The Reporter

wed sep-03 JgTSfJSifSRl I1MIVKRSXT WHAT'S INSIDE News 2a Opinions 4a Etcetera 6a ' Life ie Classifieds 3a Sports 5 b I m s i o http://rc-porisr.stetson.edu iV,ii»i.,iU.iaui.lf.»B?lMl;i»JM,.^u.li»^ SPORTS: Men's soccer beats Centenary, 3-2 page 2a OPINIONS; Despite its flaws, campus living has its advantages page 4a IT faces new challenges for school year By Bryan Funk editor-in-chief ■ If you ask the average college student what the most indispensable part of their college life is, quite a few, aside from the jok-. ing references to alcohol and all- night parties, will name the high speed internet access provided by their university. Here, that service is maintained by the Information Technology (IT) department, formerly known as CIT, which is responsible for both the university's internal network and providing access to the internet at large. Now based in the Wand's Center for. Information Technology, in the basement of the Lynn Business Center, the department is this year facing a new round of challenges this year. Early this year came a sudden upsurge in the activity of virus activity, on the Internet. Internet users received e- mails containing malicious programs with names like MSBlaster and Sobig. These viruses caused significant slowdowns in numerous systems around the nation and the world. The university's network was no exception to this, and was hit by a variety of viruses. Said Bill Penney, Director of Technology Infrastructure Services^ "My staff has gone out and cleaned over 200 student computers, and we figure twice that, maybe three times that have been able to clean it themselves by going to the ResNet webpage and following directions. So you're looking at as many as five or six hundred students all coming in at the same time." These viruses were aimed not at disabling individual computers, but rather at attacking networks by causing huge amounts of traffic. This overloads the network's ability to handle it. While the university's servers remained safe behind virus protection, the viruses fulfilled their aim, significantly slowing down the school's network for a period of time. The majority of the infected computers belonged to students, as most faculty and staff were protected by routine virus scans. Said Penney, "The moral of this story is, for the students, get a good updated virus protection from McAfee or Norton or one of these well-known companies.". Attacks like these, however, are not uncommon. The university network is hit by hundreds of such attacks every day, from web spiders trying to harvest email addresses to individuals trying to hack into the network. For this reason, the university servers are actually protected by two firewalls, powerful software programs which detect and stop other programs trying to enter a network uninvited. One of these programs guards internet access and the other protects sensitive administrative systems. Another major issue that is facing colleges across the country is the rising tide of legal action against users of peer-to-peer file sharing programs like Kazaa. With many colleges and other internet providers being pressured to release identifying information on their see IT, page 2a Contact Us 421 N. Woodland Blvd. #8409 DeLand, FL 32720-3751 386.822.7224 FAX 386.822.7233 reporteri7fcstetson.edu reporter_ne\vs$s tetson.edu opinionsftstetson.edu Iife:o>s tetson.edu etceterafS}s tetson.edu [email protected] onlinejf-stetson.edu advertiseTi5stetson.edu GREEK ?FiC3ATIC"NI By Liz Erlenbach news editor ,* .•>,>.- "if 1 raternities committed two violations of the Stetson alcohol policies prior to the beginning of classes in August, for which sanctions were issued, according to Rosalie Carpenter, Assistant Director of Student Activities and Director of Greek Life. Confidentiality prevented her from naming the two Greek chapters that committed the violations "Most policy violations will occur early in the fall, as people are new in their roles and are new in understanding the policies," said Carpenter. The university alcohol policy forbids the use of alcohol by those under the age of twenty-one. It additionally limits the amount of alcohol permitted in one room to twenty- four beverages, and forbids oversized containers of alcohol such as kegs. These rules mean that the stereotypical fraternity party would be a violation of university policy, and, should a fraternity have a party of this type and administration find out, sanctions can be issued. However, Carpenter cautions that people are quick to jump to conclusions about Greek Life. "I think a lot of things are stereotyped and blown out of proportion. There are~definitely people who get together and hang out, but whether there are parties.is a different question," she said. —rz~rr-r~-.....:.:...- In addition to violating school policies, parties at which large amounts of alcohol are served violate the policies of the Fraternity Insurance Purchasing Group, a company from which the majority of the Greek chapters on campus purchase insurance. All fraternities and sororities are required to- purchase insurance, and according to the company's policies, "open parties," those for which an invitation is not required, are forbidden, as well as serving, alcohol to ■^ :- v w*mrw?W' "*S *K?>F-?