PAGE 4, THE BEHREND BEACON, JANUARY 21, 2000
NATIONAL CAMPUS NEWS
Northwestern sorority parties with frats must have
by Meg McSherry Breslin
Knight-Ridder Tribune
January 17, 2000
EVANSTON, 111. In yet another
attempt to erode the sodden "Ani
mal House" image of fraternities,
sororities at Northwestern Univer
sity have voted to stop throwing
joint parties at Prat houses if alco
hol is to be served.
The new policy, which will take
effect next fall, is aimed at what for
decades has been one of the most
popular types of Greek parties at
Northwestern and scores of other
universities the fraternity-soror
ity co-sponsored event. And for
years alcohol has been a major part
of the culture at such gatherings.
While fraternities can still throw
functions with liquor at their houses,
with or without sororities, if they
wish, they'll have to pay for the par
ties themselves without getting
sororities to chip in.
They'll also have to work harder
to get sorority women to show up,
sorority leaders said. Typically,
hosting a sorority was one of the
most efficient ways for men to meet
and socialize with sorority women.
"By passing this, it forces fuller
cooperation with the fraternities and
sororities who will have to work to
gether to come up with good [non
alcoholic l events," said Caroline
"Hurricane" pays tribute to MLK, Jr.
by Christine Tatum
TMS Campus
January 17, 2000
CHICAGO (TMS) Rubin Carter is
a fighter in the most literal and figura
tive senses but one who said he
never could have waged a battle
against racism as effectively as Mar
tin Luther King, Jr.
A prizefighter whose stellar boxing
career earned him the nickname "Hur
ricane," Carter spent more than 18
years in prison and narrowly escaped
the electric chair for three murders he
didn't commit. The fighting instinct
that helped him survive both in and out
of the nng likely would have compro
mised King's peaceful demonstrations
to promote desegregation and racial
reconciliation, Carter told about 175
people who attended a prayer break
fast honoring King's memory at
DePaul University on Monday.
"I could not go down to the south
and let those rednecks beat me up, lon]
let those dogs bite me," Carter said of
King's travels. "If you're not peace
ful with me, I'm not peaceful with you.
The means you use with me, I'll use
with you. There is no question; I be
lieve in self-defense.
"I guess I'm more Malcolm X than
Martin Luther," he added.
Throughout his tribute to King,
Carter reminded the audience to work
hard to free people who know discrimi
nation of what he said is the worst kind:
wrongful imprisonment.
"Imagine what it means to be re
viled," he said. "Prison is the lowest
level a human being can exist on with
out being dead. Lives are destroyed
there. And we do not return Ito soci
ety] as reformed gentlemen and
women. We come out the doors an
gry, defensive, at war with the world,
totally desensitized ... because that is
the behavior we had to learn to sur
vive on the inside in the lust place.
"Now imagine having to face all of
UNC tradition of low tuition may have to change
by Mary Elizabeth DeAngelis
Knight-Ridder Tribune
January 17, 2000
WILMINGTON, N.C. Like the
ice-blue cashmere sweater you
bought for $25 on sale and haven't
stopped wearing since, the Univer
sity of North Carolina system has
long been considered a bargain
hunter's treasure.
In-state students pay some of the
lowest tuition in the country, a
principle that's guided the state
through two centuries. But with
out more money for buildings, fac
ulty and academic programs, the
system's in danger of losing its
edge and national reputation, Uni
versity of North Carolina system
president Molly Broad told her
bosses Friday.
Keating, the student leader of the
Panhellenic Association, which
governs sororities at Northwestern.
The resolution comes at a time
when hinge drinking, by some es
timates, remains at disturbingly
high levels among college students.
A Harvard University School of
Public Health study in 1997 found
81 percent of fraternity house resi
dents engaged in hinge drinking,
compared with 45 percent of dor
mitory residents.
But the efforts by university ad
ministrators to curl) alcohol abuse
are intensifying, and in many cases
fraternity and sorority systems
which are often the center of social
interaction for members and non
members alike are following suit
with a renewed passion.
