As far as traditional Halloween activities are concerned, TheUniversity of Memphis is a ghost town.
Today several organizations on campus are getting together forsome purpose, and many of those purposes do not include actuallycelebrating Halloween.
The College Republicans group will hold a voter registrationdrive from 9 a.m. to noon in front of the Tiger Den, and whiletheir theme, "Don't get tricked by the Democrats -- VoteRepublican," is reminiscent of the October holiday, it is not thefocus of the event.
Instead of having a Halloween party, River's Edge, the UnitedMethodist campus ministry, is having a "belated fall party"Tuesday, said director Toryann Poulopoulos. "There are so manyparties on Halloween, we just decided to have ours next week. Inaddition to worship and dinner, we'll have some extra food andgames."
When asked about her plans for Halloween, U of M junior JessicaBrittingham said she, as will many people, would attend an informalparty at the home of a friend. The fashion merchandising majorattributes the lack of school-sponsored events celebratingHalloween to low student involvement.
"I (prefer) to go to class and go home," Brittingham said. Manyof The U of M fraternities will host non-school sponsored partiesthis weekend as well.
The Catholic Student Organization is co-sponsoring a freemasquerade ball from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. along with five otherstudent organizations on tonight. The ball is becoming a tradition,as this is the fifth year for the event.
Some of the organizations on campus are using the holiday as anopportunity to help others.
Some campus organizations chose to hold their Halloween eventsearlier in the week.
The Residence Hall Association sponsored a Halloween Carnivalfor the children of students who live in family housing onWednesday at the Student Family Housing apartments on South Campus.Although RHA was in charge of the event, Omega Psi Phi fraternity,Pi Beta Phi sorority and several residence halls participated.
Also, Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity sponsored a haunted houseWednesday. Proceeds from the event went to the American HeartAssociation.
