HIGHER EDUCATION

The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 8, 1999 - 5A

MSU fats
to ban
alcohol at
p)artes
EAST LANSING (AP) -
Michigan State University is about to
set a precedent in the wake of alcohol-
related riots on campus - fraternities
are voluntarily banning alcohol from
house parties.
"It's the beginning of a national
trend," Bill Molasso, director of Greek
Life, told the Detroit Free Press for a
story yesterday. "Only a handful of
versities have taken this step."
... We have the benefit of being a
very visible campus. When we do
something and do it right, other people
will take our lead."
MSU officials said Michigan State
is the only university in the state to ini-
tiate a ban. The purpose of the ban is to
return the focus to scholarship and
brotherhood - not parties and drink-
ing.
*fhe ban, which goes into effect July
1, comes at the suggestion of the uni-
versity's Alcohol Action Team, formed
in the wake of the May 1998 riot fol-
lowing the school's decision to ban
alcohol at a popular tailgating spot.
But officials emphasized that the fra-
ternities' ban was voluntary.
"It wasn't the president telling the
Greeks what to do," said Kristen
Teetens, university spokesperson. "It
Was an action team recommendation
the Greeks took on."
Members who are 21 and older will
still be allowed to drink in their rooms,
but not in common areas.
"It's going to promote safer living-
learning environments more conducive
to academics, and still allow members
to go out and have a good time," said
Interfraternity Council President Jason
Rosenbaum.
tarting in July, the university's fra-
nities and their 1,500 members will
host all parties with alcohol at restau-
rants or other public sites, Rosenbaum
said.
He said anyone caught violating the
terms of the ban will face penalties that
could include community service,
fines or suspension.
"Everyone won't go along with it, I
will be the first to admit," Rosenbaum
said. Six out of 26 fraternities voted
*inst the ban.
"With any major change, there's
going to be opposition, and you have to
deal with each situation accordingly. It
takes time to implement this," he said.


Ivies report increase in
applicants, smaller classes

By Kate Deringer
The Daily Pincetonian
PRINCETON, N.J. (U-WIRE) -
Though Princeton University's 10.8
percent acceptance rate for the Class
of 2003 appears to be the lowest in
the university's history, the majority
of Ivy League schools and peer
institutions also reported more
selective admissions results this year
than last.
With a target of 1,650 students for
its first-year class class, Harvard offi-
cials admitted 2,055 applicants from a
pool of 18,160, resulting in an accep-
tance rate of 11.3 percent, said Marlyn
McGrath Lewis, director of admis-
sions for Harvard and Radcliffe
Colleges. The number of applications
Harvard received was the second
largest in the university's history. Last
year, Harvard admitted 2,073 of
16,819 applicants for an acceptance
rate of 12.3 percent.
Though Lewis said she could not be
certain how Harvard's recent financial
aid initiative affected the admissions
process this year, she said, "It can only
have helped us."
"We all got a lot of good and well-
deserved publicity for making our

respective places more accessible to
families," Lewis said, adding the trend
of changes in financial aid programs
at many elite institutions this year.
Yale University admitted 15.9 per-
cent of its applicants, accepting 2,121
out of 13,266, the largest applicant
pool in its history, according to a
report in The Yale Daily News.
The University of Pennsylvania
offered admission to 4,703 of 17,661
applicants, also its largest pool ever,
according to Dean of Admission Lee
Stetson. The school's acceptance rate
of 26.6 percent is the lowest in the
university's history, falling from 29.2
percent last year.
He said he agreed that Ivy League
schools are becoming more popular in,
part because of better financial aid
offers. But he added that more recruit-
ing of low-income students is neces-
sary.
"It's our job to get to them. Part of
the challenge is that they are preemp-
tive in that they don't think they are
financially qualified," Stetson said of
low-income students. "We try to pre-
sent the very best financial aid pack-
ages to early decision applicants."
University of Virginia Dean of

