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·~ ; ' · • - · _ • • • • • • • ~· ·.' • • • · • - • • • · _. • : _ • · • •••• ~ , • • •• , • .~ , .... , \ \_\' • ,.. ••• • :- , t • ,. • · .• ~ , • ,.. -.. ·.., ._ ,•• ,..- ~r J • _., • , ·~~ ·_;. \f \' ... • • • '\ ~ • ~ • · . • • ... ' • \' • • • ' '\\ • -\' 'I •-_ r, \_-- -., • \' .. •\\ •,. •~'~. ~-. ~; ~. •\ \'• \ • ~ • •; 11' ~, '\'- \' ~ • • \.. • ~ ot .~ A·nyo~,e. who tsn 't confused really doesn 't un.derstand the sztuat1on. 1 ' · -EdwardR.Mu·rrew U2K Report Provokes Questions and Concerns byJimDeWan Staf!Writer Last week, the U2K Steering Committee released \A Proposal for Residential and Social Life at Union.\ This eleven-page docu,. ment, if implemented, would dras- tically alter student life at Union. This r<::port, available i:n last :week's Concordiensis, as well as anline and at the Dean of Students' of- . :fice, would uproot almost every fra- ternity, sorority, and theme house from their current :residence and. assign them a newer, and in most cases, smaller residence. Twelve of the \best\ residences would house twelve new campus houses. Every student would be assigned to pne of these houses upon ar- rival to Union and be given a dmnce to live in th.e house.. The pmposal also includes a number o.f new social altematives, includ- ing the construction ef a \party bam'' that all .groups would have access to, and possibly convert- ing the College Bookstore into a pub/nightclub, and juice bar, and coffeehouse. 'These changes would be implem~n,ted by the fal1 ·of 2004, after all cllrrent Union stu- dents have presumably gr.aduated. The committee recommends that President Hull take no action on this proposal before October 2000, so adequate feedback can be so- licited and tal<;en into account. The lJ2Kcommittee convened in the· fall of 1998 and has b~en drafting.and refuting the proposal for the past two years. The com- mittee consiste.t:f of alumni, admin- istrators, faculty, andstudent lead- ers. One student, Aaron Seliger, a Sigma Phi brother, refused to s~gn the report and quit the committee beforeitwas r~leased. Seliger said be refused to sign the report for two reasol_ls: ''First, l could never sign something that takes away my bouse. Second, I don~t believe it's going to work.'~ Seliger added \1 don't think it's going to work for a lor of reasons. It's not going to solve the problems of the Greek system, it's just going to push them to the edge of campus. People. won't have any loyalty to their new houses. The way it is now, if there's a p(}Ity at :my house or Chi Psi, for example, if people begin to trash the house, we stop them. At these new houses, people will not care. •• Costs of the Plan: own, SigrnaPhiand Phi Delta Theta, to· be incJ!lded it) the new hou~e system.. Doespite the fact that the colleg.e owns the land tll.e~e houses sit on, it would ,hav~ to purchase ~eir :houses in order to enactthis.plan by the fall Qf 2()()4, as well asbreak the leases the £ta- ternities currently have with tl:te college. A.ccording to college at,.. torney Ch11ck Assini, Phi Delta Theta's lease expires onAugmt 14, 2012, while Sigma Phi's ru.ns throughM:arch 14,2004. The col- lege weuld, according to Dia11e Blake, Vic:e President of Fin!lllce, pay fair JiU!rket value for the two houses. Althou.gh Blake couldn()t cornmenton thevalueofSigmaPhi and Phi Delta Theta, she couf\lD.llJ;Jd that Alpba Delta Phi was appraised to have a v.alu~ of $300,00() last year. Furthermore~ the report calls f()r Silliman Hall and Lamont Ho11se to be converted mto residence JJ.alls in order to join ,the new hm1se: S:YS,. tern. These buildings would l!eed to be re11ovated and new homes would need to lle found for tlte cf- fices Si11itnan.andLamont curreatly house, including GMI, Health. Set- vices, Reli~ious Services, Co101Sel- in,g Sei:vic:es~ a:nd others. 'Q:te rep()rt also calls for all resi- dence halls to be renovated ill1he nea;r future. When asked about specific costs, Blake shied away from naming an exact figure, but assured that the college is ••willing to put in a significant amount of money.\ Greekand Theme House Criticism: The U2K report is very unpopu,.. lar amongst the fraternities it seeks to uproot. Sigma Phi's president, Mike Nigro, commented tha:1 his house is \very much against the plan.