Lambda Chi Alpha suspended by Alex Kuhn Newspeak S ta ff
On October 2, 1988, a serious accident occurred at the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity house, in which a student was severely injured. Be cause of the severity of the incident, and because of the circumstances in which it occurred, the Pi Zeta chapter at W PI has been suspended in two separate actions, by W PI and the Lambda Chi National Office. The Lambda Chi National Office has declared W P I’s chapter inactive, which means that they are no longer an official unit of the fraternity, and
are not allowed to act as a fraternity chapter. In addition. W PI has sus pended official recognition of the fraternity chapter until January 1991, at which time they may request to become a chapter again. Until then, they are not allowed to function as a fraternity, so they are not allowed to have pledges or participate in the IFC. This action was not taken hastily, but was the result of, in the words of the National Office, “ the irrespon sible behavior of the undergraduate members of Pi Zeta.” They had vio lated several rules and laws during the party at which the student was injured, including serving minors and collect
ing funds for alcohol. In addition, when the fraternity was asked about how to avoid future occurrences of the same type, they responded that they would continue to serve minors and intoxicated individuals. This was unacceptable to W PI. Since this tragic occurrence, life has changed at Lambda Chi. Accord ing to Dean of Students Janet Richardson, the house is no longer called Lambda Chi Alpha, it is 12 Boynton St. The residents of 12 Boynton Street who wish to remain will be allowed to stay in the house for the rest of the academic year, pro vided that they sign a housing con
tract. An R.A. has been hired for the house, and the Campus Police make rounds through the house as they do through other campus housing. Prior to this incident, it had been decided that the brothers would no longer be allowed to live in the house after the end of this academic year. The house and land are owned by W PI, and the residents had been in formed last year that this would be their last year to occupy the house. The school has no plans at this time for the house or property. The transition has seemed to be relatively painless, though. Dean Richardson remarked about the coop
erativeness of all parties involved, but this occurrence has shown that frater nities are also responsible for their actions. Pete Mullen. President of the Inter-Fraternity Council, had the fol lowing to say about the incident. “ The suspension of a fraternity has become a reality at W PI. Not only at W P I, but nationwide, many universities are losing their fraternities due to stricter regulations and public pressure. The situation has shaken the stability of the Greek system, but we can all leam from, and build on one another’s experiences.” This has been a difficult experience for all involved, but hope fully others will listen and prevent this from happening again.
The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Volume 16, Number 22
Tuesday, November 1, 1988
Area rapist apprehended by H eidi Lundy Newspeak S ta ff
Donald T. Comerford. 22, of Dudtey, Massachusetts, believed re sponsible for 7 area assaults, was ar rested Tuesday. October 18. He was charged with 21 offenses including: 3 counts of aggravated rape. 3 counts of kidnapping, 2 counts of attempted kidnapping, 3 counts of assault wiih a dangerous weapon. 3 counts of inde cent assauit and batter on a person over 14 years old. 3 counts of assault and battery, and 2 counts of threaten ing. The suspect was picked up by two Worcester Police Officers on Cool-
idge Street after being tipped off by a passerby who had spotted a man of his description. Earlier he had been seen inside Doherty High School where teachers informed the principal, who called the police. When the man real ized he was being followed he ran out of the school and across the athletic field. Comerford has been positively identified by several of his victims. His attacks allegedlv started on Sen tembei 14. Others occurred on Sep tember 20 and 23. and October 13 and 25 Because of several common fac tors. Worcester Police suspected from the start that one man was responsible for all the assaults. Several times a
knife was used to threaten the victim, and most of the assaults occurred between 5 am and 9 am. The Police Department was working around the clock on stakeouts to try to catch the man. and all of the members of the sexual assault team were utilized. W PI campus police assisted in the investigation, participating in the stakeouts and offering whatever sup port was needed. Although! the suspect is appar ently the man \VP! students have been warned about recently. Sgt. Ring of the W PI Campus Police stresses the continuance of safety measures. “ Be aware of your surroundings and prac tice personal safety" he stated, “ be cause you never know.”
Second annual Career Day to be held on November 5th by Robert G. D ietrich
The W P I Alumni Association will be sponsoring its second annual Ca reer Day on Saturday, November 5, 1988. The Career Day is part of a comprehensive program known as Career Connections, designed to help undergraduates plan their careers by drawing upon the experience and expertise of W PI alumni. “ The plan is part of an effort to increase lifelong interaction between students and alumni of W P I,” accord ing to Robert G. Dietrich, director of alumni programs. The Career Day is a day-long program which will include a series of workshops and round-table discus sions providing participants with ca reer-planning tips.
