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 4 4 I a 4 a a 4 4 4 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." 4 Ea q 4 Y B. tA.' 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. .. ,. ",; orr ,. uY I.1 .. I is w LIU, m Rl. il 11 1%, 1 "Ir ,Nl m'--mv, 1 ~ ' t . / -- - ilia Ai ,L- w . . . / A_ I\ .Ai ./fir Am Awi Ai t'!