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(12/05/11 4:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Saturday morning, campus was nearly empty. A few students roamed the streets with backpacks or iPods. Several tour groups sauntered through campus, and one dad asked, commenting on the empty campus, “Does everyone go home on weekends on this campus?” They don’t, the tour guide said. This weekend is the beginning of women’s Rush.Rush is the annual event when many women on campus attempt to find a sorority that’s right for them to join. During 20 Party on Saturday and Sunday, the prospective new members visited each sorority for 30 minutes to get to know the girls, the chapter and what that sorority stands for. Freshmen Katie Stasa and Britney Pennycook both went through 20 Party this weekend, and both said Rush was nothing like they expected. “I thought that we were going to be in a big room with a big group of girls interviewing us,” Stasa said. “But it was a lot more personal. Most of the time it was just one-on-one, so you really got to know the girl.”The houses also exceeded Pennycook’s expectations.“There’s a lot of preconceived notions about a lot of the houses,” Pennycook said. “And it really proved everything wrong today, seeing everything firsthand and meeting all of the girls.”The prospective members stood outside every house upon arriving, the lines stretching down the front steps and lawns to border the streets. From outside each house, even blocks away, chanting and screaming from the sororities echoed around campus.Katie Reed, president of Alpha Gamma Delta, was one of the girls behind the chanting. “The cheers are kind of like the first thing that you’re seeing,” Reed said. “It’s like full-on screaming. I mean, we’re so excited we’re screaming, welcoming them to the chapter house. And then you do your chapter’s cheer. I mean, you get the cheers stuck in your head by the end of the week. You know every single one because you can’t get it out of your head.” The chanting took Stasa off guard.“At the first house, it was actually really frightening because none of us were expecting it,” she said. “And then, in one of the houses, they sat us down in a little room, and they stood all around us, and they started doing this ridiculously loud chant, and we were so frightened, but it was so much fun because you get so excited.”After the chanting stopped, the girls were led into the house and sat down for one-on-one talks with the women in the chapter, Stasa said. From here, they were often given house tours and were free to ask questions and have open conversations with the women about their chapter. Stasa said she has learned how to keep up conversations through Rush. “It’s really made me better at talking to people and just, like, trying to be polite and happy at all times, even when I’m exhausted,” Stasa said. “All I want to do is sleep and eat.”She said the questions typically involved things like name, major and the dorm she lives in, but sometimes they were more creative.“The hardest question that they asked was what is your creepiest memory of IU,” Stasa said. “I just kind of skirted around that question. One of my favorites was they asked me what my weirdest screen name is. We laughed about that for a long time.”Although the weekend was long, Pennycook said it was an overall positive experience.“My favorite part was just meeting the girls and finding out what every sorority is really like,” she said. “I found the more girls I talked to, they were all really different and individual people. Every house isn’t just one personality type.”Before Rush began, Reed said she gave potential members the advice to “just make sure that you’re being yourself.” Pennycook said this advice rang true for her. “You can be yourself and still be in a house with different people,” she said.
(12/02/11 5:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Due to sorority rush, 10 campus buses will be used specially for the recruitment 20 Party this Saturday and Sunday.These buses transport the recruitment women across campus to common sorority house locations like the North Jordan extension and Third Street, said Dan Leathers, the student supervisor for Campus Bus Service. “This year and last year, we’ve used basically 10 buses to run the rush service,” he said. “In previous years, we’ve had a couple more, but we’ve kind of cut down.”These buses will be marked with “Rush” in the head sign on the buses, Leathers said, and they will run two opposite routes around campus, with five buses on each route. Senior Katie Hannah, director of operations for recruitment for Panhellenic Association, set up these bus routes and the bus schedule with the help of Leathers. “I literally planned out where the routes are going to go, where the stops are going to be,” Hannah said. “They’ll be circling campus basically the entire day both days.”These bus routes have been altered because what used to be 19 Party is now 20 Party, due to the addition of Theta Phi Alpha. This addition has added time to the bus routes, so they decided to have two routes running both ways to reduce time, Hannah said.For example, last year, if a woman wanted to get from the sorority Delta Gamma to Eigenmann Hall, she would have had to go all the way around campus, down Third Street to Indiana Avenue and then down 10th Street. This year, with the changes, she can go north on Jordan Avenue to 10th Street to save time.“We changed it because we wanted to get the girls there quicker in the morning and home faster,” Hannah said. Leathers said recruitment should not have too big of an impact on the normal bus schedule that students use on weekends.“Since it’s on Saturday and Sunday, there are only one of each of the three buses anyway normally,” he said. “There’s only one A bus, one B bus and one E route. So essentially, the added 10 Rush buses won’t do anything except possibly confuse people waiting for a bus. They might think it’s the bus they’re waiting for.”
(11/30/11 5:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Each incoming freshman is guaranteed housing at IU. But for some new students, finding the right housing can be more of a challenge.IU has between five and 10 transgender students on campus. IU is working to renovate the dormitories on campus to make transgender students’ housing situation easier, as well as make housing better for all students, said Sara Ivey Lucas, assistant director for housing assignments. “What we’re trying to do within RPS is make sure that there is a space in every neighborhood where students could feel comfortable and could have the amenities that they wanted while having the experience on campus that they would like to have,” Lucas said. The greatest challenge transgender students face is finding bathrooms to suit their needs, Lucas said. For the 2012-13 school year, Collins Living-Learning Center will offer more housing to transgender students because of the bathrooms — if transgender students choose to take these reserved rooms. Barry Magee, assistant director for diversity education for Residential Programs and Services, said the dorms have undergone renovations to incorporate more private baths partly for this reason. Transgender students may feel uncomfortable using traditional, single-sex, communal bathrooms. “We’ve been on a building project for a couple years in reconfiguring all the bathrooms in McNutt and Teter,” Magee said. He said Teter Quad renovations are set to finish in summer 2012, and one more section of McNutt Quad needs to be renovated. The traditional dorm bathroom setup no longer fits with modern trends, Magee said. “That’s just not very easy for people who don’t fit into a gender binary,” Magee said. More options for transgender students aren’t the only changes coming to RPS. The Residential Housing Association has pushed to add more coed housing in many of the dorms, and Lucas said she thinks this initiative is likely to succeed.Coed housing already exists in the on-campus apartments where couples or friend groups of different genders can live together without having to meet any sort of requirements. “I do think within the next 10 years it’s very likely that the residence hall environment will offer something similar to what our housing area does,” Lucas said. This could include coed suites, halls and apartment-style housing, Lucas said. Students would also have the option to select single-gender housing. This week, 4,000 students will participate in a survey asking what they want from their residence hall experience to see if a change such as more coed housing is something they would be interested in. “We are trying to be responsive to that need and requests we’ve heard from students and to figure out how big a need it actually is,” Lucas said. “We’re responding to the general change in student culture.”
