During Grand Marshal Week, Alpha Phi Omega hosts their annual Meanest Man on Campus Competition. Several people or groups enter, supporting a charity and encouraging anyone to vote for them. Every cent counts as a vote and the winner has all of the money donated to their chosen charity. The contenders and their charities were as follows: Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) Fraternity for Peppertree Dog Rescue, Randi Mogul and Jean Purtel for the American Cancer Society, Grand Marshal Kyle Keraga ’15 and President of the Union Erin Amarello ’15 for the Ronald McDonald House, the Office of Financial Aid for the Whiskers Animal Benevolent League, Mike & Mike of Thunder Mountain Curry for St. Joseph’s Food Pantry, The Freshman Fifteen for A Well Fed World, and finally, Tofu Tim for the Wounded Warrior Project. This year, the brothers of FIJI were the Meanest Men on Campus, and the event raised a total of $1797.25 for Peppertree Dog Rescue, which is four times more than what was raised last year.
Alpha Phi Omega tabled from 10 am–5 pm from Monday to Friday during GM Week outside of the Rensselaer Union and at the East Campus Athletic Village on Wednesday, during the GM Week carnival. Candidate posters were put up around campus to promote the charities each contender supported. In addition, the Alpha Phi Omega MMOC website contained information about each candidate and their charities, as well as a link to donate online through PayPal. Candidate Facebook pages were created which also contained the same information as on the website and provided social media updates.
In addition to social media and tabling, Alpha Phi Omega hosted Sheer Idiocy on Wednesday, April 15 from 5:30–7 pm, in the McNeil room for the MMOC debates. Sheer Idiocy performed improvisational comedy, then MC’d the debates for each candidate. Attendees received a raffle ticket and additional tickets for donating during the debates. Prizes for the raffle were Amazon and Ben and Jerry’s gift cards.
This year’s winners of the Meanest Man on Campus were the brothers of FIJI and Peppertree Dog Rescue, announced on Friday, April 17. The vote counts for the top three candidates were FIJI with 76,241 votes, Randi and Jean with 38,423, and the GM and PU with 20,550. The total number of votes were 179,725, and Alpha Phi Omega made a check for $1,797.25, which they delivered to Peppertree during Peppertree’s fun run the next day.
On Saturday, April 18, Alpha Phi Omega and FIJI attended and volunteered at Peppertree’s eighth annual Furry Fun Run at Saratoga State Park, handing the Meanest Man on Campus check to the organization at the beginning of the event. This year, 226 runners and walkers participated in the fun run; participants could run with a dog but it was not required. Upon conclusion of the event, Peppertree had raised more than $6,000, not including the check from Meanest Man on Campus.
Alpha Phi Omega hosts MMOC every year during GM Week. For more information on the event and the service fraternity itself, visit http://apo.union.rpi.edu/.