Student Affairs Communications Group Minutes
November 12, 2014
Attendance: Kami Hammerschmith, Brianna McNall, Kent Sumner, Majeed
Badizadegan, Wendy Little, Colleen Schlonga, Natalie Schell, Ruth Sterner, Sarah Lane,
Michele Ribeiro, Chloe Pasquet, Vanessa Johnson, Nancy Raskauskas, Jen Still, Bonnie
Hemrick, Kayleen Salchenberg Steeves, Jennifer Viña, Lisa Hoogesteger
Next meeting of the Student Affairs Communications Group will be Wednesday,
November 26, 2014, 9 a.m. -10:30 a.m., MU Council Room. Topic: Update on Healthy
Campus Initiatives and Be Well with Lisa Hoogesteger from Healthy Campus
Initiatives.
Today
Chloe Pasquet, International Marketing & Communications Coordinator for INTO OSU,
shared a Powerpoint on International Holidays.
Chloe handles social media sharing international holidays that students celebrate.
Why celebrate other holidays?
• Very diverse student population (13-14 percent of students at OSU are international)
• Open students mind about other cultures and religions
• Globalization: Develop students culture of the world
• International students can be homesick during their national/religious holidays
How to celebrate international holidays?
• Post on social media with picture, but watch any foreign languages that you know
what it really says
• Use existing video, such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKmGouWsABY
(President Barack Obama Speech about Ramadan 2014)
• Create your own picture with University staff or students
• Create a video with students or staff and post on Instagram
Some international holidays to be aware of:
Chinese New Year – February 19, 2015
Also known as “Spring Festival” and “Lunar New Year”
The date changes annually.
Honors supernatural beings and ancestors.
2015 – Year of the Goat
Mid-Autumn Festival – September 27, 2015
Also known as “Moon Festival”
Honoring the moon, eat moon cake
Diwali Festival – November 11-15, 2015
Also known as “Festival of Lights”
Signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil
and hope over despair.
Ramadan – June 18 – July 16, 2015
Celebrated by Muslims in many countries (23% of Muslims in world, 1.6 billion)
Fasting from dawn until sunset for 29-30 days.
1 of the 5 pillars of Islam
Eid al-Fitr – July 17, 2015
Also known as “Breaking of the Fast Festival”
Signifies the end of Ramadan
Nowruz – March 21, 2015
Also known as the “Persian New Year”
First day of spring of Equinox is the beginning of the new year
Brazilian Carnival – February 13-17, 2015
Major holiday when people shut shops and come out to celebrate
Marks beginning of Lent
Eid al-Adha – September 23, 2015
Also known as “Festival of Sacrifices”
Celebrated by Muslims
ISOSU and its affiliate groups and Ettihad Cultural Center plan and promote cultural
events around some of these cultural and religious holidays.
International Education Week is November 17-21.
Lisa asked Chloe to share her posts when holidays are coming, so the group will know
the information is accurate and can share it, as well.
Sarah addressed cultural vs. religious holidays and that it is sometimes hard for us to
know how to promote a religious holiday without looking like we are promoting the
religion. You can still offer educational information about the religious holiday without
promoting the religion.
OSU has a religious accommodations policy - http://oregonstate.edu/oei/religiousaccommodation-policy
Spiritual Awareness Week will be the second week in February.
UHDS has some homestays for international students to stay with families for holidays,
so they can learn about domestic holidays.
Nancy asked how departments are promoting It’s On Us. Colleen said Student Health
Services is running the slide from Carolyn and will start posting on Facebook at the end
of the week.
Be Bright, Be Seen is today from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Kent and Wendy attended the ACUI/NIRSA Marketing Conference in Orlando. They said
a lot of information was shared and contacts made. Kent and Wendy made two
presentations – 1) on the Student Affairs Communications Group, 2) on working with
student designers.