Hundreds of students from Gettysburg and surrounding areas crowded into the ballroom Friday night for the college’s annual Fall Concert. This year’s show featured Chiddy Bang, a two-man hip-hop group that sprang out of Drexel University in 2008 and rose to popularity after being featured on the music blog, prettymuchamazing.com, in 2009.

The group is most well known for its 2010 single, “Opposite of Adults,” which debuted at #90 on the Billboard Top 100. The song samples MGMT’s “Kids” and has been used in several TV shows and commercials.

Unfortunately, Chiddy Bang’s live performance on Friday did not live up to the hype surrounding their music.

Many of their songs sounded drastically different than their recorded versions and were therefore difficult to enjoy or sing along to.

The group’s performance of “Baby Roulette,” for example, a song that usually features hit pop rock band Train, was barely recognizable. Without Train to carry the catchy chorus, the song was not well-received by the audience.

“Mind Your Manners,” another popular Chiddy Bang song, was performed with much more rapping and far less singing than in the recorded version.

The group was only onstage for about 45 minutes and aside from a short Gettysburg-themed freestyle rap at the beginning of their set, did not seek out much audience participation.

The evening was not a complete flop, however. Hoodie Allen, the first of two opening bands, gave an engaging show and pumped up the crowd for the acts that followed. Hoodie Allen’s Gettysburg rap far outshone Chiddy Bang’s, as it mentioned local favorites like Mama’s, the kid who plays bagpipes on Stine Lake, and Musselman Library.

The Cool Kids also opened for Chiddy Bang, but their set was excruciatingly repetitive and had the audience yelling “We Want Chiddy!”

Despite Chiddy Bang’s mediocre performance, the show was a hit attendance-wise, and brought students onto campus from all over the state.

At the Student Senate meeting tonight, president Janet Morgan Riggs addressed those in attendance with a few of her goals for the college. The two main issues President Riggs is focusing on this year are Gettysburg’s academic reputation and the quality of resources available to students.

According to Riggs, the college’s academic reputation is not as high as it could be. She encouraged students to be proud of Gettysburg College and to talk the college up among friends and family members in their communities at home.

“There’s a lot to be proud of,” said Riggs. “We want everyone to know who we are.”

One issue that Riggs said the college struggles with is a lower endowment-per-person than that of other peer institutions. Riggs and other members of the college administration are currently working to improve the percentage of alumni who give back to the college.

A fundraising campaign was started in May in coordination with this effort to increase alumni giving.

According to Riggs, the college is hoping to raise money for several specific items and causes.

The primary goal in raising money is to provide more scholarship support to incoming students.

“I am not comfortable turning students away from Gettysburg College because they can’t afford it,” said Riggs. “That’s unacceptable.”

Other areas which will benefit from this fundraising campaign are: experiences beyond the classroom (study abroad programs, outside research with professors, service learning, internship funding, etc.), support for current faculty, addition of new faculty members, and an enhancement of the college’s global focus by establishing a center for global learning in the building that is now Plank Gym.

In addition to concentrating on ways to raise money for the college, Riggs also stressed the importance of raising the intellectual climate of Gettysburg College. She hopes that an improvement of the First Year Experience program and a closer look at alcohol use on campus will contribute to a better academic environment at Gettysburg.

Oct. 24, 7 p.m.: ALLies will give a showing of “Out in Silence” in Masters 208 to kick off ALLies week.

Oct. 24, 8-10 p.m.: The Attic will host a Fall Concert Weeknight with raffles and prizes.

Oct. 25, 7 p.m.: ALLies is sponsoring Safe Zone Training in CUB 260.

Oct. 26, 7-8 p.m. The Garthwait Leadership Center will host will host a session as part of its Dream Team Workshop Series in CUB 230.

Oct. 27, 7 p.m.: There will be a showing of “Rent” in CUB 260, co-sponsored by ALLies and HIV/AIDS Awareness Club.

Oct. 27, 8-10 p.m. There will be a Harry Potter themed Attic Weeknight featuring “Harry Potter Scene It?” and free dark mark tattoos.