Northwestern is among eight so
rority systems nationally to have
adopted the Panhellenic resolution
within the last year. Others include
the University of Florida, South
west Texas State University, East
Carolina University, Indiana State
University, the University of Texas,
the University of Utah, and Ohio
University.
While the resolution at North
western doesn't preclude sorority
members from attending fraternity
parties where alcohol is served, stu
dent leaders say the dismantling of
an old tradition will further chip
that when you have done nothing
Carter said he, too, has fought an
ger, bitterness and hatred, but has re
fused to let them consume him. "It
takes up too much energy, and it's un
productive," he said.
While many clapped and cheered
for Carter, whose life is currently de
picted on the big screen in Universal
Pictures' recently released film, The
Hurricane, some students found some
of his remarks racially polarizing. At
one point in his speech, Carter referred
to the "white tribe," which has "glo
bal control of the earth," and the
"black tribe," which can "outrun, out
dance, outdo and outthink any other
tribe."
"We [African Americans] are not
the students," he added. "We are the
teachers, and we need to get back to
As she explained her new plan
to raise tuition and increase stu
dent fees to solve the most press
ing problems, many members of
the university system's UNC gov
erning board said they don't know
what else to do.
"The money has to come from
somewhere I don't think we
have a choice," said Addison Bell,
a Charlotte businessman and
member of the UNC system's
Board of Governors.
Broad's plan, which the board
plans to vote on next month, calls
for raising tuition by 2.1 percent
next year for all students. They'd
also pay a new student fee of $lOO
next year, which would grow to
$275 in three years.
N.C. State and UNC Chapel Hill
students also would pay an extra
away at an already limited number
of on-campus parties at fraternity
houses
Some fraternity leaders say the so
rority system's decision puts the uni-
"The whole look
the-other-way at
titude is just non-
existent any-
more.
-Taylor Janis,
Northwestern
lnterfraternity
Council president
versity one step closer to a dry cam
pus. And while that may disappoint
some, a number of student leaders
accept the continuing shift away
from alcohol as inevitable.
The Interfraternity Council, the
student-run group that oversees fra
ternities at Northwestern, did not
take an official position on the so
rority proposal, but the group's presi
dent said he backs it.
that position."
"Some of his remarks were inconsis
tent with today's theme," said Doug
Procter, a senior at Bethany College in
Kansas, who is interning at DePaul's
Urban Life Center. "He kept implying
that the black race is better than any
other, and I think our challenge is to
make everyone equal. No race is bet
ter than any other; it's certain individu
als of all races who rise to the top, and
their achievements are based on how
hard they as individuals work."
Other students welcomed Carter's
direct approach.
'Some people might have felt un
comfortable, but it's necessary," said
Lilian Jiminez, a senior at DePaul.
"They want to pretend there's no race
issue when there is. It's a fact that
there's racial inequality, and some
things just need to be said."
$2OO in tuition a year. Broad wants
to ask legislators to match the
money, so that the university sys
tem could finance up to $750 mil
lion in high priority projects. "We
face an urgent situation," she said.
But some student and community
leaders including two former
system presidents object, saying
it would weed out potential schol
ars by income, not academic abil
ity. They also oppose tying faculty
salaries and academic buildings to
tuition and fees, saying it's bad pre
cedent. And once fees are imposed,
they don't go away, opponents say.
"I have a little problem seeing
this as a 'stop-gap measure' when
it's going to last for 20 years," said
Jeff Nieman, a UNC senior who
represents students on the board.
"This is a fee my children are go
"The whole look-the-other-way
attitude is just non-existent any
more," said Taylor Janis, the
council's president. "People have
turned a blind eye to underage
drinking for so long, but that doesn't
seem to be the case anymore."
Nine of the 66 national fraternity
organizations have ordered their lo
cal chapters to go dry in recent
years, and a growing number of col
lege administrations have banned al
cohol on their campuses because of
safety and liability concerns. At
nearly every university across the
country, it's becoming increasingly
tough to drink on campus because
of new rules set up to discourage it.
