By: Nickool Castro The Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity Incorporated partnered up with the Latin American Student Organization, Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, and Latinas Promoviendo Comunidad/Lambda Pi Chi Sorority Incorporated to host their annual event “Wall of Prejudice” on September 1st and 2nd. The event took place on the Great Lawn and in front of the D’Angelo Center at 1:50 p.m. Those who participated in the event were able to write derogatory terms often use to discriminate certain people. This 2-day event concluded with students tearing down the wall at 6:00 p.m. Peter Andrews, a brother of Pi Lambda Phi and the event coordinator, commented that the purpose of this event was to ask individuals to think about things that might have hurt them. “Ignorant things, racist things, misogynist things, homophobic things, and bring them out in the open for all to see,” said Andrews on an email, “Once these things are out in the open, we symbolically smash the wall, in effect rejecting all these ignorant things. This is what our national philanthropy; The Elimination of Prejudice is all about.” Many students felt that this particular event had such positive impact on the St. John’s community. This was the case of James Livia, 22, Homeland security major. “I feel that an event like this is certainly needed in all schools,” said the Long Island native. “What’s so great about this type of event is that you can unleash all your anger and sorrow if you were ever judged for being something you are not,” added the Community Service Co-Chair of the Latin American Student Organization. Livia was not the only one; Irving Marino also had a similar point of view. “Prejudice occurs everywhere, either on a small or large scale. There is a lot of that on this campus currently, but this event is one huge step to cure that disease,” said the 23 year-old. “It was a great honor to have been part of this event and I would like to thank Pi Lambda Phi for reaching out to Phi Iota Alpha. The entire idea of an event like this is fantastic,” commented the Communication Arts major. The Vice-president of Latinas Promoviendo Comunidad/ Lambda Pi Chi Sorority Inc. believes the event had a big impact on the St. John’s community. “It was a very nice event to start the school year,” The journalism major said, “It has a big impact on us- upper classmates- but more on freshman.” Ruben Rozo, a Queens-native majoring in Accounting expressed his thought of the event. “I like how they broke down the wall, with a hammer,” the 19-year old sophomore and General Body Member of L.A.S.O. said, “It makes me feel prejudice can actually end. I felt powerful.” Rozo was on his way to the dorms when he noticed the big wall next to the Sun Yat Sen building and stopped by. The Wall of Prejudice is one of Pi Lambda Phi's bigger philanthropy events; it was originally done on St. John’s Queens Campus during the Fall semester of 2014. “We were unable to do it the following year due to administrative reasons,” commented Andrews, “but we plan to hold this event every single year in the years to come.” Even though, there is not a clear record of how many students attended the event, Andrews stated that a hazard an estimate would be about 300 people took time to look at it, with about 200 people writing on the wall itself. Andrews also talked how this event affected him on a personal level. “It put a lot of things in perspective for me,” he said, “It helped me see that everyone carries some sort of weight on their shoulders, and that the things that we say or hear really do have an impact on people.” “[the event] It was my baby, and seeing it succeed after all the meetings and paperwork I had to submit was honestly a really good feeling,” He concluded on the email.
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AUTHORSThis blog is authored by the LASO E-Board and Quality Council. Here we talk about our experiences and takes on our events held throughout the year. ARCHIVESCATEGORIES
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