Oct. 28, 5-7 p.m.: The St. Jude Up ‘til Dawn Kick-Off event will take place in CUB 260. Free pizza and snacks will be provided and prizes will be given away.

Oct. 28, 8-9 p.m.: Shots in the Dark will present their Halloween show, “Lolloween,” in Mara Auditorium.

Oct. 28, 10 p.m.: SMuT will present “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at the Attic. Doors open at 9:30 p.m.

Oct. 28, 10 p.m.: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II” will be shown in the Majestic Theater. There will be a costume contest with prizes.

Oct. 29, 8 p.m.: The Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra will perform their first fall concert in the Majestic Theater, titled “Renaissance and Redemption.” This event is free with student ID.

Oct. 29, 9 p.m.: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II” will be shown in the Junction. There will be a costume contest with prizes.

Oct. 29, 11-1 a.m.: Midnight Madness sponsored by Colleges Against Cancer

Oct. 30, 2-3:30 p.m.: Delta Gamma will host its annual Anchor Splash at the pool. Tickets are $8 at CUB tables or $10 at the door.

On Friday, September 16 Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would pursue full membership for a Palestinian state within the United Nations Security Council. At this broadcast, Americans immediately felt uneasy, as the U.S. is still heavily involved in current Middle Eastern conflicts. The following week on September 23 Abbas formally requested membership in the UN, as a path toward the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Abbas’s action followed months of American and European efforts to initiate Palestinian negotiations with Israel, all failed. Palestinians say that it is time for a new approach to the situation, in which the borders of a Palestinian state are globally recognized. Afterward, they say, the two states of Israel and Palestine will discuss final details.

The United States believes a vote on this matter would be “more symbolic and less divisive,” and the Obama administration has sworn to use its veto power at the UN to prevent Palestinian recognition. This action is risky, because doing so might weaken the country’s standing with Arab nations.

The borders Palestine is pursuing are the ones established in 1967, which would include East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. Over 500,000 Israelis have settled past those lines. Israel accepts the idea of a Palestinian state, but wishes to maintain control of Jerusalem and allow their settlers to remain where they are.

By gaining elevated status in the UN, Palestinians would also gain the right to observe and submit resolutions. They would also have the ability to join other United Nations groups. Furthermore, being an “observer state” could strengthen their power to pursue cases in the International Criminal Court- this is what is most bothersome to the U.S.

Seeking full membership in the UN will not serve as an alternative to peace negotiations with Israel; President Mahmoud Abbas has stressed his promise of peace and wishes to preserve the current two-state solution.

Palestinian Maen Rashid Areikat, who is Chief Representative of the General Delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organization to the U.S., pointed out in an opinion article in the New York Times that the U.S. formerly claimed to have adopted a “position of support for those seeking freedom.” He suggests that it would be in the U.S.’s best interests to be consistent with its support, and to promote democracy and peace through allowing Palestine full membership in the UN.

To be admitted as a full member state in the United Nations, Palestine must have a recommendation from the fifteen-member Security Council. There must be a nine-vote majority with no veto from the five permanent members, which include the United States. The process could take weeks or months. Afterward, their submission goes to the General Assembly, which must pass with a two-thirds vote.

Oct. 3, 12-1 p.m.: The students of the Advanced Directing class will present three 10-minute scenes from Shakespeare plays outside the Science Center. The performance will be free and the rain location will be in Stevens Theater.

Oct. 3, 12 p.m.: There will be a planetarium show in Hatter Planetarium in Masters Hall. It will include a sky tour, astronomy news, and the astronomy of Halloween. The show will last about an hour and all are welcome to attend.

Oct. 3, 9-11 p.m.: Bingo night will be held at the Attic with prizes for winners and a grand prize raffle for all participants. Prizes/raffles include: Gift cards to local shops and restaurants, a Keurig coffeemaker, Gettysburg College gear, a Wii bundle, a Nook wifi, iPod Shuffles, 10 piece cooking set, and a 19″ LCD Flat Screen Television.

