Month: April 2012

Categories
News

Neighborhood Thaw Out

Esra Sardag

Contributing Writer

Students and staff volunteered to assist downtown residents and businesses with their spring projects in the annual Spring Thaw Out on April 6 from 3 – 5 p.m. and April 7 from 9 – 11:30 a.m. This year, the project aimed to clean and organize the plants in Mariah’s Garden, a small garden located on South Front Street and Walnut Alley, and overlooking the Susquehanna River.

The garden is a memorial to Mariah Quant, a Lewisburg resident who died in a car accident just hours before she was to receive her high school diploma in 2000. Her parents built the park with the help of other residents and local businesses to keep her memory alive. The garden contains plants that are all indigenous to Pennsylvania. All of the plants are different and bloom in different seasons so that the garden never completely dies throughout the year.

“It was really rewarding to interact with and give back to the community. It meant a lot to me that I could help out with something that meant so much to this girl’s family,” Karen Hecht ’14 said.

Volunteers mulched, edged the garden and pulled out weeds.

“It was great to be able to work outside on a nice spring afternoon to make a beautiful area for people to enjoy. I’ll definitely be taking advantage of it,” Carla Renner ’14 said.

The grand opening of the garden was on April 7 and the garden is now open for public enjoyment.

Categories
Headline News

Family drives Abagnale’s second chance

By Jason Pepe

Contributing Writer

Frank Abagnale, Jr. spoke to a large audience on April 9 at 7 p.m. at the Weis Center for the Performing Arts about his experiences as a notorious teenage con artist in the 1960s. During his talk, Abagnale painted a slightly different picture than what has been popularly portrayed. While Abagnale displayed a sharp wit and ease of demeanor, he spoke poignantly of how his parents’ divorce drove him to run away from home at 16 and the immense loneliness he felt as a con artist.

Abagnale’s story is well known because of his book  “Catch Me If You Can” and the subsequent film and Broadway musical by the same name.

“All children need their mother and their father … divorce is a very devastating thing for a child to deal with. How could I tell you my life was glamorous?  I cried myself to sleep every night till I was 19 years old,” Abagnale said.
Abagnale also spoke of second chances. He admitted that he is not proud of the crimes he committed, but is grateful for the opportunity to redeem himself through his work with the F.B.I.
“I am very fortunate that I was brought up in a country where everyone gets a second chance. That is why I am with the F.B.I. today, 26 years beyond my legal obligation to do so,” he said.
Originally scheduled to speak on campus in March, Abagnale had to reschedule due to flight difficulties.
“Due to the airlines, it was impossible for me to get here, since they don’t let me keep my uniform anymore,” Abagnale said.
Abagnale traced his life as a con artist, from forging checks in New York City, to posing as a Pan American Airlines pilot, a doctor and then a lawyer, and finally to his eventual capture and imprisonment.  After serving time in French, Swedish and U.S. prisons, Abagnale was released early to work for the F.B.I. Abagnale then began advising banks and businesses on how to detect fraud.
He is particularly proud that one of his three sons is currently a counterintelligence agent for the F.B.I.
Abagnale pointed to his wife, who he met more than 35 years ago in Texas while working undercover for the F.B.I., as the reason he decided to change his life.
“The truth is, God gave me a wife, she gave me three beautiful children, she gave me a family and she changed my life.  She, and she alone,” Abagnale said.
Before concluding his lecture, Abagnale left the audience with several tips on how to protect against identity theft today. He warned against putting too much information on Facebook, advised the use of a security micro-cut shredder when disposing of sensitive documents and advocated for the use of credit cards over debit cards as the safest form of payment.
“Life is not short. Life is long, very long,” Abagnale said.  “When you make a mistake in life, that mistake becomes a burden, and you have to live with that burden for years and years …  I would never want any of you to live with a burden. It is a horrible thing to live with.”
Categories
News

Public Safety investigates recent racial harrassment

By Sara Blair Matthews
Assistant News Editor

Several University students and a professor were the victims of racial slurs and intimidating behavior on campus on April 4 between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. The suspects are a group of college-age, white males who were seen driving a dark colored sedan. The incident is under investigation and the charge has been classified as harassment.

