If you’ve ever attended a bingo night, coffeehouse, festival or any weekend event on campus, you’ve very likely been exposed to the workings of the Student Activities Board. Commonly known as SAB (pronounced S-A-B, not sab), this club is actually a staff and student-led organization that plans weekly events for the student body at Eastern.

  As you can imagine, lots of work goes into being an SAB member, but the team dynamics and small benefits of joining are well worth the time and effort put into being a member of the team. A typical week for an SAB member includes balancing three major commitments: attending a weekly board meeting with the staff advisor and lead chair, a committee meeting and the weekly event. 

The most straightforward of these commitments to anyone outside of SAB is the weekly event. What you might see is the set-up and tear-down of each event (not to mention the event itself), but what you don’t see are the inner-workings of the board. These are the moments where we create what you see around campus every weekend.

The weekly meeting typically occurs on Monday nights at 10:00 PM for one hour to accommodate everyone’s other commitments and class or work schedules. In the meetings, the most recent event is discussed and critiqued in consideration of hosting it in future semesters. Subsequently, future events are discussed to notify all members of the event’s vision, plan, set-up and tear-down procedures. 

Committee meetings typically vary in length and frequency. In these meetings, specific events are fleshed out in greater detail among a group of 2–3 students. For example, our Dances & Entertainment committee met on a weekly basis to discuss the intricate details of the Spring Banquet such as what hors d’oeuvres would be served, what caricature artists to hire and other small details. The committee members are responsible for contacting third-party vendors or obtaining the necessary supplies for each event. The plans for their specific events are then presented at the weekly board meeting to the rest of the staff. 

As a student who has been on SAB for just under four years, I can certainly tell you that being a member is tiring and, at times, frustrating. However, being on SAB has allowed me to develop stronger leadership, time-management and planning skills all while serving the student body and fostering a stronger sense of community on campus. 

If you feel called to serve your community by planning and hosting weekly events on campus, I strongly encourage you to apply for SAB. Many of us on SAB are graduating or are unable to remain on the team next year, leaving a number of positions unfilled. While being a member gives you the chance to develop amazing skills to prepare you for the workforce, it also comes with great perks, such as free event admittance, a small scholarship and others. If you are interested in applying, please contact Sabrina Severe at stugage@eastern.edu. S-A-B on three!

Before I arrived at Eastern University, I was under the impression it was one of the safest college campuses in the area. However, I completed a security audit of campus as an assignment for my senior seminar that told me otherwise. There are six major entry points on campus that have little to no security measures set in place, in addition to several lamp posts not having working light bulbs. The lack of security measures set in place on campus is astounding and makes me fear for the safety of my peers.

To start, let’s examine Eastern University’s original entrance by Doane. The only security measure in place there are the yellow posts placed in the middle of the lane to prevent cars from entering campus. However, anyone on foot could still enter campus between the gaps or by using the archway to the far left of the gate. There are no cameras, gates, lamp posts, or areas for anyone to check-in. Situated directly next to it is the parking lot to Doane Hall. Of course, all the residence halls are equipped with cameras and key card access points, but there are no external security features, particularly in the parking lots adjacent to the residence halls, such as gates, security cameras, or checkpoints.

On the other side of campus, there is an open bridge to campus from a public park. Again, there are no street lights, cameras, or gates to ensure student and staff member safety, despite this bridge being directly across from Kea-Guffin, Hainer, Gough and Gallup halls. The parking lot behind these halls also has no gate or a security checkpoint despite being connected to Eagle Road. Therefore, anyone could park their vehicles and walk around the campus without students or staff members being aware.

Another major entrance point to Eastern’s campus is located by the athletic fields and the gymnasium. While this entrance is much more secluded than others, there are still no lights, gates or keycard access points monitoring who enters campus and when. The only form of security that is sparingly provided is two or three students directing traffic during home games. Finally, we have the main entrance to Eastern’s campus. As we all may know, it has no gate, no security check-point, or keycard access to campus. Yet, this entrance to campus is connected to Eagle Road, and is just a few hundred feet from one of St. Davids’ busiest intersections. Still, Eastern prides itself on security features and student safety.

Let’s cut to the chase: Eastern University does not prioritize our safety. The most telling signs of this are the lack of security call-boxes, security gates and checkpoints. A number of my peers have expressed similar feelings. A peer who wishes to remain anonymous said, “my paranoid brain cannot take the lack of security here… We are a Criminal Minds episode waiting to happen.”. Considering that we have six entrances to campus that are obvious to the public and none have security features, I strongly agree with what my peer said.

For a university that centers their mission around faith, reason and justice to make such fraudulent claims about their campus and student safety is frustrating and suggests to the student body that they are not a priority. Eastern University must do better at securing campus and protecting the students who have chosen to study here.

