The Reporter

wed r i .'' . sep-04 http.V/rsacrter.stetson.edu _JS.JLJE_T_S_flUti U_JS_L_il_E k <ba. joia.'oj»i*A!_,4._.<_, a ^.iirtosusj^a, e s L i £ e adjusts to Increase enrollmeii Liz Erlenbach NEWS EDITOR The largest class of first- year students in at least 15 years stepped onto campus on Saturday, Aug. 21. With 641 students enrolled as of Monday, Aug. 23, Dean of Admissions Terry Whittum said there is a good chance that this will be the largest class in this university's history, although he has not been able to confirm that for certain. As a result of the unusually large first-year class, several problems have arisen, including a temporary housing shortage for first-year students. "When we initially started working on it, we were looking at about 60 extra bed spaces that we were trying to determine," said Michaelle Finch, associate director of Residential Life. Finch said that Residential Life became aware of the shortages in early to mid-July. To find space for the students, "We were looking at putting students in the lounges, tripling up some of the rooms in Stetson [Hall], tripling some of the rooms in Conrad, rooms that were larger than regular rooms, also possibly using the University Inn. We were looking at two houses that are owned by Stetson on the campus, but they're not connected to the residence halls. We were looking at all those places for extra housing," Finch said. In addition, to attempt to make room for the incoming students, restrictions were lifted on upper-class students living off-campus. Prior to this year, if returning students chose to live off campus, their university-controlled grants or scholarship funds could be reduced by up to $2,500 for juniors and $1,500* for seniors. However, these restrictions were lifted for this aca- , demic year. "They were reduced only for this year," said Finch, stating that Residential Life has not decided whether the lifted restrictions will continue next year if a similar situation arises. "They'll cross that bridge when they come to it." By the end of July, according to Finch, the housing shortage was beginning to be resolved. "We were losing students, either people who decided not See HOUSING, 2A issue 01 it |||pr!da«.gjrsfegri^te|!6pllegeiN^ ti&JS&i&Li.l&J&x- on o tee \ y KELLY KLAUBER / THE REPORTER Chief Kickingstallionsims takes it to the house with a picture perfect slam dunk on Saturday at the Rinker Field House. Kickinstallionsims is the university's latest and, according to Head Coach Derek Waugh, the tallest basketball acquisition since he has been coaching at the university. STORY, IB volume 117 Liz Erlenbach NEWS EDITOR Public Safety officers confiscated alcohol from at least two fraternity houses on Sunday, Aug. 22, following routine walkthroughs by Kelly Sullivan, assistant director of Student Activities for student leadership and Greek Life, and Sarah DiSabato, director of Student Activities. "I made that decision [to have the houses inspected], in consultation with Sarah DiSabato and Kelly Sullivan... as we do in many of the residence halls at the beginning of school, and at any point on a weekend we may decide to do some walk-throughs," said Dean of Students Michelle Espinosa. "In that the first weekend is typically a high time of activity, and we see more policy violations during the first weekend, we did feel a need to be very present and visible in the buildings," she said. "We went in just to go down and do routine checks. That's something that we can do, because it's a residence hall. We have freshmen overflow down there, we went to check on things, with FOCUS going on and everything," said Sullivan. According to Sullivan, walk-throughs were conducted in every fraternity house, and in several houses, she found evidence of alcohol violations. "When we arrived, we saw alcohol and empty beer cans and stuff, and walked through hallways, and once we saw that we called Public Safety," said Sullivan. J. D. Hess, director of Public Safety said, "It's my understanding that the halls were strewn with trash that would allude to [alcohol violations]," he said. According to Hess, eight bottles of hard liquor and numerous cans of beer were confiscated by Public Safety officers. According to Sullivan, not all of the houses had alcohol violations. "If there was reason to believe that there was some sort of party or major alcohol, then rooms were searched by Public Safety and ID's were checked by Public Safety with the professional staff members as witnesses," she said. "Most of the evidence or contraband was in 'D' and 'E' house," said Hess. Houses "D" and "E" are the residences of Pi Kappa Phi and Sigma Phi