The Stetson Reporter

wed if% eras WHAT'S * N SID F. News 2A . Opinions 4A Life IB Classifieds 2A Sports 5B Etcetera 6a issue 10 volume 115 e LIFE: ASA performs Lion Dance page 4a M OPINIONS: Organizations should leave students alone page 4a Delta Sigma Phi Excavation lecture uncovers times of Jesus forms a colony, solicits brothers By Jamie ^Kinsley NEWS WRITER By Julie Farricker ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR This fall, after losing their charter in 1998, Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity is back on ^campus and has achieved colony status ;among the other 102 chapters across the nation. Students are beginning to see the brothers of this fraternity wear -jerseys of the official colors of the fraternity, nile green and white. Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity was •founded December 10, 1899 at City College of New York and has initiated 106,500 men since the founding with about 4,500 current undergraduate members. They are the tenth largest fraternity of the 66 North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) member, fraternities. More than one-third of the 106,500 members have been initiated since 1.980; so they are also one of the fastest growing NIC fraternities. According to the official website, the organization was created based on the "universality of human brotherhood" in which the "question of nationality or religion of its individual members need not and must not play any part whatsoever." The purpose of Delta Sigma .Phi is to "challenge each man to a greater good." The national philanthropy for this ■ fraternity is the March • of Dimes. The university .chapter began in 1925, and the national headquarters sent a couple of recruiters to campus to oversee the procedures. "There have been many distinguished alumni from this chapter, and we waited four years to come back. It was a joint process from the university and national-headquarters to re-establish"" the chapter here on campus," said Dave Ruzicka, one of the recruiters. The Alpha Chi Chapter of Delta Sigma Phi will have >a one to two year period to expand to see if it grows to an average fraternity size of about 30 members. If so, housing on or off campus will become an issue at that time. After recruiting through introductory letters and information sessions, executive positions have also been voted on. The board consists of President John-Kowalczyk, Vice President Chris. Hixson, Treasurer Jorge Mondaca, Secretary Karly Canty, Ser- geant-at-Arms Doug Katez, and Recruitment Chairs Dan Abreu and Paul Coffin. '•' The other members range from first-year students through seniors and represent organizations such as SGA, College Republicans, Alpha Kappa Psi Business Fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law. Fraternity, Student Ambassadors, Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity, and the golf and baseball teams. "It's a social fraternity, but one see FRATERNITY, page 2a ^Reporter Corrections 1. "SGA requires organizations to participate" NEWS, Issue 9. Ahmad Yakzan is chair of the policy reform committee fall 2003 semester. The article referenced an older version of the bill, but the passed SAFAC bill was re-, vised and SGA cannot revoke the status of any organization. Contact Us 421 N. Woodland Blvd.* 8409 DeLand, FL 32723 ' 386.822.7224 FAX 386.822.7233 [email protected] [email protected] opinions@stet~son.edu [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Archeologist Dr. Jonathan Reed lectured on "Excavating Jesus: Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus," using slides to map out his lecture, Wednesday night, Nov. 20, in the Rinker Audir torium of the Lynn Business Center. "Dr. Reed took a completely different approach than what I had expected. However, I found his method to be an enlightening surprise," said Ashley Palmer, a first-year sociology major. . The method Reed, a professor of "New Testament and Christian Origins" at the University of La Verne in California, employed consisted of over 100- slides, which covered what archeology had thus far discovered about how- people, in and around where Jesus was active, lived during his time. Reed, started with a top ten list of archeological findings. Number ten on his list was the stone vesicles used for Jewish purity concerns. Herod the Great was number six. Number five was the "skeleton of crucified.man." This picture was of a large nail, through bones, bent at the end, which Reed explained as being bent in order to stay, in the wood. A large boat being pulled out of the water was the slide depicting Reed's number four. This fishing boat, taken from the Sea of Galilee, was dated as coming from the first century. This boat would have held twelve men and an oarsman. It has been called the "Jesus boat." Possibly the only accurate holy sight shown to people "is the House of Peter, which was Reed"s number three. An inscription holding the name of Pontius Pilot was number two. and an ossuary with the bones of a high priest was number one.- "This was number one until about a month ago.*' said Reed. Reed changed his number one to the ossuary with the inscription saying "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." "I liked how Dr. Reed slowly built up his evidence for his case; I thought it an enlightening experience," said Chris Stefancik, a sophomore chemistry major. "Archeology is about recreating a see EXCAVATION, page 2a SGA MEETING Senators quarrel over Honor Code MONITOR: President Martin and Vice President Chambers moderate the discussion of the sprinkler bill, photo by amy rigdon By Amy Rigdon NEWS EDITOR^. The Student Government Association (SGA) gathered in Sage Hall room 211 Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 6:30 p.m. to hold its second to last meeting for the semester. ' Earlier in the day, from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., the Community Relations Committee hosted "Meet the President and Executive Board of SGA" in the Commons so that SGA senators could mingle with the peers in their organization. The Food Services Committee also attended the meet-and-greet in the Commons in order to hand out a dining services survey. After roll call was taken at the meeting, the president of SGA, Jonathan Martin, made a couple of opening comments to the senators pertaining to the amendments the faculty has added to the Honor Code proposal and to the staff editorial in The Reporter, which had spoken out against the bill that SGA has recently passed regarding SAFAC policy. Next, each committee chair gave a report on any new developments under its domain. The chair of Cpmmunity Relations, sophomore political science major Michael Davis, commented on the success of the meet-and-greet earlier that day despite the poor attendance by senators. "Unfortunately, there