s hope students with an interest in the fight remember their voices then.

Vincent Cavataio, Student Government Association president

The Student Government administration faced heavy opposition on Monday night as students raised their voices about a proposal to restructure the Student Government Association.

After SGA Vice President and Brighton junior Colleen McNeely reintroduced the proposal for a new unicameral system during the SGA meeting, hands began to rise throughout the auditorium.

A unicameral system would disband the house and relocate all of the governmental power to the senate, where a student-elected committee of senator representatives would handle governmental affairs. This proposal has been introduced to combat a house that has been accused of being oversized and underproductive.

Port Huron senior Bryan Shelby voiced his concerns about the unicameral proposal and said his entire fraternity, Alphi Phi Omega, will not vote for the bill, because they feel registered student organizations will lose their ability to be heard during meetings.

“I think that in terms of representatives, it will be unfortunate if we had to cut out a large number of representatives and shrink the number down,” Shelby said.

McNeely said if the unicameral change is made to SGA, there will be more passionate people involved in SGA and meetings will be more productive.

“I don’t believe there is a problem with the representatives that are already here. I believe there is more of a problem with lack of engagement of SGA with the rest of the student body,” Shelby said. “If we made them more aware, you would find more passionate people joining RSOs or being involved in the student government.”

In response to earlier concerns voiced about the lack of representation in a unicameral system, SGA President and Shelby Township senior Vincent Cavataio and McNeely have adapted the proposition to change the number of senators representing the student body in the proposed system from 15 senators to 23, matching the current amount of senators in the bicameral system.

Yet, this change in the proposal did little to quell RSO opposition.

“We have the largest amount of representation we have ever had in the student government,” said Romeo senior Kevin Richmond, a representative of Students for Service and Learning. “We would be losing so much by throwing away so much. You can’t expect 23 people to accurately represent a student body of over 20,000 students.”

Many in the RSO community said they felt angered and even betrayed by the new proposal.

“I’m going to go back to my RSO and tell them that they are taking us out of the system.” said Matthew Collier, a senior from Commerce, representing Students For Free Enterprise. “To combat apathy, the administration is trying to put more students in the dark; that is not a solution.”

Despite student backlash, Cavataio insisted the unicameral system is the best solution to a stagnant house.

“What does the house do that the senate does not do? Why are (we) spending so much money for a house that accomplishes little?” Cavataio said. “If we get a group of 23 competitive senators, we can start making some changes on campus.”

On Tuesday, Cavataio suggested the number of senators in the proposal was still subject to change.

“The current proposal is at 23, but after vetting last night, that number seems to be a concern which I will address for revision,” he said in a text message. “It’s important for students to note that nothing is concrete until we refine the plans through their concerns.”

Although the majority of students who spoke out were against the proposal Monday night, others voiced their support.

“I think a lot of people in the house are concerned that it will reduce student representation, but at the same time, students who are not involved in RSOs right now have no representation,” Lansing senior Kyle Grost said.

If the unicameral bill is passed, RSOs will no longer be at the center of the SGA house meetings as representatives. Instead, the senators elected by the student body could potentially allow for demographics of students who have not had a voice in the SGA to gain a voice.

“By opening this up, we can get the entire student population to vote for senators who represent their beliefs, as opposed to the current system with just RSOs,” Grost said.

After Monday night’s meeting, McNeely said she is still confident the unicameral proposition will go through.

“With proper [public relations] and discussion, I am confident that the unicameral system will pass,” she said.

The unicameral proposal will be on the ballot in the general elections, where it would pass with a majority vote. The senate seats will also be up for election.

The general elections will be held from March 12-16. Voting will be held online at vote.cmich.edu.

(Jeff Smith/Staff Photographer)

The culture, food and fashion of every region of India will be on display Saturday.

The culture will be celebrated from 6 to 9 p.m. in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium. The event will be hosted by the Indian Student Association, a registered student organization at Central Michigan University.

While it will be the first Indian Night, for the past four years, ISA held Diwali Night, which largely focused on only one region. Indian Night will put the spotlight on each region of India.

“There are a lot of different cultures in India. Every region has it’s own cultures, different languages (and) foods,” said India graduate assistant Naveen Jayaprakash.

After the meal, traditional foods from India made with real Indian spices, the celebration will begin. Students will perform dances from Western India.

The students will be followed by a group of traditional Indian dancers who will be performing dances from across India. Two of the dances that will be performed are the Bharatnatyam, a classical Indian dance of Southern India, and the Bhangra, which is a fold dance usually performed at the time of the harvest in India from Eastern India.

“Every state has a unique style of clothing. It varies from each region and within each region, (so) the styles slightly vary from state to state,” said ISA President and India graduate student Ashita Goswami.

The event is open to the public and attendance is free, said ISA event coordinator and India graduate student Soumya Ganti.