(11/29/11 3:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Women’s recruitment for the greek system kicks off this weekend with 20 Party, an event in which the women rushing get to know all of the chapters on campus. Recruitment begins at 10 a.m. Saturday and ends at 7:50 p.m., with the same hours Sunday. Laura Walker, the vice president of recruitment for Panhellenic, said this can be a stressful time for women going through the process. She offered a breakdown of what women need to know if they’re about to rush, or even if they just have friends about to enter the process. How to know where to goBefore recruitment begins, every woman rushing is assigned a recruitment counselor, or Rho Gamma. She’s a temporarily unaffiliated member of the greek system who’s there to guide the girls and show them where to go and when. “They help them through the whole process, including where you’re supposed to go, which chapter you’re supposed to go to first,” Walker said. She said the Rho Gammas also have master lists of each girl and where she’s going. “For 20 Party, they visit all 20 chapters, so they go from one chapter to another to another, and you’re with the same group the whole time,” Walker said. She said recruitment counselors and “recruitment team” members will be present at each chapter and just generally around during the process. The girls will be taken from chapter to chapter on buses from the campus bus system marked “Rush.” Buses will pick up and drop off girls at designated stops.What to wearRound One, 20 party (this weekend)“Just wear jeans and we provide a red shirt,” Walker said. “All the women going through recruitment will be wearing the red shirts, and usually people layer that and wear coats and stuff.” Round Two, 14 party“For the 14 party, it’s going to dinner with your boyfriend’s parents,” Walker said. “This includes leggings, jeans, sweaters, nice shirts and Ugg boots, typically.” Round Three, 8 party“It’s a little bit more formal,” Walker said. “Most chapters will be in cocktail dresses, so women will wear a cocktail dress, or a shirt and a skirt, or black pants and a shirt.”Round Four, Preference Round“Most women in the chapters will be in full-length dresses,” Walker said. “A lot of women still wear cocktail dresses.” Walker also said women typically bring their dresses to change into at the actual chapter house.What to bring“Mainly, they just need to bring their Go Greek booklets, so that they can take notes at the chapters,” said Courtney Fluke, the director of recruitment counselors for women’s rush. “A pen. If they need snacks, that’s something they could throw in their purse.” What the chapters are looking for“It definitely depends for each chapter,” Fluke said. “They all have a set of values that they’re looking for. Women that are interested in scholarship, civic engagement, sisterhood, that are also interested in community service and a philanthropy. They’re just looking for real women that they can see themselves being friends with and that can also portray the values that are instilled in their chapters.” Fluke said being natural is key. “It’s one of those things where I tell them honestly being themselves will be best in the end,” she said.What to expect“When the girls go in each house, usually it’s one on one,” Fluke said. “So, they’ll talk to one or two people at a time, and then they’ll talk to three groups of girls total once they’re in.“It’s just a free conversation. They get to ask questions, and the girls get to ask them questions.”The women who are interviewing the women rushing will commonly ask about why the women want to go greek, what they’re involved in and any leadership skills they have. “I would say that being open-minded is number one,” she said. “It’s kind of like looking at the greek system as a whole, so it’s thinking about what they want to get out of the system and what they want to contribute.”How to kill nerves“There are moments where it can be stressful, but it’s a really fun process,” Walker said. “There’s a lot of meeting people that is always fun. Talking to their recruitment counselors is really beneficial because they’ve been there and they’ve been on both sides, so they’re kind of an unbiased person.”Walker said it might help the women rushing to remember that the women interviewing inside the chapter houses are just as nervous. “Everyone’s nervous, and everyone’s excited,” Walker said.
(11/21/11 1:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fraternity Omega Psi Phi celebrated its 100th birthday Sunday. Omega Psi Phi is a fraternity for African-American men and consists of an undergraduate and a graduate chapter. “Sunday’s program is just a celebration of the fraternity’s history,” said Edward Hazelrig, who is the basileus, or president, of the fraternity’s graduate chapter. The centennial celebrated the fraternity as the national organization turned 100.Hazelrig said the undergraduate chapter was founded in 1947 on campus and the graduate chapter was founded in 1980. Omega Psi Phi was founded on Nov. 17, 1911, at Howard University, according to its national website. It was also the first international fraternity to be founded at a historically black university. For the centennial, both the undergraduate and graduate chapters teamed up for an event featuring different speakers and special guests.“A speaker from each of the Divine 9 is coming,” said Alrick Banks, a brother in the graduate chapter. The Divine 9 are the nine fraternities and sororities created specifically for black students. “We are the fourth of the Divine 9 to reach our 100-year centennial,” Hazelrig said.The event had special meaning for the IU chapters because both currently have special honors, said Eddie Cole, keeper of records and seal for the graduate chapter. “It’s a pleasure for us to be able to do this in this moment, because both chapters currently have chapter of the year for the Omega district,” Cole said. The fraternity also had an awards ceremony. “We have a number of awards we’re going to give out,” Hazelrig said. “We have a high school essay contest (award) we’re going to give out.” Although the ceremony took place Sunday, Banks said his fraternity hopes to celebrate year-round. “For us, what we decided is, since we’re turning 100, this program is a kick-off for a year-long celebration,” Banks said.
(11/18/11 3:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Campus is home to 48 greek chapters, but it hasn’t always been this way. The greek community at IU has grown to involve nearly 20 percent of campus. But it all began with a single house: Beta Theta Pi.“We came in 1845, which is like six years after the founding of the Alpha chapter,” said Michael Caldwell, a senior and former president of the IU chapter of Beta. The Alpha chapter of a fraternity is the first chapter founded. The following chapters formed are assigned letters in the greek alphabet that correspond to their order of founding. Although Beta is now surrounded by other fraternities on campus, Caldwell said being the first fraternity let them leave a mark at IU.“I do know that because we were the first one on campus, you can see the influence of early Beta on campus,” Caldwell said. Maxwell and Riley halls, the Rose Well House, McNutt Residence Center and Willkie Residence Center are named after Beta fraternity members, Caldwell said. Kirkwood was also an early Beta member. “There’s a lot of that,” Caldwell said. “There are eight or nine buildings on campus.” The first sorority to come to IU was Kappa Alpha Theta, and it’s the second chapter formed of the sorority on a college campus, the Beta chapter. “Theta was founded in 1870, and our chapter was founded in 1871,” said Kacey McArthur, former president of the Beta chapter. “We were the first women’s fraternity ever in the history of all women’s fraternities. We were there before the word sorority was in place.” Greek houses go through an extensive process when they’re created, from choosing the values and personalities that house members should exhibit to picking the greek letters the house will use. The letters for greek houses are not random. Each house stands for different ideals or moral codes. “Every house people are in, they’re in that house for a reason, for the values that particular house holds,” McArthur said.Founders selected each letter for a greek house. “Our founders’ chose our letters for what they mean,” McArthur said. “And so our main thing is like scholarship, and leadership, and the moral code and stuff like that.” Due to the secretive nature of greek houses, neither Caldwell or McArthur could say what their letters specifically mean. Caldwell said since Beta was the first fraternity, they played a part in making sure Kappa Alpha Theta was founded on campus. “We helped establish a lot of sororities on campus,” Caldwell said.Kappa Alpha Theta has been in the same house next to Collins Living Learning Center on campus since its founding. Beta has switched houses several times, moving from Third Street to one of the informatics buildings to its current location on Jordan Avenue. Now, these two houses are surrounded by others, and there are so many greek chapters on campus that some of them don’t have physical houses. In the 160 years since Beta’s founding, Caldwell said much has changed within the greek system. “I know back in the ’50s and ’60s it was a lot tamer socially, but so was everything,” Caldwell said. “I think it’s always kind of reflected the rest of the University.” McArthur also said much has changed.“The greek system itself has changed frequently, in my opinion, because it obviously didn’t start with that stigma of partying,” McArthur said. She described this change further by citing the history of her particular sorority and how its founder overcame the prejudices against women to create a women’s fraternity. “She gave women the opportunity to become part of something they’re very passionate about,” McArthur said. “Back then, it was about trying to prove to people what you’re made of and what values you hold, that women are just as strong as men and have the right to do that as well.“Back then it was more of a fight than it is today,” she said. “Back then, I guess it was more of a privilege. It’s still a privilege today, but it’s a lot more common.”
