Fordham’s Campus Activities Board (CAB) and Commuter Student Services (CSS) hosted a week of spooky events to celebrate Halloweekend.

Halloweekend, a portmanteau of “Halloween” and “weekend,” is an annual celebration of the weekend of Halloween, typically a three-day celebration.

CAB’s “Halloweek” kicked off on Monday, Oct. 25 with a General Board “Trick or Treat Street” on Edwards Parade, followed by at least one Halloween event every day until Saturday, Oct. 30, or Mischief Night.

These events include Tuesday’s “Haunted Trolley Tour Raffle” in the McGinley Student Center, Wednesday’s “Cinevents Halloween Movie Trivia” in the Campbell Hall Multipurpose Room, Thursday’s “Golf Cart Ghost Tours,” Friday’s “Halloween Disco” hosted by Cultural Affairs and ASILI and a haunted house at Rodrigue’s Coffee House.

CAB’s Halloween Instagram post reads, “Happy Halloween from CAB!! Hope everyone is having a fun & safe weekend!”

In addition to CAB’s events, CSS also hosted numerous other events specifically marketed towards Fordham’s commuter and non-resident students.

The first of CSS’s events was a screening of “The Conjuring” on Monday, followed by multiple student-focused events on Halloween weekend.

Friday of Halloween weekend featured both a “Spooky Painting Pop-Up” event in the Commuter Student Lounge and a Commuter Services-hosted excursion to Blood Manor, an interactive show, in Manhattan.
Jeffany Acosta, commuter assistant marketing consultant, said it’s important for CSS to create events that are specifically targeted toward Fordham’s non-resident students. “These events are tailored to commuter students because they’re at commuter-friendly times,” said Acosta.

She explained that holding events either too early or too late in the day would make it incredibly difficult for commuter students to regularly attend campus events. “We do not have early or late events because it’s inconvenient to traditional commuters who have to travel to school,” said Acosta. “We focus on times during the afternoon, especially block hours when no students are in class (specifically, Mondays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.).”

“We do believe that these events are [more] accessible to commuter students compared to other non-CSS events that might not be as time-friendly,” said Acosta.

Creating events for commuter students is a significant part of making them feel more comfortable as part of the larger Fordham community, explained Acosta. This community unification is an important factor in designing events, especially in marketing them to all students who are interested.

“Our events are for all Fordham students, so it serves as a chance for commuters to meet resident students as well!” said Acosta.

Getting commuter students involved on campus is high on the Commuter Student Services’s list of priorities, and it does the work to make sure that these commuter events are made available to all students.

“We send weekly emails to help students get involved in other on-campus activities,” Acosta explained. “We work with other departments and collaborate on events to expose commuter students to other events and jobs on campus.” Commuter students often feel neglected by non-CSS campus programming.

In addition to Halloween, some clubs on campus chose to host celebrations for the holiday Dia de los Muertos. Translating to “Day of the Dead,” the Mexican holiday represents a day for hispanic people to celebrate dead loved ones.

One club hosting celebrations was El Grito de Lares, whose Oct. 29 celebration offered a series of interactive and engaging events. Aside from crafts, foods and drink available in McGinley Student Center, El Grito de Lares also set up a traditional ofrenda in the University Church.

Ofrendas are traditional hispanic shrines in which Dia de los Muertos celebrators include pictures of deceased loved ones and  honor them. Dia de los Muertos occurs after Halloween, starting on Nov 1.