“It’s just for people to come in and have a good time and to know the Indian traditional dress and to know the culture through the dances from each side of the Indian cultures,” she said. “Also it’s good for the people to know the taste of India.”

West Branch freshman Amanda Bell, right, dressed as anime character Naruto, laughs while talking to Petoskey freshman Kasey Hawkins, dressed as anime character Misa Misa, during the semester's first meeting of Central Anime Screening Society Jan. 11 in Anspach 162. "We make our own costumes from materials we buy from the store," Bell said. "It's fun to express ourselves and I think a pretty original thing to do." (Charlotte Bodak/Staff Photographer)

Dressing up in handmade costumes is not just reserved for Halloween for some members of the Central Anime Screening Society.

Cosplay, short for costume play, is the act of dressing up like a character and acting that character out. Virginia junior Abby Palmateer has been involved in cosplay since she was 17.

She said the best costumes are handmade. Recently she played Fluttershy, a character from the television show “My Little Pony” and said she liked playing the character because Fluttershy is mostly shy, like Palmateer.

She said her two brothers also like anime.

“My mom doesn’t understand it and doesn’t like it when we ask her to make our crazy costumes, but we still rope her in every time,” Palmateer said.

Shepard senior Luke Dille and his girlfriend, Nikki Ramirez, a Mount Pleasant junior, attend anime conventions together. Dille is the president of the Central Michigan University Central Anime Screening Society registered student organization. The RSO meets at 8 p.m. every Wednesday in Anspach 162.

He said he has been involved in cosplay for a little more than a year and he dresses up for conventions and occasionally for anime club meetings.

“Cons (conventions) are probably one of the most interesting experiences you’ll ever have,” Dille said. “You meet the nicest people interested in the same things you are.”

Dille said his favorite part about going to conventions is when someone recognizes the character he is playing and gets excited about it.

“The first time I went as Excalibur (and) I wouldn’t go five feet without someone stopping and asking to take a picture with me,” he said.

Dille said his Excalibur costume took about 20 hours over a three-week period, to make. He said he constructed the head out of a bike helmet, cardboard and zip ties. Dille said the best part about making the costume is doing it with friends.

“Being a guy, I’ve been in Joanne Fabrics a lot more than probably is comfortable,” he said.

Like Palmateer, Dille also has family involved in cosplay. He said his sister goes to conventions now after seeing how much fun he had doing it.

“I would suggest everyone go to at least one con if they’re interested in comic books or anime,” he said.

Dille said four years ago if someone had told him he would be going to conventions and dressing up, he would have given them a funny look. Now he said he dresses up without shame.

“At first I didn’t want people showing pictures of it on my Facebook,” he said. “But after a while, I started thinking, ‘This is what I enjoy doing and if you have a problem with it, I probably don’t want to talk to you anyway.’”

Palmateer said she attends at least one anime convention a year, and recently went to one called MAGfest, which was held at the Gaylord National Convention Center in Maryland.

“I like it because it’s different — something out of the ordinary, but it has a wide fan base — it’s something anyone can enjoy,” she said. “Nothing can compare to being at a convention and being asked, ‘Can I take your picture?’ because your costume is just that incredible.”

English, language and literature graduate assistant Michelle Campbell filed a request with the Office of Student Life for the RSO Tuesday.

Campbell expects it to be approved Wednesday or Thursday morning, she said in an email.

Once approved, the group will plan to have an informational membership meeting in the Bovee University Center.

Campbell said Mount Pleasant senior Chris Benison will most likely be the organization’s first president.

The group’s Facebook page states the organization is committed to creating a credible organizational structure to legitimize student voices and support for CMU faculty.

CMU and the Faculty Association, which represents about 650 tenured and tenure-track professors at the university, have been at a stalemate in contract negotiations since June.

CMU and the FA spent four days in fact-finding through September and Barry Goldman, the fact finder, is in the process of producing a recommendation, which will be non-binding.

Check cm-life.com for more developments on this story.

These annual competitions take place all week as part of Homecoming Week festivities at Central Michigan University.

All student organizations are eligible to register to compete in the activities.

“It gives people the opportunity to be active across campus,” said Houghton Lake senior Andrew Kreiner, a coordinating assistant in the Maroon Cup and Golden Goblet activities.

Kreiner’s competition, The Quest for Central Spirit, is a race consisting of several puzzles and activities. The first team finished receives 50 points, second receives 40 points, third receives 30 points, and 15 points are awarded for participation. About 180 participants take part in this event.

The competing teams for the Maroon Cup are the Program Board, Student Government Association, Beddow/Thorpe Halls, Team New Towers, Robinson Hall, Saxe/Herrig/Celani Halls, Fabiano/Emmons/Woldt Halls, Merill/Sweeney Halls, Calkins Hall, Zeta Theta Pi, Kappa Kappa Psi, Trout Hall and Larzelere Hall.