(11/17/11 2:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When it comes to finding a job in the field of television, experience is everything, said Jo Throckmorton, an instructor in the department of telecommunications.In one of his classes, students have a unique opportunity to find thatexperience.They will produce the “Tom Crean Show”.The show will air on the Big Ten Network in early December.“The ‘Tom Crean Show’ is actually kind of special,” Throckmorton said. “It gets so many viewers in the Big Ten Network area that it actually draws ratings, which is a big thing for the students.”In previous years, shows like this and the “Kevin Wilson Show” were produced by the IU Athletic Department.However, Walter Gantz, department chair for telecommunications, helped move the show into students’ hands.During the summer, his department struck a deal with the athletic department.“I think this is one of the classic win-win situations,” Gantz said. “The athletic department is showcasing its students and ... our students can showcase what they can do.”Throckmorton, outside producer for the show, oversees the students as they run everything from writing the script to editing the final product.However, the students are the ones truly running the show.“I provide guidance to the students on what it’s like in a real environment,” Throckmorton said. “Then we put them under the pressure of what it’s like to do a show.”Senior Nathan Crowder is one of the students involved with the show.“It’s fast paced,” Crowder said. “You’ve got to know what you’re doing, especially with the talent.”The talent, or on-air personalities, are often volunteers from outside of the telecommunications department.Students from other departments can also volunteer to help the field crews that film show footage outside of the studio.Crowder is the host of a segment of the “Kevin Wilson Show” called The Hot Seat.“We go to Nick’s English Hut and we have somebody who sits down with the, like, assistant coaches, and we just ask random questions,” Crowder said. “It’s really funny to get their off-the-cuff reactions.”Throckmorton said the experience these students gain will give them a definitive leg up when it comes to applying for real-world jobs in TV.“It demonstrates to potential employers that they actually worked on a show that required some amount of pressure,” Throckmorton said.“If they go in for an interview, they’d say, ‘Here’s the show that I directed ... and we got these kinds of ratings.’”Gantz agreed.“They’re going to get credits on a nationally televised show,” he said.During the course of the year, Gantz said the crews for the “Kevin Wilson Show” have improved dramatically, and he expects this to continue with the “Tom Crean Show.”“This is the first time we’ve done it, and I expect that next year we’ll be better,” Gantz said. “And as more students find out about it, we’ll have lines of students wanting to get into these courses.”
(11/15/11 3:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Gamma Nu chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority is sponsoring a series of events this week, ranging from an etiquette dinner to a talk about women’s sexual health and pleasure.“It is called iDelta,” said Paige Thomas, senior and hospitality chair for the chapter. “Like iPhone. ‘iDelta — There’s a program for that.’”The sorority is a part of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, an association of multicultural fraternities and sororities. Because of this, it is required to put on at least one week of events every year as a chapter.“Every semester, we have a week of events,” said Jatika Exposé, senior and second vice president of the chapter. The sorority is the first African-American public service sorority, Exposé said. This means the sorority takes a more political and active role in the community than a typical greek house might.With each event, the sorority strives to meet five programmatic thrusts: educational, political, international, economic awareness and development and mental and physical health. The events of iDelta are all aimed to meet those tenants and to push the limits of acceptability.“We’re talking about really taboo topics like women’s sexual health and intra-racial stereotyping,” said Brit’ney McTush, senior and publicity chair for the chapter.These events are open to men or women of any background, demographic or denomination, Exposé said. “Delta’s always involved with what the community needs at the time,” McTush said. Through iDelta, the sisters said they hope to spread word about what Delta stands for in the greek community and even further, into greater Bloomington.“It’s not about us,” Thomas said. “It’s always been about community and continuing the legacy.”
(11/11/11 3:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When students join the greek community, they owe more to the house than time and commitment. Joining a greek house can rack up hundreds to thousands of dollars in monetary expenses.Freshman John Hildreth, a current associate member, also known as a pledge, in Delta Upsilon, doesn’t have to pay these dues yet, but he said he knows they’re coming. “Right now, I’m not paying as much, but I got an email from a guy in my house saying they’re going to send a bill to my parents,” Hildreth said.These dues can vary from house to house. “Right now, I know DU is not one of the most expensive,” Hildreth said. “There definitely are some fraternities that are more expensive than others, like Beta (Theta Pi).”Some fraternities can cost thousands more to live in the house, such as Phi Kappa Psi, said junior Pat Snyder, Phi Psi’s treasurer. Initially, new house members must pay a $900 initiation fee in Phi Psi, Snyder said. If the student chooses to live in after this, the price jumps from $900 to $4,970 per semester. This bill is twice as much as the fee for living in a dorm. According to the Residential Programs and Services website, a standard double room in a dorm costs around $4,700 for an entire year. “It seems like a pretty overwhelming amount,” Snyder said via email, “but once you break it down, it actually goes pretty far. This fee covers room and board, Internet and cable for the semester, in addition to all of the fees associated with the brothers who do not live in.”These are the official fees, which associate members don’t pay until initiation. Upon first pledging DU, Hildreth said he paid a small fee of about $40.“They didn’t really tell us where it was going for,” he said. “They gave us a little textbook about the fraternity. Some of it will go toward a pledge class party or something, some sort of event they might throw for us.”Hildreth said the associate members have different kinds of fees to pay before initiation that relate to the pledgeship process.“I know that for our pledge class you have certain dues you have to pay,” Hildreth said. “Like, we have a gas one, because you know that we’re all drivers once. So, whenever there’s a party, a pledge will be using a brother’s car.”Hildreth said each associate that drives adds a little gas to the car before or after driving to help cover the cost.“We all have to chip in for certain things,” Hildreth said. “I know it’s going to stuff for us, whether that be party supplies or things we need to wear or whatever.” The dues associated with fraternities and sororities don’t solely go to events. They also go to national chapters or funding for the IU house. Snyder broke down his fraternity’s dues. “Only roughly 1 percent of the live-in brothers’ dues are fees that are paid to national headquarters and IFC,” Snyder said via email.This breaks down to roughly $60 out of the nearly $5,000 per semester.“The vast majority of fees that brothers pay goes toward things that the brothers directly benefit from,” Snyder said. “Meals at the chapter house, Phi Psi campus functions and then room and board.”Senior Dionna Seddens, treasurer for the sorority Theta Nu Xi, said much of their dues go to nationals, since her sorority doesn’t have a house. The chapter dues vary based on the number of girls. “It mostly covers funding for our events that we might put on throughout the year,” Seddens said. “We’ll have a leadership panel or discussion. Or sometimes we try to do little fun events, like a party. It just depends.”Seddens said she has mixed feelings when it comes to paying dues to be part of a greek house. “For national dues, I really don’t see why exactly we have to pay dues for that,” she said. “We’re not really seeing the money. But as far as chapter dues, there is a reason for that. It helps us a bunch.”If students can’t pay for the fees, Snyder, Hildreth and Seddens all said payment plans are available for students.Hildreth said even though the dues can be expensive, the perks of being in a fraternity — good food, living with best friends, having chefs and cleaning services — make the cost worth it.“It sounds kind of selfish and rich and preppy,” Hildreth said. “But you have to work hard for it in your pledgeship, and it’s worth it. Most definitely, it’ll be worth it.”
