UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
TUESDAY
The Student Voice Since 1903
SEPTEMBER 28, 1999
Frat thrown off campus over new and hung over violations By Trent Dugas
SINAI/filer CO withdrew campus membership and recognition for three years from the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity because of campus and Regent's violations. The Greek fraternity disregarded UCO's alcohol policies by holding a beer party in its fraternity house. Fraternity houses are considered part of UCO campus and UCO is a dry university. Lynn Means, director of student services, said a student reported the party to her and an investigation ensued. After Means and other UCO officials interviewed students who attended the party and spoke to the fraternity president, it was confirmed that a party did occur. ."Our concern was not so much about the individuals attending the party," Means said, "but it was more on the policy violation at the fraternity's chapter house." She said the students she interviewed admitted to paying $3 each to enter the party and drink as much beer as they wanted.
No safe-guards regarding a legal drinking age were exercised, Means said. "Actually, a couple of the people we interviewed who were at the party were women who were underage," Means said. "That is a concern that the women running the beer tap were underage. "One individual said, 'that was the cheapest amount for beer he had paid in a long time' and then laughed about it," Means said. TKE was already on probation from June this year for academic discrepancies, when the alcohol violation occurred, Means said. The severity of the suspension isin direct relation to that. She said the fraternity had a 1.87 overall-chapter grade-point average for last spring. "In essence, we were left with no alternative," Means said. "We put it in black and white and outlined everything clearly and articulated that back in June." As a result of the probation terms, TKE could not hold any fraternity-related activities without scheduling them through her. Means said the party was also a violation of risk management for
everyone involved including UCO. Ultimately, UCO could be held legally responsible for any accidents that would have occurred at the party. "The university is not going to buckle, we are not going to change our minds on this," Means said. "It was a very hard decision to make, a very emotional decision to make but it had to be done. "It was not personal against Tau Kappa-Epsilon and not a vendetta of any kind." The,fraternity's suspension also entails no involvement in student organization activities, including all social activities, parties, sidewalk-chalking, hanging up flyers and homecoming activities. Though the suspension does not allow members of TKE to do sidewalk-chalking, students on campus have witnessed the fraternity involved in campus events and sidewalk chalking. Nicholas Harrison, a delegate to the Interfraternity Council (IFC), called the Department of V See DRINKING,
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—Photo by Shauna Hardway The once full Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) house is now empty. All that remains are a few stray couches.
Broken rubber belt causes smoke By Robyn Lydick
Staff!Nriter the lasses in C Communications Center are back to normal after a fire alarm emptied class rooms. Despite the smell of burning rubber, there was no fire. A belt came off an air conditioning compressor in the basement. Smoke made by the belt was drawn in through the air conditioning system and —Photo by Tony Oltmann circulated through the building, Firefighters Mitch Rainwater and Richard Munsey move a fan to said Battalion Chief Lloyd blow smoke out of the Communications Building Friday afternoon. Fitzgerald.
Edmond Fire Department received the call at 2:52 p.m. "We happened to be on campus already," Fitzgerald said. "We were doing a walkthrough survey of the library when the call came." Crowds of students, faculty and staff milled around waiting to return to the building. Serena Wilson, a broadcasting senior, was busy working in UCO's television station when the call to leave came. "We were shooting 'Grand Central' and getting ready for the newscast," Wilson said. "The announcement was that
something is going on over in the other part of the building," Wison said. "I was trying to get done. Production (of the newscast) takes hours." Dr. Kole Kleeman made note of the smell to his class about 15 minutes prior to the evacuation. Fans were placed at the west and southwest doors of the building to help blow the smoke out. The fire department left at 3:40 p.m., allowing students, staff and faculty to return to the building.