Safety Fair
On Sept. 28, the Office of Public Safety hosted a safety fair in the Grove. At this event, organizations including the Office of Residence Life, Ramapo College EMS, the Office of Title IX and the Office of Violence Prevention all set up tables to educate the Ramapo community about how to stay safe on and off campus.
One of the major talking points at Public Safety’s table was their new app called Rave Guardian. This app was implemented on campus this past spring semester and is advertised as a way to improve student safety.
“Rave Guardian is an app that students and staff can use… as a way to communicate with the Public Safety Department,” said Section Chief William Holmes. Users can call Public Safety directly from the app and send text messages in situations where it is unsafe for them to talk.
Rave Guardian allows users to report things like noise complaints and suspicious people or packages. The app also lets users alert Public Safety if they feel unsafe walking to their car or back to their dorm, and the app will track the user until they are safe.
– Jessica Hammer
jhammer@ramapo.edu
Taste of Mahwah
The College Programming Board (CPB) hosted their annual Taste of Mahwah event in Friends Hall on Sept. 28. Upbeat music played as attendees enjoyed food from the surrounding area in three separate rounds.
Food came from Mahwah Pizza & Pasta, Mason Jar, Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace, Jun Lung, Nicky’s Pizza, CARS and more. New to this year, the club added a special mocktail station along with an additional round for desserts. This event, much like last year’s, was a crowd favorite and had Friends Hall packed with people.
“This event went really well. We had over 150 people show up and almost all the food we had disappeared,” said CPB President Janelle Boamah. She said she plans to keep up the tradition and will continue to bring the Ramapo community together through food.
– Rebecca Bleich
rbleich@ramapo.edu
National Voter Education Week
From Oct. 2-6, the Civic and Community Engagement Center (CCEC) hosted a series of events for National Voter Education Week, which is an initiative designed “to help voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot,” according to the National Voter Education Week website.
The CCEC designed events according to the week’s goals to facilitate voter registration, request mail-in ballots, create voting plans, become familiar with the ballot and increase voter engagement. For example, on Wednesday, they held Empanadas and Engagement, inviting students to make voting plans in collaboration with their Andrew Goodman Foundation ambassadors.
“A lot of people think that ‘off-years’ aren’t as important as presidential elections, which is just not true,” said Sydney Mattea, senior psychology major and student manager at the CCEC. “We really want students to feel empowered to know that there’s a lot going on in local politics and also make the process a lot less stressful.”
— Rebecca Gathercole
rgatherc@ramapo.edu
Featured photo by Jessica Hammer