“Such slurs are an affront to the values of Bucknell, violate our shared sense of civility and are an insult to the respect we share for one another. They will not be tolerated,” President John Bravman said.

Nina Banks, acting Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Gender (CSREG), believes that while students, faculty and staff of color have raised concerns over racial harassment for many years, but the University has taken few meaningful steps to address these issues.

“CSREG is [especially] troubled by the recent incidents of racial harassment at the University [because] these incidents did not suddenly spring up but instead are part of [the University] climate,” Banks said.

Banks believes the racial harassment on campus is tied to a larger issue where racial, ethnic and other minority groups are too often made to feel unwelcome and marginal.

“One of the students who was accosted by the car filled with white males told me that she no longer feels safe walking around campus at night,” Banks said.

Banks sees these recent incidents not as exceptions, but rather as a pattern of students of color being verbally insulted by white students using racial slurs.

When asked whether she would consider the University a racially safe campus, Banks said it would depend on how one defines “safe.” Banks believes an environment where students of color are “subjected to ridicule by other students or made to feel unwelcome in the classroom or lab by their … classmates [is] not a racially safe environment.”

“[Neither is a place where] black staff [members’ work] is undermined by colleagues [to the point where they] worry about losing their jobs because they have upset the white power structure at Bucknell,” Banks said.

Banks thinks that the campus community needs to begin to have honest conversations about the racial problems at the University before we can reduce the atmosphere of racial tension. Other faculty members agree.

“The University [is] having a ‘crisis’ in areas of race and inclusion,” a colleague of Banks said.

In response to the recent events, the Department of Public Safety sent out a Timely Notification Bulletin alerting campus of this incident and urging students to come forward if they know any information about this occurrence. Public Safety could say nothing more than acknowledge that the investigation is ongoing.

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Editorial

The discontinuation of the Plan for Prominence system for the University’s Greek Life created quite the debate when it was first implemented at the beginning of this semester. It begged the question, is it better to do community service of one’s own accord if it sacrifices a large number of those people who would volunteer?

So far, it seems like the University made a major mistake by stripping many local organizations of hundreds of student volunteers. Though the school may not have directly stopped those students from participating in local community service opportunities, there exists an unfortunate reality that exhibits itself in the lack of motivation of college students.

Organizations such as Head Start, Bucknell Buddies and many local food banks are currently struggling to find volunteers, and the removal of mandatory attendance is clearly the driving force of this. The P4P system clearly worked-–the soaring number of community service hours by students from previous years stands as a vigorous testament to the good it did.

College students tend to prioritize their own needs over the needs of others, so a student might not take the time to volunteer if he or she has had a busy week or has other obligations. By making a basic level of volunteer work mandatory for Greek students, the University is ensuring a solid base of volunteer workers for local causes.

What’s more, it is giving students who would not volunteer otherwise a great chance to learn the benefits of volunteer work–-who knows, maybe it will inspire them to do more in the future.

By eliminating such an integral part of the Greek experience, the University has sacrificed results for nobility. Even though it is much more meaningful gesture when a student volunteers of his or her own accord, less fortunate community members suffer from a smaller volunteer work force.

In theory, the cancellation of P4P may have seemed like a good way to create “real” volunteer opportunities for students, meaning that they wouldn’t be mandatory empty gestures. However, the end result has been indifference on behalf of students and suffering on behalf of those who really need help.

In an ideal world, the blame for the lack of current volunteer numbers would fall on the students who do not sign up. In reality, though, change at this school cannot come from influencing individuals to do the right thing; it must come via institutional action. P4P, or some equivalent system, must be reestablished for the local community’s sake.

