MELANIE ANZIDEI and KAYLA HASTRUP
Staff Writers

For the College at Florham, the “Eyewitness News This Morning” announcement of six more weeks of winter was not the top news of the day on Feb. 2. FDU’s Association of Black Collegians was more concerned with their first event of the semester, the opening ceremony of Black History Month.
On Groundhog Day, while Lori Stokes of WABC gave Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction, Association of Black Collegians’ President Tashon Thompson prepared for Stokes’ arrival on campus.
“I was nervous the entire day,” Thompson said. “That no one was going to show and it was just going to be me and her.”
When 2 p.m. rolled around, Thompson had nothing to be nervous about anymore as Lenfell Hall was slowly filling.
Stokes, anchor for “Eyewitness News This Morning” and “Eyewitness News at Noon,” spoke to FDU students and faculty about her life, experiences and her familiarity with social restraints and movements.
Throughout her career, Stokes has covered everything from her first-ever story about opening day for deer hunting season, to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. She also went undercover as a homeless person for three days in Baltimore and covered the election of Barack Obama.
Along the way, Stokes has received a variety of awards, including an Emmy, for her reporting.
“I don’t think I would have wanted anyone else to come in and speak,” Thompson said, following Stokes’ speech.
The ceremony started with Thompson, who has been ABC’s president since May of last year, introducing the other members of the club. Following him, freshman ABC member Kadi Cisse, kicked off the ceremony with a reading. Cisse gripped the microphone in her left hand as she read a powerful poem called, “Million Man March.” Kristin Fulton, vice president of ABC, then welcomed Stokes to the stage.
“I was excited,” Fulton said later. “I love Lori Stokes.”
Stokes told the audience about her experiences as a daughter of the first black American to represent the state of Ohio in the House of Representatives. She said she saw herself as “a kid who grew up with a dad that paved the way for a black president.”
Stokes also spoke about her life, from campaigning with her father at the age of six, to arriving at her first crime scene. As she progressed, she discussed just how far we’ve come from the days of segregation, and how far we still need to go.
“We are all beautiful people when we appreciate everything that we each bring to the table,” Stokes said. She recalled the Greensboro sit-ins, the Million Man March, and the most recent presidential election.
“My grandmother always told me you have to know where you came from to know where you are going,” she said.
Stokes also spoke of the conflicts she has had to face as a black woman. At one point earlier in her career, she said, she was called into her manager’s office with her then-boyfriend, NBC’s Brian Thompson, and was told, “You should stick with your own kind.” She then told the FDU audience, “I couldn’t believe it, but I had to accept his ignorance and left his office.”
Stokes went on to quote President Obama saying that “race is an issue that cannot be ignored.”
“Let’s hope that as we move forward as a nation and celebrating Black History Month, we realize we are all on this earth together,” Stokes said.
Thompson, on behalf of ABC, thanked Stokes with FDU-themed gifts of a university t-shirt, keychain and mug.
“She was great,” Thompson said. “She e-mailed me after about how much she loved the campus.”
Stokes told Thompson that she gave the t-shirt to her co-anchor, Ken Rosato, and the mug to senior meteorologist Bill Evans, while she kept the keychain. She also mentioned FDU on-air before and after the event, Thompson said.
“We had a great turnout,” Thompson said.
For ABC, this was just the first of many events for Black History Month and the rest of the semester.
Upcoming events include panel discussions, a bad romance party, a taking over of the cafeteria, the annual fashion show, and a Black History Month closing ceremony on Feb. 26.

