Fall soccer, field hockey previews '£*§*****& WEATHER Hwrtsofiburg, M 21* Partly cloudy, high~-~l 85°F,low60°F. ■ *M the m 3 o w Browsing in the 'Burg See Focus pages 16-17 VOL. 75. NO. 2 THURSDAY AuB 28. 1997 JAMESBreeze MADISON UNIVERSITY Lambda Chi Alpha disbands; social fraternity loses charter may wear their letters but can't do anything as a A list of 15 violations group under the name of the fraternity. There are currently 216 active chapters of Lambda Chi Alpha of charter guidelines in the United States and Canada. In addition to the aforementioned violations, the moves Greek Life to act fraternity also violated risk management policies. Members showed continual poor performance in by Andi Melzler this area, Pearce said. "There was no major bust," assistant news editor he said. "We are just reacting to [the^fraternity's] Lambda Chi Alpha, a social fraternity, lost its disregard for policies. They showed they no longer charter after JMU's Office of Greek Life reported 15 chose to be members." violations of charter guidelines to the chapter's However, senior Stephen Sebastian, former pres- headquarters. ident of the fraternity, said there needs to be consis- Its violations include serving alco- tency between the fraternity charter's alcohol policy hol to minors, buying alcohol in and that of JMU. -^ bulk — including kegs — and Most fraternity charters don't allow kegs, includ- hosting "open" parties without ing Lambda Chi Alpha's, he said. But there is a guest lists, said Jason Pearce, major conflict because JMU's alcohol policy does director of communications and allow kegs. alumni relations at the fraterni- Sophomore Eamon McCrann, a Lambda Chi ty's headquarters in Indianapolis. Alpha member, also noted a conflict. "The "Our policy specifically states [Interfraternity Council] changes on alcohol [that] alcohol in bulk is not allowed policy, and people are used to having it the — even large amounts bought in old way," he said. "[Members] don't under- cans," he said. "At social events, we stand [the council has] made changes, and require guest lists because at an open it's hard to get used to that, and there's a party, there is no way of monitoring lot of conflict there." who's there. These policies exist for the Kristin Radcliffe, director of Greek life, safety of the members and guests." said she began talking to members The fraternity's charter also prohibits A about the violations in February, and kegs even though JMU's alcohol policy when they continued to break charter allows kegs. policies, she contacted the fraternity's The suspension has been in effect since headquarters in April. July and will last three years before headquar- "It became a list of such high-risk ters will consider re-opening the chapter at activities in terms of the alcohol policy violations," Radcliffe said. "You can JENNIFER BAKER/ptoro editor JMU. During those three years, headquarters will see if only have gentle reminders with executive High spirits the university and fraternity complement each officers so many times before jou have to go over other, Pearce said. their heads and say, This is a problem, and I can- JMU cheerleaders exhibit their stunt talents at FunFest in While under the suspension, members are auto- not get cooperation from your chapter, and I need Godwin Field Saturday. They placed sixth in the nation during April's National Cheerieading Association championships. matically considered chapter alumni in good stand- ing and are still members of the fraternity. They see CHARTER page 2 One-fourth of faculty surveyed on GenEd return blank balloty abstain Faculty Senate] recognizes the faculty have misgiv- CENERAl EdUCATION .REFERENdUM by Rob Speirs ings about the proposed General Education . news editor Program and, therefore, asks the faculty to exercise by VOTES WITHIN COUEQES In a General Education Program referendum their responsibility as professional educators by ON ApRil 24, 1 997, 549 MEMDERS OF JMU's conducted last April by the Faculty Senate, a sub- voting on the above statement based on their 1-ACulTy VOTEd ON WHETHER THE pROpOSEd CENERAl stantial number of faculty abstained from or failed understanding of the program [as of April 7]." EdUCATION PROGRAM WAS ACAdEMICAlly SUPERIOR TO THE I ibERAl STUdlES pROCRAM to send in ballots. Of the faculty members surveyed, 297 voted against the new curriculum, and 102 voted for it Arts* Education S Science and The Senate distributed the secret ballot referen- Mathematics Total dum to 549 faculty members who were asked to There were 125 abstentions and 25 blank ballots. Business Psycotogy agree or disagree with the following statement: Faculty Senate Speaker Archer Harris said he 102 "The GeneraLEducationJ'rogram proposed for the believes faculty who abstained did not feel quali- fall of 1997 is Academically superior to the existing *fied to respond to the statement. Harris also said Liberal Studies program." he didn't know why faculty answered the way More thah one-fourth either