The Stetson Reporter

j Account j balances kyague to 'Students -BY JULIE GOWAN Reaching the half-way point of the semester /last week, students ; were cramming over mid-semester exams and praying not to have another hurricane threat leading students to triple up on homework. This wasn't the only problem students feared, though. After swiping their card one last time at the Hat Rack or Commons, or signing away a $15 pizza, students have begun to wonder if they are out of points in the middle ofthe semester. ■ Many students have found themselves in this predicament. "Many students forget about their little expenditures at the coffee kiosk or the Hollis Center, because it's just a couple dollars here and there," said Paul B. Marcaurelle, director of Dining Services. About 1500 students are registered on some sort of meal plan while living on campus and many have wondered when and how they receive their meal plan. "Around the first week of April we worked in conjunction with Residential Life to have students sign up for meal plans while choosing their room for the following year," said Marcia Davenport, office/meal card coordinator. "This way we minimized students having to come into the office and sign up for "" the meal plan the following fall." Even though Davenport and her assistants were able to sign up about 300 students, many had to come back to the office during the first week. First-year students attempting to sign up for meal plans and get their IDs made were competing with upperclassmen who received notes in their mailboxes to come to the Commons. "Over the summer we re- coded our system from a four- digit system to a two-digit one, to get everyone on one system and keep track the amount of cards a student has had during their enrollment at Stetson," said Davenport. During the first couple of weeks, upperclassmen went through the same routine of hearing about the 17,12,9, and 5 meal plans, but this year students had information accessible to them if they had ques- iions about the meal plan. ;;, "All first-year students and sophomores are required to be on a meal plan for their two years at Stetson. If a student is a transfer student with junior status, they can choose a plan or all points, however if a first- year student comes .into Stetson with junior status due to advancement placement credit he/she cannot choose an all- point meal plan," said Marcaurelle. Marcaurelle feels having these students on meal plans is not the university's way of being parents. [ see MEALS, page 2a ] The Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils allowed The Reporter to send two of its freshman writers through the recruitment process. Here they present their commentary and analysis of this year's recruitment. UJ < X The Brotherhood by kevin hale | Julie Gowan, our dear dear News Editor, bounces a proposition off me during a.staffmeeting.. She. wants to get news commentary from two freshmen running through the Greek recruitment activities. Unfortunately, there's one ethical stipulation: the individuals that write the articles cannot consummate their experience by joining a Greek organization. She asked for volunteers from the freshman staff members and volunteers of The Reporter, individuals so committed and devoted to journalism that becoming a Greek could never be on their personal agenda. In the end, I volunteered and Valerie became my counterpart in sin. Julie set up the situation as follows: only Darald Stubbs, the presidents ofthe PanHellenic Council and the InterFraternity Council, and The Reporter knew that two reporters would be going through the recruitment process. However, only The Reporter would know our names and we were to proceed as though we were "just looking around." As far as I am concerned, I have no qualms about the Greek system. However, I've never been down to fraternity row and sadly, had to ask for directions so that I would make it to my destinations. Thus, I went into Fall Recruitment '99 blind and unaided. Thursday, October 7 The first day of sign-up for Fraternity fall recruitment was set up on the steps ofthe CUB. On my way back from class, I casually made a slight detour up the stairs and filled out my share of paperwork. At the table sat a fraternity member. This was our encounter: Me: Do you want the weighted or unweighted GPA? Frat Man: [in the not-annoyed-but-gonna-level-with-you tone] Look buddy, the only thing we care about is whether anyone in your family has been a frat member and your name. Don't worry about that other stuff, [smile] Me: Oh... At that moment, I was wishing that I had left out my entire high school resume under the activities portion ofthe form. After realizing that Mu Alpha Theta was mocking me from the paper, I turned in my neon green sheet of uncoolness and walked quickly away, hoping that I wouldn't hear laughing in the distance. Fortunately, I remembered that they read only two things on that form and dismissed the entire incident as inconsequential. [ see FRATERNITY, page 3a ] The Sisterhood