\ He emphasized the fratemity's commitment to their house, saying, \We're going to d<J everything in our power to tty t<J keep <Jur house. We've already begun working with alumni to try to fight the plan.\ Psi Upsilon's president, Nick Balascio, said his fraternity was \pretty disappointed by the report. We're not just upset about losing our house, but also for the changes for the campus tha:t we do not agree with ... \ \We haven~t looked into it yet to determine ow official response, but we need something [from the college l to compensate for the money and work we've put into this house. We've contacted our alumni and to mobilize.\ Chi Psi's president, Ross Geisel, had similar concerns. Overall, Geisel said, Chi Psi was \not ill fa- vor of the report, not just because we're losing our house. lt~s not good for Union.\ Like Balascio, Geisel claimed, \I think we deserve some fmancial reimbursements for renovations and work we've put into this house.\ Additiona.ll y, Geiselconfinned that if Chi Psi was to move off-campus, they would lose their charter from their national chapter. \We cannot move off- campus,\ he said. John Vero '97, a member.ofthe U2K committee and Phi Delta Theta alum, expressed optimism f<>r the future of Phi Delta Theta desp.ite the presumed impeding loss of their house. \I joined an orga!liza- tion, I didn'tjoin a building,\Vero claimed. V eroput more a pragmatic face on Phi Delta Theta's outlook saying the chapter needed to «question whether Phi Delta Theta could remain in that buildin~ for many more years ... Perhaps cOo-op- eration [with the college] wo11ld be the best route for us. The ultimate say is with the alumni, the current students have very little say.\ ?hi Delta Theta's current president, Court Clinch, was unavailable for Continued on Page 3 WetFest 2000 on West Beach Sports: Centerfold Pages 12-13 U2K Reactions by Clare Canal Staff Writer This past weekend, the much- awaited Springfest, the most at- tended event on Union's campus, silently came and went. The usually littered West Beach • · was barely scattered with a hand- ful.ofstudents and visitors. How- ever, the bands did play on. The weekend festivities started out optimistically, despite the dreaty gray skies, ~ith Lobster Bake 2000. Due to the wet weather., the 900 boiled shellfish were served inside, turning the campus center into a four-floor feasting 'feml.;\t:\; frenzy. At times, the queue stretched through the front doors of the Campus Center to the Nott Memorial. Program Assistant Liz Schmitt noted, \lhe Lobster bake was a hit! Dining Services deserves all tif<;;:.,,~k• ~~';:-'~'·''. : li;;:-J~.i(t.\' t of the credit\ In the end, the Cam- ~~~~~~~~~, pus Center was unindated with lobster sheUs,juiceand soiled bibs. Despite the coldclimate and plates of lobsters consumed, most stu- .....,.....,....,..,. dents saved room for the ice cream Aaron SeligeriCP The Riseperformes at Springfest. bar, located ()lit on the pati(). Although the ic.e cream was not. Ben & Jerry's, this year's t\shirt logo was a spin-off designed by Liz Kaitr ·oo, Even with wishes for wannet conditions, the sun did not make an appearance for the ()Utside fes- tivities planned for Saturday; The lluge. carnival-like ~tames werebeing set-up early in the mom- ing. Games include a trarnp()lme, joust, rock pyramid, bungee ruB, giant slide and obstacle course. The bands played as scheduled. They included The Rise, Red Light District, (who have previ()usty played at Union), and One People Bim Scala Bim. With the wet conditions. some students could be seen tryi11g to reinact Woodstock '94 by dan::cing and playing in the numerous mini mud pits, Some students stopped a:nd looked just for a few minutes as they entered and exited West Col- lege for brunch. They followed a routine similar to a typical S:atur- day morning, ignoring the l!uge stage and sound system con- structed out in front of West Similar to last year's Springfest weekend, the New York State High School Track Meet was hosted by Union on Frank Bailey Field. At times, there were more high school athletes taking part in the celebra· tions. ••1 remembered Springfest from last year and was hoping it WJ()Uld be here again. lt' s even better than last year because there are no lines,\ noted one of the high school track numers. Although many of the events still went on, despite poor atten- dance- with the exception <>flob- ster Bake a good number of them Continued on Page 5 r f I' l i ~.