MELANIE ANZEDEI
Staff Writer

Fairleigh Dickinson University recently welcomed the state party chairmen for an “Election Autopsy” on the recent New Jersey State gubernatorial race, which resulted in an outcome that shocked voters throughout the state and nation.
Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, the Democratic Party chair, and Assemblyman Jay Webber, the Republican Party chair, were both very open to the various questions that the audience, which was a mix of Fairleigh Dickinson’s student body, faculty, and staff, had in store.
Current New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine’s failed attempt at re-election left the Democrats empty handed as the position of governor was handed over to former U.S. attorney, Chris Christie. The Democrats’ loss not only questioned whether they deserted their nominee, but also whether the New Jersey voter had abandoned President Barack Obama.
The Democrats, according to Cryan, had difficulties moving forward between regional and ideological differences among the party. These differences created a weak campaign but “didn’t cost the election.” Cryan explained that the re-election was lost not because of a desertion, but because the Republicans simply ran a better campaign.
“They beat us… that’s it,” said Cryan.
Webber also felt that the Republicans ran a well-organized campaign that appealed to New Jersey voters. He credited the victory on having a good nominee.
“The flip-side of that coin is that we had a strong ticket,” he said, referring to Christie.
Republicans were able to stay on the “right side of the issues,” said Webber. He reminded the audience that this election resulted in the “second largest Republican victory in a long time.”
The New Jersey voter, according to Cryan, has changed in recent years. He explained that the state is currently in a “conservative awakening,” which affected the Democratic campaign strongly and negatively.
“We were talking about pre-school; they were talking about property taxes,” he said. “We knew about the problems; we didn’t wake up on the wrong side of the bed every day.” The Democrats simply took a different approach towards those problems.
This change also questioned the New Jersey voter’s support of current Obama, a Democrat who won with a sweeping victory. But his popularity did little to nothing in terms of helping Corzine win re-election.
Obama had campaigned alongside Corzine on a few occasions, one of which was a rally held at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Metropolitan campus in Teaneck. The Democrats hoped that this sold-out event would better the chances for Corzine in Bergen County.
Surprisingly, Obama’s support for Corzine did not change the minds of New Jersey voters and the governor’s seat was still handed over to Republicans.
When Cryan was asked if he felt this election reflected what will happen in the 2012 presidential election, he without hesitation answered, “NO.”
Both Webber and Cryan agreed that this gubernatorial election was more a referendum on Corzine than a referendum on Obama, even though Obama couldn’t change the minds of the voters.
The Republicans held a campaign that would have been a “winning formula for any candidate,” said Webber.
The event was organized by Politics on the PublicMind, which is directed by Peter Woolley, a professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University. The event took place at the Orangerie, located in the school’s library.

MELANIE ANZIDEI
Staff Writer

“Paranormal Activity” is said to be one of the scariest films of all time, which was probably only true for a week. The worked up piece was no different than any other home video on YouTube, filled with witty, sarcastic comments. The Blair-Witch-Project-like-phenomena was a disappointment for anyone expecting a scare so high that going to bed with a nightlight would definitely not have been out of the question.
The film begins with a young couple, Katie Featherson and Micah Sloat, just settling into their new home. Soon after their arrival, they start to feel the presence of what seems to be a demonic spirit that is out to get Katie. Strange things keep happening to the couple, so Micah invests in a camera and sets it up at the foot of their bed. Each night, they record every paranormal action that occurs throughout the night. After reviewing the tapes each morning, to their surprise, the demon is caught, at first moving objects but eventually possessing Katie.
Day by day, the couple becomes weary. Terrified, they call specialists and purchase a Ouija board. Each attempt towards safety, however, angers the demon more. Soon, the demon becomes restless and begins to smash photos of Micah and even drag Katie into the guest room, where it claws her back. The activity within the house was becoming far too active and the couple was no longer safe.
The film’s realistic home video factor convinces the audience that everything that is occurring is real. The actions are no different than what you see on shows like “Ghost Hunters” or “Scariest Places on Earth.” And whether or not you believe in ghosts or demonic possessions, the chills that run down your back as the demon drags Katie out of bed are impossible to deny. When Micah places powder on the entrance of their bedroom floor and claws slowly appear in the form of footsteps, everyone, no matter how brave, was closing their eyes or thinking “that totally did not just happen!”
This fear unfortunately was short lived for the audience. The abrupt end to the production was poor. At the closing scene, the demon is in complete control of Katie. In the middle of the night, Katie exits the bedroom and lures Micah downstairs with an agonizing scream. Loud thuds of footsteps start up the stairs towards the bedroom entrance, then Micah is flung at the camera. The camera fixes on Katie’s blood-stained shirt. Slowly she creepily approaches the screen and her face disfigures.
Immediately, the scene cuts. Apparently, the police find Micah’s body days later, and Katie is yet to be found. The entire production was based around a seemingly realistic police report, but the film failed to produce fear outside the theater’s walls. The film would have been better off without an ending altogether or if the scene cut with Katie’s agonizing scream.
Not only was the fear in “Paranormal Activity” short-lived, but so was its hype. Inevitably, other films like “The Fourth Kind” will surely take its spotlight. The film was half decent, but just as fulfilling as going down Weird New Jersey’s Clinton Road: scary until you make it through alive and realize it’s all a hoax.

