THETUFTS DNLY IWhere You Read It First Tuesday, January 30, 1996 Volume XXXII, Number 6 I ~ . __ Offensive graffiti found on walls of Carmichael by GREGORY GEIMAN three unidentified males were seen in the Daily Editorial Board first floor hallway at times ranging between Residents on the first floor of 4 and 6 a.m. These residents said they were Carmichael Hall were greeted Sunday awakened by the noise that the individuals morning by the sight of offensive graffiti made as they walked up and down the hall. covering their halls and doors. This graf- Of his guests, Sood said, “I only know fiti, generally of a lewd nature, contained one of them real well. The other two guys epithets aimed at homosexuals, African- were basically acquaintances.” Americans, women, and the Tufts commu- “I spoke to [one of them] yesterday,” nity in general. Sood said, “and he was still denying it. He Dai/y file photo A freshman resident on the first floor said that I should bother one of the other Theta Delta Chi is just one of the frats holding rush this week. has told University officials that his guests two guys about it, which in my mind im- may have been responsible for the graffiti. plicates them all.” The offensive graffiti included the Sood claims that he didn’t wake up un- ’ New rush rules in effect phrase “Tufts loves faggots,” which was til 2 p.m. on Sunday, and didn’t notice the written on a door leading from the living existence of the graffiti at first. by JOSHUA STEINBERG area to the main lobby. As this doorway is “It’s not as evident when you’re walk- Daily Staff Writer a main thoroughfare for residents of the ing down the hall,” he said. “You have to This week, the campus fraternities and sororities started welcoming prospective dorm, it was widely noticed. look straight at it, really.” brothers and sisters in their bi-annual search for new members. Although the sorori- Other incidents of offensive graffX were Sood’s hallmates said they noticed the ties’ rush procedure will remain largely the same as last semester, the fraternities will also reported, however. According to graffiti as soon as they opened their doors be experimenting with two separate rush periods. Organizers of the events are hop- Cannichael Resident Assistant Eric Lee, a on Sunday morning. The graffiti was ex- ing for a large turnout at the social activities this week. roster listing the femde residents of the hall tensive in many areas -especially around The first fraternity rush period will run from Jan. 30 until Feb. 2, after which time was vandalized. Next to the names of cer- Sood’sdoor. - bids are given out and pledges are accepted, according to Derek Yimoyines of Sigma tain women were written epithets such as “I bet your wondering who wrote all Nu. A shorter secondary rush, which will run from February 1lth to the 14th, will “nigger” and “bitch.” Other anti-homo- over the wall ... fuck off then,” was written offer students another opportunity to receive a bid from a house. sexual graffiti was also found, accusing on the wall adjacent to Sood’s door. “It’s an attempt to make sure anyone makes a bid,” said Yimoyines. Tufts of “dyking out.” The graffiti was also found on walls, According to Joel Melamed, Resident of the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC), if a Although vandalism is a crime under other resident’s doors, pipes, and light fix- student rushes a house unsuccessfully, the student has a second chance to rush an- Massachusetts law, the incident was never tures. Nearly every message board had been other house. Further benefits include a student’s being able to rush a fraternity after reported to the Tufts Police, according to written on, and graffiti was found in the a friend has decided to pledge during the first rush period. Lieutenant Mark Keith. “Normally some- men’s bathroom and laundry room. Although the fraternities have limited autonomy, the IFC follows the thing like this would be reported,” he said. Scrawled in a blue magic marker, the administration’srules concerning rush. “Pressure from the faculty to make (the rush Keith said that since the Office of Resi- graffiti stretched from Sood’s room at the period) less elitist,” factored into the creation of the second rush, said Melamed. dential Life was contacted first, they prob- far end of the men’s wing down to the laun- The sorority rush introduces women to each of the three sororities as part of an ably didn’t realize to call the police. Usu- dry room, located within the women’s wing organized program of social events. ally, he said, the police are contacted first of the first floor. see RUSH,page 11 and they in turn contact Residential Life. Although Sood says he didn’t see it at Assistant Director of Residential Life first, his hallmates brought the graffiti to Amy Howard