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Student created Facebook group leads social media MayFest movement
By Michael Boren
Posted: 10/29/09, 3:00 AM EST Section: News
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The memo announced that classes would be reinstated on SU Showcase. Not long after reading the news, an upset Luciano logged onto Facebook and started Operation Rescue MayFest.
Luciano sent out invites to seniors and others on the Syracuse network, believing that the group would just amount to a dozen people.
"I thought if I got 10 of my friends to not click 'ignore' that would have been a pretty big accomplishment," said Luciano, a senior psychology and English and textual studies major.
After he spent 10 minutes sending out invites and writing information, the group jumped to 30 people. Twenty minutes later, it grew to 66. Over the next few hours, it grew to hundreds. As of Wednesday night, it had 5,100 members. The group has gained attention with students, faculty and administrators alike.
Luciano now feels like the leader of a revolution that he never meant to lead. "I didn't intend to be this big hero," he said. "I didn't want to be somebody who was leading a pack of rebellious college students. I just wanted the administration to hear what students had to say."
Alex Brewer was the seventh member to join the group after seeing it on a Facebook news feed. When he joined, he sent out invitations to every one of his Syracuse friends.
"Right after I did, my friend was like, 'Oh, did you see that group on Facebook?'" said Brewer, a sophomore communications and rhetorical studies major.
It didn't take long for the administration to hear student voices, either. Luciano set up a discussion board for students to announce when they had sent e-mails to Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina, who sent out the e-mail Friday.
Luciano, who supports separating MayFest and SU Showcase into two separate days, said the group's main goal was to contact Spina and let him know how much MayFest meant to students. Luciano also wanted to know why classes were reinstated.
"I just had a lot of questions that I didn't have answers to, that the e-mail didn't have answers to," he said.
Spina became aware of the Facebook campaign when students e-mailed him URL links to the group.
It was useful, Spina said, to hear from the group's perspective, and he compared the group to an online town hall meeting where students could discuss important issues.
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