By Jonathan—
New Jersey City University students may have noticed while walking towards or by the Gilligan Student Union building, the little space next to Rossey Hall, which had been under construction for the past few months, filled with colorful rocks. Look a little closer and you find each rock with the signature of a Greek fraternity on campus. Other than being pretty to look at, what is the purpose of this rock formation? Who came up with this idea and why choose rocks?
Amani S. Jennings, Assistant Dean and Greek Advisor, said that NJCU is not the only college that has done this before. “The rock formation you see is common on college campuses for Greek organizations, it’s nothing unique to NJCU – it’s just a common tradition among college campuses.º
Jennings added, “I think it adds to the feel of the campus in terms of when students come here for orientation and when new students come here for open house, they are seeing that this campus has student life, which is the main purpose of the rocks. The Greek organizations do a tremendous amount of community service and other projects, so for current students who may not know about Greek organizations, fraternities, and sororities, that is advertisement for those organizations for people to hopefully get involved.”
With no noticeable Greek or sorority houses around campus, it appears the rocks are the only way to represent Greek unity outside of the annual Meet the Greeks and volunteer services.
While promoting for the NJCU Blood Drive , Cassandra Montes, 22, from Jersey City, and member of Alpha Phi Omega, said “Since we do not have any particular Greek houses, I think it is a good way to show new students that are interested that this school has Greeks.”
Monae Younge, Member of Zeta Phi Beta, from Jersey City, said “I feel like it is a great idea. Because I feel, while not in the dark, Greek life has not been showcased as it should be. I’m really glad that it’s finally on campus so that so that Greek Life can be exhibited.”