Oct. 5, 12-1 p.m.: The students of the Advanced Directing class will present three 10-minute scenes from Shakespeare plays outside the Science Center. The performance will be free and the rain location will be in Stevens Theater.

Oct. 5, 4 p.m.: A film screening of “About Baghdad” will take place in College Union Building 260.

Oct. 5, 5-8 p.m.: Eat at Friendly’s and a portion of the sales will benefit the Gettysburg College equestrian team. Shuttles will run from outside of the CUB every fifteen minutes.

Oct. 7, 8-9 p.m.: Shots in the Dark will perform in Mara Auditorium.

On September 28, the History Department and Intercultural Resource Center welcomed former Temple University professor John Raines to present a lecture entitled “A Freedom Rider Remembers: Or How I Became the Adult I Wasn’t Supposed to Become.”  His story concerned the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, a turbulent era of American history that some of us may “find inconceivable to have existed.”

John Raines graduated in 1955 from Carleton College, a small liberal arts college in Minnesota that is not quite unlike Gettysburg.  Though he had received a very respectable education, Raines slowly realized that nobody had taught him about “how race works in this country.”  In 1961, he decided to participate in his first “Freedom Ride,” through which black and white activists traveled to the South by public transport to protest segregation.

During his repeated trips to such places as New Orleans and Shreveport, Raines was attacked and arrested multiple times for “breaching the peace.”  A Southern judge even told Raines that he would not be re-elected to his position if he did not convict him.  However, jail helped transform the young man into a new self: one that now understood the horrors of the world, and could find the courage to help stop them.

Raines’s speech inspired two lively rounds of applause, and I have rarely been to a lecture where the audience reacted so warmly to the presentation.  He was moving, funny, and very knowledgeable about how his personal life experiences fit within the larger historical narrative of the Civil Rights Movement.

The lecture also raised some meaningful questions that Gettysburg students can think about.  Fifty years after the high point of the Civil Rights Movement, it’s hard to imagine that kids our age once witnessed and participated in such things at the risk of their lives.  Do we have it in us to go on a “freedom ride” today?  Are there still any causes that are worth fighting for in that way?  Raines emphatically said yes, telling his audience, “Nobody in 1961 thought we could win.”  But the Freedom Riders did.

(continued from Uncovering Haiti’s Lost Artwork, part II)

The project is managed by the Smithsonian Institution and funded by the U.S. government and several arts organizations. According to Kurin, one of the first contributors to the project was the Broadway Theater League, whose members felt a connection to the people of Haiti after going through the trauma of the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001.

One of the main projects which Kurin discussed was the process of restoring several murals which had been painted on the inside of the St. Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Out of fourteen intricate life-size murals which had been painted inside the church, only three survived the earthquake. Those that survived suffered considerable damage, and needed to be removed from the walls in order to be preserved and restored. As part of the Haiti Cultural Recovery Project, a team of Haitians and Americans worked together to take the murals down and restore them. They will one day be reinstalled in a memorial garden outside the church.

Throughout his lecture, Kurin stressed that those involved with the Haiti Cultural Recovery Project used the experience as an opportunity to share their skills with others. Art conservators from all over the world came to Haiti to share their knowledge of art restoration and conservation with those who were willing to listen. Because so many people have offered their skills to this cause, the Haitians will be able to slowly reestablish their culture and pass on what they have learned to future generations.

For more information on the Haiti Cultural Recovery Project, visit http://haiti.si.edu/activities.html. The “Eyes on Haiti Fall Programming” continues with a lecture on Oct. 12 by Dr. Katherine Conway Turner, titled “Hope for Haiti.” The event will take place at 12 p.m. in CUB 260.

On Jan. 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook the nation of Haiti, reducing businesses, homes, and entire towns to ruins within minutes. Over one million people became homeless that day, and an estimated 300,000 lost their lives. Amid all the rubble, hundreds of years’ worth of Haitian culture was instantly destroyed, leaving the population of weakened survivors clinging to an unseen collective identity.

