Miami Hurricane, November 03, 2000

              V-Tech stands
in way of UM's
title dreams
page 5
SPffi ft*
Nelly's not
your average
21-year-old
The Mimi Hurrk
Coral Gables, Florida
Since 1927
Volume 78, Number 19
WWW.HURRICANE.MIAMI.EDU
Friday, November 3,2000
And the winners are...
DAN COLCHER /   \rncare
CANE CORONATIONS: With the crowning of juniors Marco Capasso and Melissa Verbout as Mr. and Miss UM on Monday and Wednesday nights at the
Rathskeller and Gusman Concert Hall, respectively, the University community gets to know it's most recent pair of Hcmecccrting King and Queen
Mr. UM draws
full house at Rat
By Matt Brewer
.Vnter
Fifteen strapping, talented young
men, drew tbrongs of onlookers to
the Rathskeller Monday night, filling
the on campus bar to the ratters for
the final round of the Mr. UM
pageant
The winner? Junior biology student Marco Capasso, representing
the Association of Commuter
Students (ACS),the new Mr. UM.
The annual pageant, which was
part ol this year's Homecoming fes
iivities, was formatted much like the
well known Miss America pageant,
with an earlier preliminary round
that produced the finalists that took
part in Monday night's event.
The finalists were briefly introduced, and then each contestant had
an opportunity to impress the crowd
(and judges) with their respective
talents.
One of the highlights of the talent
portion was the fancy rodeo lasso
work of sophomore Adam
Goldfinger, who engaged the mostly
greek crowd with his rustling rope
work.
Several contestants showcased
their musical skills by singing and
playing musical instruments, while
others chose dance as the venue for
displaying their talents. Their performances included salsa, medley,
break-dancing and a seven-
ties/rctro/old school lip-syncing
dance routine.
( oincidentally, all of the top three
finishers pertormed dances for their
talent sections
Ihe men then strutted their siuft
in the formalwear section of the
test, and answered a question, such
as,"How has your UM education prepared you for life in the'real world?'"
The questions were randomly
selected from a hat by the contes
tants,and were read to them by RT,
a comedian/actor who served as the
event's master of ceremonies.
B.T entertained the crowd in his
typical, interactive style, and kept
everyone well amused as the judges
then deliberated.
The criteria for judging the winner
was "their appearance, poise, ongi
nality, talent and their response to
See MR. UM • Page 3
A new queen
crowned Miss UM
By Danielle Scott
.tne Staff Writer
The new Miss Universitv ol Miami
and Homecoming Queen, junior
Melissa Verbout was almost in a tit ot
i ia after the announcement. At
first she did not know what to say and
then the words just came tumbling
out.
"I wtll do my best to promote everything I talked about. I will! I want to
veryone here at UM proud," she
said breathlessly.
The Miss UM competition
Wednesday night was held at the
Gusman Concert Hall and was one of
the events tor Homecoming.
Verbout had earlier performed
I icclric Chopin's difficult piece,
"Fantasy Impromptu Opus 66," on the
piano. Her platform was promoting
physical activity and better nutrition in
children and she was sponsored by the
Association of Commuter Students
The first, second, third and fourth
runners-up respectively were Jennifer
lireenman, sponsored by Delta Delta
Delta, Misha Kerr, sponsored by the
Council of International Students and
Organizations and F.rin Howler and
Melissa Valme, both sponsored by
Delta Phi Kpsilon. Eighteen contestants
participated overall.
In sticking with the Homecoming
theme, the "Canes' World lour," the
motif lor the evening was th* Chinese
New Year Ihe stage was dec i itated with
glittery red Chinese dragons and char
acters, golden drapes and giant fans of
black and gold. The pageant started
about IO minutes late, but once it
began everything went smoothly.
Ihe contestants performed the
opening production number with
hand-held ( hmese fans to a musical
piece that was more Disney-esque than
Asian influenced The number melted
into to | violin solo by Merissa
Amkrout, who was crowned last sears
Miss UM.
Amkrout said that it was verv difti
cult tor them to arrange the music
around the theme as there are not
many Asian-sounding violin solos out
there
"At first I was a little bit concerned
with the theme this year," she said "I
went to the music library and asked
them jaboul a Oriental sounding vio
lin piece] and they thought  I was
Amkrout was one of the Misti
ol ( eremonies (MCs), along with Miss
UM \*»7, Mia Mastroianni.
Richard Walker, executive director
of Miss UM, said it was verv difficult
finding a suitable co host lor whom he
jokinglv referred to as a "very challeng
ing" individual, Amkrout.
Io start ott the Pr.vsK.il fitness jn
Swimsuit Production Number the I M
Sunsations pertained a dance with a
distinct I atin flavor to"l et'sdet loud.'"
The contestants came on one by
one in swimsuits of their dl
forming a trellis for them to walk
through were two male I'M students
dressed in shirts with Chinese prints
and pagoda shaped straw hats \t this
point Mastroianni gave a shod com
mentary about each girl.