Categories
Opinion

Employers defy personal boundaries by asking for passwords

By Josh Haywood

Writer

 

Resume, check; references, check; Facebook password, I don’t think so. Recently there has been a rash of news stories about employers asking potential and current employees for their Facebook password so that they can “check out who they really are.” While this practice is not widespread, the idea of your future employer asking you to hand over your login information seems rather troubling to me. If the practice is not curtailed, it could set a legal precedent in what amount of privacy is expected by employees.  Currently there are no federal laws that can limit this practice. This seems to be a blatant disregard of privacy that should be stopped before it escalates any further.

The problem of employers gaining access to people’s private data on their Facebook page didn’t work its way into the news until it was released that the Maryland Department of Corrections had ask over some 2,000 applicants their password to check for “gang affiliation.” Out of all of the applicants only seven were denied the job due to what they had on their accounts. In response to this Maryland became the first state to pass a law that makes such requests illegal: laws similar to this are being talked about in California, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Massachusetts. Some legal experts believe that this is in violation of the Equal Employment and Opportunity statues that ban employers from asking for employee information based upon issues of race, sexuality, religion, and etc. This is another issue of paper laws falling behind with the rise of the digital age. Currently Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) are communicating with Attorney General Eric Holder to have the Justice Department to investigate the legality of this employment practice.

How far can employers reach into an employee’s life? If this practice is not curtailed I could easily see it leading to employers forcing you to be Facebook friends with them so they can monitor your behavior 24/7. It sounds like an old-school Soviet Union movie; you’re driving down the road and reach a checkpoint, “Show us your papers, Comrade, or face the consequences.” Big Brother, who in this case is your boss, does not need to know where I checked in last weekend or what I like to do in my free time. This Orwellian intrusion of privacy is unwarranted because it distorts the line that separates work and home. What you do in your own home and free time is nobody’s business; this right should be extended to what you do in the digital world as well. I personally deleted my Facebook about two months ago; I recently made a new one because I thought I wanted to look at pictures, but I rarely use it even for that. I don’t know which is more like stalking, actual Facebook creeping or the fact the employers want to creep on your raw profile. I really think that something should be done about this practice on the federal level so that each state would not have to create their own unique laws.

Categories
Featured News

Theta Chi losing housing privileges

By Amanda Ayers

News Editor

Theta Chi fraternity has lost its housing privileges for the 2012-2013 academic year. Summit House, the name of the property that currently houses the brothers of Theta Chi, will be used instead next year for an Affinity House program entitled “Looking Past the Letters,” said Grant Hoover, assistant director of Residential Education for diversity and current overseer of the Affinity Housing Program.

The University currently owns the house with a detailed agreement in place governing its use for the fraternity. Because the chapter’s membership was too low to fulfill the occupation requirements, the house was forfeited. Theta Chi was able to fill the house and even had alternates, but not enough of those occupants were official members of the fraternity.

“I have served as the faculty adviser for Theta Chi fraternity at Bucknell since 2006, and am very proud of the work that the members of Theta Chi have done on behalf of Bucknell and the larger Lewisburg community. I’m proud of the high level of academic success that the members of Theta Chi have consistently achieved. They should be commended for their many achievements,” associate professor of religion Paul Macdonald said.

Despite encouragement from both the University and Theta Chi International Headquarters to maintain the organization without a house, members believe it is best to shut down. The Grand Chapter’s bylaws do not allow a chapter to simply declare itself disbanded, but the chapter has taken steps to begin shutting down.

“After losing our house, our chapter took a look at our situation and decided that there is no feasible way to continue. It is not official [that we are disbanding], but we have made a formal request to our Grand Chapter to close us. At this point we are still awaiting a response from them,” Theta Chi president Joe Bonino ’13 said.

“We have been contacted by the chapter regarding this situation and are working with the undergraduates and other key stakeholders to determine the best course of action,” said Burt Zeno, Director of Communication for Theta Chi Nationals. “Theta Chi values its undergraduate and alumnus members from Bucknell University and is working diligently to reach a solution that is in everyone’s best interests.”