Richard Kurin, Director of the Smithsonian Recovery Project, visited campus on Sept. 26 to talk about the process of rebuilding a broken culture in Haiti. His lecture, titled “Restoring Haiti’s Damaged Art,” was the fourth event in the “Eyes on Haiti Fall Programming,” coordinated by Prof. Janet Powers.

Kurin currently serves as the Smithosonian Institution’s Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture, and oversees most of the Smithsonian museums. During his lecture, he showed photos of the devastation caused by the 2010 earthquake and discussed the ways in which he and a group of people have begun to resotre Haiti’s lost culture of visual arts.

According to Kurin, several major art centers in Haiti were ruined during the earthquake. What little artwork survived was thrown into two large trailers, where it sat for months collecting mold and beginning to deteriorate.

Within five months of the earthquake, Kurin and a group of Haitians and Americans began the Haiti Cultural Recovery Project. According to its website, the project works to “rescue, recover, safeguard and help restore Haitian artwork, artifacts, documents, media and architectural features damanged and endangered by the earthquake and its aftermath.”

Continued at Uncovering Haiti’s Lost Artwork, part II

Sept. 26, 12 p.m.: Nick Johnson ’90 will give an Alumni Career Talk on Digital Media in Masters 208.

Sept. 26, 12 p.m.: Richard Kurin, Director of the Smithsonian Recovery Project, will present “Restoring Haiti’s Damaged Art” in CUB 260. For more information, visit:  http://haiti.si.edu/activities.html.

Sept. 26, 3 p.m.: Nick Johnson ’90 will give an Alumni Career Talk on the Entertainment Industry in CUB 260.

Sept. 27, 12 p.m.: Jane Anthon ’79 will give an Alumni Career Talk on Non-Profit Organizations in CUB 260.

Sept. 27, 12 p.m.: The Biology Department will sponsor a lecture in Bowen Auditorium, with lunch provided at 11:30 a.m. Carla Colicigno Gallagher ’00, Assistant Professor, Penn State University College of Medicine, will give a lecture on “Human Genetic Variants and Lung Cancer Risk.”

Sept. 27, 7:30 p.m.: The History Department and Intercultural Resource Center welcome John Raines, who will give a lecture about “A Freedom Rider Remembers: Or How I Became the Adult I Wasn”t Supposed to Become” in the Weidensall Hall Lobby. John Raines was a freedom rider in Arkansas in 1961 and taught religion at Temple University for 45 years.

Sept. 28, 12 p.m.: David Blount P’14 will give a Parent Career Talk on Jobs with the Federal Government in CUB 260.

Sept. 28, 7-8 p.m.: The first in a series of five workshops sponsored by the Garthwait Leadership Center will take place in CUB 230. This workshop will focus on Building Trust. For more information, e-mail pryoco01@gettysburg.edu.

Sept. 29, 11:30-1 p.m.: Alumni experts will give interview tips in CUB 260. Panelists include Charlie Scott ’77 – Senior Partner, Mercer LLC, Derek Studer ‘ 93 – Vice President, Recruiting – BlackRock, and Kyle Zimmerman ’04 – Human Resources Manager, MEI, Inc.  Students who attend the workshop will also be eligible to participate in Mock Interviews with alumni during the month of October. RSVP through GettysburgWorks.

Sept. 29, 7 p.m.: A film screening of “My Country, My Country” will take place in Science Center 200.

Sept. 30, 12 p.m.: There will be a Peace Corps Information Session in McCreary 101, where past Peace Corps volunteers will talk about their experiences. RSVP via GettysburgWorks, (events and workshop tab).

Sept. 30, 12 p.m.: Career Development will host an information session on Job Searches and Grad School in Science Center 300.

Sept. 30, 3-10 p.m.: D.C. Outfitters will travel to Washington D.C. to hand out clothing to individuals facing homelessness. To reserve a spot or for more information, contact John Carney at carnjo03@gettysburg.

Oct. 1, 7-9 p.m. The Jazz Appreciation Society will host an Open Mic Night in the Junction. Sign up at CUB tables this week.

Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: The Women’s Center will host a Game Night in the Huber 2nd floor lobby. Play your favorite board games, cards, ping pong, or just hang out.