® The Voice, For Students, By Students | February 23, 2011 | www.fsuvoice.com | send news tips to the editor; agarcia1@broncos.uncfsu.edu
Social Media and
Public Relations
Lost history or dark obsession?
By Alicia Bayat
Editor-in-Chief
Museums should be informative and somehow re
flect the cultures or subject matter in a neutral
When I think of African-Americans I think of pas
sion, strong personalities and creativity.
Last week Fayetteville State University students
had the opportunity to visit the International Civil
Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro. At first
glance it was just an old Woolworths building. It
didn’t appear to be anything special, but the basic
idea of just being able to appreciate the cultural
history of African-Americans and a time period of
American society was intriguing. The museum itself
as a bit of a disappointment.
I initially expected to walk into myriad of depic
tions of a rich rendition of African-American cul
ture. Albeit the Civil Rights movement was a diffi
cult time in African-American history it is also an
intriguing time full of passion, idealism as well as
violence and darkness.
The museum itself seemed to reflect the darkness
more than the passion for success, equality and free
dom. Walking into the entry way you feel the im
personal, homogeny of a manufactured environment.
Given that many museums have that feel of unifor
mity they also somehow reflect the subject matter.
Walking into this museum you wouldn’t know or
feel the subject matter it is designed to reflect and/
or represent.
As you walk further into the museum you see
black-and-white photos of baseball players and the
usual subjects and well known historical figures that
grade school children may come to know. But after
that it’s more of the same. The initial indoctrination
is a video featuring A1 Sharpton’s take on spiritual
aspects of African-American history. It sounds as if it
could be an interesting start, but I couldn’t really see
why or how famous or infamous figures could help
reflect the culture more than the voices and pictures
of the everyday individual of the time period who
could tell of their experiences both good and bad.
You’re led down another darkly lit hallway fea
turing black and white photos right back to another
screening room. It was akin to a house of horrors or a
haunted house for Halloween. There was no feel for
the drive, ingenuity and passion of civil rights lead
ers and better yet there was no feel for the average
person who walked and felt the struggle of the before
and after of a crossroads in history.
This wasn’t a museum that seemed to celebrate a
culture more like a funeral home that reflected only
the darkness, the celebrity and the one-sided view
point of one perspective of historical time period.
I was disappointed. Because the history I know
isn’t about only the darkness in this time period but
it is also of the bright and powerful spirits that pro
pelled a movement forward and changed all of his
tory. The museum didn’t reflect that.
RESTAURANT REVIEW: THE MASH HOUSE
Unique and elegant,
but not budget friendly
By Alicia Bayat
Editor-in-Chief
“If you are a university employ
ee, student, or member of an af
filiated group and are establishing a
social network account containing
the university brands, the Director
of Public Relations must be in
cluded as an administrator on that
account. Additionally, before those
accounts go ‘live’, they must be
pproved by the Director of Public
Relations,” according to an email
sent out by the office of the director
of public relations.
It’s understandable. There are
certain behavior expectations of
representatives of FSU. The dis
turbing issue is when those expec
tations are guarded and enforced by
government representatives.
It’s bordering on censorship. It’s
a fine line.
The question to ask is “How in
volved is too involved?” Actually
no entity and/or individual should
have the power to legally bind,
monitor or “censor” student activi
ties or opinions.
This simply reverberates with
the echoes of repercussions for
speaking out or against policies,
procedures and actions.
What right does any entity have
to be so embedded that anything
that is spoken, written or expressed
must be monitored or governed by
a government agency much less
that of a public relations section,
whether it be a student organiza
tion, or any affiliated groups. This
simply silences the voices that may
possibily want to speak out.
Facebook and Twitter are and
have been in the past few weeks
conduits for change and in some
countries revolution. What right
does the state have to say they can
and will “oversee” student, faculty
or staff on social media sites? The
loss is in the individuality of voic
es, expressions and opinions.
In the past few weeks’ social me
dia sites helped to drive and topple
SUMMER continued from page 6
giving the opportunity.