abstained from vot- they did. ing or sent in a blank ballot. Slightly fewer than "I can only speak from my opinion, and my one-fifth agreed with the statement and about one- impression was that we had this brand new pro- half disagreed. gram," he said. "There were people saying the fac- The referendum, which gave respondents two THOMAS SC\LA/graphics editor and one-half weeks to return ballots, stated, "[The see FACULTY page 2 2 Thursday, Aug 28,1997 THE BREEZE Charter continued from page 1 some help,' and that's what I review their risk management did," she said. procedures or require the frater- "To the press alone, chequered as Sebastian believes fraternity nity to begin a campaign to ban it is with abuses, the world is headquarters revoked the charter kegs from campus, Sebastian indebted for all the triumphs for more personal reasons. said. "[Headquarters] didn't even which have been gained by "I think a lot of it was directed give us the chance to fight," he reason and humanity over error at basically getting rid of us," he said. said. "I don't think [Radcliffe] However, Pearce said fraterni- and oppression." liked the fact that we wanted to ty violations are dealt with on a — James Madison have fun, and we didn't agree case-by-case basis with the frater- Editor KrtstenHeiM with all the rules." nity's Board of Directors. The Managing editor Laura L. Wade Radcliffe said even though the Board consists of members of Technology manager Brian Hlggtrm fraternity did some positive Lambda Chi Alpha from differ- Ads manager Erin M. CaHaghan things on campus, those things ent chapters. All are alumni with didn't outweigh the risks. the exception of one undergradu- News editor Courtney A. Crowtey "They were putting our sys- ate member. News editor RobSpeira tem at risk," she said. "You can't "There is no set policy," Pearce Asst. news editor AndlMetrier have a group that continues to said. "The Board decides what Opinion editor Kelley Blasslngame violate community policy with- level of discipline is needed. This Style editor Jim 'Vega*' Terp out other groups saying, 'They situation had reached a level that Focus editor Chris Klknek can do that, why can't I?'" demonstrated closing the chapter Asst. style/focus editor Julian Walker Sebastian and McCrann said was more appropriate than pro- Sports editor Steven M. Trout the actions of their fraternity bation." Asst. sports editor Seth Burton were no worse than those of Radcliffe said she hopes this Copy editor UMRM other fraternities. "The only thing event will not reflect badly on we did differently was get other Greek organizations, but Photo editor Jennifer Baker caught," Sebastian said. "I will be an illustration of a com- Asst. photo editor Ed Dyer wouldn't say [the punishment] munity that has set clear policies. Graphics editor Thomas Scala was totally unwarranted. I mean, "I hope the other groups leam Advisers FllpDe Luca, we got caught all the time. But to from this and see it as a reminder Alan Neckowttz, pull the charter, I think, was that you can be 80 men strong, ED DYERJassisuvu photo editor David Wendelken wrong." you can have a house, you can be Instead, fraternity headquar- popular and you can still make New Greek letters already adorn the outside of the former Lambda ters should have put them on mistakes that will cause this to be Chi Alpha house on JMU's Greek Row. Chi Phi, which used to reside probation, made the members the outcome," she said. next to Sigma Kappa, moved into the house. The Breeze is published Monday and Thursday mornings and distributed throughout James Faculty Madison University and the local continued from page 1 Harrisonburg community. Comments and complaints should ulty supported it... There were some faculty American Association of Colleges and out and how many bugs turn up in the pro- be addressed to Kristen Heiss, edi- tor. saying they didn't think it was.>-good idea, Universities. cess," she said. "Right now, the classes I teach MaMng address: and many people didn't/know wntr-tp Linda Halpem, dean of general education, are very much like they were in the old sys- The Breeze believe." / \ refused to comment on the outcome of'the tem, so I really couldn't say [how well the Anthony-Seeger Hall Doug Brown,.acting vice presidgnt-foc_aca- vote but said she had "no doubts that [the program will work]." James Madison University demic affairs, said he "does r*6t perceive a faculty as a whole] would come to under- Margee Greenfield, director of the aca- Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807 great deal of irritation about [the General stand the merits of the [General Education] demic advising center, said comparisons E-Mail address: Education PrograrhT] I perceive a lot of irrita- program." between liberal studies and the General the_ [email protected] tion among a few people, but when I talk Education Program were difficult due to ©dif- Breeze Net: with the faculty on a day-to-day basis, it ferences in how the programs are organized.