LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 8, 1999 - 3A
*HIGHER
E DUCATION
m
Former student
admits to making
false transcript
A former Iowa State University stu-
went pleaded guilty last week to third-
degree burglary, admitting that he
broke into the school's Office of the
Registrar to create fake transcripts with
the intention of applying to the
University of Michigan and several
schools in California.
The former student, Ali Liaquat,
admitted in Story County District Court
that he and former student Faraz Shah
illegally entered the office in January to
*eal copies of the school's letterhead.
According to an investigation from
Iowa State's Department of Public
Safety, the two allegedly used official
stamps and seals to create an authentic
looking letterhead. The letterhead was
then-used to print transcript-like docu-
ments from personal computers.
Liaquat now faces a $7,500 fine as
well as five years in prison.
Shah, who has pleaded not guilty,
*ces charges of creating a false tran-
script, which is considered a serious
misdemeanor, and third-degree bur-
glary charges.
Students request
corporate funding
Pending administrative approval,
Georgetown University clubs may be
able to increase their budgets by receiv-
g corporate funding. The program,
hich is being organized by members
of Georgetown's student government,
.would allow corporations to contribute
tax-deductible donations to student
organizations, possibly increasing a
corporation's likelihood to invest in the
university.
, The proposal calls for the establish-
ment of the Georgetown Funding
Commission, which would allow stu-
'ents to solicit financial support.
Currently, the majority of
Georgetown's student organizations
obtain funds from the school's annual
budget. A report on Student Life pub-
lishe'a last May indicates that while
Georgetown spends an average of
$35.71 per student, other schools such
as the University of Pennsylvania and
Duke University spend more than $100
perstudent.
tidy: depression
prevalent among
college women
A study from the University of
California at Los Angeles indicates that
almost half of all women making the
transition to college will experience
depression.
The study, which followed 150
Omen for five years after their high
school graduation, found that one-third
of the women developed depression for
the first time during their college years
and that those who had already experi-
enced depression were more likely to
become depressed again.
. The, findings were published in the
July issue of the Journal of Academy of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
UCLA Prof. Uma Rau said the shift
lfrom high school to college is typically
biggest change in a young adult's
life and that whether the experience is
poesant, it is enough to create bouts of
d prssion. Rau said women tend to
foeuq heavily on their problems and
thir introspective nature can ultimate-
lyiead'to depression.
Rau said severe depression is not
something that can easily be combated,
but college students are fortunate to
Vices accessible to them.
Group to monitor
alcohol usage
A community group will be man-
ning Louisiana State's stadium gates to
observe student's use of alcohol.
Nancy Mathews the project director
for Campus-Community Coalition for
Change said the group will be monitor-
i student and non-student gates this
on at two of the games to gather
information about alcohol-related
activity.
Mathews said the group is taking
action in order to increase awareness
abouthigh-risk drinking and to use the
information to affect future policy
changes..
One of the problems the coalition
also hopes to address during its obser-
vg ns is complaints that students are
m -e harshly monitored than spectators
at non-student gates.
-Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Nika Sehulte.
i
® Ann Arbor Fire Dept.
withdraws original
determination of arson
By Nick Bunkley
Daily Staff Reporter
Three years after Sigma Alpha Mu
closed its doors in Ann Arbor, its
house was gutted by flames just one
day before members of the fraterni-
ty's newly formed chapter were
scheduled to move in.
The cause of the fire has not been
determined and is still under investi-
gation, Ann Arbor Fire Department
officials said.
Authorities initially labeled the
Aug. 27 fire at 800 Lincoln Ave. as
arson, leading to preliminary specu-
lation that the 1:55 a.m. blaze was a
hate crime directed at the historical-
ly Jewish fraternity.
Last week the cause was reclassi-
fied as "undetermined" because not
all possible accidental causes could
be ruled out. Ann Arbor Fire
Marshal Scott Rayburn said acceler-
ants found within the structure had
indicated the fire was deliberately
set.
"It has all the appearances of
arson," Rayburn said.
Fire officials withdrew their origi-
nal determination after learning that
workers who were renovating the
house had been using flammable
materials.
"We're investigating it as undeter-
mined," Rayburn said. "We're really
not certain what happened up there."
Workers originally denied leaving
flammable materials in the house,
Rayburn said, but last week they
reversed their statement.
Ann Arbor Police Department Sgt.
Greg O'Dell said the AAPD is
actively investigating the incident.
Bill Schwartz, executive director
emeritus of the national Sigma
Alpha Mu chapter in Carmel, Ind.,
said the fire is merely a small set-
back in the fraternity's return to
campus. He added that the fraternity
does not believe it was the target of
a hate crime.
"The group there is vibrant,"
Schwartz said. "It's new. It's not
large but it's there. They will contin-
ue to function."
University spokesperson Julie
Peterson said security patrols near
all fraternities and sororities on
campus will be more frequent, since
it's possible the fire was not acci-
dental.