(11/07/11 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Every year, IUDM has seen increased participation and larger donation totals. This year, more than 1,600 dancers participated, and the event raised $1,801,207.20 for Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, an all-time record.IUDM has been at IU for more than 20 years but experienced many changes this year that made the event especially challenging for coordinators, said Michael Cheng, director of morale for IUDM. “It’s been a little different,” Cheng said. “But it’s been awesome this year. It feels a lot closer, like you actually get to know more of the dancers easier and see all the Riley families.”The event is closer for two reasons: the venue change and the implementation of shifts. Not only was there less floor space this year in the IU Tennis Center compared to the marathon’s usual location at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, but there were also fewer dancers present during the two dance shifts.Maddolyn Lubbers, vice president of events for IUDM, said the event was a success.“I think it went as smoothly as it could have,” she said. “This has definitely been a learning experience for us. There’s a lot to learn from it. But there’s nothing we could have prepared more for.”She said this year’s changes have been positive. “It’s been just a year of change,” she said. “Our quote this year has been ‘Out of changes grow miracles’ because we have run into a lot of difficulties...But overall, it’s just been inspiring, seeing everyone coming together...making it the best that it could possibly be.”Despite these changes, IUDM stuck to a familiar format, with different speakers, dancers, games and sporting tournaments during the 36 hours. The Riley families, including the Abbots, also had a chance to speak.Shelley Abbott has been bringing her son, a Riley kid, to IUDM since 2005.When Abbott’s son Daniel was 10 months old, his appendix burst, and infection flooded his body.“We didn’t know what was wrong with him for several days,” Abbott said. “He ended up having an infection all through his body, and Dr. Kleiman, who is actually Ryan White’s doctor, was his doctor. We spent two and a half months at Riley.” The dance marathon was created in White’s honor after he died from contracting AIDS through an infected blood transfusion. IUDM raises money for Riley Hospital, where he was treated. Abbott said her son always enjoys the dance marathon.“He’ll be up there in front of the kids with a microphone, singing,” she said. “We don’t have any prepared music, but he just gets up there and sings, and he is the star of the show, and he loves it. It is the highlight of his year.”The event was, at times, emotional. IUDM president and senior Michael Essling broke down during his final presidential address, as did many in the crowd. Just before the total was announced, participants began to chant the traditional motto, “FTK!” which means “For the Kids.”When signs showing the final fundraising total were displayed, and everyone saw the amount had broken last year’s all-time record, the crowd went crazy. Lubbers said breaking records isn’t what’s important. “We try to stay away from a monetary goal because every little bit counts,” she said. She said her favorite part of IUDM this year was fielding all of the unique challenges the changes have brought.“Breaking tradition sometimes shows the true colors of how hard people work,” Lubbers said.
(11/07/11 4:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Dance Marathon boasts a “For the Kids” mentality. Now, 21 years after the first dance marathon, some students who received medical attention from the Riley Hospital for Children now participate as dancers.Matt Parmenter, a freshman in Phi Gamma Delta who raised more money than any other dancer, is a Riley kid. This year he danced with his pledge class. “My sophomore year of high school, I got blindsided by an illness, and I spent five days in a Bloomington hospital and got transported to Riley Hospital, where I was treated on an outpatient basis,” Parmenter said. After several rounds of testing, Parmenter was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects the intestines, causing intense pain. “After eating a bad taco at school, about three weeks later, I had the worst pain I’ve had in my life,” he said. Charlie Chamness, a freshman in Beta Theta Pi, grew up involved with Riley. When he was in sixth grade, his younger brother, Joey, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. “His spot was, like, right here,” Charlie Chamness said, pointing just above his left knee. “In his left leg, femur.” Charlie Chamness was 13 at the time and said he clearly remembers the experience.“My parents sat our family down, and it was a rainy night,” he said with a laugh. “I remember it. But they sat us down and basically said, you know, Joey has cancer. And at the time, you hear a lot about cancer, but you don’t really know exactly what it means.” Charlie Chamness said that meaning became clear. “I just thought it was, oh, like, Joey’s sick right now, or he’s got a bad disease, but I didn’t realize what (chemotherapy) meant, that you lose your hair, that you feel like shit for as long as you’re on it,” he said. “I mean ... you can’t be a normal kid.”Charlie Chamness said watching his brother battle cancer was hard on the entire family. “Physically, you’re drained,” he said. “Emotionally, you’re drained. Your whole life is altered and changed in a matter of weeks.” In 2006, about a year after his diagnosis, Joey Chamness was cancer-free, and Charlie Chamness said he’s recovered well and is even playing sports again. Joey Chamness came to watch his brother start his shift for IUDM on Saturday night. He said he remembered his stay at Riley and the extra steps his family took to ensure he had a comfortable stay.“When you’re in the hospital, it’s kind of long, getting chemo treatments,” Joey Chamness said. “Like, you’ll be in a hospital bed for, like, two hours, and they’ll keep you entertained. I know there’s a candy guy that would come around, and that was always a lot of fun.” Parmenter said he had a strong connection with his doctor at Riley. “Just the staff is really cool, and (my doctor was) kind of a younger doctor, and it was kind of cool to be able to connect with him and talk about college,” he said.Charlie Chamness said his family also kept in touch with the nurses who cared for his brother. “We’ve kind of fallen out of a contact with the nurses now,” he said. “But a year or two after, we’d come back and see all the nurses that cared for Joey. They made it a family atmosphere on the floor.” Parmenter said he is studying nutrition science and hoping to go to medical school, partially as a result of his illness and time at Riley. Parmenter said most of the lasting effects from his experience came from seeing other kids at the hospital. “There were a lot of babies that came in sick, and they couldn’t really eat anything,” he said. “I had some restrictions, I still do, on my diet, but there’s kids up there that can’t even eat any solid food.” Both Charlie Chamness and Parmenter said they carried these stories with them into the dance as motivation to get through the long hours. Charlie Chamness said he did IUDM as a good opportunity to bond with his new fraternity brothers and to help the cause. “From what I’ve heard, it’s one of the most bonding experiences you can have with your pledge class, and at the same time, the cause you’re doing is unreal,” he said.Charlie Chamness said he thought having such a strong connection to the cause would help him to keep going, even when he grew tired. “Every time you get tired or your feet start to hurt or whatever, just think, ‘Well, I could have cancer,’” he said.
