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Oh, my achy breaky heart! February 1996
H o p e C o l l e g e • H o l l a n d . M i c h i g a n • A n i n d e p e n d e n t n o n p r o f i t p u b l i c a t i o n • S e r v i n g t h e H o p e C o l l e g e C o m m u n i t y f o r 109 y e a r s
check it o u t .
What's love g o t t o g o with
it? C u p i d knows. Spotlight, p a g e 7.
Pledging in limbo for H o p e frats JULIE BLAIR editor-in-chief
Three of Hope's six fraternities may not be allowed to run their p l e d g i n g p r o g r a m s a s planned this spring after being charged by the administration with Rush violations, c o n s e quences that could alter their systems of sacred traditions further. If appeals are not granted by the Ad-Hoc Appeals Board this week, the Cosmopolitian Fraternity will not run a pledging program and the Arcadian Fraternity will be allowed only six days of pledging versus the standard three and a half weeks, members of the organizations said. T h e F r a t e r s d e c l i n e d to r e l e a s e t h e administration's punishment. The Cosmopolitan and Fraternal fraternities,' Hope's oldest fraternities, and the Arcadian Fraternity, were mailed letters the week of Feb. 2 by the administration citing specific allegations.
According to Frater President Joe Novak, the Fraternal Society was charged with providing alcohol to underage drinkers and holding a party after an event. Sources within the Greek system confirmed the Arcadians were written up for the hiring of a stripper. The Cosmos declined to release their charges, but reported they met with the Appeals Board Feb. 8. "We gave our appeal and we felt good about it," said an officer of the Fraternity. M i k e S p r a d l i n g ( ' 9 8 ) , P r e s i d e n t of t h e Arcadian Fraternity, said the Arcadians were not sure if they would appeal. "We've got bids turned in and we are planning on having pledging and a new pledge class this year," Spradling said. "We know that the Arcadians are in a good position. We are working with the administration." Novak said the Fraters are planning to make an appeal but as of last Wednesday had not yet
done so. T h e deadline for appeals was Feb. 9. Activities deemed unacceptable include: servr ing alcohol at events, holding parties directly after a Rush event, talking to rushees regarding Greek life during the Silent Period after bids are given out and speaking negatively about other Greek organizations. All violations are outlined in the constitutions of the Interfraternity Council and PanHellenic Board, the governing panels for all Hope fraternities and sororities. The constitutions are available to each organization through their committee representatives. T h e rules for Rush were also published in the 1996 Rush Guide. "Decisions have been made and appeals are up to each group," said Dean of Students Richard Frost. "They have five days from receiving the letters to respond." Frost declined to c o m m e n t f u r t h e r on the m o r e F R A T S on 5
Intern samples corpses' fumes JULIE BLAIR editor-in-chief
an adoption agency, for assistance. Their search for a child began in May of 1995. This fall, they were informed of a unparented infant. Unfortunately, this effort fell through. On January 17th Deb was notified that a single mother had just given birth to a baby girl, and the infant needed a home right away. Once again, the Swanson couple jumped at the news. They had been selected as one of three couples to potentially adopt the infant. It was up to the biological mother to choose who would be the parents of her newborn baby. After meeting with the Swansons for only a few minutes, she knew that they were the ones who should raise her child. The next day, the two went to work as the always did. At 9:30 a.m., Deb received a phone call which would change her and Todd's life forever. It was only four hours after the birth that a
