Sukkot celebrated on the Quad The AU Hillel is in the midst of its annual Sukkot celebration. On Wednesday, Hillel members participated in Sukkah building on the Quad near the Kay Spiritual Life Center.
"Sukkah building usually takes place during harvest season," said Shayna Packer, a junior in the School of International Service. "It was tradition for Jews to go out into the fields and harvest."
According to David Frankel, a sophomore in the Kogod School of Business, Jews in Samaria and Judea built huts that they could quickly assemble and disassemble when they were traveling in the desert.
"The sky also has to be able to be seen through the ceiling or else it would be unkosher," Frankel said.
Packer added that "part of the tradition and our observance is to eat food in the Sukkah as well."
The AU Hillel ate pizza in the hut Wednesday evening and plan to have dessert in the Sukkah on Friday after Hillel services.
For more information on AU Hillel programming, visit its Web site at www.auhillel.org.
- KATE OCZYPOK
Students encouraged to read banned books, now classics Sept. 26 to Oct. 1 is national Banned Books Week. AU's Bender Library made an announcement encouraging students to read banned books, such as "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle or "Carrie," by Stephen King.
Most books are banned due to the possibility that children will read its sexual and/or violent content, according to the American Library Association. Some groups, like Parents Against Bad Books In Schools (PABBIS), believe that parents should have the right to choose what books their children can read.
AU's Associate University Librarian Diana Vogelsong has mixed feelings about such groups.
"Parents need to make decisions on how to raise their children, but people need to learn truths and falsehoods on their own," Vogelsong said.
Since 1982, the American Library Association has been sponsoring Banned Books Week in order to "remind Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted," according to its Web site.
The association said it is necessary for libraries to "challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment," according to the association's bill of rights, article III.
Some colleges, such as the State University of New York-Broome and Bucknell University in Pennsylvania have specific courses dedicated to studying banned books, though AU does not.
AU professor George Arnold remembers growing up in a private Catholic school where the Index librorum prohibitum listed books banned books. He added that banning books is not a recent issue. Books have been banned since 1000 B.C. by different types of groups for different reasons. Arnold said he believes books should not be banned, but perhaps restricted depending on the age of the reader.
Students have emphasized their distaste for banned books.
"Soccer moms are pathetic and scare off the literature that we love," said senior James Douglass.
- KHAI HA
Top Ten Banned Books (of the 100 most challenged)
1. "Scary Stories" (series) by Alvin Schwartz 2. "Daddy's Roommate" by Michael Willhoite 3. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou 4. "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier 5. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain 6. "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck 7. "Harry Potter" (series) by J.K. Rowling 8. "Forever" by Judy Blume 9. "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson 10. "Alice" (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
-American Library Association
