N e w a lc o h o l p o lic y p a s s e d b y t h e IF C by H eid i Lundy Associate Ed itor Fraternities at W P I can’t use beer kegs anymore, only cans. Most frater nities are changing to B Y O B parties. Soon, W P I will be a dry campus. For the past two weeks, since students re turned from break, rumors like these have been Hying around campus about fraternities, social functions, and something new, the B Y O B con cept. The purpose of this article is to provide the facts as to what has been happening with W P I fraternities, their National Chapters and the Interfraternity Council (IFC ). For two years, fraternities have been aware that they need to conform to a set of regulations established by their insurance companies in “ Risk Management Policies.” Most of the fraternities on this campus have very similar Risk Management Properties, and they all include the following rules: -No alcoholic beverage may be purchased through the chapter treasury nor may the purchase of same for members or guests be undertaken or coordinated by any member in the name of or on behalf of the chapter. The purchase of bulk alcohol is pro hibited. -No chapter members, collectively or individually, shall purchase for,
serve to, or sell alcoholic beverages to any minor. -OPEN P A R T IE S where alcohol is present, meaning those with unre stricted access by non-members of the fraternity, without specific invitation, shall be prohibited. Until recently, enforcement of these Risk Management Policies was almost nonexistent. In the past three weeks, four campus fraternities have been pressured into immediate com pliance with these policies. Theta Chi was visited by a National Representa tive, an alcohol related injury oc curred at Alpha Tau Omega, an alco hol related fight occurred at Phi Gamma Delta, and an alcohol related incident occurred at Zeta Psi. These events caused closer scrutiny by the fraternities respective National’s. In attempting to comply with the Risk Management Policies, some of these fraternities did not serve beer at their most recent parties and, instead, re quired invitees to “ Bring Their Own.” Hence, the beginning of the B Y O B rumors. Because of these incidents, there has been a lot of conversation among the IF C representatives as to estab lishing a “ system-wide compliance policy,” meaning that all fraternities on campus would conform to their Risk Management Policies. At the closed IF C meeting one
week ago, members attempted, by way of a vote, to gain support for a System-wide Compliance Policy. Obviously, the four fraternities who had been forced to comply would be in favor of such a policy. Sigma Pi had expressed interest in complying more strictly with their Risk Management policies and Sigma Alpha Epsilon had voluntarily started taking action to bring themselves into compliance the week before break. These two may also have been in favor of a systemwide policy. As to the rest of the fraternities, sources indicate that the idea was not popular. Nancy Hunter Denney, Assistant Dean of Students, commented that “ it was unfortunate that support (for the system-wide policy) was not forthcoming.” After the first vote failed, a second suggestion was raised to have B Y O B parties every other weekend. This suggestion was agreed upon by all the fraternity presidents. Therefore, ev ery other weekend, all fraternity par ties will be B Y O B . The fraternities that haven’t changed their policies will still be able to run their parties however they choose on the off week ends. The attitude among most of the fraternities who are in favor of such a policy is that this change has been coming for a long time, and that Risk Management Policy enforcement is inevitable. In other words, they feel
that soon every fraternities’ social functions will have to be B Y O B . Many of these presidents feel that this change is for the best. They feel that the advantages include: making all fraternity parties equally attractive to guests; reducing the serving liability; terminating the purchase of alcohol with chapter funds; and reducing indi vidual’s consumption of alcohol. Elizabeth Ried, Assistant Director of Residential Life stated that freshmen students seem to be drinking more fre quently this year. Individual R A ’s have commented on moderate levels of drinking on four or five nights a week, which is a change from just drinking on weekends in past years. The major disadvantage that most sources stated in the creation of a sys tem-wide compliance policy is that the fraternity’s social functions will be drastically changed. Jeffrey Coy, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, thinks that students are still expecting to have two parties every weekend, with the only difference being that they will have to lug in their own beer. He stated that “ the whole format is going to have to change.” A possible result, and trepidation of many of the sources for this article, is that with B Y O B parties there will be a reduc tion in participation. The people in favor of such a policy feel that with awareness, education and maturity, the phsychological resistance to
