UNEWS
Rocky Mountain Dry
WHEN IT COMES TO LISTING the nation's top party schools, the U. of Colorado seems to have gained tenured status. So it's hard to believe that as of this fall, all 18 fraternities at CU self-imposed a ban on booze in their chapters.
One man's trash...
But it's true.
The fraternities have joined their already dry sorority counterparts and approved a resolution pledging: "No member chapter will host any function in its chapter house... during which alcohol is distributed or consumed." (The fraternities are still allowed to have alcohol in their houses — it just can't be served at parties they host.)
It was the first campuswide pledge by any of the nation's university Greek communities to stay dry. And the debate wasn't even close. Shortly after, the U. of Iowa enacted a similar policy, and Utah State U. banned alcohol completely from fraternity and sorority houses.
"There was a lot of pressure from the community," says
Intrafraternity Council president and Alpha Tau Omega member Brian Phillips, a senior.
After two high-profile alcoholrelated tragedies last spring — an acquaintance rape that led to second-degree rape convictions of two fraternity members and the death of a freshman in a drinking and driving accident after a fraternity party authorities were fed up with Greek underage and binge drinking.
"People have been really nervous afraid that police are going to raid their houses anytime," says Chad Fisher, a CU senior and president of Kappa Sigma.
"We've definitely been busting the hell out of the fraternities," says Boulder Police chief Tom Koby.
Since July, fraternities had been
targeted by police for raids on an almost routine basis. Hundreds of minor-in-possession-of-alcohol tickets were issued by local police. Fraternity officers were being held responsible for serving underage drinkers, and there was a threat that some chapters could lose their houses.
Jonathan Brant, executive vice president for the National Interfraternity Conference,says it was clear Boulder authorities were looking to force a change.
"But we think this is an opportunity to reshape the stereotypes of the Greek system — back to leadership, scholarship and community activism," Brant says.
Jim Moscou, U. of Colorado / Photo by Frances Huffman
Candid Campus
AS IF FRESHMAN YEAR ISN'T AWKWARD ENOUGH Imagine living it on camera and before a national television audience. That's exactly what Elizabeth Miller of Syracuse U. and Antoinne Harris of the U. of Southern California are doing.
Producers of ABC's Good Morning America are documenting how the students' lives change during this exciting yet transitional period.
"We wanted to show how challenging the first semester can be for
a freshman," says Sandra Aikens, a GMA associate producer.
Show producers chose Miller and Harris from the pool of incoming freshmen at Syracuse and USC.
GMA tracked Harris, 18, as he
left his small hometown of Henderson, N.C., en route to the foreign land of Los Angeles.
Miller's selection came with some surprise. Shortly after arriving on the Syracuse
Cameras followed Harris during his first few days at USC. "It's hard handling all the work and the pressures of balancing my time," he says.
campus from Baltimore, Miller, 17, discovered she had been chosen as a finalist. After interviews with Syracuse administrators and GMA producers, a camera crew was assigned to follow her through opening-weekend events.
After the first few days, the crews left Harris and Miller, and GMA producers provided the freshmen with cameras to tape their experiences. There's no money in it for them, just the thrill of seeing themselves on national television.
"It's sort of like [MTV's] The Real World," Miller says. "I've been given a camera and very few guidelines." Miller says she's taped herself hanging out with friends and sitting in a few of her classes. "Of course, I'm busy," she says. "But it's fun."
The first segments aired Sept. 5, and GMA will be checking in with Miller and Harris periodically.
Haven't we seen this somewhere before? Perhaps GMA producers should call the installments The Real Similar World.
Carrie Hutchison, Syracuse U./ Illustration by Jason Jeffers, U. of South Carolina
Real Genius
HE'S NOT OLD ENOUGH TO DRIVE, YET HONORS Calculus III is part of his daily grind. What? That's right, Hench Qian is a 13-year-old freshman at Mississippi State U.
He's a down-to-earth smarty-pants. "There are a lot of people out there who are probably smarter than I am, and they are just staying back," Qian says. "I saw an opportunity, and I took advantage of it."
Weighing in at only 100 pounds, he tipped the testing scales with scores of 33 on the ACT and 1300 on the SAT. Obviously, he didn't have the typical trip through grammar school — he leap-frogged a couple of grades. And while the other juniors at his high school were in line to take the king-of-the-hill position as seniors, Qian crowned himself a college freshman.
Honors Calculus III isn't enough to keep Qian busy, either. He's taking 20 hours this semester — the average is 15 hours, and the limit without special permission is 19 — and spends most of the day on the MSU campus. But this fast-track freshman is still more comfortable hanging around with kids his own age. Joining his 13- to 15-year-old friends at the end of the day to play baseball is a nice change from the collegiate grind.
Michael Pearson, Qian's calculus professor, says he's impressed with Qian. "He's quiet, but right on top of things," Pearson says.
As for being several grades above his friends, Qian says, "I don't mind helping them do their homework, but I don't do it for them."
Qian is happy he doesn't get treated differently from anyone else. No one seems to notice he's five years younger than the average college freshman. But he doesn't live on campus.
Dorms may be the ultimate college experience, but Qian lives at home and gets all the perks: home-cooked meals and free laundry. Heck, his mom usually does his laundry!
By LaRaye Brown, Mississippi State U./Photo by Garland Cary, Mississippi State U.
The Buzz
- All nine U. of California campuses staged demonstrations Oct. 12 in support of affirmative action. UC was the first university system in the nation to scale back its affirmative-action programs since they've been ruled vulnerable to court challenges. Teach-ins, walkouts and rallies were held in an effort to push the board of regents to rescind its rollback.
- Remember the Common Fund fiasco? Now First Capital Strategists Inc., which lost $138 million in college investments, is going after the company partners' personal assets to cover the losses. It's also rumored that the 15-year-old Pennsylvania-based company is shutting down.
- Religious publications can now get financial support at the U. of Virginia. The university had banned using student fees for religious activities, but the editors of a Christian newspaper sued in 1990, and in June the Supreme Court ruled that the ban was unconstitutional. The new policy doesn't extend to activities other than publications.
8 U. Magazine · December 1995