"We are encouraged to believe
that it is not arson," she said.
E. Royster Harper, interim vice
president for student affairs, said the
University arranged to construct a
temporary chain-link fence for secu-
rity around the Sigma Chi house;
located at 548 S. State St., which is
currently being renovated.
"We wanted to reduce the likeli-
hood that there would be a fire
there," Harper said.
Sigma Chi members are housed in
the house formerly occupied by the
Phi Delta Theta fraternity, located at
1437 Washtenaw Ave.
Rayburn said the Sigma Alpha Mu
house is "a total loss," and estimated
the cost of rebuilding would be
about SI 5 million.
The house did not conform to cur-
rent city building codes, which have
been altered since the structure was
originally built. Because more than
50 percent of the house was
destroyed, Rayburn said, any new
construction would be required to
comply with the building codes.
"They're going to have a real dif-
ficult time rebuilding something like
Source of fraternity fire undetermined
JESSICA JOHNSO~,N/Daily
A fire destroyed the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity house at 800 Lincoln St. on Aug. 27, the day before members of the fraterity
were scheduled to move back into the house.
that up there," Rayburn said. The local chapter of Sigma Alpha close the chapter in 1996.
The University offered housing to Mu was established in 1928 as a Members of Tau Epsilon Phia
the 18 students who were to live in Jewish fraternity and opened its which had leased the house for the
the house, but all chose to live in membership to non-Jewish students past three years, vacated the house
off-campus apartments, Peterson in 1953. The fraternity had been Aug. 15.
said. housed at the property since 1947, A reward is available for informa-
Schwartz said the fraternity has and was rebuilt after a less-extensive tion that leads to an arrest in arsonI
not decided whether to rebuild at the fire in the 1960s, Schwartz said. cases and anyone with knowledge
current location or to find another Alcohol and noise violations about the fire can call AAPD Det,
house. caused the national organization to Tom Kolpacki at 996-3255.
.. ,.I
State house speaker says
gun agenda still being set
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LANSING (AP) - House Republicans are still defining
what gun legislation they will pursue this fall, and the final
package might not include a ban on guns in schools and church-
es, House Speaker Chuck Perricone said yesterday.
"Personally, I am not pulling back on it, but I don't know
where the votes are," said Perricone (R-Kalamazoo Township.)
Perricone called for the ban on Aug. 16, the same day a
Jewish community center in Los Angeles reopened after a dead-
ly shooting rampage and students returned to Columbine High
School in Littleton, Colo., four months after a school shooting
spree that left 15 people dead.
Two days after Perricone's announcement, a group of House
Democrats responded with a stricter gun control package that
extended the gun ban to day care centers, libraries, hospitals,
sports arenas, theaters and college campuses.
The Democratic proposal also called for mandatory trigger
locks and storage containers, licensing for gun dealers and
increased penalties for adults who sell guns to minors.
Many of the themes are a rerun of a spring debate surround-
ing a package of bills that would have allowed more people to
carry concealed weapons. Perricone killed that legislation in
June, citing citizens' anti-gun emotions following the school
shootings and "scare tactics" used by concealed weapons oppo-
nents.d
Perricone said Republicans would discuss a gun legislation
plan for the fall during a Sept. 15-16 GOP.retreat. He has been'
speaking with gun advocates and said he will consider taking up'
some parts of their agenda, including restrictions on lawsuits
against gun manufacturers. But he isn't interested in the
Democratic proposals.
"We are not interested in creating laws you cannot enforce "
he said of the Democrats' package. "Mandatory trigger locks
and mandatory locked storage would require searches of peo-
ple's bedrooms and that's not going to happen on my watch."
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The Kerrytown Historic Market District Association Invites you...
LOUIS BROWN/Daiy
First-year student Mahesh Subramanian cooks dinner at a kitchen in Oxford
Housing. Some first-year students were placed in alternative housing to
avoid overcrowding in residence halls.
'U' stu"1dents placed in
non-traditional halls
to alleviate crowding
HOUSING
Continued from Page 1A
Oxford.
"It's been okay," Subramanian
said.
"The location is kind of far
from where I want to be, but I
would rather live here than on
north campus," he said.
Subramanian said nearly half
of his 15-person hall are first-
year students.
In visiting friends at tradition-
al residence halls such as Mary
Markley Residence Hall,
Subramanian said he noticed that
Oxford is "nice and quiet."
"It'll be easier to study here
than in a dorm," he said. But he
added that he will probably try
and move to either South Quad or
West Quad residence halls when a
waitlist becomes available.
Levy said that the strong desire
not to use overflow triples came
from a feeling that placing peo-
ple in such tight quarters
decreases the quality of life in
the residence halls.
"It not only makes it more
uncomfortable for the people liv-
ing in the overflow triples, but also
for the residents around them.
"When there are 120 people
living in a space meant for 100, it
creates longer lines and conges-
tion in the bathroom, cafeteria
and other communal places," he
said.
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