The fraternity currently has 21 members, nine of whom will graduate this year, and only two of whom are sophomores. This coupled with the loss of housing would create even greater struggles for recruitment, something the chapter has had particular difficulty with in the last year.

Since returning to campus in 2006, the chapter has occupied a special niche in the Greek community, striving to be a nonstereotypical campus fraternity by excelling in academics and service. The men who were attracted to the idea of joining a fraternity like Theta Chi fraternity were generally not “going Greek for Greek’s sake.” Members believe the label that has been put on Greek life through the Campus Climate Task Force Report has turned these potential members away, and the fraternity has found it difficult to convince students who do not like the Greek system to join.

“It seems that the Campus Climate [Task Force] Report has created an extremely bad reputation for all Greek organizations and this attitude has adversely affected the Chapter’s efforts to grow,” Bonino said.

The chapter’s struggles have come in spite of its efforts to distinguish itself from the rest of the Greek community.

“Personally, I am very disappointed to see Theta Chi so easily tossed in with the problems and behaviors that the [Campus] Climate [Task Force] Report intended to address,” Theta Chi Alumni Corporation President Austin Ziltz ’08 said. “In the last seven years, have you ever heard of an underage drinking or sexual assault incident involving Theta Chi? These were exactly the stereotypes we set out to break, but it seems we’ve been caught in the crossfire.”

Details regarding whether or when the chapter might attempt to recolonize are still to be determined, as are details surrounding what will happen to everything owned by the fraternity that needs to be removed from the house. Some items may be liquidated, while others may go into storage.

Talk has also circulated among underclassmen about trying to form a Theta Chi-esque non-fraternity group that could occupy a role on campus similar to that of Theta Chi. It could host non-alcoholic events, for example, without deterring people away with the dues and stigma of the Greek system. Bonino, however, was not optimistic.

“That idea had been discussed in [the] fraternity, but [right now it’s looking like] nothing is going to come of it,” Bonino said.

Nevertheless, the house has been filled next year with sorority women eager to participate in the new Affinity Housing Program.

“It’s a mixed-sorority house that will allow girls from different sororities to foster friendships and to ‘look beyond letters’ to show that we’re united as a Greek community and not just by individual sororities,” future resident Maddy Liss ’14 said. “I think it’ll be a great opportunity to meet new women from different sororities.”

Categories
News

Schedule for Go Greek Week

Bucknell Panhellenic and Interfraternity Council will host Go Greek Week 2012 next week. Look out for the following events all week long!

Monday, April 16:

11 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 6 – 7 p.m. – There will be free cake in the afternoon in the ELC Mall and then in the evening in Bostwick Marketplace.

7 – 9 p.m. – Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity will present Dan Savage, creator of the “It Gets Better” Project, in the Weis Center for the Performing Arts.

 

Tuesday, April 17:

5 – 7 p.m. – Wing Fest, to be held in Larison Dining Hall, will support the Million Penny Project and HandUp Foundation of Milton. 

7 – 8:30 p.m. – There will be an a capella “Supershow” in Smith Quad featuring the Silhouettes, Beyond Unison and The Offbeats.

Wednesday, April 18:

3 – 6 p.m. – There will be free food and refreshments outside the Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library for a study break with Greeks.

7:30 – 9 p.m. – Chi Phi fraternity will present Randy Roberts Potts, a LGBT awareness speaker, in Trout Auditorium.

Thursday, April 19:

7 – 8:30 p.m. – There will be a faculty vs. Greek organization students basketball game with the Truck Bed Band performing for the half-time show.

Friday, April 20:

11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. – The Career Development Center and Alumni Relations will co-host an Alumni Luncheon in Hunt Basement.

Saturday, April 21:

This is Admitted Students Day. There will be various Greek-hosted events going on all around campus, including Alpha Delta Pi sorority’s Preppy Olympics and Pi Beta Phi sorority’s Beta BBQ.