(11/03/11 4:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave a talk Wednesday at the IU Auditorium. Albright’s name recognition is part of the reason that junior Jacque Emord-Netzley came with friends to see Albright.“Madeleine Albright is an intelligent, powerful woman, and it’s nice to see that in comparison to, I don’t know, Michele Bachmann,” Emord-Netzley said. “It seems like a lot of women in the media are not the kind I want to look up to.” Albright came to speak about the topic of this fall’s Themester, “Making War, Making Peace.” George Thomas, a junior and the Union Board lectures director, helped select Albright as the speaker. “We just thought that she had great name recognition, and she’s still on the world stage,” Thomas said. “She’s very relatable to the theme.” She is most well known for becoming the first female secretary of state for former President Bill Clinton’s administration — the highest-ranking U.S. government position a female received at that time.She served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and she continues to serve on various political committees dedicated to international affairs and relations.Emord-Netzley said she hoped to hear Albright’s opinions on the current state of America. “I know no one can have a solution — but just her outlook on how things are going,” she said.The event drew older people from the community as well as students. Thomas introduced Albright, and she walked onstage to raucous applause. “Thank you, George, for introducing me,” she said jokingly, “because not everyone always knows who I am.” During her speech, Albright gave an account of her personal life, detailing her move from Czechoslovakia to America, recalling tales of her mother, who didn’t understand the concept of sleepovers, and how her father followed behind her during the entirety of her first date. She then talked about being sworn in as the first female secretary of state and the sense of responsibility she felt. “It looks today like we will never again have a secretary of state who’s a man,” she said, to much applause. From here, she spoke about more current events, such as conflicts in the Middle East and famine and war in the horn of Africa. She also spoke of budget cuts at the federal level and the budget cuts IU is facing. She warned against cutting back on foreign aid in the federal budget.“Isolationism and retreat don’t work,” she said, “We’ve tried them.” She said it’s important for the United States to understand opposing viewpoints both domestically and globally. “Instead of only listening to the opinions of those who make you the most comfortable, study those that make you the most upset,” Albright said. After her speech, Albright answered questions from the audience, covering topics such as the Arab Spring, the U.S. military budget, immigration and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. When asked how to solve bipartisan struggles in the nation, she answered simply, “I have no idea,” to laughter and applause.However, she moved on to a more serious discussion of her struggles with bipartisanism while working for the government. She said she hopes Americans’ current discontent will convince the two parties to work together.To end her lecture, Albright spoke once more about what it was like to be the first woman secretary of state and the recognition she still receives for it. She told a story about her 7-year-old granddaughter and a question she asked her mother on her last birthday. “‘What’s the big deal about Grandma Maddie being secretary of state?’” Albright said, quoting her granddaughter. “‘Only girls are secretary of state.’”Albright’s Career1976-1978: Chief Legislative Assistant to former U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie, D-Maine1978-1981: National Security Council employee1982: Became a professor at Georgetown University1990-1993: President of the Center for National Policy, an independent think tank in Washington, D.C.1993-1997: U.S. representative to the United Nations1997-2001: First female secretary of state for then-Pres. Bill Clinton2001: Founded The Albright Group, an international strategic consulting firm2003-2005: Member of the Board of Directors of the New York Stock ExchangeCurrent: Professor of international relations at Georgetown UniversityFun FactsHas talked in several interviews about her love of working out; can leg press 400 poundsGuest-starred as herself on a 2005 episode of “Gilmore Girls”Has published three New York Times bestselling booksGeorgetown students have given her a 3.5 overall rating on ratemyprofessor.com
(11/02/11 3:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Alex Hines, a brother in Lambda Chi Alpha , is a newlywed. During homecoming, he and a woman in Theta Phi Alpha decided to get hitched, not in an act of official matrimony, but in a greek wedding.“It’s basically just like an informal ceremony,” Hines said. “It’s just kind of a funny thing where one of the brothers is a priest. We have to do fake vows and all that.” Karissa Niedzwiecki, a sister in Phi Mu, also attended a greek wedding between a sister in her house and a brother in Delta Upsilon. “There’s always a tradition to have a greek wedding during homecoming week,” Niedzwiecki said. Greek weddings are common and casual, and they’re typically done between best friends, Niedzwiecki said.“It’s kind of like somebody who you’re getting married to is one of your best guy friends, somebody you always have a good time with or someone you feel safe with,” she said. When two greeks get married, they don’t just get a husband or wife, though. They also get a whole new family.When a student becomes a brother in the greek system, he is usually assigned a “big,” also known as a “greek mom” or “greek dad,” depending on the terminology a particular house uses. And it goes further than that. “Obviously, when I get a ‘little,’ I become a ‘big,’” Niedzwiecki said. “And then my ‘big’ will be a ‘grand-big,’ and then her ‘big’ will be a ‘great-grand-big.’”Greeks will sometimes trace back these histories, said Allison Davies, president of Alpha Xi Delta.“I know my family tree because we have it recorded,” she said. “It’s just kind of a tradition thing. It’s also good for alumni relations if you were to contact that alumni and be like, ‘Isn’t it cool we’re in the same family tree?’”Davies said the purpose of a “big” is to show her “little” the ways of the house and to incorporate new pledge classes with the older members. “The purpose of it is so you have a role model in the house,” Davies said. In Neidzwiecki’s case, she’s a twin: her “big” has two “littles,” which she said gives her an extra-special family bond. “I know my twin and I in the house, we are so close,” she said. “We’ll be like, ‘Not only is she my sister, she’s my twin.’”So, when students join the greek system, they get an entire family tree. And when a greek marriage occurs, those families combine.“Say I get greek married,” Niedzwiecki said. “It’s kind of like in-laws.”In other words, her husband’s greek “dad” or “big” would become her “dad-in-law.” “Then,” she said, “whoever I’m married to will be my ‘little’ greek’s ‘dad.’” When Niedzwiecki and her twin get “littles,” those “littles” will be cousins. Hines said he technically has in-laws now. “Families are kind of combined, I guess,” he said. “I have a ‘little’ ... so now, I guess you could say he’s my son, but it’s just something funny to say.” Neidzwiecki said greeks often get married with ring pops and fake bridal parties. “It’s nothing proper or anything,” she said. Hines said he got married simply to get to know his “wife” and Theta Phi better.“It was good to get to know her,” Hines said. “Good to get to know all the other ladies in the house. It was definitely a good time.”Niedzwiecki said she might get greek-married in the future. “I mean, I think it would be a lot of fun because I have a lot of good guy friends in fraternities,” she said. “But you can never plan for it.”