said yesterday that the graf- his attention, as they suspected his loud fiti allegedly was not written by a Tufts stu- guests from the night before. College Bowl held at Tufts dent. “It was an issue of guests of a resident, Lee, who is a resident assistant on the by MELANIE NONAS Tufts, who will also be hosting the Re- and the resident has taken responsibility for first floor of Carmichael, said that after he Contributing Writer gional Tournament on Feb. 24 and 25, had the incident,” she said. saw the graffiti on Sunday morning he be- College Bowl, the self-proclaimed“var- little student interest when College Bowl Howard said that since the guests of a gan talking to residents, who voiced their sity sport of the mind,” is coming to Tufts. was held two years ago. This year, how- resident committed these acts, the resident suspicions.Lee confirmed that a first-floor Eight teams, each comprised of four Tufts ever, several teams had to be turned away is responsible for those actions, under Tufts resident told him he believed his guests undergraduates, will compete in a double in the first-come-first-served registration policies. She said the resident will be held were responsible. elimination tournament with preliminary process, according to Assistant Director of responsible for the cost of repair and for Lee reported the incident to the Office rounds held last night and finals on Feb. 5 Student Activities Katie O’Dair. O’Dair an apology to his hallmates. of Residential Life on Monday morning in Curtis Hall lounge at 6 p.m. stated that the number of teams was lim- “An incident like this is rare,” she said. and officials were sent down to Carmichael College Bowl, a question and answer ited to eight because of the need to run a “It happens maybe once or twice a year. to take pictures of the offensive graffiti. game covering “every conceivable topic,” double elimination tournament, but that if But this is more extensive than what we’ve After Residential Life had completed tak- is published by College Bowl Company, interest continues to be strong, future tour- seen... it covered almost a whole floor and ing its photographs,UNICCO began scrub- Incorporated. Originally developed as a naments may be larger. contained very objectionable comments bing the graffiti from the walls. They had radio show in 1953,College Bowl evolved A double elimination format is more about a variety of campus’groups.” completed removing nearly all the graffiti into a weekly television series in the ’60s. expensive, more time consuming and Freshman resident Vikas Sood said yes- by the time the day shift ended on Mon- _,No longer on TV, College Bowl tourna- means fewer teams can enter than a single terday he believed his guests may have been day, leaving only the heavy graffiti on the ments take place on many campuses na- elimination format, but also “means that responsible for the epithets. walls adjoining Sood’s room. This will be tionwide. Tufts will send its strongest team to Sood said that he and three friends went removed today, Lee said. Each school holds a tournament and Regionals,” O’Dair said. With Harvard, the out to campus parties on Saturday evening Sood said that he will do his utmost to determines the team that will represent national champions in the same region, and returned to his room at 3:30 a.m., at get his friends to write a letter of apology them at the Regional Championship Tour- Tufts will face a formidable competitor. which time he fell asleep. to the campus. However, he said, they still nament. The regional champions then face In last night’s rounds, teams scored “I thought that my friends had fallen deny the incident at this time. Lee said that off at the National Championship Tourna- asleep also,” Sood said. a hall meeting will be held in the near fu- ment, last year won by Harvard University. see COMPETITION, page 2 But, according to two hall residents, ture to discuss the incident. Verdier is preparing for battle over TCU Constitution by PETE SANBORN amendments concerning culture number of senators. concerning the clarity of the The discussions broke down Senior Staff Writer and commuter representatives. However, TCU Senate Resi- amendments. A number of sena- amid accusations of attempts to The Tufts Community Union Amendment One gives voting dent Ancy Verdier reminded the tors stressed the need to present see SENATE, page 2 ’ (TCU) Senate began the difficult rights to the Pan-African, Asian- Senate of the new freshman class. the entire student body with a task of discussing and finalizing American, Hispanic, and Lesbian, “Twenty-five percent of the cam- clear definition of each amend- the new TCU constitutionon Sun- Gay, and Bisexual representa- pus is new, and we must keep that ment and an easy and straightfor- Inside: 1 day afternoon.