Teams competing for the Golden Goblet are the Asian Cultural Organization, Society of Physics Students, Phi Mu and Student Recreation Association.

Bay City senior Brad Bender, the coordinating assistant for Field Games, said his activities will have participants competing against the clock. Bender made some activities fairytale-based to go along with the Homecoming theme, “I Dream a Dream,” such as, “Don’t Wake Sleeping Beauty” and “Scepter Challenge.”

“Homecoming is my favorite time of the year, not only because there is a lot of school spirit, but because lots of alumni and students come out and really bond as a university,” Bender said.

Royal Oak senior Rachel Geyer is the competition assistant for the Chippewa Food Relay.

Geyer said she is enjoying her first year on Homecoming committee for the Maroon Cup and Golden Goblet.

“It’s a way to plan one of CMU’s biggest traditions” she said.

The competitions taking place this week are Homecoming Chalking, Change for Change, The Quest for Central Spirit, St. Jude’s Letter Sending Campaign, Chippewa Food Relay, Trivia Challenge, CMU’s Amazing (Relay) Race, Field Games, Chippewa Rock Rally, Just Dance Tournament, CMU Homecoming Parade and CMU Homecoming Miles for Medals 5K Race.

Competitions for Maroon Cup and Golden Goblet kicked off Sunday with Campus Chalking, and end at the Homecoming football game Saturday against Eastern Michigan University, where the winning competitors of the Maroon Cup and Golden Goblet will be announced.

The lip dub was shot in one take while students danced and sang to a mix of “Kids” by MGMT, “Jump” by Van Halen, and the fight song played by the CMU Chippewa pep band.

The video was a follow-up to the video MAC shot Sept. 30 in downtown Mount Pleasant, which featured local business owners and residents.

MAC Production Director Andrew Hickman said the downtown one was the first lip dub MAC ever made.

“We’ve been planning this since May,” Hickman said. “The one on campus is much bigger and includes many more people than the previous one.”

Hickman said several dozen registered student organizations participated in the campus video.

The American Sign Language Society was one of the RSOs that participated.

“Not a lot of people know about us so we take any opportunity to get exposure,” said Caledonia senior Emily Vaughn. “While everybody else is singing their lyrics, we will be signing ours.”

Each RSO was given a location to appear and certain lyrics to sing and dance to, before joining the growing crowd of students parading around campus singing, waving signs and dancing.

“It’s a great way to show our school sprit and get people exposed to our organization in a very creative way,” said Shambreia McBrayer, Mount Pleasant senior and member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council.

Watching the making of the video inspired some students to participate in future lip dubs.

“It got me so excited when I saw everybody jumping around for the video. It made me feel proud to go to Central,” said New Boston sophomore Allyesia Watson. “Next year I am definitely going to participate in the lip dub if they make another video.”

The video will take a few days to edit, and can be viewed at MAC TV and Central Michigan Life.

A “lip dub” music video will be filmed at 2 p.m. Friday. The video will be shot in one take while business owners and Mount Pleasant residents lip sync to “We Built This City” by Starship.

The inspiration for the video stemmed from other lip dub videos starting to appear on the Internet several years ago, said Andrew Hickman, Central Michigan University alumnus and the video’s director.

“The Grand Rapids’ lip dub had a very successful shoot last May and we’re hoping to emulate that same type of video with the Mount Pleasant shoot,” Hickman said.

The five-minute video, produced by MAC TV Network, will include Mount Pleasant police officers, Mount Pleasant Public Schools and Sacred Heart Academy students and employees along with downtown business owners in front of their stores.

Commerce senior Ally Imhoff is a producer for the lip dub. The broadcasting student said she has never worked on a lip dub video before and normally works on longer films or traditional music videos.

“The most challenging part is that it’s a one-shot, one-take video,” Imhoff said.

While the lip dub video will be challenging, Imhoff said she is optimistic about it.

“I’m looking forward to the amount of people and the amount of community spirit that’s going to be brought to it,” Imhoff said. “That’s something we don’t necessarily get to see all the time.”

In addition to the Mount Pleasant lip dub video, MAC TV Network will film a separate lip dub video at 2 p.m. Oct. 9 on the campus of Central Michigan University. Several registered student organizations, including Greek Life, Student Government Association and residence halls will participate in the longer, 10-minute video.

The CMU lip dub will be choreographed to a compilation of “Kids” by MGMT, “Jump” by Van Halen and the CMU fight song.

Organizations that want to get involved can email tiffany@mactvnetwork.org or call the office at 773-9730.

Hickman said he is hoping to have both videos posted online within 24 hours of filming. They will be posted on websites such as Vimeo, YouTube and Facebook, as well as the MAC TV website.