Vol. 82, No. 2, Summer 2008 - Monmouth College

celebrate an exciting landmark with ourthirtieth anniversary. Eamus lacerti!Epsilon Kappa at Brigham YoungUniversityThe Epsilon Kappa chapter of BrighamYoung University has been busy this year.The club kicked the semester off withan opening social to welcome our newinitiates. Our classical trivia game let ournew classicists show off their skill, and ourvolleyball game against the Students of theAncient Near East proved that classicistsaren’t just limited to book smarts. For abrief break from midterms in the fall, weheld an exciting classics movie night. Ona more serious note, our chapter of EtaSigma Phi assisted in hosting BrighamYoung University’s annual J. Reuben ClarkIII lecture in March. We were pleased toinvite Greg Neil Daugherty, Professor ofClassics at Randolph-Macon College andPresident of the Classical Association ofthe Middle West and South. His addresswas titled “A Chilly Reception: TheClassical Tradition and American PopularCulture.” We also hosted a lecture inFebruary on Lupercalia given by ProfessorRoger Macfarlane, a member of our faculty.Finally, our chapter is excited to plana symposium in the fall with the theme“Society and Culture in the Greek andRoman World.” We have been receivingabstracts, and we are looking forward to abusy, challenging, and productive new year.Epsilon Mu at Fordham UniversityMatthew McGowan, Epsilon Mu AdvisorReporting (mamcgowan@fordham.edu)Epsilon Mu is happy to report that onMay 1, 2008 it inducted twelve new membersinto Fordham University’s chapter ofEta Sigma Phi. Already the new membershave done a marvelous job breathing newlife into the undergraduate and graduateClassics Program. Responsible for thespiritus recreatus are Frederick “Norm”Dannen III, Christian De Rose, MichaelEsposito, Daniela Filippone, NicoleLauterbach, Matthew Lowenthal, AureliaPohrib, Aleksandra Radyuk, SusannaReed, Amanda Risi, Maurielle Stacy, andMatthew Shimkus.Epsilon Mu also played a crucial rolein the success of this year’s “Latin Day”held April 2, 2008 on Fordham’s Rose HillCampus, where some 200 high school studentsgathered to celebrate the beauty andwonder of the Latin language. We lookforward to many exciting activities nextyear, including a fall barbecue, Romanmovie night, and the induction of manynew members.Epsilon Xi at Gustavus Adolphus CollegeIt has been another busy year for theEpsilon Xi chapter at Gustavus AdolphusCollege. In the fall we took part in ourannual broomball tournament betweenthe Greek and Roman classicists. We alsoenriched ourselves culturally with a visitto the traveling Pompeii exhibit at the ScienceMuseum in St. Paul, and, afterwards,enjoyed Greek cuisine at the traditionalrestaurant Cristos. We also hosted a movienight and watched The Life of Brian afterplaying Classics Pictionary. During Januaryterm, we hosted the Festival of Felicitas,replete with authentic Roman food andancient costumes.In the Spring, the Gustavus AdolphusTheater department produced A FunnyThing Happened on the Way to the Forum,and we had a group outing to watch theperformance together. We also hosteda reception for the St. Olaf Classicsstudents, who went on tour with theirperformance of Plautus’ Mostellaria. Thesemi-annual Festival of Dionysus (or Bacchusfor you Romans out there) will beheld here on May 3rd in the Arboretum.It is an inviting opportunity for our entirecampus to enjoy our Classics students’performances of excerpts from our favoriteplaywrights — Plautus, Aristophanes,Sophocles and more. Finally, we arehappy to announce that our ranks will beincreased by 17 new members followinginduction in May.Epsilon Omicron at the University ofMassachusetts AmherstIn May 2007 we initiated another 32 Latinand Greek scholars to our ranks. So aftersaying good bye to many of our officers andmembers last May we started the 2007-2008 school year running in September,with a new advisor, a new group of members,and a lot of fresh ideas.First, during the 2007 National Con-vention at Philadelphia, Epsilon Omicronvolunteered to host this years NationalConvention. We started holding regularcommittee meetings to organize activities,buses, and speakers. The chapter alsobegan fundraising for the convention,which included four book and bake sales.And like last year after all the book andbake sales were said and done the chapterdonated four boxes of books to RecycleYour Textbooks. We had 88 students andprofessors come and join us at our faircampus. But you would think with all thework that is needed for the convention,Epsilon Omicron would have no time foranything else, how wrong you would be.Our Vice President, Angie Bonavita,has been keeping up the tradition of ChrisLavalette and running the Greek andLatin tutoring program. Over a dozenstudents have volunteered this year to helptheir fellow classicist in trying to masterthe double dative and optative mood intheir Latin and Greek classes.In spring of 2007 Epsilon Omicron,with the guidance of Prof. Anthony Tuck,decided to start hosting semesterly lectures.On April 10th Prof. Emma Blake ofTufts University gave a talk on The StoneTowers of Sardinia, then again on November1st Prof. Marios Philippides spoke onthe Sotades painter. The chapter hopes tohost another lecture this April, 2008.From November 9th to the 11th membershelped run the registration table andprovide direction to delegates of the Romeand its Civil Wars conference that washeld on the University of MassachusettsAmherst and Amherst College campuses.During the off time, Prof. Breed invitedthe volunteers to sit in on the lectures andmeet some of the classicist from both sidesof the Atlantic.During the fall Jesse Sawyer organizeda field trip to see the Gods in Color exhibitat the Harvard Art Museum. 10 peoplefrom the chapter drove into Cambridgeto see the interesting reconstructions ofwhat are normally bare marble statues. Wealso enjoyed walking about the HarvardCampus and dining in Harvard Square.On February 28th, 2008 the chapterhosted an Archaeological Field Schoolnight to help disseminate informationabout Poggio Civitate, Porta Stabia and33