RSA steps up to staff booth at Kickoff

By Frank Visco
Collegian Editor
September 26, 2007

After receiving late notice from representatives at Campus Philly early last week, it appeared likely that La Salle would not be staffing a booth at the Campus Philly Kickoff for the first time in six years. However, in considering La Salle’s declining freshman enrollment, the Resident Student Association executive board took last-minute action that resulted in the successful acquisition of a booth yesterday.

“The RSA executive board saw that La Salle wasn’t going to be doing something we thought should be done, so we decided to step up and take the initiative to do it,” junior communication major Mary Elizabeth Sullivan, RSA’s executive vice president, said. “We thought it was important that we be represented there as a school, not only for our current students, but for potential incoming ones as well.”

The Campus Philly Kickoff, which takes place Sept. 29, is an all-day event designed to welcome college students to the area. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., museums will be open free of charge, while a concert featuring Talib Kweli, Against Me! and The Ataris, will take place on the Parkway from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Representatives from Campus Philly acknowledge that the late notice has resulted in several colleges declining to participate. According to Michelle Freeman, Campus Philly’s senior manager, events and media programs, 11 schools (La Salle included) staffed booths at last year’s event. As of this past weekend, only five of those schools—Drexel, Temple, Penn, Community College of Philadelphia and Villanova—were scheduled to return this year, Freeman said.

“We did our fundraising and outreach a little bit late this year,” Freeman said. “Our organization has expanded and taken on more programs. As a result, this year we were reintroducing a new package to schools, and we got [the packages] to them later than usual.”

After receiving an invitation from Campus Philly early last week, Dr. Joseph Cicala, dean of students, asked the leaders of the eight Point organizations if they would like to staff a booth. At two different times, first in e-mail response Sept. 17 and then at their weekly meeting on Sept. 19, the Point agreed it was not a necessary endeavor. In response, Cicala, who also serves on Campus Philly’s Board of Directors, declined the booth on the school’s behalf.

“We agreed that it was short notice and that it just didn’t make sense for us to do it considering that,” said senior geology major Scott Baietti, who serves as RSA president and a member of the Point.

When Baietti informed the RSA executive board of the decision, they expressed concern that nothing was being done, calling attention to the decrease in enrollment

“It’s a great opportunity to attract prospective [high school] seniors and, as one of the schools in the Big Five, we believed it was important that the school have representation down there,” senior computer science major Mike Purvis, RSA’s vice president of internal affairs, said. “Plus, with all the emphasis that’s being put on the branding idea, I would think this would be a great opportunity to get our name out there.

According to Bob Voss, the dean of admissions and financial services, freshman enrollment has gone down from 839 students last year to 770 this year, an 8 percent drop. He said that research indicated the primary area of concern was southern New Jersey, but that Admissions wouldn’t have concrete answers as to why until mid-October.

“Every other area fluctuated within tolerance,” he said. “You have years where it goes up and years where it goes down a bit. Still, 770 is not way out of line, especially considering we had a big class last year. It’s not like, all of a sudden, the sky is falling.

Despite this, RSA believed it was important to take advantage of the recruiting opportunity. This is why Baietti contacted Cicala to express their interest in manning a booth. By that point, Cicala believed the opportunity had passed, and so he advised RSA to encourage students to utilize the subway and University-run bus trip to the event.

However, as a result of Collegian inquiries, Campus Philly’s executive director Jon Herrmann contacted Cicala Sept. 20 to indicate a booth could still be available. In this exchange, Hermann also informed Cicala of logistical details that would need to be worked out. According to Cicala, these details were primarily liability/insurance-related

“Knowing of RSA’s interest, I put the matter before Point leaders for renewed consideration early on Sept. 21, with a caveat that, in order for us to actually staff a booth, regardless of interest, legal/logistical details…would need to be attended to in very short order,” Cicala said.

Once again, the Point passed on the project. Baietti confirms that the Point’s main contention was that the reason for having a booth at the event was unclear. Although many RSA members had stressed it could serve as a recruiting opportunity, the Point seemed to agree it was more for already enrolled college students. The Campus Philly Kickoff’s mission seems to coincide more with the Point’s belief. According to its Web site, the goal is to “present a unique, high-profile series of events to welcome college students to the Philadelphia area at the start of the academic year.” Still, on a whole, the RSA executive board saw it differently.

“No matter what anybody says, it’s not just college students that go to the Kickoff,” Sullivan said. “High school seniors in the area that are just looking to have some fun at a free concert also attend.”

As the only RSA executive board member on the Point, Baietti doesn’t quite agree, but has been willing to do the work to make getting a booth possible.

“Personally, I think the event is for college students, but some people on the board feel this is a good recruitment opportunity, so I’m backing up my board,” he said.

As a result, Baietti indicated that RSA would still be interested in manning a booth. Once Cicala was made aware of their unyielding interest, Baietti says he acted as a great help in getting the booth finalized.

“He basically said, ‘If you’re going to go in all the way, I’ll go in all the way with you,’” Baietti said. “He did a lot of work to help us get the certificate of insurance, which we got [yesterday].”

While Cicala worked on the logistics, RSA contacted five offices for promotional materials—Administrative Services, Admissions, Athletic Communications, Community Development and University Communications. As of publication, Community Development had donated temporary tattoos and key chains and the RSA executive board was still waiting to hear from the other offices.

Although the main reason the RSA executive board decided to push for a booth was enrollment possibilities, they also have other reasons as well. According to senior ISBT major Sean Houlihan, who serves as RSA’s national residence hall honorary representative, they also believe that La Salle should stand alongside its fellow competitors on the Parkway this Saturday.

“We want to project the image that we’re a part of the Philadelphia university community,” he said. “We don’t want to separate ourselves from it.”

viscof1@lasalle.edu