change can be remedied. David Elario, president of the IFC, stated that fraternities have to over come the largest hurdle: agreement to a System-wide compliance policy. Once this is accomplished the other details, such as enforcement, B Y O B particulars, and new party ideas can be decided by the individual fraterni ties. He said that details like this will require a lot of imagination, but also mentioned that they have the models of several other campuses nationwide to help them. Indeed, several campuses across the country have established system wide policies like the one suggested at W P I. The University of Illinois has a B Y O B policy that was passed by its IF C two weeks after it was first intro duced. The University of Kentucky has a policy which allows no central ized distribution of alcohol, and all its social functions are B Y O B . At the University of Oregon, they have been partying under the “ no kegs” regula tion since 1988, but recently decided to reassert the B Y O B concept. They now have enforcement measures, which include an $80 fine if three security guards are not present at every social function, and a $100 fine for not having two fraternity members present at the door to check ID ’s and continued on page 3
The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute V o lu m e
18, N u m b e r 21
T u e s d a y , N o v e m b e r 6 ,1 9 9 0
85 high schools participate at WPI math competition (News Service) W P I ’s annual Invi tational Mathematics Meet for high school students this past week fea tured 85 schools from throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. The competition of four-person teams competed for $85,000 in scholarships and team awards. This was the third year of the meet. Last year 69 schools partici pated, while 46 took part the First year. Top schools in the small schools division (up to 500 students) were: Weyland (Mass.) High School, First place; W estboro (M a ss.) High School, second place; and Barrington (R .I.) High School, third. Weyland and Westboro were repeat winners from last year in first and second places respectively. Weyland’s com petitors were Carl Elkin, David Hol land, Andrew Hencke and Tomoki Yanagisawa. The team's advisor was Douglas Stather. Westboro’s team
included Richard Sah, Tim Simcoe, Dave Stager and Joshua Weelock. The team’s advisor was James Lightbody. Barrington’s representa tives were Stephen and Je ff Freund, Garth Herbert and Yoshiko Harada. The team’s advisor was Robert Tobiasz. In the medium category (500 to 1,000 students) w inners were: Amherst (Mass.) High School, first place; Foxborough (Mass.) High School, second place; and Canton (Mass.) High School, third place. Last year Canton placed first and Fox borough placed third. Amherst’s winners were Kai Yu, Simon King, Dengda Tang, and Roger Chen. The team’s advisor was Michael Froning. Foxborough’s team included Brian Miller, Sara Michelmore, Marc Get ter, and James Wellnitz. The team’s advisor was Anne Licciardi. Canton’s team members were Kristen Mehler,
Haunted House scared over 600 people by H eid i Lundy Associate Ed itor W P I ’s annual Haunted House took place on October 27th, and, as always, was a huge success. It was sponsored by the W P I Pep Band and Alpha Phi Omega, the campus’s national service fraternity. An assortment of witches, demons, monsters and geisha’s led more than 600 hundred people through the trans formed basement of Alden Hall. This year’s crowd consisted of many truly frightened children, amused parents and snickering (and possibly a little apprehensive?), high-school and col lege students. W hile waiting the patrons were entertained by members of two cam pus improvisational groups. Patch work Quilt, and Some Assembly Re quired. The students (and alum) in these groups did skits, dancing, and
singing, all while in their costumes. Both the Pep Band and Alpha Phi Omega not only appreciate these group’s efforts, but applaud them, as they had very little rehearsal time. There were many special effects along the tour, during which people rose from the dead, the boogieman attacked sleeping children, and scien tists were deformed after imbibing failed experiments. Smoke rose from glasses, eerie music sounded every where, and ghosts and skeletons with guns that made loud noises were liable to pop out of any dark hallway. If the children made it through the last grue some demon, who threatened them with a battle-ax, they were treated to free refreshments. More than four hundred dollars of profits was divided between the Pep Band and Alpha Phi Omega, the latter of which will use the proceeds for charity.
