While pro-Palestine demonstrations were breaking out at Stony Brook University and other colleges across the country, Suffolk Community College staff and students were taking a different approach, holding peaceful activities meant to bring people together.
Looking to promote mental well-being and physical recovery through recognition of poetry and the natural world, the college hosted its first-ever Poetry Walk. Participants were directed to various stations where they could immerse themselves in verses written by students and their professors. The effort was part of both National Poetry and Community College months and grew out of efforts to overcome the disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic.
The idea sprung from a Community Through Creativity Committee guided by Dr. Sandra Sprows, a Suffolk English professor and associate dean of academic affairs. "We believe that creativity is crucial to mental and physical health," Sprows said of the initiative. "We wanted to find ways to bring that to our students."
The committee plans to change the poetical selections by utilizing QR codes that can be scanned at the different posts to maintain student interest. With the landscaping throughout the Selden Ammerman Campus in colorful spring bloom, the guided tour connects participants with the glory of the natural world.
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| In support of the Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island, students symbolically adopted finback whales during a campus FinnFest Party. Credit: Suffolk Community College |
According to the organizers, winnowing down the many submissions to only 10 for the first walk was difficult, though many will have a chance to have their work, which also had the opportunity to appear in the school's literary magazine, Perspective, aired during future tours. For the inaugural go-around, students Kyle Crawson, Aquilla Gilmore, Sabrina Kelly, Julia Heller-Bomba, Aziza Said, and Garrett Spaulding and faculty members Maria Kranidis, Sam Robertson, Meridith Leo, and Colin Clarke had their work aired.
The community college also recognized its graduating student veterans in a special ceremony with red, white, and blue cords to be worn at graduation to honor their service. They welcomed the newest members into the SALUTE National Honor Society for Military and Veterans. In support of the Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island, students symbolically adopted finback whales during a campus FinnFest Party.
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| Organizers of Suffolk Coummunity College's Poetry Walk, Dr. Leanne Warshaur, professor of English and assistant academic chair of the Ammerman English Department, and Dr. Sandra Sprows, professor and associate dean of academic affairs, at one of the walk's kiosks. Credit: Parker B.K. Hough |
Meanwhile, at Stony Brook University, a short drive up Nichols Road from Suffolk Community, student protestors were arrested for participating in demonstrations against Israel's military offensive in Gaza. "I've worked at this university for 14 years now," Anna Hayward, a professor in the university's School of Social Welfare, was quoted as saying. "I've never seen this amount of policing and repression of free speech and student voices since I've been here."
Israel's invasion of Gaza was in response to an October attack by Hamas terrorists on the Jewish state that saw the murder, rape, and imprisonment of hundreds of Israelis in the worst antisemitic assault on the Jewish population since the Holocaust.