Sunday, April 22:

10 a.m. – 1 p.m. – There will be a 5K Fun Run/Walk and Zumbathon to raise funds for the LARA Pool Pass Project in the Gerhard Fieldhouse.

Categories
Arts & Life Sleeping Around

Sleeping Around: The Art of the Hickey

By Stacey Lace

Columnist

This weekend, my boyfriend and I woke up late Saturday night to the sound of my neighbor giggling very loudly with some guy. I gave them some privacy, but the next morning, we decided we had to pay her a visit to get the dish on her hook-up.

When she opened the door, we immediately noticed the gorgeous hickey she was sporting on her neck. Ironically, it was in the same spot as my boyfriend’s; they’ve now bonded as hickey buddies.

This awkward encounter led me to start thinking about the art of the hickey. When I think of love bites, it takes me back to a fourth season episode of “7th Heaven” in which middle-school-aged Simon gives his girlfriend a hickey and is no longer allowed to see her.

Hickeys really are straight from the middle-school years, but I want to acknowledge that they still have merit six or seven years later on the college campus.

I enjoy the way that come Monday morning, they announce the details of your weekend. As in my friend’s case, even if you didn’t overhear her, anyone could guess what she’d been up to the night before. The bruise on her neck is a dead giveaway.

My favorite way to hide my indiscretions is to throw on a scarf since they’re so in right now. Unfortunately, this tactic might not work out for me as we head into warmer weather and scarves start looking European and douchey.

If I were in the wild, I would definitely be one of those “alpha females” willing to fight any other female to the death for her mate, babies, nest or whatever. With this quality, it’s important to me that I’m able to mark my territory.

Rather than getting sucked into some awkward encounter with another girl where I spend a lot of time with my face close to hers saying, “You didn’t know he had a girlfriend?” I’m able to do a little biting and sucking to get my point across.

Before sending my boy toy off for a night out without me, I like to leave a little trace behind, just to be there when I can’t be.

The hickey is also a really nice way to stifle moans, screams, panting, etc. After a neighbor overheard my sextracurricular activities overheard a few weeks ago (yes, we have too intimate of a bond), I needed to figure out a way to be a little quieter so I wasn’t always putting on an audio show.

I’ve learned you can’t make too much noise when your mouth is busy elsewhere. It’s nice to kill two or three birds with one stone–or one strong suction.

As we head into the weekend, start looking for signs of others’ play this weekend. I guarantee a neck bruise will give away all their secrets.

Categories
Opinion

Spring weather should call for higher sports attendance

Molly Brown
Writer

As the weather finally seems to be getting warmer and with Easter weekend under our belts, spring is fully underway.  Around campus many students are taking advantage of the weather opportunities, taking in the sun to relax after a stressful day in classes, whether by laying in the grass on the quad, throwing around a frisbee or simply taking a run outdoors for a change. A huge component of campus life is athletics. Yet here on campus, there is a drop in attendance at sporting events in comparison to the fall season and the crowd-drawing men’s basketball games in the winter, at least based on personal viewing. I do not think students view these spring sports as lesser than the fall ones, a sort of seasonal superiority complex. Rather, I feel the spring weather deters students from going to the sporting events.

This sounds ridiculous.  Who wouldn’t want to go catch a baseball game when the weather’s warm and sunny and you’re looking for some relaxation? If one proceeds with the weather argument, why would people wish to attend a football game when the temperature could be below freezing with additional wind chill and perhaps wintry precipitation? In reality, the springtime, despite its busy schedule, winds down the school year, relatively speaking. This is not to suggest that students blow off their schoolwork nor that professors lighten the course loads. There just seems to be more people outside enjoying some free time than there are in the fall. For relaxing, students may feel like lying down in the grass instead of getting pepped up at a sporting event where the hope is to have a raised blood pressure by the end of the game or match. Conversely, in the fall, the main motivation for sporting event attendance lies in the sense of camaraderie you get when you and your friends bundle up against the weather and pour your hearts out screaming “’Ray Bucknell” for your Bison. Bad weather is not an obstacle to attendance in the fall. The spring, though, is another story. If you have a deluge on your hands, there aren’t going to be too many students who are going to want to catch the double header.  The same applies for the cold in the spring: cold in the fall is enticing, but in the spring, it dissuades people from venturing outside.