Again this year, the keynote speaker for that program will be Ellen Wallach. a career development con sultant to business and industrial or ganizations. educational institutions and governmental agencies. She is a frequent contributor to popular maga zines and professional journals and is the author of The Job Search Compan ion. The second part of “ Career Con nections” is a series of disciplinerelated panel discussions. Dietrich said the panels are “ designed to give the students a ‘real life’ perspective on careers in their chosen field.” Dietrich says he hopes to schedule a total of four to six panel discussions this spring. “ To make these panels really successful, we are relying on the support and participation of hon
orary societies and the W P I chapters of professional societies.” According to Dietrich, the pro gram was developed and planned by Career Day Chair Joel S. Loitherstein ’73 and a committee of alumni who will be serving as moderators and panelists on Saturday. Also partici pating in the program will be repre sentatives from Student Affairs in cluding Carol Theisen of the Student Counseling Center, Bill Trask. Direc tor of the Office of Graduate and Career Planning (OGCP) and Carolyn Tidwell, Director of the Cooperative Education Program. Information and registration ma terials are available at the Alumni Office (Higgins House), Dean of Stu dents Office, the Student Counseling Center and OGCP.
Changes at Boston University by Chris Barcus
In mid-September, the Boston University community was informed of several changes which would affect campus life. The first was established by the Boston Licensing Board to regulate the amount of alcohol con sumed on all the campuses in Boston. The new rule limits the amount of alcohol that can be brought into a University by astudent per day. Using beer as a standard, only 12 ounces, or one six-pack, is allowed per student who is of legal drinking age. This means kegs and cases of beer are banned from dormitories as well as fraternities. It is up to the school to enforce the policy, and failure to do so could result in the institution losing its
license to operate dormitories. The alcohol policy went into ef fect immediately, but the changes pertaining to dormitory policy will not be installed until the second se mester. The new dormitory policy states that a maximum of four guests per student are allowed in the rooms between 8 am and 11 pm Sunday through Thursday, and 8 am and I am on Friday and Saturday. Overnight guests are not allowed except for a family member or a prospective stu dent of the same sex. One of the main people behind the creation of the policy was Ronald L. Carter, Dean of Students at BU. Carter has been quoted as saying, “ We are not dealing with adults. We are deal ing with students growing into adult
hood. There's a big difference.” The University is trying to create a more tranquil and academic setting in the coed dorms. The policy has caused a large uproar and many schools are looking into the issue, but it is uncer tain how many will follow. The model for the dorm policy at W PI is based on treating students like adults and allowing them to make their own decisions. There are no cur few hours and overnight guests are allowed. The overnight guest policy currently states that guests of the same sex are allowed for no more than three nights, and should be registered with the floor RA in case there is an emer gency. However, the policy is going to be altered next year and expanded to include anyone as a guest.
Arbitration case settled by Jacq ueline O 'N e ill ________ Ed itor in C h ief
On October 19. the arbitration case between the Service Employees International Union. Local 254, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute was settled. The Union considered the arbitration case to be one of the main reasons behind the strike. Ihe Arbitrator agreed with the Union that the school’s administra tion incorrectly computed the school's contribution toward the Union's health care premiums, in the award, the arbitrator called for the school to “ re-compute the aggre gate amount of contributions it was required to make for the period from July I, 1987 through June 30. 1988....against the cost of health in surance coverage with respect to each of its Union employees who was covered during all or any part of said period under any health plan
listed in...the 1986 Agreement." After multiplying the fixed monthly payments by I 1.3 per cent, the Ad ministration must pay over the dif ference between this new amount and the amount actually contributed by the college during that time. The other issue included in the arbitration, that the verbal informa tion given to the Union during the negotiations of the previous con tract were false, was not awarded in favor of the Union. Mark Ferguson, Union Steward, fell that the issue may have been “ too complex and difficult” to convince an arbitrator. Ferguson also hoped that “ ...this paints a clear picture to the commu nity that we (the Union) are not de mons or dragons but only working men and women who do not and will not tolerate obvious injustices [such | as the ones that the Admini stration has portrayed on several occasions.”
Condom dispenser survey to be conducted by members o f S H E A C
On Thursday, November 3, the Student Health Education Advisory Committee (SH EA C ) will issue a survey to all student mailboxes ad dressing the possible placement of condom dispensers on the W PI cam pus. The survey will address several aspects concerning the placement of these dispensers on the campus, nota bly whether or not the student popula tion would like to see them on the campus. The students involved in SH EA C feel that dispensers are an additional aspect of a developing Sexually Transmitted Disease/AIDS preven tion strategy that merits exploration. This strategy is being developed by the Student Health Services, with SH EA C members’ assistance, to fo
cus on methods of addressing disease prevention that are in addition to education. SH EA C is a recently cre ated organization through which interested students can help identify student health concerns that need to be addressed, develop programs to meet these needs, and implement these programs. The need for a large student re sponse to this survey can not be stressed enough. Please do not let another student, or worse, a very small number of students, decide the issue. SH EA C will pursue a majority recommendation, provided that a rea sonable number of students respond to the survey. Additionally, SH EA C will con sider a minimal student response to represent student non-concern over this issue.
Due to a vacancy in the Health Office Staff the Health Office hours for Saturday November 5, 1988 and Sunday November 6 ,1 9 8 8 w ill be
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8 A M - 4 PM Students in need o f care during the hours when the Health Office is closed should contact Campus Police at 831-5433.
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