(10/28/11 1:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>While many greeks are celebrating Homecoming this week, Sigma Phi Beta, the new gay-friendly fraternity on campus, has put Homecoming on the backburner in order to celebrate a different occasion: the initiation of its new pledge class. “We’ve been really busy,” said Michael Lathery, finance chair for SPB. “We just did our initiation last week, so we crossed over 12 new brothers, essentially doubling our size with our pledge class.”Freshman Matt Ruehling was just initiated. “It was really exciting,” he said. “It was kind of intense, but it was fun.” Ruehling said it was a nice ending to a pleasant pledging process.“No, pledging was not that bad,” he said. “I really enjoyed the pledge process. I really grew from it, and I really learned more what it’s going to be like being in the brotherhood.”Although worn out from the initiation, the brothers aren’t completely abandoning Homecoming, Lathery said. “We have a sort of Homecoming pumpkin carving, apple cider event planned to kind of start integrating the older brothers with the newer brothers,” he said. “We’re going to try and see who can carve the most IU-inspired pumpkin.”The fraternity is using this Homecoming as an opportunity to learn what kinds of future events to plan.“Last year for Homecoming — with the first pledge class — we weren’t even officially brothers yet,” said senior Drew Porter, brotherhood and bonding chairman and IFC representative for SPB. “So this is kind of our first Homecoming as a fraternity, so we’re not used to what the other fraternities do yet.”Porter said in the future they hope to have more typical greek events.“I’ve heard about a lot of just paired events and paired socials that they’re doing, parties and such with each other,” Porter said. Lathery said the fraternity’s biggest challenge regarding Homecoming celebrations is that the fraternity is located off campus. “I think off-campus homecoming and on-campus Homecoming are a world apart,” he said. “I think it’s just an outreach issue. I feel like off-campus fraternities don’t do their fair share of communicating with on-campus fraternities, and vice versa.”But Porter said that in their case, the greek community has been more supportive and welcoming than they had anticipated. “Everyone’s been really excited about pairing with us and just working with us and getting to know us better,” he said. Pairing is something the brothers really want to do, Lathery said.“Pairing is really essential to the culture,” he said. “We want to immerse ourselves in that.”Next year, Sigma Phi hopes to participate in Homecoming with the vigor of the rest of the greek community, Porter said. “We’re going to take this week to learn to be big,” he said. “So watch out.”
(10/27/11 2:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There are 65 greek organizations on campus, but in fall 2010, a group of 87 men came together to bring one house back to campus: Alpha Epsilon Pi. Sophomore Aaron Millberg, current AEPi president and a founding father for the new chapter, was one of these 87.“I rushed a lot of other houses on campus,” he said. “The rush process for AEPi was an interview with the national guys and a bunch of, like, meet-and-greet type of things.” This varies from the typical rush process in which potential pledges visit various fraternities and get to know the brothers before receiving a bid and signing. “We basically got inducted like they do pledges, but we didn’t have your typical pledgeship,” Millberg said. The sorority Theta Phi Alpha is currently going through the process of becoming an established chapter, a year after AEPi. Women from Theta Phi nationals came to campus this fall to recruit girls to start an IU chapter. Ali Farr, a newly active sister in Theta Phi, found out about the sorority through Facebook. She contacted the administrator and interviewed with two national members. A few days later, she got the call that she had been selected to become a sister. Farr said the struggle now is spreading TPA’s name throughout the greek community. “We’re trying to introduce ourselves and get known,” she said. “We’ve been attending other philanthropies. Some girls go to dinner with other sororities.”The sisters have also been attending events with various fraternities, such as helping with Lambda Chi Alpha’s philanthropy “A Nightmare on Third Street” and Acacia’s Waterball event. On top of this, Theta Phi must also complete “19 Pearls,” or activities such as philanthropies and fundraising, before it can become initiated as an official chapter on campus, according to guidelines from its national organization. “It’s challenging to do all the things the other chapters are doing at the same time we’re doing our specific tasks,” said Ashley Dillon, junior and president of Theta Phi.AEPi had to do this all last year. Chapter members had to fulfill a list of requirements that included social and athletic events.After becoming initiated as a chapter, AEPi acquired a house by simply taking back the house it had used before. The national fraternity owns the land, so Phi Sig, the old tenants, vacated once AEPi made its reappearance.“They kind of always knew we were going to have the house because we own it,” Millberg said. One year later, AEPi is still struggling to get its foot in the door of the greek community.“The biggest challenge I think we see, as far as the greek community as a whole, is the whole reputation thing,” Millberg said. He said they’ve seen more success than other members in the greek community thought they would. “As far as people knowing who we are and knowing that we’re back, we haven’t seen too much of a challenge involving that,” Millberg said. “The social thing was something that a lot of people were skeptical of us.” In this case, Millberg said having younger people in the house — mostly sophomores and freshmen — has helped them, because at least for pairing with sororities, younger guys know more girls in the houses. “People said there was no way we’d have a homecoming pair this year, and, obviously, that hasn’t been a problem,” Millberg said.AEPi and TPA are working to become more established houses. The fraternity Acacia is one of the older fraternities on campus; it’s been here since 1936, according to Acacia President and sophomore Josh Minnick. The fraternity hasn’t left campus since its creation.“We were originally chartered in 1920,” Minnick said. “And we’ve had two separate charters on campus, but it’s always been a continuous move.”The Acacia house is located on Third Street near Indiana Avenue, with distinctive white pillars and the gold name “Acacia” marking it near the roof. Minnick said he thinks the house’s location has helped its members to establish such a lasting social reputation in the greek community.“I think one thing that gives us a name is the fact that we, one, kind of have a unique name and our location,” he said. “Pretty much everyone at some point in the year will go down Third Street, and those houses are a lot more visible.”While some fraternities and sororities, such as AEPi and TPA, struggle to establish themselves, Minnick said it’s not something to focus on.“A reputation, in my opinion, is never permanent,” Minnick said. “I mean, people may say we’re a good house. People may say we’re a bad house. That changes all the time, from person to person.”While AEPi and TPA work to become known in the community, Minnick said this challenge doesn’t exist solely for incoming houses. It’s something that every house, old and new, has to consider.“I don’t think, really, there’s ever any aspect of a fraternity that just goes away,” Minnick said. “No one ever really has room for complacency because the landscape of the greek system changes all the time.”