At Northwestern, for example,
fraternity parties with alcohol must
be registered in advance with the
university, and fraternities need to
supply monitors, draft and adhere to
a strict guest list, and ensure that un
derage drinkers aren't served. The
Interfraternity Council also polices
itself by sending student patrols to
see if fraternities are following the
rules.
As a result of the regulations, the
number of parties has dwindled sub
stantially, with the fraternity-soror
ity co-sponsored events being one
of the few types of parties remain
ing, Janis said.
"Four years ago, when I was a
freshman, there were ... multiple
Students often learn
behaviors
Martin
Luther
King,
by Christine Tatum
TMS Campus
January 16, 2000
CHICAGO (TMS) College stu
dents may wind up with more than
a diploma once graduation rolls
around. They may also have an
addiction or two or three.
A recent study conducted by re
searchers at Washington Univer
sity in St. Louis and published in
a recent issue of the journal, Ad
dictive Behaviors, suggests that
people who have one addiction are
likely to have others as well. They
evaluated 64 male and 65 female
college students attending one pri
vate, highly selective, urban uni
versity.
Researchers also hypothesized
that low self-esteem contributed to
high levels of addiction, but they
found no such relationship.
"We did not assess the extent to
which participants in our study
found their addictive tendencies to
be dysfunctional or stressing,"
said David K. Dodd. a psycholo
gist at Washington University who
co-authored the study along with
two students who graduated in
1998. "A relationship between
self-esteem and addiction might
be present among individuals who
are more seriously addicted or dis
turbed by their addiction."
That makes sense to Lynn May,
a student at the University of Mis-
"l have seen the link between
low-self esteem and addiction in
some of my very best friends, and
it seems to be a vicious cycle," she
said. "A person will be down on
themselves, so they do something
to pick themselves up. Then they
ing to pay when they go to col
lege."
Past UNC system presidents
C.D. "Dick" Spangler, Jr. and Bill
Friday say the money should come
from taxpayers, not students.
"The state can afford a first-class
university, and I believe it's wrong
to tax the students," Spangler said
in an interview this week.
"I've never heard a poor person
ask for tuition to be increased. I've
had numerous members of country
clubs say we could charge more,
which I translated as meaning they
would have to pay less taxes. And
many of them benefited from low
tuition ... you just can't get around
the fact that what has been done has
worked."
But Broad and many board mem
bers say they have little hope the
parties every Friday and Saturday
night each quarter," he said. "But
that's changed. On a lot of week
ends, there's no parties at all."
Some fraternity members can at
test to the implications of such a
strict atmosphere. In November, the
Psi Upsilon fraternity chapter at
Northwestern closed because of fi
nancial concerns and a series of vio
lations of campus alcohol rules.
Students were found responsible for
underage drinking, unregistered
events with alcohol, and destruction
of property, among other charges.
"I feel, as a student, the standards
are changing and [fraternity mem
bers] are going to have to change
with it," said Neil Baman, who was
a Psi Upsilon member.
At Northwestern, the resolution
was somewhat controversial within
the sorority system itself, said
Keating, who led the effort. In the
end, eight houses supported it, and
three opposed it.
"It started out with everyone re
ally accepting it in theory because
of the liability concerns and risk
management," Keating said. "But
when we got down to the vote, there
really was a debate."
Keating said she reminded mem
bers that sororities can still have al
cohol parties with fraternities as
long as they are off campus, and she
said it didn't make sense to wait for
at school
get down for what they have done,
and do it again to pick themselves
up again. It's so sad. -
In the study, students rated their
personal levels of addiction to
several substances, including al
cohol; caffeine; chocolate; ciga
rettes; and activities such as exer
cise, gambling, Internet and video
game use, and television viewing.
Then they rated each substance
and activity on how frequently it
caused them to experience a
symptom of addiction such as
craving, a lack of control or with
drawal.
Among the study's findings
* Women were four times more
likely (36 percent) to be "substan
tially addicted" to chocolate than
men (8 percent), and more likely
to be addicted to caffeine (36 per
cent for women, and 23 percent
for men).