None of the contestants were without some outstanding achievement
such as f rm fowler, who Downbeat
ine named the best high
ja// singer in the U.S., or Shara Vales,
who founded her own non profit orga
nization to build wellness centers
around the countrv.
The girls had a chance to displav
their fortes in the talent competition,
which came next. Amkrout played the
See MISS UM • Page 3
Religious
cults active
on campus
Student recruiting takes
place throughout UM
By William James Gong
Humcane Staff Writer
The Rev. Joe Lortie had a run-in with
a cult in the Universitv ( enter (UC)
Breezeway this summer.
The Chairman of the Chaplain's
• ciation and head of Chi Alpha
(ampus Ministries—and therefore one
ofthe school's official watchmen for cult
groups—lortie said he met students
who belonged to the South Honda
Church of Christ. One of the students
was waiting to meet for a bible studv,
lortie said
The South Florida Church ol (hrist is
an offshoot ot the Boston Church of
Christ, a recognized religious cult,
lortie saul
The Bible studies conducted by
members of this group and others like
it, are in important part of recruitment,
he said.
The studies are meant to indoUn
nate new members into the cult and to
teach their put poses, which many times
I on misinterpretations ot Bible
•ud.
Once member status has been
achieved,individuals are then known as
a "disciple," fortie said.
for Lortie, and other administrators
at UM familiar with cults, this run-in
with one of the more well known, active
cults in South I lorida was a wake up
call.
Currently, there are two cults actively
recruiting on campus, I.ortie said. They
are the South llorida Church of
Christ—which is neither associated
with the similarly named, though
uncontroversial, Christian Science
Church of Christ, or other Churches of
Christ; and forum, a relatively new
group that has been recruiting on cam
pus.
fortie said there could possibly be a
third group on campus.
To combat the activity ot cults,
Lortie, along with the Dean of Students
Office, the Department of Student I ile,
and the Division of Student Affairs
issued a new warning poster that is now
posted throughout campus
The potter reads,'"!, ane Alert: (I'll
groups are actively recruiting on college
campuses now"
Tins ven, there have been instances
when alleged cult members have been
.isked to leave campus tor being disrup
live. On one occasion a cult member
trying to recruit on campus, had to be
aid Dean of Students
William Sandler
Lortie, who knew of one of the incidents, said that an older man came onto
the campus and was "emphatically
speaking" to Mime students afong the
l'( Patio Because of the inappropriate
ness ol his statements, security was
notified and he was escorted off cam-
See CULT • Page 3
Costume-less man beats running nun
By Serena Moss
A large patch ot (icople gathered at
th. Intramural Field, Monday mghl lot
the 14th annual "Pumpkin Pursuit," pre
Nnlld by the Wellness Center
But with no participating pumpkins,
what was everyone pursuing?
Namely, a 5-K run/walk benefiting
the United Way, that began and finished
at the field alter winding its wav around
San Amaro Drive.
Ihere were 433 total registered par
tkipants of ail age groups loi d
Pursuit -breaking last year's record of
404 —and  competitors  wore  either
A i
Halloween costumes or simpK sported
exercise attire, highlighting its dual
nature.
The Pursuit is "fun for some, but very
competitive for others," s.ud i.
(arroll, assistant director lm
Intramurals, who has headed it tor the
past three years along with (hns Locke,
'ant director of Welln
■II and I ocke dressed up this
is I Ivis and IVter Pan. respectively.
Each competitor paid I fee between
$10 to $20 all going to the I mted Way
oner die< went was paidd
including paying the Coral t.ables i'ohct
I »cpartment to escort the run on motor-
I viles, official Pumpkin Pursuit T-shirts
tor participants and in
Miami resident Jose Ma/a took lirst
place with a time of 1S.S1 this year after
ing second place in Laat year's race
The costume-less Ma/a, who wore
regulai aid he has
been running as a hobby tor fiv<
and has competed in the Pursuit for the
last three.
Ma/a said he really enjoys racing and
plans on returning next fl
Meanwhile, senior |essica Morales,
the running nun, may have come a tew
short ot winning the race, but
still got a iust reward hy clinching first
place tor best costume
Participants were also able to join in a
rattle to win grand prizes ranging from a
pair of Nikes to movie passes. The first
300 entries received iong sleeve T-
shirts, and scores of other prizes were
given throughout the event, along with
tree refreshments, Boca Burgers and
candy
Senior Lima Wallace said she had so
much tun last year that she signed up
again for this year's race "It |;els you in
the spirit for Halloween," Wallu,
adding that some ol the best things
about the event are that it is very family
oriented and that people get to dr>
SERENA MOSS
A SPIRITED RUN: Tbe "Pumpkin Pursuit" 5-K run draws over
400 participants to the Intraneural ISeld, Monday night.