The Reporter

<U- .dnesday, October 22, 1997 > FORUM: South Park—better off dead like Kenny? Debate, 5a Volume 110, Issue 8 "1 [News '; »j tForum § UEf Cetera-"* Hi |Life Sports' - -' mmk :tp://the-reporter.home. ml.org Prepare to be scared by a variety of Halloween offerings around Central Florida. Life, page 1b Stetson University, DeLand, Florida aanges ° Judson Stryker, associate dean of the School of Business Administration, will serve as acting VP until a replacement is found. f ANDY DEHNART Htor-in-Chief The highest-ranking female administra- 3n member resigned Oct. 7, citing the chal- nges related to the difference between aca- :mic and business climates. Ann Y. Graham, vice president for busi- ;ss and finance, said "I still believe in :ademia and education, but I think my real ve is working in a business setting where ofit is not a dirty word." She has served in the post for the past tree years, coming to Stetson from jpperware in Kissimmee, where she served CFO. In a memo addressed to the "Stetson niversity Community," Graham said that she pleased to "leave at a time when the Uni- ;rsity is in the strongest financial and stra- .gic position it has been in for many years." Graham said that working at Stetson has een a "real enlightening experience for me." Dr. Judson Stryker, associate dean of the chool of Business Administration, has been tied acting vice president for business and ce. President H.Douglas Lee said Stryker remain in .the post until .a replacement is. '.d, possibly as soon as spring. 'Graham's last day was Wednesday, and . said she will spend her 90-day leave of ence "refocusing my career." "This is a good time for me to leave. I 'n't like to leave things when the ship is .iking, so to speak. I like to leave things in a ood order. I'm very proud of the accom- ,^4 m plishments that we've made," she said. "The reason we are in such a favorable financial position right now is because of the work she did," Lee said. "With Ann's expertise in business, she completely transformed our budgets and the way we use budgets'," Lee said. "I am proud to say that we have managed to meet the challenge.. .and balanced the budget every single year, as well as built a contingency that positions the University in such a way that should something like that occur in the future, it won't be panic," she said. Graham said "there is a need for more female votes at a higher level in the university." In her position, she hopes that she's "given...a different perspective. Everyone has a different perspective, but I think the female perspective is also very different from the male.... I hope that I have brought that to the President's staff." .. --Grahamoversaw.a.controyersial restruc-. turing of various University departments, which culminated in a number of employees losing their jobs at the end of last year. Negative feelings from that have, she said, "made it more difficult for me to operate." "I think that people in the University have See GRAHAM, page 3a bearing completion CONSTRUCTION: Work continues on the new Hollis Center, including renovations on the pool. The building is slated to be open after winter break. Photo by Paul Davis y JEFF HAMRICK ews Editor Last Monday, independent contractors :egan the next step in Stetson's highly lauded- letwork construction. The contractors installed a communica- ions closet in the 1 st main area of Emily Hall. The communications closet will link the fiber •ptic cables that were recently laid under- round around campus with Emily HalJ. Communications closets will be placed ■ i all of the residence halls, fraternity houses, orority houses, administrative offices, and jther buildings. Michelle Espinosa, director of residen- al life, expects the closet installations to be omplete shortly after the end of the semes- :r. The next, more difficult task will be the stallation of cable outlets in all individual "fices and residence rooms. This task will require the use of 'drops' :tween floors, weaving of cables in and out ' walls, and the minimization of structure changes to the facilities. "We found an area in each building for the communications closet...[the closets] will hold the wiring and electronic equipment," said Michelle Espinosa. The next targeted residence hall will be Hollis Hall. Construction there is expected to last from Oct. 16-20. Espinosa and Director of Facilities Management David Noyes arranged to have the construction completed only from the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Espinosa said that the "workers will be here the rest of the semester, moving from building to building." Espinosa said the she was pleased with • the rapid pace of the network construction, noting that "everything seems to be moving along...according to any plans...they're [the workers] obviously working smart." After the communications closets are installed at Hollis, the master plan calls for closets to be placed in Conrad, Chaudoin, and Stetson Halls. Espinosa apologized for the The busiest time of the year for SIWIISS and Rush—when the organizations recruit and formally invite ISM members. - -Theprocess ended after Fall Breakfor sororities and this past weekend forfratemities, lIH it all came together. - ETrVv ush ended last weekend for fraternities as the new pledges signed their bid cards Sunday in the Carlton Union Building. Each fraternity waited outside Jas their new pledges stepped out of the double doors and began their journey as a Greek brother. "I didn' t realize what a big deal being in a fraternity meant, but after going through rush I can see how close the fraternity gets. When I went to SOAR this summer I started hanging out with the Sig Eps and I'm sure this is where I should be. I'm a little nervous, but really excited about the next couple...