In addition to the weather, there also seems to be a lack of advertising around campus for them.  So far, the only real attention-getter for a spring game is the baseball board outside the back of the ELC. I feel like students just might not know when there’s a lacrosse or tennis match. Even though the common response might be that “the schedules are online,” what if it’s a spur of the moment decision; just something to do in the evening or the afternoon? With the fall sports, it seems like everyone knows when the football and soccer games are, whether they’re home or away, what attire is requested, etc. With spring sports, this common knowledge is not as easily accessible or even in existence.

I think a bit more information will go a long way in promoting student attendance at spring sporting events. College sports are great and our University’s are even better. So, the next time you feel like sitting in the sun, why not see if there’s a way to catch a game at the same time?

Categories
News

Adderall

By Jenni Whalen

Senior Writer

Despite the fact that there are strict rules regarding Adderall prescriptions and distribution, there is a large culture of recreational use of the drug on campus.

Many students who are prescribed Adderall either sell or abuse the drug, seeing it as more of an opportunity to get high than a study aid.

“Is there elicit use of these prescriptions on this campus? Absolutely, yes,” said Dr. Don Stechschulte, director of Student Health Services.

“Several of my friends who do not have prescriptions have snorted Adderall to study, rather than just taking the pill,” an anonymous student said. “The demand for it is especially high during exam time.”

In addition to its prescribed use, many students choose to use the drug on a purely recreational basis to increase levels of focus during finals and midterms. Some students also use Adderall as an “upper” when they go to parties.

“For five dollars, I can find it at any time, any place on campus, be it for studying or recreational use. It’s everywhere here,” said another student who also chose to remain anonymous.

Adderall, a drug which combines dextroamphetamine and amphetamine, controls symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults and children. According to Stechschulte, the number of Americans with attention deficit disorders has grown exponentially over the last 15 years.

Students cannot acquire an initial prescription for ADHD medication from the Psychological Services or Student Health Services offices on campus; they must be diagnosed by a family doctor. Once the student arrives at the University, he or she is required to sign a contract regarding the obligations of taking ADHD medication, which reminds the student that “it is a felony to obtain these psychostimulant medications by fraudulent means, to possess these medications without a legitimate prescription, and to give or sell these medications to others.” 

“Often, students come in saying that they have lost their Adderall prescription,” Stechschulte said.

To prove that the prescription has indeed been lost or stolen, students must bring in a police report or some other evidence of the incident. To avoid allowing the student to have a double dose of the drug, Student Health Services also sends a letter to the student’s previous doctor upon prescribing Adderall.
Although Adderall can be helpful for some students, it can be detrimental for others.

“I have seen Adderall-induced psychosis during my time here at Bucknell. It happened to a student who didn’t regularly take the drug,” Stechschulte said.

Unnecessary Adderall use, especially when combined with other substances like marijuana and alcohol, can cause acute psychosis, insomnia, an irregular diet and heart arrhythmias, among other things. 

While Psychological Services offers services for students struggling with substance abuse, they were unable to provide the exact frequency with which University students use Adderall in a recreational manner.

Stechschulte also acknowledges that the use of Adderall is a complicated issue.

“There is a debate that says ‘Why can’t I be as good as I can be?’ It is a medical and ethical dilemma. If there is a single mother who needs to work two jobs in order to provide for her family and who cannot get through the second job without an extra boost from Adderall, who are we to deny her that?” Stechschulte said.