(10/25/11 2:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When Jake Maxwell rushed his fraternity, networking was one of the factors he considered.At IU, 18 percent of the student body chooses to go greek, according to the Interfraternity Council. One of the points the greek system boasts during rush is help with networking, which can lead to job opportunities.Maxwell, a sophomore in Alpha Epsilon Pi and student in the Kelley School of Business, is currently interviewing for internships, and he said going greek has helped him.“We were the founding father class of AEPi,” he said. “So, a lot of times they see ‘founding father’ on the resume and they’ll want to know what that’s all about.”One of the former presidents of Tempur-Pedic Management, Paul Coulis, was a brother in Phi Kappa Psi at IU. He recently returned to Bloomington to teach in Kelley, and he said going greek and serving on various committees in his house helped shape his life. “That taught me that management was something that I enjoyed and something that I was good at,” he said.He decided to rush Phi Psi as a senior in high school.“I selected Phi Kappa Psi because that was a group of people who were as serious at getting as much out of school as I did,” Coulis said. His fraternity also helped him find his wife, whom he met at a paired party.Coulis said he needed the support of his brothers throughout college.However, as far as networking goes, Coulis said he thought the skills learned in a fraternity were more important than the networking. “You had to learn how to be tolerant of others, respectful of others, flexible,” he said. “I was just a different guy, and fraternity life helped me learn the skills of socializing.”Hilary Carroll, a junior and a sister in Alpha Gamma Delta, said networking wasn’t a priority for her when she chose her sorority.“It was more about helping set up a good college career,” she said. “I don’t think, in my case, (networking) really helps.”Kirsten Turchan, an alumna from Kappa Kappa Gamma and a pediatric dermatologist, said networking wasn’t promoted in her sorority, either. “When I was in a sorority, I think a lot of girls went to college to meet a boy and get married,” Turchan said. “A bunch of girls were in education, and then a small percent of girls were in business.”She said networking might be important for business majors.However, Turchan said the skills she learned were not irrelevant.“I think it also just helped me from an organizational standpoint and just kind of gave me something totally different from what I was doing school-wise,” Turchan said. Both Turchan and Coulis said being in the greek system gave them confidence and helped them improve their interviewing skills after going through the rush interviews. Coulis said he couldn’t recall any specific incidents in which going greek helped him in his career. “I think that fraternity and sorority people are at least as equipped as their competition,” Coulis said. Maxwell said being a brother gives him a leg up on his competition in the career world. “I mean, kids who don’t go greek obviously aren’t in a terrible spot, but the networking opportunities are huge,” he said. “If I’m in an interview, and the other person happens to be in AEPi, I would say that gives me a big advantage. It’s just the whole brotherhood aspect. Even if it was 30 years ago, the same traditions still hold.”
(10/20/11 2:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Today marks the opening of Lambda Chi Alpha’s Halloween philanthropy “Nightmare on Third Street.” The event begins at 8 p.m. and will run through Saturday night. For the event, the fraternity has turned its house into a haunted house. “It’s a lot of things to go through,” said Chris Dunigan, sophomore and Lambda Chi philanthropy chairman. He said the haunted house goes through all the hallways and eight to nine rooms in the house. Sophomore Howard Slone, public relations chairman for the fraternity, said he thinks the haunted house is scary.“I didn’t go through it last year,” he said. “I hope I don’t have to go through it this year.” Senior and Lambda Chi President Aaron Falber also said the haunted house frightened him.”Some people exited crying last year,” he said.Dunigan helped with the construction both years.“Parts of it scared me last year, and I built it,” Dunigan said. Lambda Chi has started the event up again this past Halloween.“It used to be a big thing back in the day,” Slone said. The heyday for the haunted house was in the 1990s and early 2000s, Slone said.“People from all over Bloomington would come,” he said. Planning has been going on since early September, and last year the group spent $6,000 on the event, donating $2,000 raised to the charity Habitat for Humanity in Bloomington. Dunigan said the fraternity donates all of the money left after covering expenses for the event. The radio station B97 will be at the opening, as well as local restaurants with free food, such as Chipotle and several sandwich shops. Tickets are available at the door for $7.Slone said about 1,000 people went through the house last year, and the fraternity hopes to double that number this weekend.
(10/18/11 4:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Junior Corbin Frye goes to fraternity parties every weekend with several others. Sometimes, they even go to parties during the week.But they’re not there to drink. They’re there, undercover, to observe. Frye is the Interfraternity Council vice president of Risk Management.“People often misconceive the IFC as a police force,” Frye said. “What’s unfortunate is, a lot of younger guys and girls shout, ‘IFC’s here! IFC’s here!’ We’re not there to shut down a party.” Frye said they’re there to make sure the party is safe. Frye is part of the Social Responsibility Committee, a group the IFC created to manage fraternity parties. Fraternity presidents vote for who is in the group, which is new this year. It was created in reaction to incidents that occurred last year at fraternities to prevent them from happening again, Frye said. However, he said he would not discuss which specific incidents may have led to the committee’s creation.“It’s very innovative,” Frye said. “We literally walk through parties while they’re happening.”Keith Cash, IU police department chief, said the IFC’s new committee has led to a decrease in calls about noise complaints or overly rowdy partying.“There do seem to be less,” he said. “I think they’re trying to keep the police from getting called and keeping people out of harm’s way.”Often when the police do get called, it’s due to obnoxious public acts from people the fraternities allow to walk home, such as stumbling, yelling or vomiting, rather than those they drive home.“Almost always, someone’s drawn attention to themselves somehow,” Cash said. “One of the questions we ask is ‘Where were you drinking?’”From here, if students give the name of a fraternity, IUPD goes to check it out, Cash said.“If it’s out of control, we’re going to shut it down,” Cash said. “But we haven’t had any I can recall that were out of control.” Every weekend, Frye and members of the team check on parties. They dress to blend in a uniform of North Face jackets, button-down shirts, khakis and jeans. Their goal is to be flies on the wall, watching the dynamic of the party while it’s occurring, Frye said. They go through all the steps a partygoer would go through.“We go up to the fraternity — the back door,” Frye said. Every fraternity is supposed to have a list of people coming and going, with times of arrival and departure. A handful of the fraternities now use a scanning system called Greek ID, which is designed to manage social events such as parties, Frye said. Attendees scan their student IDs, and the program records grade level, entrance time and exit time. “It’s an important piece of record-keeping,” Frye said. At the back door, Fry then asks for the sober executive. Fraternities are required to have a designated sober person present at every party, Frye said. “If something bad happens, they’re sober enough to make decisions,” Frye said. From here, the sober executive takes the committee inside and the real testing begins. One big concern of the committee is seeing too many handles, or large bottles of hard liquor, present.“Handles,” Frye said. “We don’t want to see floating handles out at the party with non–sober servers.” The committee requires all bartenders at fraternity parties to be sober so they know when to cut people off, Frye said. The IFC also counts handles. Only one handle of hard liquor is allowed to be with a bartender in each room upstairs, and only two are allowed out in the basement or dance room at a time. When bartenders run out of hard alcohol, they need to check in with the sober executive before refilling. Each house’s sober executive is responsible for setting the night’s overall limit for number of handles consumed. Frye and his team look for hazards, such as people standing on a bar or chugging liquor from handles.“We look for pre-poured shots,” Frye said.Frye said pre-poured shots are easy to grab without being noticed, and the goal is for the bartenders to control who is allowed to keep drinking, and who needs to stop. The committee also checks for suspicious behavior or someone who looks as if they are being pressured.“Maybe a girl looks really helpless,” Frye said. “We’re trying to keep everyone safe.”One of the last things they check for is sober rides and whether these are available to all partygoers.“That’s partly just a way to look out for the safety of that person,” Frye said. “Most fraternities have the rule that everyone gets a ride.”Freshman Sydney Morton said she goes to fraternity and house parties most weekends, and she said the sober rides are one of the perks at fraternities. “I feel like it’s a lot safer in general, and it’s way nicer than walking around,” Morton said. She also said she feels safer at fraternities. “Every house party I’ve been to has been super sketch and is like a free-for-all,” she said.Cash agreed that fraternity parties are usually safer than house parties. He also said the committee has been working with the police to keep partying under control. “They’ve had all different kinds of patrols,” Cash said. “If there’s things they’re dealing with internally, that’s not unusual. Not all of them go through the criminal justice system.”When there are incidents at fraternities that require a write-up, IFC President Matt Edwards said the IFC wants to make sure students learn from it. “Instead of just handing out a fine, we talk about why this is an issue,” Edwards said. The IDS contacted several fraternities about risk management, and all either declined to comment or were unavailable. Frye said this was probably due to the “touchy” nature of the subject and said the IFC also doesn’t endorse alcohol consumption.“We are trying to manage and control the alcohol consumption that does occur,” Frye said. To Cash, the proof of the committee’s effectiveness is in the number of times he is called. “As much events as happen every weekend and the number of calls we get, they must be doing something right,” Cash said.