by Valerie futch | On Monday night after The Reporter held its weekly staff meeting, my roommate informed me that it had been mentioned that I should go through the recruitment process and write about it for the newspaper. Of course, she added, she knew that I would not be interested in this, as it did not quite seem like my type of thing. Interested? I jumped at the chance. This "top secret investigative report" on one ofthe most structured and stressful events made the James Bond theme start to play in my head, and I quickly switched into my incognito sorority sister wannabe mode. My secret was only safe with The Reporter and the PanHellenic Council (informed for ethical reasons), along with my partner-in-crime, Kevin, who would report on the process for the guys. The first step to unraveling the mysteries of fall recruitment was to sign up. There I was, sitting in the meeting, listening to the presidents of the chapters tell me what Greek life was like and how they were excited to welcome us into their homes. Even though I knew that I would not be here if it weren't for the assignment, I began to wonder if my feelings wouldn't change as my investigation continued. The phrase "you're gonna get sucked in" was reounding in my head. That is what everyone told me. No, Valerie, you can't rush simply to go through it, you're going to join, you will, I know it. Let me clarify at this point that I have no problems with sororities. I personally feel that they are right for some people and they can be a great community. Personally, I had found other ways that I wanted to be involved on campus and knew that I had neither time nor the money to fully commit to such an organization. Now that my disclaimer is out ofthe way, I can continue. I now had about a week to relax and ■ prepare, a week until the first-round parties would start up and the real fun would begin. The sheer structure of the sorority recruitment process is rather elaborate and strict. There are six sororities and every rushee must attend all of their first parties. These took place on Thursday and Friday nights. If I happened to miss one of these parties, I would have been thrown out of the rush process and I could try again in the spring. These parties consisted of a lot of hand-shaking and explaining where I was from and why I picked Stetson. It was a chance for the sisters to see how you composed yourself and whether you seemed like the type of girl they were looking for. It was also a chance for the girls to see whether or not they felt they would fit in with the sororities. After two nights of parties, we were confined to our rooms, or at least within earshot of our telephone, to wait for "the call" from our Rho Chi. This phone call—one that for some people was amazingly important—would tell us which sororities had invited us back. Next on the list came the invitational parties. We got to pick up to three to return to, out of the ones that had invited us back. Also, we automatically went back to the Alpha Kappa Alpha house, since they were operating under an open rush process. Thus, my Saturday [ see SORORITY, page 3a ] Values'Council lists goals for the task forces in *99 by jeff hamrick | The Values Council recently held two meetings to discuss the organization ofthe body and to make initial reports for the academic year. At the September 23 meeting, Dr. H. Douglas Lee, chair of the Values Council, asked the five task force chairs to present a list of people who have volunteered to work on each of the task forces. Lee said that he perceives "four areas that may serve as a common ground for the evolution ofthe group's work." Specifically, Lee said that he detects a strong curricular component for each area and significant faculty involvement across disciplinary lines. Additionally, Lee said that the Council's work would focus on facilitating distinctive curricular and co-curricular components, such as special lecturers and workshops. [ read this story in News, page 2a ] 'Brain' top-notch art SURGERY: 'Fish Brain' by Bi lan Conley earned second looks in the Duncan Art Gallery, photo by katarzyna walosik [ read this story in Life, page 2b ] Spirit changes for the winter seaso ItMitS? ®; j PtsVPtP >, page ^a j [ reaa mis story in LiTe, pag £392^^ ^jW^k^ *#^fi£«PieiS^0 5iSLs[ BY ANDREA MAGINOT AND BECKY KRUSE | As we move into the winter sports season, many new things are happening with the Hatter cheerleaders. Their fresh new uniforms are just the beginning. With fourteen women, Stetson's first all female team in several years, the Hatters are learning new stunts and new cheers and preparing for the exciting season of Hatter basketball. The women began as soon as they arrived on campus, with a clinic August 30 through September 1 and tryouts on the 2nd. The prospective team members had to show off their stunts, jumps, and gymnastics. The tryouts narrowed the team down to fourteen women, quite a change from last year's team of four women and two men. [ read this story in Sports, page 4b ] 3'