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news
Beach Pride splashes
off
By Sé
J. Reed
On-line Forty-Niner
One naked man and
a handful of scantily-clad co-eds packed the poolside Wednesday
to show their school spirit at the grand opening of the Associated
Students Inc. Beach Pride Center.
More than 800 Cal
State Long Beach students took advantage of the free hamburgers,
drinks and live music at the five-hour event. The poolside
patio was crowded and the walkway overlooking the pool was
lined with students lingering to hear the bands.
At the beginning
of Hey Stroker's set, a streaker ran across the patio, cheered
on by onlookers. Others stripped to their bathing suits to
swim and lounge in the pool after a belly-flop contest tested
the waters.
"If you like
what you see here, " CSULB President Robert Maxson told
students at the event's kick-off, "thank your student
government."
The event's highlight
was the official opening of the Beach Pride Center. The bright
yellow office, across from the pool tables in the Student
Union, will be the hub for school spirit activities, scholarships
and the new Beach Patrol program.
"It's going
to be a great place," said A.S.I. President Robert Garcia.
"We look forward to the next couple of years of developing
it."
Most of the students
who attended the event focused their attention on the pool
on the other side of the games area.
"It's nice,"
said Karen Rosenberg, a sophomore marketing major. "They
should have more stuff like this."
Garcia agreed.
"Everyone
had a good time at school today," he said. "Things
like this should happen more often."
The barbeque was
subsidized by A.S.I and the event's co-sponsors, the Chess
Club and K-Beach radio. The chess club coordinated with A.S.I.
to combine the grand opening with the chess club's bi-annual
Kings and Queens event, which usually coincides with the free
arcade games, billiards and bowling at the USU games area
open house.
"Everything
was free," said Special Events Commissioner Chris Dollar,
the event's organizer. "We wanted to give back to the
students and I think we accomplished that."
Not everyone was
so positive.
"I see Beach
Pride getting out of hand," said Jeremiah Johnston, a
junior in communication studies. "This promotes our school,
but we can go too far. It gets into financial issues that
28,000 students are more concerned about than Beach Pride."
The event sponsors
paid for the food and the decorations, but not the entertainment.
"The bands
played for free," Dollar said. "Most have members
who are CSULB students and they wanted to give something back.
We're very low budget."
Dollar was also
pleased by the number and diversity of students who attended.
"We wanted
people from across the campus, not just fraternities and not
just certain cliques. I'm stoked by the turnout," he
said. "Beach Pride is about giving back to the students
and this was a good way to do that."
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