Admission John Blackburn said UVA
is "very anxious to know" how the
financial aid changes at private insti-
tutions will affect UVA's yield rate.
"What Princeton has done and oth-
ers have done is a move in the right
direction," Blackburn added.
But he noted that, in light.,
changes by Princeton and other iii
tutions, "our aid awards probd4
won't be as attractive."
Virginia accepted 31.6 percent of its
17,060 applicants for a total of 5,385
admitted students, Blackburn said.
Dartmouth College admitted 20.6
percent of its 10,261 applicants, The
Dartmouth reported.
Brown University admitted 1-6.7
percent of applicants but received 81 1
fewer applications this year than last,
according to The Brown Daily
Herald.
At Cornell University, 6,560 of
19,950 applicants received admissiqu
for an acceptance rate of 32.9 percent,
Dean of Admission and Financial Aid
Don Salch said.
Stanford University accepted 1,5
percent of its applicants, according.to
a press release from the office of
undergraduate admissions.

AP PHOTO
Students dance around a fire during riots at Michigan State University on
March 27 after the Spartans lost in the NCAA Final Four.
Security brea ch
found on rt
Internet Website

Students struggle to finalize taxes '

.,,

EAST LANSING, (AP) - An
Internet Website forum which police
used to obtain confidential tips on
those who were involved in a riot at
Michigan State University was
removed after a breach was discov-
ered, police said yesterday.
The breach was discovered at
about 455 p.m. Tuesday after an e-
mail message went out to an unde-
termined number of people, some
of them MSU students, that gave
step-by-step instructions on how to
access the tip forms people filled
out to identify photographs of riot-
ers on a police Website.
Police removed that form from
the Website at 5:15 p.m., said Rod
Taylor, information systems manag-
er for the City of East Lansing.
Taylor said he was working with
the company that set up the city's
riot Website to determine who

accessed the confidential tip infor-
mation and when.
"Is it something the average
computer user could do? No,"
Taylor said about the hacking. "At
MSU there are a heck of a lot of
students who could figure this out.
We thought a hidden file was an
unreadable file. We were wrong.
We may have been lucky and got on
top of it so quick that maybe only
one or two people saw the informa-
tion."
Police set up the Website on April
I with photographs of people
involved in the riot that began
March 27 after the school's basket-
ball team lost to Duke in the NCAA
semifinals.
The Website has received more
than 46,000 visits and has resulted
in at least six people being identi-
fied to police.

TAXES
Continued from Page :LA
five hour lecture on tax returns. This has been a difficult task
in recent years, he said, because the Business School has
changed the way they conduct the tax course and volunteers
"now have to be brought up from scratch."
Yim said, people occasionally come to the volunteers with
complicated questions that are beyond their level of knowl-
edge, but they are often able to offer valuable help to those who
seek it.
"Some people come with specific questions, or to ask us
to fill out their return for them, or they have filled the form
out themselves and just ask us to verify it for them," Yim
said.
To make the tax returns process easier for students, Yim
suggests "keeping good track" of records including documents
from employers.
University documents are also useful because students
can often claim educational credit for their tuition on t"v
returns.
Beta Alpha Psi plans to hold its next session today from 4
p.m. to 8 p.m. in room D2280 of the Business school
The International Center also offers services to aid
international students with their non-resident tax forms,
which are "slightly different than resident forms," said
the International Center Program Coordinator Louise
Baldwin.
Tax workshops held on Central and North campuses offer

"Mine were done in
February, and I have gotten
myreturns. "k
- Benecia Cousi
Engineering junici
students an introduction to non-resident tax filing procedures;
The next workshop is scheduled for April 13 at I 1 a.m. in the
International Center.
Marilyn Dietrich, a tax preparer at H&R Block's Main Street
office, recommends that students owning stocks "keep track of
when they were purchased and for how much," to make the tax
return process easier.
Students must also be aware that while scholarships are
excluded from taxes for the most part, "the money used for
room and board needs to be included as income," Dietrich said;
adding that her office has seen a constant flow of studepts
come through this tax season.
Some students, like Engineering junior Benecia Cousin, got
an early start on their taxes and are now enjoying the benefits:
"Mine were done in February, and I have gotten my returns"
Cousin said.
Engineering senior Darrick Gross is also done with his taxes
for the year. "I have my return back and everything, it's kindf
nice," Gross said.


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