KSU to offer students movies, programs as on-campus alternatives

Caroline Lautenbacher

Movies, football games and homecoming events are some of the incentives the Center for Student Involvement are offering in place of partying on weekends.

“We wanted to give a way on the weekends for students to be more connected to the campus,” said Brenda McKenzie, associate director of Campus Life. “This will provide activities for students to do on the weekend.”

Events such as Friday night movies, pre-football game programs and more have been planned out for students to attend.

The first movie night will be held Friday in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center. The movie night’s theme will be “Dive-in Movie,” where students will be able to lie in rafts in the pool and enjoy a movie, McKenzie said.

The weekend of Homecoming, students can enjoy football-themed movies.

“We’re going to try to do almost every Friday of the semester one or two movies,” McKenzie said. “They will start late and end late.”

The line-up of events doesn’t just end at Friday night movies.

“There will be karaoke Thursdays, Halloween programming, racquetball tournaments,” said Greg Jarvie, dean of student ombuds. “This is to give alternative programming other than partying.”

Senior advertising major Meghan Rodgers said she would have liked to see more activities during the day on campus when she first came to Kent State.

“When I talked to friends at other schools, they would talk about different concerts and fun things their campus was sponsoring,” she said. “It didn’t seem like Kent had anything to match it.”

The weekend programs are aimed toward everyone on campus, Jarvie said.

Brian Dailey, sophomore physics major, said he only gets one day of the weekend free, not leaving much free time during the week.

“I would like to see more extracurricular activities,” he said. “More things like flag football on the weekends, not during the week.”

All of the programs will span the entire length of the semester.

“Student organizations can have social events, also known as dances,” McKenzie said. “The first one is scheduled for Nov. 3.”

Also, students can look forward to the rec center doing its own rendition of the television show “Nickelodeon GUTS,” she said.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing more things that are free to students,” said Chris Bruot, junior physics major. “I would maybe like to see bigger band names come to the MAC or even comics.”

If anyone has any suggestions for an event they would like to see happen on the weekend, contact the Center for Student Involvement office.

Contact student affairs reporter Caroline Lautenbacher at [email protected].