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Tennessee Tech University | Cookeville, TN | 38505
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Volume 94 | Issue 3 | Free in single copy | September 24, 2010
Counseling Center to Alcohol banned at greek events present Dangers of Binge Drinking By BRANDON GOODWIN Sports Editor
All alcohol has been banned at greek life parties and events for an indefinite time period, due to Tech fraternities violating basic policies. According to Mark Ochsenbein, director of student activities, these violations took place during three greek parties last Friday night at the houses of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi and Kappa Sigma. Ochsenbein arrived at the SAE house around 11 p.m., as the party was beginning. “It’s good to go check to see what’s going on and see if we’re following policies and procedures,” he said. “And if we’re not, we need to fix it.” All parties must be registered through the Greek Life Office and, according to coordinator Katie Williams, all three of the parties Friday night were registered correctly. “There are times I do go out and times I don’t,” Ochsenbein said. “This was the first one [of the year.]” The number of people allowed to attend the party is determined by the number of members throwing the party. “[The parties] are all by guest invitation only,” Ochsenbein said. “It should be considered an exclusive party.” When Ochsenbein arrived at the SAE house, he observed people entering the party who were not on the guest list. “People were there that shouldn’t have been there,” Ochsenbein said. “It’s very critical that you control who’s coming in and who’s not. If you don’t know who people are that are coming in, you don’t know what might happen.”
By BAILEY MORGAN Staff Writer
The Counseling Center will host a workshop on the dangers of binge drinking at 11 a.m. Nov. 4 in the RUC Tech Pride Room. “The workshop will cover binge drinking,” Patricia Smith, counseling center director, said, “but it will be more about alcohol and alcohol poisoning.” Some topics set for discussion include symptoms of alcohol poisoning, how to calculate blood alcohol concentration, and what to do if a friend passes out after consuming alcohol. “One sign of alcohol poisoning,” Smith points out, “is if your friend is taking eight breaths or less per minute, that friend needs medical help.” Smith will also present a Number “friendship pact” at the workof breaths shop and ask students to sign it. per minute The pact involves stipulations to indicate about alcohol responsibility. “The pact means that when alcohol we are going out, we are going to poisioning watch out for each other,” Smith said. The friendship pact also contains conditions for friends to call for help if any symptom of alcohol poisoning exists and to not be angry if a friend seeks help for the pact signer if they are in danger. “If you’re a good friend,” Smith said, “you are going to watch out for your friends and not be afraid to call for help.” The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings a person’s BAC to 0.08 percent or above. A man can typically reach this BAC by consuming five or more drinks in two hours, and a woman can reach this by consuming four or more in a two hour period. Smith will define what constitutes a single drink at the workshop. “Yes, people do drink,” Smith said. “If you do decide to drink, be responsible. Obey the laws, know what your body can handle, and don’t drive.”
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Ochsenbein said that after having their identifications checked, attendees are then verified on the guest list. “If they’re not on there, they’re not supposed to come into the party,” Ochsenbein said. “That was a violation. We’re going to fix that.” According to Ochsenbein, there were too many people in the party who were not on the list. “I closed that party right then as a result. “When I was trying to turn people away from the SAE house, they were showing up at the Kappa Sig and Sigma Chi houses,” Ochsenbein said. After leaving the SAE house, Ochsenbein went to the Kappa Sig and Sigma Chi houses. However, the same violations were taking place at those parties as well. “There was no control,” he said. “They’ll say there was control, but there really wasn’t.” He also said he observed underage drinking at all three parties. ”As a result of all the infractions that I saw, I froze everything,” Ochsenbein said. “We’re not going to have any more parties with alcohol until we get all this figured out.” Ochsenbein said the policies that they follow now have been in place for years, but they are going to look into alternatives. “Our parties aren’t terrible “Animal House,” out-ofcontrol deals, but there were some policies that weren’t being followed,” Williams said. “We’re going to have to figure out an easier way for the fraternities to follow those policies and make it safer for our chapters and for our students.” “We’re looking at other
universities and their policies and procedures to see how they are doing things,” Ochsenbein said. “We might adopt some of [those] if they
make s e n s e and will help us do our job here.” The Greek Life Office makes sure that everyone in the greek community is aware of these policies. “The rules have been made available to them,” Williams said. According to Ochsenbein and Williams, the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity is already on probation for a similar incident. He said that violating policies and procedures or state laws are grounds for a
chapter to be put on probation, typically a ban on alcohol events for a period of time, community service, and even a ban from Homecoming events. Ochsenbein believes it is unfair for the entire greek community to take a black eye for these incidents. “Even though alcohol gets 100 percent of the attention, it’s a very small part of all the things that the greeks do,” he said. “It puts a blemish on it,” he said, “but they’re doing great things on campus. “Our girls are doing great in our sororities. Our sororities are breaking records on how great their grades are.” Ochsenbein and Williams held a meeting with the heads of each chapter Wednesday night to discuss the ban and to offer any clarifications that were needed. “There’s no organization that’s perfect,” Ochsenbein said. “We’ll figure it out, and we’ll be better for it. “They can continue to do the parties as long as there is no alcohol. If they feel like they can’t do that, [the parties] will be cancelled until we can figure this out.” Ochsenbein also addressed rumors of why the parties were shut down. “There were absolutely no kegs,” he said. “Kegs are not allowed. They all know the rules.”
Equal pay advocate Lilly Ledbetter to speak at Tech Ledbetter will share her experiences concerning gender-based pay inequality By TALLULAH GILLIAM Copy Editor
Photo by Jason Wallis
Pay inequality will be discussed by Lilly Ledbetter, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act namesake, at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Derryberry Hall Auditorium. The presentation, expected to last about 40 minutes, will be followed by a question and answer session and a reception. “I’m certain that students will relate to her and enjoy her, as well as learn something that will benefit them as they pursue their future careers,” Diana Lalani of the Women’s Center said. This is a Center Stage
event hosted by the Women’s Center and the communications program. It is free and open to the public. Current figures show the average woman makes around 78 cents for every dollar her male contemporaries earn. This affects everyone, every family, every community. Families are dependent on a woman’s income now more than ever. “College students are shocked because there are equal pay laws on the books, but they are not always adhered to,” Ledbetter said. “I can’t fault these students, as I was once so trusting.” Brenda Wilson, communications program di-
rector, suggested bringing Ledbetter here to Lalani at the Women’s Center equal pay event two years ago. Tech is one of several institutions, including Harvard and Georgetown, to which Ledbetter has been invited. Ledbetter worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Gadsden, Ala. from 1979 to 1998. For most of those years, she was an overnight area manager, a position dominated by men. While her salary was comparable to her male counterparts when she began, a disparity formed and grew over the years. By the end of 1997, as the only female with her title, she was making between 15 and 40 percent less than
the men in the same position. Ledbetter learned of the disparity when an anonymous co-worker put a note into her mailbox at work that listed the pay of Ledbetter and three men in her position. Due to Goodyear’s pay confidentiality policy, which she signed, this was the first proof Ledbetter had of the pay inequality she had suspected for years. “Goodyear acknowledged that it was paying me a lot less than men doing the same work,” Ledbetter said when speaking to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Edicatopms and Labor in 2007. See “Ledbetter“, page 6
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