were not a lot of senators there, and that was disappointing to me. I thought it was a very big success, though,' and I hope we can do it in the future," said Davis. The Food Services Committee, which had worked with the Community Relations Committee that day to conduct the meet-and-greet, said that a total of 256 surveys were completed, and the committee chair sophomore business major Hugo Martin presented a small banner the committee had purchased for use at future SGA events. The following committee reports were brief. The financial affairs committee said that it has put up flyers throughout campus advertising SGA's leadership scholarship, the policy- reform committee asked for help writing a bill that affects elections, and the, Social Responsibility Committee informed the senators that SGA needed to renew its contract and commitment to cleaning the road the organization adopted in 1996. Once the reports were finished, the meeting moved to old business. During this time, the senators opened debate on the sprinkler bill, which requests the university to not turn on the sprinklers around central parts of campus until 3 a.m.' as opposed to the 1 a.m. watering time now. The bill and the senators who support it claim the sprinklers are a potential danger to students, who can either be showered with reclaimed'water or might slip on damp sidewalks. Currently, the sprinklers run from 1 a.m. until 6 a.m., so some senators raised the concern that if the sprinklers were not started until 3 a.m., the grounds may not receive a full watering. The senators.could not - . reach a consensus and sent the bill back to the Campus Life Committee to work on it. •x Open discussion began, which started a lengthy and heated debate on the Honor Code proposal. "The faculty amendments make it so they don't have to listen to the Honor Code, which I feel is a slap in the face to all of us," said Martin. During her academic affairs committee report, chair and sophomore Spanish and psychology major Maya Yankelevich, rebutted Martin's statement. "I like the changes that the faculty senate has made to the Honor Code," said Yankelevich. "Besides, they didn't "I. am tired of uneducated people, who haven't even read the newly amended Honor Code, striking out against it." amend the code with any major changes, only minor wording." Karl Canty, junior political science major and chair of the Financial Affairs Committee, was the first to speak dur-' ing open discussion. "We must ask the faculty senate to ■ accept the Honor Code as we have it or else we should tell them that we will disband SGA, and then the university will lose its accreditation," said Canty. "I have been part of this body for two and a half years now, and I have seen a lot of good ideas come out of it but not a lot of change. We need to put the smack down, so to speak." Some senators stood up to speak immediately to disagree with Canty. "The change added in the Honor Code that allows faculty to have the final say [despite the Honor Council's verdict] is because there is evidence that the faculty will be more compassionate on a student who cheats rather than a council of fellow students," said Davis. Yankelevich agreed and asked the senators not to quarrel over the Honor Code now because SGA passed it last year. "If we stall this now, we will never get this initiative passed. This is the fourth year that this has been debated,- but this code is going to be passed this year," said Yankelevich. "I am tired of uneducated people, who haven't even read the newly amended Honor Code, striking out against it. We petitioned and surveyed the students and passed it in SGA last year. I am saddened that this is being debated now." Senator Ahmad Yakzan, senior political science major, passionately argued against the Honor Code. "I don't want the Honor Code,"' said Yakzan, who, is also chair of the Policy Reform Committee. "I want to table the Honor Code and send it back to me because it is a policy reform. It isn't just an educational thing." "I think Maya [Yankelevich] is the only one here who has read the thing [the Honor Code] the entire way through. We got half the campus to sign a petition, but what does that mean when no one has read it. I could ask' students, 'do you like candy,' and students will say.'sure,' but L could give them cockroaches covered in chocolate. That's candy, but students aren't, going to like that. The point here is that students will sign for packages that they don't know what's inside, but they won't like what's inside," said Canty. "My only point is if we are starting to have some serious concerns in the eleventh hour, we should not just throw them to the wind and go on with this Honor Code, or else we are going to be stuck with this after shoving it down students' throats." Since it appeared that the de-' bate was "not going, to end anytime - soon, the vice president limited it to one final comment from senator' Sean Declet, a first-year political science major. . "We were told that our teachers have the power now to slam us if we are cheating. This Honor Code isn't giving them a new power. It will be on a three-year probation period, and then it doesn't become fact, but then we have to approve it again. This honor code doesn't have overreaching power," said Declet. "It's our responsibility to read this Honor Code, and it is our fault if we don't." During open discussion, senator and junior political science major Youssef Benkhatar commented on the procedures of SGA that are. hindering it from being more effective. "I am concerned that the finished product is not happening. If we followed the procedure policy and people take it seriously, we could pass three to four bills a semester, which would give us a better weight with students and better publicity. Instead of just tabling bills like the sprinkler bill, it should just go through the process and we vote on it," said Benkhatar. Despite the heated debate, many senators remained calm and some even comical. A handful of senators would interject comedic comments, interrupting other senators, who had the floor and were speaking during committee reports and open discussion. One senator's cell phone rang a total of four times throughout the meeting. He never answered it any time, but he left it on to ring again. The meeting ended with the drawing for a bicycle that was raffled off for people who completed a dining services survey and with announcements. The president, vice-president, and chair of the academic affairs committee announced that they were invited to attend the faculty senate meeting on Friday, Nov. 22, when the faculty senate would be looking at the Honor Code proposal. Amy Rigdon can be contacted at [email protected]. http://reporter.stetson.edu - talk/appla BB m& m lliHfiBrf' r=ri <amna • i a i anjiSM mmmmiismmEw ium*