Chapter News
Spring 2009
The Theta Sigma Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania sponsored a campus forum on Iraq, Afghanistan and Terrorism on February 16, 2009. The forum featured presentations by Elizabethtown faculty, students and two special guests: Joshua Casteel, a former Army interpreter whose experiences in Iraq are captured in a 2008 memoir, Letters from Abu Gharib; and Ambassador John Craig, a career foreign service officer who served as Ambassador to Oman during the Clinton administration and as a consultant to the National Security Council during the 9/11/01 attacks.
Presentations
addressed such topics as “Obama’s Iraq: Why Are We in Afghanistan?”, “The
Psychology of War,” Counterinsurgency Strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan: An
Ecological Perspective,” and “Pain, Torture, and Policy.” Over 300 students,
faculty and members of the surrounding community attended all or part of the
forum.
Images From the Elizabethtown Forum (left): Mahua Bhattacharya, a Japanese professor, comparing Japanese and Iraqi reconstruction and treatment of women. (Photo: Fletcher McClellan, Chapter Advisor)
Chi Delta Chapter at the University of Southern Mississippi reports good news that two of the chapter's students won 2009 summer internships in DC through the Fund for American Studies. Marika Smith and Brian Whitman will each serve their internships with the Engalitcheff Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems, and received scholarships to attend the Institute.
Chi Chi Chapter (Austin College, TX) Advisor Dr. Don Rodgers reports a busy semester of visiting speakers that the chapter is hosting in Spring, 2009 semester. In February and March, the chapter hosted former Texas Republican Party legal counsel Jim Walker to speak on the future of the party within the Lone Star State, and several weeks later it hosted Texas Democratic Party leader Roger Sanders to discuss the future of the Democrats there as well. Author Markus Crepaz visited campus in April, supported by a Pi Sigma Alpha chapter activity grant, to discuss his new book entitled Trust Beyond Borders, and 4th District U.S. House candidate Glenn Melancon came to round out the month with a discussion on his experiences as a candidate for public office.
Quick Notes: Upsilon Delta Chapter (Cal State- Chico) will be hosting Dr. Norman Finkelstein to come speak on Israel-Palestine as its event of the semester. Finkelstein will discuss the recent updates of the conflict and future prospects for peace in light of the new administrations in Israel and the United States. On September 17, 2008 the Alpha Beta Sigma chapter at DeSales University (PA) celebrated Constitution Day. Members of the chapter set up an information table with pocket size copies of the U.S. Constitution, a U.S. Constitution trivia contest with prizes, and general information flyers on the U.S. Constitution, as well as voter registration forms. Several members of the Psi Lambda chapter (Oklahoma City University) attended 2008 inauguration festivities. Carri Perrier (now in graduate school), Austin Kirk, Jeff Riles and Camal Pennington attended and have done a subsequent panel on the inauguration.
Zeta Pi Chapter (University of South Florida) conducted a campus-wide presidential straw poll in October, and chapter members worked at various local TV stations on two election nights—September 2 (primary) and November 4 (general election). The full report from chapter members: "USF is located in the most competitive part of Florida—always a battleground state. For many years, we have used our chapter grants to conduct election-related straw polls. It is a great way to help educate our campus community about the candidates and amendments on the ballot, to partner with the USF Honors College and Student Government, and to have fun. This year’s straw poll was incredibly successful, with over 2,000 students, faculty, and staff participating, generating lots of coverage in the local media. We purposely held the poll on October 20 to coincide with Florida’s first day of early voting. We ended the day having dinner together where we recapped memorable moments, discussed the results (Obama won), and began making plans for the 2010 poll.
Our success at conducting straw polls prompted a board member from a community nonprofit organization focused on youth sports-related activities to ask for help with its annual board of directors election (he is a columnist for one of the state’s leading newspapers who is aware of our chapter’s activities.) Specifically, we were asked to design the ballot, conduct the election, and count the ballots which we did in partnership with the Honors College. The result was a problem-free election and the restoration of confidence in the integrity of the process. For our members, it was an extremely satisfying end to what had been a big problem for a very worthy youth-oriented organization, the Brandon Cowboys.
We also enjoyed helping two of the area’s most watched local television stations (WFLA-TV, NBC and WTVT-TV, FOX) gather up-to-the-minute election returns for broadcast. These stations regularly turn to Pi Sigma Alpha for assistance in this massive effort, knowing that our members are very knowledgeable of politics. The Tampa Bay media market, with its 10 counties, is the nation’s 13th largest. Consequently, it is quite a challenging job to cover all the races on the ballot—national, state, and local—but Zeta Pi members are up to the task!"
Photos From Zeta Pi Chapter: Over 2,000 students, faculty, and staff participated in our presidential straw poll, scheduled to coincide with the first day of early voting in Florida (left). Chapter members helping the Tampa NBC affiliate keep up with incoming election data on Election Night 2008 (right).
An extended report from the Epsilon Chi Chapter at Providence College (RI): "[we] had a packed lineup of events to get students excited about the election. Starting the [Fall] semester off, Pi Sigma Alpha sponsored a voter registration drive from September 29th through October 3rd. The drive was a huge success as many students were able to apply for absentee ballots from their home states or register to vote in Rhode Island. Continuing this focus on the election, on October 9th, Pi Sigma Alpha and PC Democrats brought Senator Sheldon Whitehouse to campus to speak on his experiences during his first two years in the Senate. Presidential debates were also a major focus of our fall activities. The society and the Political Science department sponsored a debate viewing event featuring a student-professor panel discussion for the final debate on October 15th in McPhail’s, our on-campus entertainment facility. Then, on October 27th, Pi Sigma Alpha, PC Democrats, and the Debate Society cosponsored a debate in McPhail’s, featuring a heated debate between students espousing candidates’ positions on numerous issues from the Presidential campaign. This event brought together students from many different backgrounds around campus, allowing them to gain some insight into the political process and ask questions of the participants themselves.
After the election, our focus shifted to some of the policy problems facing the new Administration in the coming years. In November, the chapter hosted a screening of the Peterson Foundation’s documentary I.O.U.S.A., raising concern about the budgetary condition of the United States. Political Science Professor William Hudson provided some perspective and took questions on the film. The fall was then rounded out with the Political Science department holiday party, which provided the setting for Pi Sigma Alpha’s annual pie baking contest.
Starting off the spring semester, we will be hosting Mr. Jim Ludes of the American Security Project in Washington D.C. to discuss National Security Policy in the Obama Administration. Mr. Ludes has been heavily involved in the transition process and can offer great insight into the new administration’s efforts. The semester will also focus on academic achievement through our annual paper writing competition, in which students will have the opportunity to showcase their research from the past year. Finally, the spring semester will be capped off with an induction ceremony, offering a chance to honor new members and to hear from an alumni speaker.
Keep those photos coming! Numerous chapters heeded the call to take and submit digital pictures of chapter activities to the Newsletter for our debut electronic issue. Here're some of the late-breakers!
(top left): Alpha Epsilon Upsilon Chapter (Southern Illinois University- Edwardsville) induction ceremonies, December 5, 2008
(top right): Eta Eta Chapter (New Mexico State University) members visit the New Mexico Supreme Court after a trip to UNM Law School, January 8-10, 2009
(bottom): Alpha Zeta Chapter members from The University of Maryland visiting the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the U.S. Department of State