Dr. Smith calls it ‘an academic re
treat. ’ Students will be able to focus
on simply one subject intensively
and not multiple subjects. Another
advantage will be the classroom siz
es. Classes are expected to have be
tween 10-20 students. These small
a governing body. What would
have happened if those government
officials were allowed to “admin
ister” those sites that individuals
set up? Without the ability to uti
lize these social media outlets to
organize and drive the public into
action the events throughout Egypt
would probably have turned out
very differently.
Communication is the key to in
spiration. Even in this country there
is an expectation of decorum when
representing any entity but when is
involved mean too involved when
freedom of speech is at stake.
The director of public relations
should not have access to accounts
set up by student organization and
no student organization should
need to “have permission” from
public relations to use a social me
dia site for freedom of expression.
The organization adviser is the
official representative of the uni
versity. They look out for the best
interest of the organization and
the university. No student or or
ganization should have to answer
to public relations for approval on
content. This binds the voices and
opinions of individuals. It engen
ders fear of repercussion for speak
ing out.
That’s not something anyone
should stand for.
As of last week with the help of
social media sites, the citizens of
several countries throughout Africa
and the Middle East were able to
organize protests against govern
ment entities. Even with the onset
of internet blackouts throughout
Egypt, the drive to overcome fear
of repercussions set in motions al
lowed individuals to find a way to
come together and not allow them
selves to be censored or their voic
es silenced.
In this country this is not the
place or the time for censorship on
social media sites. We’re not chil
dren. We don’t need a “parenting”
or approval to express ourselves.
classes will allow students to get the
undivided attention they need for
such a strenuous course load. Stu
dents need to be aware that they can
use financial aid for Intersession but
they will need to obtain a minimum
of 6 hours to be eligible for finances.
By Rasheena Scott
Voice Staff Writer
The Mash House Restaurant is
different. It has a dining side and
a cocktail and/or bar side. The
restaurant is very high end, but
with a comfortable vibe.
On the dining side there’s pho
tograph of black musician on the
wall. There are about 35 tables
and four chairs to each table. The
forks and knife are wrapped in
black cloth napkins to match the
black tablecloth. White paper is
placed over the tablecloth. The
lights are low. There’s soft rock
music in the background.
Before we order our waitress
provides a brief background. The
Mash House has its own brew
ery. Behind a glass wall was a
big brewer. Any beer you like or
want to try, can be brewed right
there. She also informed us that
the food cooked is from scratch.
The restaurant has its own oven
grill. Behind the glass wall were
cooks preparing food.
The average person in the res
taurant was in their late twenties.
It didn’t appear to be a college
hang out. The prices are not bud
get friendly. It’s a good restaurant
to take a date. The prices are a bit
high. I was really undecided on
what I wanted everything sound
ed good but me being unfamiliar
I decided to stick with pizza. The
waitress told us everything was
cooked fresh so I had to try it.
I ordered a four-meat pizza and
pink lemonade. The bread wasn’t
all that good. It was cold and hard
with some oil stuff on it. I eat a
couple of pieces because I was
hungry.
Our pizza was served nice and
hot, with cheese flowing every
where. I took one bite and fell in
love. The sausages and ham on
the pizza made it taste amazing.
I ordered a dessert, called a Tia
Maria. It was five layers of choco
late chip cookies soaked in Tia
Maria coffee liqueur, layered with
fresh whipped cream and frosted
with espresso butter cream icing
and lightly dusted with chocolate
chips. The whole dessert experi
ence was $5.99.1 was in heaven.
I ate the cake like I was seven
again. It was so good.
The Mash House offers a
full variety of food choices like
steaks, burgers, shrimps, salsa,
and wings.
It was established in 2001 and
is called Rocky Top Hospitality,
based in Ralei^.
The cocktail/bar side had tables
and booths. There were also two
small couches and four small flat
screens. Candles are placed at
every table. The atmosphere was
nice, and elegant but comfortable
at the same time. Above our heads
there was a blackboard hanging
up with Mash House 6 signature
beers list. It’s not very loud. Ev
eryone is engaged in conversation
throughout the restaurant.
Medals and awards are strewn
across restaurant. They were
awarded Fayetteville Observer
2005 Reader Choice Award and
won a silver medal at beer festi
val.
We walked out the door full.
The meal was great. The place
was wonderful.