[of] years," said freshman Shaun Cronin. A tremendous amount of time and preparation is put into the sorority and fraternity rush week. Each house puts on coke parties (sororities) and smokers (fraternities) which are alcohol-free parties. All the rushees are invited to each of the houses in order to meet the sisters and brothers. The rush process is slightly different for sororities and fraternities. On Oct. 2, the women met in the Stetson Dining room where they informally met each sorority"and listened to each president speak about their organization. They also listened to an introductory speech by Director of Student Life Darald Stubbs. He explained that the rush process is very time consuming and stressful, but extremely fun at the same time. On Oct. 10, after most of the student body left campus for Fall Break, approximately 80 girls, dressed and ready to socialize, met at the Panhellenic pavilion and then went off to their first group of coke parties. "All of the time and effort paid off. Our themes were 'Hollywood with the Tri Deltas' and 'Down home with the Tri Deltas.' I think all the girls had a lot of fun meeting everyone," said senior Amy Rowell. Kathleen Dunn, a freshman who rushed Alpha Chi said "The parties were somewhat of a pain, but they were all worth it because it paid off. They help you decide where you need to go and whom you fit in with. I felt really comfortable with every one in the Alpha Chi house. By the end of the coke parties I knew my personality fit with all of theirs." After going to two coke parties at each sorority house, the girls go through a process of choosing up to three of the five houses to return to for Invitational Parties. "Invites" are parties that the rushees get invited back to if the houses they chose also chose them. "It is a very complicated procedure. It involves a lot of numbers and matching girls with sororities that share the same interests," said Vice President of Rush Courtney Thurber. On the night of the invitational parties, rushees eliminate one of the three sororities which asked them to the invites. Rushees then attend these last two sororities' preferential parties; preferential .parties are the last formal rush parties. Special ceremonies are performed at the preferential parties; the rushees get to see the serious side of the sorority and get an understanding See RUSH, page 3a By ASHLEE JONES Staff Writer ? Photos by PAUL DAViS Staff Photographer RUSH: Jill Cooley and Victoria Watson chat as they anticipate receipt of their bid cards. AXQ ASA AEA AAA ITS# ZTA ATO AS# AXA @ZK EN 2®E UK® workim incovenience and noise caused the installation of the communications closet, but she said that she "preferred] to have the work completed while students are here" so that the network would be ready as soon as possible. Espinosa said that the preliminary planning for the installations of cable outlets in individual rooms at residence halls has already been completed. "Each individual room at every residence hall will have an outlet...some of those rooms will also have drops through the ceiling and down through the walls," said Espinosa. "Drops" are rectangular plastic tubes which allow for cables to drop from floor to floor without breaking or reconstructing entire walls. Espinosa said that the drops have already been installed at the Carlton Union Building. "Each drop in the residence hall was selected for its aesthetic quality and by the likely layout of the rooms." "We want to keep the students as informed as possible and we want to work with any students who are having problems with the construction," said Espinosa. In explaining the work schedule for the communications closets, Espinosa said that construction would not occur during the "week of finals and the week before finals.". Although she noted that "we're not going to be able to avoid some noise [and inconvenience] during the process, but we will be sensitive to interruptions." Espinosa noted that she and Noyes selected the working hours in order to balance student desires—like sleeping late in the morning—with Stetson's desire to avoid paying the workers overtime costs. Overtime would have to be paid on any work completed after 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Espinosa said that she could not be sure of when the communications closets would be fully installed across the campus. She is, however, preparing for problems associated with placing the cable outlets in individual residents' rooms. She said that it was certainly possible that the cable outlets would be installed while stu dents were occupying the residence halls— either at the end of this academic year or the beginning of the next academic year. When contractors begin installation the individual cable outlets in each room, residents will probably be asked to monitor the installation. Espinosa said that students would be asked to move personal belongings so that the workers and the university would not be legally liable for any potential damage. Espinosa wants to turn the final installations into "a positive experience" and may organize hall programs around the event. lortMoreilnfornriatibn sS Students with questions or complaints about the installation of the communication closets can call Residential Life at ext. 7201. FORUM: NASA's benefits may not be worth the risk, 4a LIFE: TV shows jumping from station to station, 1b SPORTS: Soccer team upsets Florida International, 4b