Oliver Schneider, Julie Goodman, and Andrew Gotshalk. The team’s advisor was Martin Badoian. Top finishers in the large category (more than 1,000 students) were: Waltham (Mass.) High School, first place; Doherty (Mass.) High School, second place; and Westfield (Mass.) High School, third place. Last year Doherty tied for third. Waltham’s top scorers were Peter Lindgren, Stephen Wedding, Betsy Marangoly and Moses Liskov. The team’s advisor was W illiam Harrington. The second place finishers were Chanhan Tran, Jian Xu, Jessie McHugh and Scott Conover. The team’s advisor was Marie Tangney. Westfields’s team
consisted of Christopher Broggi, David Burque, Christopher Gruel and Sung Park. The team’s advisor was John Jachym. “ It was exciting to see the students compete and function as a team as well as interact with the W P I depart ment representatives. W e were also pleased with the advisors enthusiastic response to the presentation by Pro fessor Ansuman Bagchi,” said Lynn Clough and Marcia Booth, W P I visit ing mathematics scholars and meet coordinators. Bagchi, a visiting assis tant professor of mathematics at W P I, spoke on operations research. The mathematics competition gave the students a chance to compete
individually and as a team. After the individual student competition of nine questions lasting 30 minutes came 12 team problems, also lasting 30 minutes. The tests included alge bra, geometry, trigonometry, but not calculus. Top teams in each category re ceived plaques and T-shirts while the top scorer from each school was awarded a $1,000 scholarship to at tend W P I. Following the competi tion, participants heard a presentation by Robert G. Voss, W P I Executive Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, and met with W P I faculty. Lunch at a campus dining facility completed
Soviet tour being organized by Professor Patrick Dunn Professor Dunn of the Humanities Department announces an effort to organize the fourth annual tour of the Soviet Union by W P I students. The group will leave New York on March 3, 1991, and return on March 12. The tour will visit Moscow and Leningrad, with a side trip to Pushkin, 15 miles south of Leningrad. Pushkin,
Worcester’s sister-city, is the site of the Leningrad Agricultural Institute. In the past Professor Dunn’s group has spent considerable time with the students of the Institute, which offers majors in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Biology, and other dis ciplines in common with W P I. Pro fessor Dunn has proposed a summer exchange between the two Institutes. While lours of the major attractions in
each of the cities [the Kremlin, the Ermitage Museum, M cD onald’s) have been planned, the schedule al lows plenty of free time. A ll travel and hotel accommoda tions are first-class, including the famed “ Red Arrow” night train from Moscow to Leningrad. Cost of the tour is $1525. Interested parties should contact Professor Dunn in Salisbury 26 or by 831-5584.
Risk management seminar to be held for leaders of student groups by N ancy Hunter Denney Assistant Dean of Students “ I don’t know... it just happened!” As a student leader or advisor to a student organization, these words are often followed by an account o f an unfortunate incident. On Tuesday, November 13 at 7:00pm in Harrington Auditorium, there will be a special presentation on risk management by Judge Mitch Crane. This session will educate participants on the issues of criminal and civil liability and how certain incidents can be prevented
through risk management. Mitch Crane is an attorney and for mer municipal judge presently spe cializing in criminal defense and neg ligence practice in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He is also an active brother of Sigma Phi Epsilon frater nity and serves his fraternity as Dis trict Governor in Pennsylvania. Dur ing the past two years, Mitch Crane has conducted seminars on risk man agement, crisis points, and legal lia bilities at campuses all along the east coast. W hy should you attend such a pres
entation? Answer: Because risk man agement is a campus issue and a per sonal issue. Risk management means social host responsibilities, correct ing unsafe conditions, reducing alco hol consumption, preventing hazing and avoiding acquaintance rape. “ A unique combination of humor, case history and realistic discussion of the result of poor risk management leaves the typical audience with every emotion but indifference,” says Mitch Crane. This event is being sponsored by the Dean of Students Office and the Interfratemity and Panhellenic Coun-