* Men, on the other hand, were
much more likely to be addicted
to video games (25 percent) than
women (0 percent); the Internet
(23 percent for men, 6 percent for
women) and television (34 percent
for men, 17 percent for women).
* Men reported more addictive
tendencies toward alcohol (34 per
cent) than women (19 percent)
and were more likely to be ad
dicted to cigarettes (31 percent)
than women (14 percent).
The study also found a large
correlation among substances and
activities. For example, students
who professed higher levels of
gambling addiction also reported
heavy use of video games, and
students addicted to smoking also
appeared more likely to consume
alcohol.
"Overlapping addictions do
state will pay for building and
renovation needs that total about
$6.9 billion. Last year, legislators
rejected a $3 billion bond package.
This year, they're dealing with
massive bills from Hurricane
Floyd.
University chancellors say they
don't have the room or resources
to deal with rapidly growing en
rollment. Some say they've al
ready have up to 20 percent more
applicants for the next school year
than they had at the same time last
year.
UNC Charlotte Chancellor Jim
Woodward says without new
buildings, his college will continue
to turn away increasing numbers
of students who would have been
accepted in the past. He says with
out better faculty salaries and ben
no liquor
a tragedy to act.
"As a senior, I've seen where four
years of parties have gotten safer
and safer, and this is just the next
step," she said. "We haven't had any
major incidents here, but that's re
ally because of luck, not because
people are abusing alcohol less
here."
Still, some sorority members have
lingering concerns. Jessica
Tooredman, a junior and a member
of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, said
she supported the resolution, as did
her sorority.
But Tooredman said she still wor
ries that the social environment will
become even more limited at North
western, a campus filled with over
achievers who need the chance to let
loose. The campus scene now, she
said, is already far less social than
what many students had expected.
"There is a bit of frustration," she
said. "College was seen as a place
where we could have some fun and
freedom, but instead the same rules
are applied."
Some fraternity members said the
sororities' plan won't have the de
sired effect anyway.
"I just think it's not handling the
situation. I think the sorority mem
bers are still going to go the parties
and have alcohol," said Ryan High
land, a junior in the Phi Gamma
Delta fraternity house.
addictive
suggest a common core of vulner
ability to addictive substances and
activities found in everyday life,"
Dodd said. "Until recently, the
search for this so-called addictive
personality has been limited
mostly to studies of alcohol or
drug abusers who are currently in
treatment for debilitating addic
tions. [However), we explored
addictive tendencies among col
lege students who are, in general,
neither dysfunctional nor alienated
from their social environment.-
College students who didn't par
ticipate in the study had conflict-
ing reactions to it
"My female friends are less
likely to be addicted to smoking
and alcohol because they feel it
isn't feminine or, especially in the
case of alcohol, safe to consume
it in public," said Jackie Pardue, a
student at Agnes Scott College in
Decatur, Ga. "And it's true that
my friends who are addicts are
usually addicted to more than one
substance. It seems like once you
begin drinking, you begin smok
ing."
Addictions aren't dictated by
gender, and plenty of people with
very positive views of themselves
are addicts, said Yuan-Kwan Chan,
a graduate student at Northwest
ern University.
"Bogus, bogus, bogus," she said
of the study. "I am not addicted
to caffeine, alcohol or cigarettes,
so I suppose I am a semi-man and
a 100-percent Internet-television
junkie. I have friends and class
mates who are addicted to all,
some or none of the substances in
question, and they all sure do have
one thing in common: high self-
esteem."
efits, the state risks losing its best
teachers, and won't be able to af
ford top newcomers.
"I'm all for low tuition and high
quality education," Woodward
says. "What I'm not for is low tu
ition and low-quality education."
A student at UNC Chapel Hill
will pay about $2,300 this year for
tuition and fees about $l,OOO
less than the national average for
public universities.
By comparison, a student at the
University of South Carolina's
main campus pays about $3,365,
and at the University of Virginia's,
about $5,000 in tuition and fees.
Broad says one key component in
her plan is to request $36.8 million
to help low-income students pay
for school.