Students passing through Schine Student Center Tuesday entered into a whirlwind of unusual sights, smells and noises.

Hip-hop and R&B music blared throughout the student center from a DJ stand in a usually empty corner of the atrium and the smell of fresh pizza lured students away from the dining center and into the entrance of Goldstein Auditorium.

Students had left the Schine Student Center they once knew and had entered the Finish Line and Nike Freezone.

Finish Line and Nike, in partnership with Sports Illustrated On Campus and University Union, hosted a release party for the newest addition the Nike catalog, the Free, which was designed using barefoot technology because research shows running barefoot is better than running with sneakers.

Students enjoyed contemporary tunes, indulged in Sbarro pizza, won raffle prizes and experienced the art of foot massage while checking out the new sneaker which moves with the foot.

‘Whenever we can bring something free to the students we’re happy,’ said Dennis Jacobs, president of University Union.

The campus consultants for SIOC heard Nike and Finish Line were looking to advertise the new product sold exclusively at Finish Line. Syracuse was chosen among six schools to host a release party to promote the new product.

‘It’s something for stu1dents to enjoy in-between class,’ said Kristen Leoce, a marketing associate for SIOC.

Rachel Tway-Grant, a senior physical education major, was on her way to get lunch when she stumbled upon the FreeZone and decided to get a foot massage.

‘It was amazing,’ Tway-Grant said.

Leoce said the companies chose SU as one of the schools to host the party because of the abundance of Finish Line retail locations near the campus, the Nike sponsorship of the university and the culture of the campus. The other schools selected were Indiana University, Arizona State University, Ohio State University, Washington University and University of Pittsburgh.

‘To be on the list of these six schools is awesome for us,’ Jacobs said.

Leoce said the SOIC got involved in the event because they could act as a middleman between the university and the corporations.

‘We have the student access Nike and Finish Line don’t have,’ Loece said. ‘We’re very big on peer-to-peer marketing.’

The event was funded solely by Finish Line and cost the company about $6,000. Jacobs said Schine Dining Center did not lose any money during the event because Sbarro was being paid for their product and service.

Among the freebies given away were Nike water bottles, stickers, pencils, SIOC T-shirts and Finish Line shoe odor-removing balls. Fifteen $25 Finish Line gift cards and two pairs of Nike Free’s were raffled off.

Spencer Bodner, a senior communications and rhetorical studies major and a SIOC campus representative, said one of the other reasons the SIOC got involved was to promote themselves.

‘This is the first big event at Syracuse,’ Bodner said.

Leoce estimated 450 students had visited the FreeZone between noon and 2 p.m., with one hour to go before the party ended. Bodner said around 2:15 p.m. they ran out of the free giveaways.

‘There is live entertainment, free foot massages and we’re giving away freebies,’ Bodner said. ‘What more could you want? We’re not bothering anyone.’

But the release party was definitely bothering people.

Erin R. Fitzgerald, a junior policy studies major, handed out fliers in Schine with facts about Nike’s shoe manufacturing and labor wages.

Fitzgerald disagrees with Nike’s shoe manufacturing being in free-trade zones, areas where the two trading countries agree not to interfere with the trading between them and said she thinks it is ironic how Nike named the shoe the Free.

‘Your foot might be free, but there are a whole lot of people who aren’t free making this shoe for you,’ she said.

Fitzgerald said her decision to pass out fliers was very reactionary and neither she nor any of her friends helping hand out fliers are associated with the sweatshop action meeting held Monday.

‘At least the students will have some real facts about what is going on,’ she said.

Ankeen McGuire, a senior history major, ate some of the free pizza being distributed during the party.

‘(My friends and I) have decided we’re using Nike for free things but saying no to them at the same time,’ McGuire said of her consuming the pizza and agreeing with the fliers passed out by Fitzgerald.

‘I don’t think (what Nike is doing) is bad,’ she said. ‘It’s just advertising.’

But Jacobs said the event was more than just advertising for Nike.

‘I think it really worked well to get people to this event and get people to realize what else is going on on-campus,’ he said.

Published on April 5, 2005 at 12:00 pm