Miami Hurricane, November 03, 2000

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Nelly’s not your average 21 -year-old
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Coral Gables, Florida
Volume 78, Number 19
WWW.HURRICANE.MIAMI.EDU
Since 1927
Friday, November 3,2(
DAN COLCHER / HurrlCire Staff
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 Hail, respectively, the University community gets to know it’s most recent pair of Homecoming King and Queen
Mr. UM draws full house at Rat
By Matt Brewer
Hurricane Staff Writer
Fifteen strapping, talented young men, drew throngs of onlookers to the Rathskeller Monday night, filling the on-campus bar to the rafters 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 of this year’s Homecoming festivities, was formatted much like the well-known Miss America pageant, with an earlier preliminary round that produced the finalists that took part in Monday nights 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/retro/old school lip-syncing dance routine.
Coincidentally, all of the top three finishers performed dances for their talent sections.
The men then strutted their stuff in the formalwear section of the contest, 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 contestants, and were read to them by B.T., 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, originality, talent and their response to
See MR. UM • Page 3
A new queen I crowned Miss UM
By Danielle Scott
I Hurricane Staff Writer
The new Miss University of Miami and Homecoming Queen, junior Melissa Verbout was almost in a fit of hysteria after the announcement. At first she did not know what to say and then the »voids just came tumbling out.
“I will do my best to promote everything I talked about. 1 will! I want to make everyone 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 for Homecoming.
Verbout had earlier performed Fredric Chopins 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 Greenman, sponsored by Delta Delta Delta, Misha Kerr, sponsored by the
Couni.il of International Students and Organizations and Erin FowleT and Melissa Valme, both sponsored by Delta Phi Epsilon. Eighteen contestants participated overall.
In sticking with the Homecoming theme, the “Canes’ World Tour,” the motif for the evening was the Chinese New Year The stage was decorated with glittery red Chinese dragons and char acters, golden drapes and giant fans of black and gold. The pageant started about 10 minutes late, but once it began everything went smoothly.
The contestants performed the opening production number with hand-held Chinese fans to a musical piece that was more Disney-esque than Asian-influenced. The number melted into to a violin solo by Merissa Amkrout, who was crowned last years Miss UM.
Amkrout said that it was very difficult for 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 |about a Oriental-sounding violin piece) and they thought I was crazy?’
Amkrout was one of the Mistresses of Ceremonies (MG), along with Miss UM 1997, Mia Mastroianni.
Richard Walker, executive director of Miss UM, said it was very difficult finding a suitable co-host for whom lie jokingly referred to as a “very challenging” individual, Amkrout.
To start off the Physical Fitness in Swimsuit Production Number the UM Sunsations performed a dance with a distinct Latin flavor to“Let’s Get Loud.”
The contestants came on one-by-one in swimsuits of their choice. Forming a trellis for them to walk through were two male UM students dressed in shirts with Chinese prints and pagoda shaped straw hats. At this point Mastroianni gave a short commentary about each girl.
None of the contestants were without some outstanding achievement such as Erin Fowler, who Downbeat Magazine named the best high school jazz singer in the U.S., or Shara Vales, who founded her own non-profit organization to build wellness centers around the country.
The girls had a chance to display 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
Hurricane Staff Writer
The Rev. Joe Lortie had a run-in with a cult in the University Center (UC) Breezeway this summer.
The Chairman of the Chaplain’s Association and head of Chi Alpha Campus Ministries—and therefore one of the school’s official watchmen for cult groups—Lortie said he met students who belonged to the South Florida Church of Christ. One of the students was waiting to meet for a bible study, Lortie said.
The South Florida Church of Christ is an offshoot of the Boston Church of Christ, a recognized religious cult, Lortie said.
The Bible studies conducted by members of this group and others like it, are an important part of recruitment, he said.
The studies are meant to indoctrinate new members into the cult and to teach their purposes, which many times are based on misinterpretations of Bible
verses, Lortie said.
Once member status has been achieved, individuals are then known as a “disciple,” Lortie 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 Florida was a wake up call.
Currently, there are two cults actively recruiting on campus, Lortie said. They are the South Florida 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 campus.
Lortie said there could possibly be a third group on campus.
To combat the activity of cults, Lortie, along with the Dean of Students Office, the Department of Student Life, and the Division of Student Affairs issued a new warning poster that is now posted throughout campus.
The poster reads,‘“Cane Alert: CULT groups are actively recruiting on college campuses now.”
This year, there have been instances when alleged cult members have been asked to leave campus for being disruptive. On one occasion a cult member trying to recruit on campus, had to be escorted off, said 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 some students along the UC Patio. Because of the inappropriate-ness of his statements, security was notified and he was escorted off cam-
See CULT • Page 3
Costume-less man beats running nun
By Serena Moss
Hurricane Staff Writer
A large patch of people gathered at the Intramural Field, Monday night for the 14th annual“Pumpkin Pursuit,” presented 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 after winding its way around San Amaro Drive.
There were 433 total registered participants of all age groups for this year’s Pursuit—breaking last year’s record of 404—and competitors wore either
Halloween costumes or simple sported exercise attire, highlighting its dual nature.
The Pursuit is “fun for some, but very competitive for others,” said Jason Carroll, assistant director for Intramurals, who has headed it for the past three years along with Chris Locke, assistant director of Wellness
Carroll and Locke dressed up this year as Elvis and Peter Pan, respectively.
Each competitor paid a fee between $10 to $20, all going to the United Way once the cost of the event was paid off— including paying the Coral Gables Police Department to escort the run on motor
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cycles, official Pumpkin Pursuit T-shirts for participants and more.
Miami resident Jose Maza took first place with a time of 15:51 this year after receiving second place in last year’s race.
The costume-less Maza, who wore regular exercise dothing, said he has been running as a hobby for five years, and has competed in the Pursuit for the last three.
Maza said he really enjoys racing and plans on returning next year.
Meanwhile, senior lessica Morales, the running nun, may have come a few prayers short of winning the race, but still got a just reward by clinching first
place for best costume.
Participants were also able to join in a raffle to win grand prizes ranging from a pair of Nikes to movie passes. The first 300 entries received long-sleeve T-shirts, and scores of other prizes were given throughout the event, along with free refreshments, Boca Burgers and candy.
Senior Tania Wallace said she had so much fun last year that she signed up again for this year’s race. “It gets you in the spirit for Halloween,” Wallace said, adding that some of the best things about the event are that it is very family oriented and that people get to dress up.
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SERENA MOSS / Humear» Staff
A SPIRITED RUN: The "F\jmpkin F3ursuit" 5-K run draws over 400 participants to the Intramural ¡«eld, Monday night.
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