Athletics and Student Engagement advertised for the game on sandwich boards across campus. GRACE CARDINAL/THE QUADRANGLE
Grace Cardinal, Editor-in-Chief
On Wednesday, Nov. 12, Manhattan University Athletics partnered with the Student Government Association (SGA) to host a club appreciation event at the women’s basketball game. The clubs that had the most students in attendance were entered to win a cash prize, to be added to their budget for the year.
Black Student Union (BSU) walked away from the contest victorious with $100 added to their budget, with Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) in a close second winning $75 and Sigma Delta Tau (SDT) walking away with $50 in third place.
The game itself was a nail-biter, with the Lady Jaspers falling by just two points in the 65-63 game against Fairleigh Dickinson. The student spirit in Draddy Gymnasium was accentuated not only by the determined gameplay from MU, but by the 70 students filling 6th Borough stands for the contest.
Junior Raya Caamano, co-president of BSU, spoke about the liveliness in the gymnasium.
“Since the game was so close, mainly people were just focused on the game rather than the club appreciation,” Caamano said. “But for the most part, the energy was very high, and it was just a good place for everybody to be with their friends, and to bring people together across multiple organizations.”
The event marked an important partnership between athletics and student engagement that the university hopes to continue moving forward. Director of Student Engagement Nicole Brosnan spoke further about the joint goals of the departments.
“Student Life is really working to partner with athletics this year to get more students into Draddy,” Brosnan said. “We have some awesome basketball teams, and we want to make sure that the 6th Borough is lively. Campus is much more fun for everybody when our basketball teams are playing well and students are going to the games. So we just want to help provide that little incentive to get you into Draddy. Our women’s basketball team loves all of our student clubs. They appreciate all the work that we do, and a lot of their players are in our clubs, so they wanted a celebration. Student Government decided, hey, why not throw in a prize? So then once we decided on that, [it was] pretty easy to get everything together.”
In a year when club budgets are still stretched thin, every dollar goes a long way. Caamano spoke about how she, and the members of BSU, felt being announced as the winners for the first-place prize.
“Honestly, winning almost brought me to tears, because even though it was $100, $100 can really do so much,” Caamano said. “And I think that giving opportunities where, not only can our clubs come together, but our clubs can come together to especially support women’s basketball and other teams, I think it’s really valuable and can be used in both a community-driven way and also financially driven way. I know that my club personally took a cut this semester. And obviously, that’s not something that everybody wants to hear, but at the end of the day to know that we are working even harder this semester to build that back up, to get to the place that we were before we even got the cut, has been extraordinary.”
Moving forward, Caamano hopes to see more opportunities like this one announced between athletics and other campus organizations.
“I think that more opportunities like this would get even bigger club turnout, [and] even bigger audience turnout,” Caamano said. “And I think it’s really important that we highlight our clubs as well as our athletics, because both of them need their time to shine, no matter what financial stability is behind them.”
Gianna Rutigliano, a junior and vice president of the School of Engineering, helped sign students in at the event. She was also in attendance as a member of SDT.
“I feel like just showing up for [the] school, also just shows your involvement,” Rutigliano said. “I feel like that’s always so important. You can’t get money for the club if you’re not participating in things that they want you to participate in. So being there and showing up, I feel it just gets you more involved, even if it’s not your favorite thing to do.”
Rutigliano also acknowledged the importance of clubs supporting athletics, and vice versa, on campus.
“I feel like it is important, again, it gives you something to do,” Rutigliano said. “[It] can get you involved in talking to different people and stuff like that. You don’t have to stay within your group and you can also talk to and get involved [elsewhere]… I just love to think at the end of the day, we’re all part of the same school. You have to support each other.”
As for what the extra funds will be used for, Caamano says that BSU intends to funnel it into their plans for Black History Month programming in February.
“We have been fundraising this semester, and we plan to have more fundraising events,” Caamano said. “Last year, we had 11 events during Black History Month. This year, I want to cut down on the number but improve on the quality of the events. My dream event is to have a formal for BSU, but honestly, that might be shooting for the stars a little bit. But just to emphasize on our point during Black History Month, and really make people aware of our presence [is the goal], and also to [show] high schoolers that are looking to apply here that they are seen already.”