By Nico MachlittSTAFF WRITER
It’s not every day that you see students and professors locked behind bars while Hempstead Police walk throughout the Student Center. This is all part of Jail and Bail, Hofstra’s annual fundraiser for Special Olympics.
Hofstra Goes For Gold, the Office of Student Leadership and Activities (OSLA), Pride Pals, Student Government Association (SGA) and Services for Students with Disabilities host this event in collaboration with each other.
Jenny Rowe, a senior public relations major, and Edan Stanley, senior journalism major, co-founded the event four years ago when they were freshman. They were inspired by similar fundraising events at other universities.
Rowe herself has been involved with the Special Olympics for many years, which inspired her to start Hofstra Goes For Gold, she said, “I came to Hofstra and hit the ground running and started the club immediately.”
Due to her involvement with the Special Olympics, the club is close to her heart. “I’ve always been involved with Special Olympics at home; I’m from Connecticut,” said Rowe. “I’ve been involved there for eight years, and Hofstra had nothing like that on campus. So I said I wanted to start a Special Olympics club on campus.”
“On the day of [Jail and Bail], Public Safety will go arrest your roommate or your friend or whomever you have on the warrant,” said Rowe. “It’s all completely voluntary and then they will put them in jail. A judge will set a bail for them and usually for students it’s a little bit less, but faculty member can also get arrested. “
Maureen Houck, the director of the Health and Wellness Center was a judge for Jail and Bail, and was one of the many faculty members there supporting the event. “It’s a great cause for Special Olympics, it’s a great way to make money and it’s a great way to have fun,” said Houck. “It certainly brings administrators and students together in a great way.”
Every March, the fundraiser helps spread the word about Special Olympics and their athletes. “We always have it in March because that is when Special Olympics has ‘Spread The Word To End The Word,’ to stop the use of the R-word,” said Rowe.
Freshman Spanish major Samantha Jean-Louis volunteered at the Spread The Word To End The Word table, encouraging students to pledge, saying that they will no longer say the “R-word.” She added, “I am part of Pride Pals and I am all about helping people with special needs because just like anybody else, they are people. They may have a disability but they should be treated just like everybody else,” said Jean-Louis.
The event was so successful that warrants were still being sold up until the last minute. The day of Jean-Louis said, “Even now we’re still selling warrants and we’re going to have to close it off soon because Public Safety can only arrest so many people.”
Sophomore speech pathology and audiology major Alex Homsany was one of the students in jail asking for donations. “My [sorority] sisters put me in here,” said Homsany. “We like to give back and this is a very clever way of doing it, and now I’m in here for a while.”
Jarryn Mercer assistant director of OSLA participated in her first Jail and Bail this year. “I think every year we’re kind of surprised by the amount of support that we get from both students and administrators on campus,” said Mercer. “I’ve been here for only a year now, so this is my first Jail and Bail on campus and it’s been pretty exciting to see what the event is about.”
Director of Services for Student with Disabilities Julie Yindra spoke about the growth of the fundraiser. “They students run it all,” said Yidra crediting the success of the event to students like Rowe.
The other two successes of the event are human interaction and the fun atmosphere of the event.
“Special Olympics is always here and our students here at Hofstra, even if they haven’t seen the event before, when they come through here and see the people from Special Olympics that are here they love it,” said Yindra. “The other thing is that the concept itself is so much fun. Because of the popularity of the event, we get to use the Student Center atrium, and you couldn’t have a better place than that.”
High school student and Special Olympics athlete Daniel Fletcher has a personal connection to the Jail and Bail event. He is an athlete with Special Olympics and at Jail and Bail he runs the table helping people to buy warrants.
Fletcher spoke about the importance of the fundraising for Special Olympics. “We use the money to buy equipment, to travel, to driving up there,” said Fletcher. “The event is about having fun and supporting Special Olympics.”
As Rowe looks out across the Student Center she sees smiling faces, students laughing and students buying warrants. As the gavel of the judge bangs on the table, another student is thrown in jail and on the other side of the room the Special Olympic athletes are having their photos taken with students.
“Oh yeah, I definitely see this growing in the future,” said Rowe “We’ve been training people.”
