A variety of topics were discussed with Wayne State College students, administration, community members and city officials who were all gathered in Gardner Hall Tuesday night for a round-table discussion, “The voice of image: How are we seen?”

Some of the topics that were brought up included, parking, adopt-a-student program, beer pong and a club to help international students.

A lively, two-hour discussion focused on perceptions of the college and the community.

“This event is about the community and the college getting together to have a proper and intelligent conversation,” said Jaydn Harding, Tau Kappa Epsilon President and moderator.

This round-table event came about when WSC counselor Karen Granberg approached Harding in the summer, asking what the interest of the fraternity would be bringing this type of event back into the limelight. TKE thought it would be a great idea, not only for their image, but also engaging in conversation between the campus and the community.

This is especially important for Tau Kappa Epsilon, as a social fraternity that comes with a negative image.

“It’s vital that we do events like this,” Harding said. “In the past few years, Greek life has received a negative limelight here at WSC. We’re trying to shove off that negative limelight and really show that TKE is here to be a good organization in which to help out the college and help out the community, we want to show the community that TKE is not a stereotypical fraternity.”

Notable members of the college and the community were in attendance. The hosts of the event were WSC President Marysz Rames and Wayne Mayor Ken Chamberlain.

“The importance is bringing the campus together with the community, and to have opportunities together,” Rames said.

Members of each table consisted of college students, members of the community, community representatives, college representatives and professors.

Topics addressed during the round table included self -image, group images and campus and community image.

A round of questions was presented to the group, which sat at tables and discussed the questions at hand. The conversations would stop and the moderator had each table share their findings with the group. Each table’s conversation became personal as people shared their views about campus and stories of their lives.

The debate about parking in the city of Wayne became a big talking point for the entire group of attendees.

“Living near the college, I had to learn how to become one,” said Hilda Pearson, who was forced to move to Wayne after her home was hit by a tornado, “So, I just recently learned how to play beer-pong.”

As the event came to a close, the group continued the discussions at hand in our community and on our campus.

“Overall, the conversations went well, we presented a lot of ideas that we can talk about with community and campus and hopefully integrate them in the near future,” Harding said.