Greek Life: A Community of Shared Goals and Values

09/30/11 10:20 AM

By Meghan Garlich/ Pony Post Blog mgarlich@smu.edu Let’s face it, the social aspect of Greek life is rather dominant. With the SMU vs. TCU rivalry game this weekend, all of the Fraternities have several events planned. Before you get too riled up, remember that Fraternity and Sorority Life is more than just a social scene. In fact, the Greek system has an entire set of core values, such as personal development and responsibility, in our strategic plan on the SMU website. After traveling to TCU this weekend, or attending one of the Fraternity parties, I encourage you to attend Panhellenic’s “Stand Up Stand Out” program on Sunday, October 2nd in Hughes Trigg Student Center Theater. The program serves to motivate Greek members to help make our community...

Facebook profile pages to be replaced with “Timelines”

09/28/11 23:00 PM

By Laura C. Murphy/ Pony Post Blog lmurphy@smu.edu Many of you may have noticed that Facebook is starting to look a little different. Recently, Facebook added a few new features such as the new real-time “Ticker” on the right of your Facebook home page, the “Top Stories” that appears at the top of the news feed, and “Lists” to group friends by. These changes are minuscule compared to the major transformation Facebook will begin to undergo by the end of this month. Over the next few weeks Facebook profile pages will be switched to a new format called “Facebook Timeline.” The new format will be a shocking and radical change for users. As always, most users will hate it at first but give yourself some time to adjust; it will grow on you. ...

SMU Students Pony Up for the Iron Skillet

09/28/11 13:28 PM

By Christine Jonas/ Pony Post cjonas@smu.edu The annual Battle for the Iron Skillet has finally arrived. The legendary football rivalry between Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University will take place on Saturday, October 1, 2011.   This year the game will be played in TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.   For SMU students this means one thing: ROAD TRIP!   Though the trip isn’t a long one, roughly 40 miles, it is still an adventure to get to the horned frog territory. SMU students will have to step outside of their boulevarding comfort-zone and tailgate like the rest of them.   For the trip, some salty snacks and energy drinks are the way to go. Fans need to have as much energy and enthusiasm as possible to take...

Registration deadline for Poland trip approaches

09/27/11 09:48 AM

By Natalie Posgate/ Pony Post Blog nposgate@smu.edu If you were at the Study Abroad Fair, you may have noticed a travel opportunity that doesn’t last a whole semester or summer. For those of you who want to go abroad but don’t like to be far from Dallas for too long, the 12-day trip to Holocaust sites in Poland might just be your cup of tea. The trip will last from Dec. 18 – Dec. 30 and will be led by Dr. Rick Halperin, the director of the Embrey Human Rights Program. I know what you’re thinking: “Why is it during Christmas?” The answer, though, is rather simple: After going on this trip, you will forever appreciate the meaning of being with your family during the Holidays. Halperin will lead the group to crucial historical Holocaust sites such as...

Greek Life: Health Tips for Living in a Sorority or Fraternity House

09/22/11 22:28 PM

By Meghan Garlich/ Pony Post mgarlich@smu.edu Members of the Greek community, beware! It’s the middle of September and students are already dropping like flies due to illnesses. No one wants to be feeling under the weather with all the social events going on, and living in a sorority or fraternity house does not help this case. Beat the outbreak! Start carrying hand sanitizer and taking vitamins.   Check out collegelifestyles.org and follow their specific guidelines. Taking some simple precautions will be worth your while. According to smu.edu, approximately 2,300 out of the 6,192 undergraduate students at SMU are members of the Greek community. Consequently, a sufficient amount of those students live in their chapter’s house. And let’s be honest, sickness...

Bush Library Meets Fundraising Goal

09/22/11 18:06 PM

By Sara Carabasi/ Pony Post scarabasi@smu.edu Did you donate to the George W. Bush Library? Money has been rolling in, with individuals donating as much as $25 million, and Bush has successfully reached his fundraising goal. To be exact, $313 million was raised to support the completion of the Dallas library.   This is another step towards the completion of the third presidential library in Texas. Since the groundbreaking ceremony in November 2010, students have excitedly watched the structure be built. The donations will help keep the library on track to a 2013 completion. So for those individuals who shelled out some serious cash, thanks! We can’t wait to see this historical building complete. Pony Post is a digital journalism class blog produced independently...

SMU Students Should Consider Getting Flu Shots ASAP

09/21/11 22:53 PM

By Laura C. Murphy/ Pony Post Blog lmurphy@smu.edu As the fall semester picks up and temperatures begin to cool down,students should keep their health in mind and remember to get a flu shot. Many students have already come down with a cold, or even the flu, as a result of living in close quarters with one another. This year the Dallas County Health Department received flu vaccines much earlier than usual, indicating a change in how North Texas fights the flu. To find the flu vaccine in your community, use the Flu Vaccine Locator service on the Texas Department of State Health Services’ website. SMU students should also be on the look out for campus wide e-mails from the Memorial Health Center with dates and times for flu shot clinics, or students can call for a nurse...

SMU Students Road Trip to ACL Music Festival

09/21/11 20:05 PM

By Christine Jonas cjonas@smu.edu Jumping in a car and driving a couple hours down the road for some great live music is my definition of a great weekend road trip for college students. For many SMU students, they enjoyed this type of road trip during the past weekend as they journeyed down to the Austin City Limits music festival in Austin, Texas. Four SMU students and I decided to experience it for ourselves. Catherine Essig, Paul Moseley, James Quail and Ashley Stockton had spent the summer together and had planned to go to ACL once back at SMU. I got asked to make the trip down to Austin by SMU’s The Daily Campus to spend the weekend photographing and reporting on the festival. After we figured out that all five of us would be heading to Austin, we decided to make the...

University Park Enforces New Parking Restricts To No Avail

09/20/11 16:31 PM

By Anna Kiappes / Pony Post Blog akiappes@smu.edu Parking is a huge issue on the SMU campus and it just got a lot harder to park off campus thanks to University Park City Council. Residents must now have parking stickers on their cars to park on popular streets like McFarlin and Rosedale during the week. According to the University Park website it is “to ensure that residents who live near SMU have available on-street parking.” The stickers are in effect from 8 am – 5 pm Mondays through Fridays. I am currently a resident of University Park. I moved into my apartment on McFarlin, so I have to have a parking sticker to park. The original idea is great, but the problem is these rules don’t protect my potential parking spaces when I really need them. For...

Concentrated Household Cleaners: Sustainable and Wallet-Friendly

09/19/11 11:22 AM

By Chandler Schlegel / Pony Post blog cschlegel@smu.edu With SMU families visiting this past weekend for Family Weekend, it is no surprise that students were scrambling to give their apartments and dorms a last minute scrub down. My roommates and I were no exception to this tradition, but before we hit the store for yet another over-priced cleaning supplies run, we discovered a cheaper way to save on cleaning solutions and be environmentally-friendly online. The Johnson Company seems to be leading the charge with concentrated cleaners you can buy on their website in a powder form of the original cleaning solution. Consumers can simply pour the powder into an old cleaning bottle and add water. The company suggests that this method will save 90 percent of plastic and reduce shipping...