&% "Our Greek system does so many wonderful things that we do hold people to high standards. It is a responsibility to be a part of the Greek system." minors. % "It's a violation of not only state law, but a fraternity or sorority violation as well, and a violation of these insurance policies," Carpenter said of serving alcohol to minors. If an organization chooses to serve alcohol at a registered social function, they are required to follow a number of procedures. Eighty percent of the members of an organization must participate in an alcohol education workshop before they can apply to sponsor a social function where alcohol is served. Only members of the Stetson community and their invited guests are permitted to attend a registered social, and a complete guest list is required to be submitted to the Department of Student Activities prior to the social event. The event must be BYOB (bring your own beverage), and students who bring alcohol must leave it in a designated serving area after monitors ensure that they are legal drinking age and give them a wristband. Guests are limited to six alcoholic beverages, and non-alcoholic beverages must be made available. When a policy violation is committed by a member or members of a Greek organization, the sorority or fraternity counselor on duty or a member of Public Safety will write an incident report. The incident report will be given to Michelle Espinosa, Dean of Students, as well as Carpenter. They will then meet with the students, investigate the violation, and give sanctions as appropriate. Violations do not always occur because of actions of a whole organization. Rather, according to Carpenter, "The whole chapter isn't making bad decisions or misbehaving; it's usually just a few members spoiling it for everyone else." When this occurs, the individual's membership can be jeopardized. The president of an organization with a member violating policies will contact their national headquarters, and they will conduct an audit of the organiza tion. "They'll look at the brotherhood or sisterhood, and see who is here for the right reasons, do they have grades, et cetera. If someone needs to be removed, they'll remove them. They'll remove their pins, and disassociate them from the organization," said Carpenter. Carpenter cautions that a Greek- affiliated individual's actions can tar the community's image of the Greek system. "Greeks are kind of all painted by the same paintbrush. You see one drunk person, acting a fool downtown, and community members or people who are not familiar with out systems or the system in general say, 'All those Greek' students, or all those Stetson students, behave this way,' and that's what we're trying to avoid." To avoid this situation, these various policies are in place. "Our Greek system does so many wonderful things that we do hold people to high standards. It is a responsibility to be a part of the Greek system." Liz Erlenbach can be contacted at [email protected]. oin®r By Nicole Ellis ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR This year, twenty-five first year students have begun the challenge given by the new honors program. Dr. Toni Blum, head of the psychology department, and Dr. Ron Hall, head of" the philosophy department, have taken on the responsibility of directing the honors program after Dr. Wayne Dickson, last year's director and head of the humanities department, had to resign due to health concerns. During the first year of the new program, both professors realized that whoever was going to fill Dickson's shoes would have to have taught in the old program and followed the development of the new program. Blum said, "We knew that if he didn't feel he was handing the program over to people he trusted he would be very stressed about that; he was already feeling very guilty that his health did not allow him to continue." In order to reassure Dickson that the leadership would be in the hands of someone that loved and cared about the students and the program, Blum and Hall decided to carry the torch as co-directors. Julie Farricker, a senior in the legacy honors program and student co- teacher for the freshman honors program class, said, "I think they're doing very well." Dr. Blum admitted that it is an overwhelming task to take on for both directors who are already chair of their department. Fortunately, they have plenty of help. One source of that help is a unique factor itself, the honors program counsel. The panel is comprised of Honors Program faculty and students representing every graduating class. It is this panel that helped produce 'the changes in the Honors Program. The new program was design to deal with some kinks the old program, also known as the legacy honors program, presented and to give students a more rounded education. For example, students coming in with some general education requirements already fulfilled were apprehensive to retake that credit in order to be in the honors-program. Now they are given a class that doesn't focus on a specific discipline, but instead integrates many disciplines together. Greg Nolan, a freshman in the honors program, said, "The new setting .A-,.1-./ FRATERNITIES: Fraternity Row is home to the majority of fraternities on campus and much of Greek life, photo by bryan funk ', i: i , rv •>>«\ see HQNGHS, page 2a PROFESSORS: Drs. Toni Blum and Ron Hall discuss Oedipus, photo by le erlenbach