Epsilon, respectively. .Matt Foreman, senior religious studies major and president of Pi Kappa Phi said, "They [Public Safety] were pulling beer cans out of our trash cans and counting them. They counted that as an alcohol in a common room violation." Espinosa said that the university is permitted to search students' rooms "anytime we see a situation where we believe a violation See FRATERNITY, 24 Admmistratio Liz Erlenbach NEWS EDITOR Several new staff members have been hired this year, according to Dean of Students Michelle Espinosa. Dana Copes has been hired to replace Darald Stubbs as Di rector of Residential Life. Stubbs resigned in May from his position as associate dean of students and director of Residential Life, though Copes will not be taking over the position of Associate Dean. "She will come on board as Director of Residential Life, and what that does is it allows her to focus entirely on that department as she learns Stetson and learns the community," said Espinosa. Copes will start full- time during the week of Sept. 13. Dr. Lisa Andrews has also been hired as director of Career Services, replacing Jane Cordray-Brandon, who left in December of last year. Kelly Sullivan was hired as assistant director of Student Activities for student leadership and Greek Life. She was hired to fill the position vacated last fall by Shane Juntunen. How ever, the responsibilities have been altered somewhat. Last year, Greek Life was advised by Rosalie Carpenter, who is now assistant director of Student Activities for community service and the Council for Student Activities. See STAFF, 24 FOCUS leaders accommodate scarcity of members and larger incoming class Ian Wasser STAFF WRITER On August 21, 641 first-year students arrived on Stetson's campus and began the orientation process. The university's fall orientation program, FOCUS, has the mission of helping first-year and transfer students in their transition to university life. Yet, this year, FOCUS faced a challenge of being understaffed. The group, committed to having as many staffers as possible to help the first-year students, risked not being able to meet a quota that ensures a smooth journey for both the new students and the FOCUS members. "A problem was seen near the end of the summer," said Michelle Espinosa, Dean of Students and top leader of FOCUS. This year, FOCUS had 35 FOCUS workers, six assistant coordinators, and one coordinator; this was not a full compliment though. Espinosa said, "We [had] ten to twelve fewer FOCUS workers than we had in the previous years." This meant that FOCUS group leaders had roughly four more new students in their groups than in past years. Along with that, workers worked longer hours to complete the necessary assignments. FOCUS hiring occured in February. At that time, the program received plenty of applications and students accepted txxwork for FOCUS of the 2004 school year. "We had a lot more students apply than we needed," said Mike Fraser, a senior English major and FOCUS coordinator. What happened afterwards is where the source of the problem occurred. Fraser pointed to the unexpected removal of a large portion of hired FOCUS workers. "Several were removed for miscellaneous reasons that either caused them to drop out or for us to let them go," Fraser said. Dean Espinosa also stated that the loss of previous staff member and key player in FOCUS, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life Darald Stubbs, added to the confusion of the summer FOCUS preparations. Besides longer hours and more tasks, FOCUS members had to deal with problems that are not easily seen. "[FOCUS] had lost some of its ability to create a more personal touch," stated Fraser in talking about the bond created by FOCUS members and the new students. Despite these challenges, however, some leaders took the difficulties in stride. "It's just five more people than usual," said Jamie Glenn, a senior and first-year member of the FOCUS team. Glenn continued that, while it made it harder to perform the "ice breakers" FOCUS is known for to get new students to feel comfortable in their new " See FOCUS, 24 Wednesday's Forecast: Afternoon thunderstorms. High 92, j**4T Low 73 Forecast on |Sage"'§J\ CALENDAR 6a NEWS 2A CROSSWORD 2B NEWS MAKERS 3A HISTORY 2B OPINIONS 4A HOROSCOPE 2B RUMINATIONS 2B LIFE IB REVIEWS 3B LETTERS TO EDITOR 5A SPORTS 1C MAD CAMPUS 2B THE WARNING TRACK 2C MOVIE LISTINGS 3B WEATHER FORECAST 6a Urschfer's Vision SGA President looks to unify campus organizations. Story, 3A Dorm Room Decor University students try their hands at feng shui Story, 1B Movie Listings Get movie listings for the weekend. Movies, 3B