(10/17/11 3:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Standing amidst mobs of women in tight black dresses and men in suits, senior Logan Good, a participant from Phi Kappa Sigma at Big Man on Campus, stood out in his blue overalls, red undershirt and fake felt mustache. “I’ve been here since about 3:30 p.m.,” Good said. “The crew got here around 5 p.m.”At about 6:40 p.m., he checked sound, and then he sorted through all of his gear, flipping through cardboard cutouts of cartoon turtles, shells and coins for his Super Mario Bros. reenactment. His crew showed up and began yelling and laughing. Around this time, Logan’s mother, Jami Good, arrived. She’s not only his mother, she’s a breast cancer survivor and Good’s main motivation for joining the BMOC cause: raising money for breast cancer research.She was diagnosed at 15 and said cancer is not something that can ever be fully cured. The hardest part was telling her children about her history with the disease. “I didn’t keep it a secret, but I didn’t tell them until they were teens,” Jami Good said. While talking about her son, Jami Good snapped photos of him with various members of his fraternity. “I kind of had a feeling this was coming,” she said. “He’s been so heartfelt for family. Logan has always been determined to accomplish all he has set out for.”He said he wasn’t nervous before the event.“I’m more excited than anything else,” he said from behind his mustache. “I’m sure my adrenaline will be pumping.”Before 7 p.m., the auditorium began to fill. Zeta Tau Alpha women ushered students around the silent auction area and into their seats. The lights were dimmed just after 7 p.m., and students waved pink glowsticks in the air. A kick-off video of all of the featured men played, and each participant’s respective fraternity cheered.Throughout the show, which raised $191,000 for breast cancer research, the excitement didn’t dampen. There were 24 performances, most of them singing or dancing presentations.Some chose to write their lyrics, such as Trey Dunn of Delta Upsilon, whose lyrics about drinking prompted much laughter from the crowd. Kevin Cox of Kappa Sigma gave a shout out to all affected by breast cancer and girls in the audience, “from D cups to A’s.”Daniel Riggs, a senior from Phi Delta Theta, gave a performance that had the crowd singing along. He threw beach balls into the crowd, which were circulated for the rest of the show.When Good’s name was called, a roar of cheering washed from the audience toward the stage. Super Mario music began to play, and he emerged from behind a black curtain. Then his crew came out carrying cutouts of clouds and coins, which Good punched in time to the musical cues. At the end of his act, Wampler indeed emerged in “quite the outfit.” He wore a tiny pink dress, impersonating Princess Peach, and Good ushered him back behind the curtain to the tune of “Bow Chicka Wow Wow” by Mike Posner to wild applause. After all the men had performed, the Zeta philanthropy chairwomen announced the winners and the total amount raised. Mr. Congeniality and Favorite Contestant was Alex Rich of Alpha Tau Omega. Most Talented was Matt Tatum of Phi Gamma Delta. Greatest Philanthropy was Riggs, who raised about $22,000. Good was voted Zeta Sweetheart.The BMOC Court was announced next. Third runner-up was Rich. Second runner-up was Good. First runner-up was Adam Kallaus of Theta Chi.The new Big Man on Campus was Riggs.“I was not expecting this at all,” he said after the show while wearing the furry BMOC crown. “I got to find my family after this.”His fraternity brothers found him and began cheering and slapping him on the back.“I’m going to The Bluebird,” Riggs said. Outside, in front of the auditorium, Good took pictures with his grandpa and mother. “I think a lot of the other contestants did a really good job,” Good said. “I’m really glad, in retrospect, that I decided to do this my last semester.”Between photos, Good’s family kept saying how proud they were of him. And Good pointed out, regardless of any of the titles or crowns won, the event still managed to raise so much money.“That’s what really matters,” Good said.
(10/14/11 3:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Greek students said they hope to change the bad reputation they sometimes receive from the surrounding community next week.“It’s a small percentage that has a very large reputation,” said Sarah Finnerty, vice president of community involvement for Panhellenic Association. “That’s why it’s important to have weeks like this — to show that we are doing something good.” From Oct. 17 to 22, the four greek councils — Interfraternity Council, PHA, National Pan-Hellenic Council and Multi-Cultural Greek Council — will sponsor events aimed at supporting and fundraising for a community that greeks sometimes think looks down on them, Finnerty said. “Since it’s not just about philanthropy, it’s showing that greeks are multifaceted,” Finnerty said. “So hopefully this week can be kind of a moment for the community to see that we are doing good.”Pedro Cantiello, vice president of community programs for IFC and a brother in the Delta Upsilon fraternity, helped organize the effort. “Greek Week this year will have a stronger focus on service and helping the local community,” Cantiello said. “In the past, there was an effort to unite the community, and very little was done to reach out to the other student organizations of the Bloomington community.”Finnerty said they will incorporate more hands-on service events. “When I sat down with the previous VP, we really talked about how greek philanthropy kind of has the stigma of check writing, and I hate that,” she said.Melissa Lowe, director of community involvement for PHA and sister in Pi Beta Phi, said philanthropy is an essential aspect of being greek.“As greeks, we all are called to philanthropic activity,” she said. “And this week is a great way to do it as a community, in the name of all greek houses, not just your own.”Because Greek Week coincides with National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week and the fall cycling series for the IU Student Foundation, the councils will try to incorporate these events in with their usual fundraising.The week is also a competition among the fraternities and sororities. Points are awarded based on numbers of participants in each of the featured events during the week. But non-greeks can participate, too. “Non-greeks can participate in percentage nights, buy GlowFest tickets through people they know in greek houses, donate canned goods to people they know in greek houses and support the fall cycling series,” Lowe said. The events are also open to those outside of the greek community.“Non-greek members can get involved by attending any of the events we will be having,” Cantiello said. “They are all open to everyone that wishes to come.”