After a long and excruciating two-year-hiatus, one of Eastern University’s beloved traditions has finally resurfaced. For seniors, this tradition may hold a special place in their hearts, but for freshmen, sophomores and juniors, this tradition has remained elusive until now. Spring Banquet, sponsored by the Student Activities Board (SAB), is a formal dance that is held every spring semester, just about a month before the end of the semester and graduation.

Due to COVID-19 safety precautions, Spring Banquets for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years were not held, resulting in over 500 Eastern students missing their last “hoorah” as a college student before entering the workforce or pursuing graduate studies. This year, we SAB-ers are grateful to reinstate this greatly-missed tradition back into the Eastern community for current seniors and all underclassmen who wish to attend.

If you are not a senior, you may be wondering what the appeal of the Spring Banquet is or why you should go, seeing that it is a school-sponsored dance. Current seniors and recent-Eastern alumni recount their experiences of Spring Banquet as a memorable night where they found it easy to forget about the stress of the semester and reflect on the great times they have had as an Eastern student. 

One alumna in particular even recounted her experience with Spring Banquet as eye-opening. “I wasn’t a big party person but the food, drinks, and dancing with people I loved was the best thing ever. It made me regret not going my freshman year,” said Malicka Encarnacion (‘21). No matter your stance on parties and dancing, Spring Banquet truly offers something special for everyone, and this year is no different, especially with the chosen venue for this year’s celebration!

This year, the Spring Banquet will be held at The Barn on Bridge, located in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. This venue is a fully-restored cattle barn, now complete with three levels of comfortable seating, a spacious dance floor and a state-of-the-art kitchen, with outdoor seating and gathering spaces also available. Dinner will be catered and served during the event, with ample time to dance your stress away, talk a walk around the venue or to even play yard-games with your friends or your date. 

Tickets are on sale now on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until March 18th in the Zime lounge from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM, then again from 4:00 to 7:00 PM. Cash and card are both accepted forms of payment. Each ticket costs $50.00 for Eastern students, or $55.00 non-Eastern students, and they are selling fast! Grab your tickets now before it is too late to sign up! Questions about the event can be directed to SAB’s staff advisor, Sabrina Severe, at stugage@eastern.edu or to an SAB staff member during ticket sales.

Eastern’s Student Activities Board (SAB) is currently composed of 11 students and 3 advisors who are responsible for planning and hosting events for the student body to attend on a weekly basis. This past weekend, we decided to go with a classic event— roller-skating. However, sometimes we cannot do events like this alone. So, we enjoy inviting outside vendors onto campus to share their resources with us. Last Friday, October 22, we welcomed Neon Entertainment of New York to help us bring a night of glow-in-the dark roller-skating to life on the tennis courts for our undergraduate students. Neon has partnered with us on multiple occasions, with roller-skating being our usual joint event. We always look forward to working with them to ensure there is a smooth set-up process and the event is fun and safe for everyone.

While setting up and cleaning up any SAB event may seem easy to some non-members, that is not the case. Like our other events, this event required lots of assembly so that it could happen. However, without a large enough team, the setup process for this specific event could have easily taken up to, or over, 4 hours. To make it happen, the tiles had to be laid down and locked into each other to create the rink. After the event was finished, a specific pattern had to be followed to ensure the tiles were properly stored away for future uses. No matter the amount of work put into an event, it easily pays off when we see the students that attend are having fun after a stressful week.

Entering the tennis court last Friday night was just like entering a classic roller-rink, just outside and maybe a bit less smelly. Immediately off to the right were the skates; freshly cleaned and ready to be worn by the excited students. Neighboring the skates was the snack table, decorated with ice-cold water, hot apple cider, chips, and candy— the college student essentials (Well, at least some staples…). Then of course, the main attraction was situated right behind both tables. Bordered with chairs on three sides and a DJ station, the rink came to life with students, black lights, and music. Admittedly, there was a slow start to the event. Only a few students appeared within the first hour. However, once 7:00 PM came, attendance was no longer a concern. 

Soon, the rink became so full that there was hardly any room for new skaters to join! Despite the tight space, students came and enjoyed themselves for an hour or two, or maybe even the entire four hours! Skaters of all skill levels were there: from those finding their balance to those doing three-sixties as if it were breathing. “I think the high energy of the event made it feel as if midterms weren’t even happening. Everyone was just having a great time”, said Alexis Schenberger, executive chair of SAB. If there is one thing that our event attendees bring, it is definitely energy and good vibes. Sure, the music may have helped, but it was the students that truly brought this event to life. And to us on SAB, that is how we know we have done our job well at the end of each night.