T h e bloated body laid face down in the muck, maggots burrowing into the pasty, raw flesh. The buttocks of the forty-seven-year-old woman had split to the middle of her back, leaving a flap of skin to cover the muscle. The stench of death rose from the soil like steam from a hot bath. Bryce Bergethon ( ' 9 6 ) wished he was fetching coffee or making copies for a yuppie in pinstripes. Instead he was interning in forensics, searching for a method to determine the fatty acid content emitted from decomposing bodies. His research would help detectives track down c r i m e s c e n e s and d e t e r m i n e t h e t i m e s of deaths—an essential component in putting together all the pieces of a murder or suicide. Bergethon bent to his knees and slowly rolled the body to the side. Thousands of maggots fell off the corpse. Using a spatula, he dug out a core of earth and placed it in a vile. He moved onto the next body—ten in all—of fifty some decaying corpses and amputated parts placed in the name of scientific research out in the elements at a lot affectionately called "The Body Farm." T h e bodies were leftover f r o m medical schools or organ donors whose use had passed. T h e site, located d e e p in the mountains of Tennessee at Oak Ridge National Laboratories and run in conjunction with the University of Tennessee, provides a hands-on workshop for scientists working to solve crimes and analyze chemical components. Hope College got hooked into the lab in 1977, finding the center to be the perfect forum for biology and chemistry interns to garner experience doing research for a semester. That's exactly what Bergethon expected when he left Michigan in August. A research component. Maybe a few articles in academic journals. But no dead bodies. "I had no idea," Bergethon said. "I was supposed to be doing development for drug screening methods. They didn't tell me what was down there." Bergethon went on two runs to the Body Farm
m o r e B A B Y on 2
m o r e D E A D B O D I E S o n 11
Art show, speaker spark
sisterhood spirit. Campusbeat, p a g e 2.
/Anc/7or p h o t o by Z a c h J o h n s o n y
OH BABY: Todd and Deb Swanson s world was happily turned upside-down when baby Emma came into their lives three weeks ago. S u r v i v o r tells of a d a t e you'll never forget.
Baby makes three Profs called from class to adopt girl
Spotlight, p a g e 6.
LAURA MIHAILOFF staff r e p o r t e r
C o s is back, wishing all a
happy V-day. Sports, p a g e 11.
W h o would have thought that one phone call could change someone's life so much? But that's all that it took to change the Swansons from a couple to a family. Deb and Todd Swanson are professors here at Hope. They have been anxious to adopt a child for over three years. Now their wait is over. Just three w e e k s ago, every room in the Swanson's home was silent. The only movement that could be seen was the shadow of the pastel mobile strung carefully from the freshly painted ceiling. But something was missing. Deb, w h o teaches Sociology, and Todd, who is a professor of Mathematics, had been married for about five years and had been wishing to have children. After three years of trying, they decided UCV>1U^U to IVJ look to Bethany Christian • — •Services, •
Seniors feel t h e c r u n c h as Veal w o r l d ' nears JENN D O R N campusbeat editor
Rounding
the
bend: c a n d i d a t e s make last lap for
W h i t e House. InFocus, p a g e 3.
They may be smiling in those senior pictures taken a mere few weeks ago when things were a little less stressful, but they're not smiling anymore. Though it may seem like this semester only just began. May will be here soon enough, and for some Hope students that means graduation and heading out into the real world. For others, it means complete and total uncertainty. "I have no idea what I am going to be doing after graduation," said Amy Stillwell ('96). "I hope to find a job either in this area or back in my hometown. I am feeling a lot of pressure, though, because it is my senior year and I do not know what I am going to be doing or where
I am going to be going." "It's a scary j u m p going out into the real world,"—iStillwell 5 NOW WHAT DO WE DO" said. is a lot to There / X w h e n consider up to find gearing and it can c a r e e r a l i t t l e get a whelmo v e r That' s i nn g . reer Serwhat Cahere for; v i c e s is students to help path that find a fit them. very unIt's derstandable that seniors are feeling anxious at
W o Austin, Auctin nirArtr\rnf this point," said rDale Director of Career S e r v i c e s . " F o r their w h o l e lives, they have known their next step and had a sense of their destination. Now there is no real destination and they have to adjust to new horizons." Career Services is available to students to help them both f o c u s in on their skills and career choices and to assist them in mapping out a plan for their future. "This anxiety can be used in several different ways," Austin said. "It can be a motivator to pressure the students into taking concrete steps to planning their future. It can also lead to a sense of evasiveness and be a paralyzer for the student; they just don't want to think about their future because it produces that unsettling anxiety. m o r e STRESS on 5