MELANIE ANZIDEI
Staff Writer

On Wednesday, Nov. 4, Gary Darden, assistant professor in the Department of Social Sciences and History, welcomed author Philip Dray to Fairleigh Dickinson University to speak about his work. The presentation, titled, “We Are Not Afraid: The American Civil Rights Struggle from Emancipation to Obama,” attracted a full house in Lenfell Hall.
Dray was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for “At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America,” which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and the Southern Book Critics Circle Award. He grew up in Minnesota and has always been infatuated with history.
Dray is the author of several other books, including “Stealing God’s Thunder” and “Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen.”
In the 1970s, when Dray attended college, a new American studies interdisciplinary field was created. This field steered Dray towards his career.
Prior to the presentation, Dray signed copies of his book, “We Are Not Afraid: The Story of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, and the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi,” during a reception in Hartman Lounge.
Dray began the presentation by discussing the difficulties for African Americans during slavery. Society progressed with the 13th Amendment, which freed slaves; the 14th Amendment, which allowed U.S. citizenship for those who were once slaves; and the 15th Amendment, which allowed black men to vote, as Dray put it.
This progression brought forth violence. And while this violence may have halted the pace of progression, it didn’t cease completely. Instead, it motivated students, both black and white, to begin protesting throughout the United States. A very popular form of protests were sit-ins at universities.
To Dray, the most significant act of progression was the Freedom Summer in Mississippi. The Freedom Summer was a campaign where the United States tried to register as many black voters as possible in the state, which at the time was very anti-segregation.
Through campaigns like the Freedom Summer, the nation’s mindset changed.
In our lifetime, we are witnesses to the first black president. To Dray, this may have been the significant step in our nation’s continuum of the civil rights movement.
“You will all remember where you were the day Obama was elected,” Darden said to the audience, which was mostly filled with students from his courses.
One of Darden’s students, a freshman at FDU, thought that “the lecture was a very informative discussion on the progression and struggles of the civil rights movement.”
Darden, who recently helped develop the new minor in African American Studies, advised the audience that anyone interested in Dray’s presentation that they could enroll in a new course, which will be available next semester.
Any students interested in Dray’s novels could also go to the library, where his books were recently added to the collection.

MELANIE ANZIDEI
Staff Writer

We’ve all been in situations where we were unfairly accused. Like the time your friend broke the ‘bro-code’ and asked your crush out, or the time you got busted for having alcohol in your dorm that your friend left there from the night before. Those incidents have left us furious and, apart from an angry Twitter status update, there was very little we could do about it… until now.

InstantJury.com is a Web site dedicated to solving disputes among friends, family, co-workers, roommates and couples by officially and electronically placing ultimate blame on either the ‘plaintiff’ or ‘defendant’ of the case.

Co-founders of InstantJury.com, Stephen Pitt and Brett Reilly, worked together in creating the site to ensure that both sides to every story would be heard and the blame would always fall on the rightfully accused.

“If you have an issue with someone, just log on to our site, create a case, enter in stakes (what the loser stands to lose, anything from dinner or just to see who’s wrong), and put in the defendant’s e-mail address,” explained Pitt.

After receiving the accusation, the defendant then is able to accept or deny the stakes as well as post his or her side of the story. And with stakes ranging from dinner to a lump sum of cash, each side definitely has something to fight for besides their innocence and in some cases dignity.

Within a 24-hour voting period, a jury of strangers from around the world will decide who is guilty and who is innocent based on the plaintiff’s and defendant’s pleas.

According to the site’s press release, the jurors, registered site users, have surpassed 1,500 unique users.

The jurors play an important role in each case and have a unique opportunity to read relative arguments in support or opposition of the accusation. Then they cast their vote. After calculating the percentage of votes by the jury, the verdict is drawn for all to see.

But the defendants and plaintiffs are not the only ones who benefit from the online trial. Anytime jurors post a vote, the site rewards them with jury credits which could score you a prize in any of InstantJury.com’s monthly contests, according to Pitt.

Even more intriguing is that the site was created and founded by a Fairleigh Dickinson University alum. Pitt, who is originally from Millburn, moved to Hoboken with a group of friends soon after his graduation from the College at Florham in 2002.

As a result of his studies in economics, Pitt, alongside business partner Reilly, was able to form InstantJury.com through a business plan, help from a Web development company, a small business loan and a little bit of inspiration from unruly roommates.

“I guess our inspiration was from our great group of friends and family and all of the entertaining drama that came up in everyone’s lives in college and at work now,” confessed Pitt. Living with his friends came with several disputes, which inspired Pitt to think of alternative problem-solving methods.
So instead of leaving your roommate problems, couples’ dispute and other qualms unsolved, visit InstantJury.com to start up your case and name your stakes.

Within 24 hours you’ll be enjoying the spoils of victory over dinner or suffering an electronic blow to the ego.