Thursday, October 21, 2004 Weather Sports 9A Weekend Memories of last week, last year motivate Purdue Solar house brightens up the future THERE GOES THE NENGHBORH(XM) . OPINION, PAGE 5A A .l A..'.FItI . Y. H ~ i .g u i1.. af . y., ~cc g: Hl. 58- /gp;42 TOMORROW: One-hundredfourteen years ofeditordfreedom www.michzigandady.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXV, No. 15 ©2004 The Michigan Daily Greeks take tougher stand against hazing University, city police continue to investigate allegations of Rush abuses By Melissa Benton Daily Staff Reporter Officials in the Greek community have pledged to crack down on hazing, after Uni- versity administrators announced they are looking into hazing allegations against at least seven chapters. "We're going to be a lot harsher about haz- ing this year. I was irritated at a few of (the houses) about how blatant they were," said LSA sophomore Bryce Bach, who is head of the Greek community's Hazing Taskforce. Bach said all of the allegations are being inves- tigated, but the more serious ones have been taken over by the Ann Arbor Police Depart- ment because of the new anti-hazing state law passed in August. Offenders of the law can face misdemeanor charges when hazing causes physical injury, or felony charges if hazing leads to serious bodily impairment or death. "We have been informed of a number of incidents on campus involving fraternities and sororities," said Lt. Chris Heatley, the coordi- nating detective investigating the allegations at AAPD. Heatley was unable to comment on the spe- cific fraternities and sororities involved, but said AAPD does not have evidence of any criminal activity at this point. "We're trying to determine if anything hap- pened and the important thing that gets stressed out of this exercise is that AAPD is working with the Department of Public Safety. ... We're taking.it very seriously," Heatley said. DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown confirmed that the University police force is working with AAPD "to find out what the scope of the issue is. DPS discovered the hazing allegations while arresting students on campus for illegal activ- ity. "DPS started to realize that perhaps their state of drunkenness was related to pledging activity," Brown said. Some of the allegations include students being forced to consume large amounts of alcohol, paddling and clothes being ripped off sorority pledges. There is a difference between someone who vandalizes property because they're drunk and someone who vandalizes property because some- one else told them they had to, Brown added. Although it is still early in the investigation, Brown said somewhere between five and 10 See HAZING, Page T7A EUGENE ROBERTSO~N/Daily Interfraternity Council President Casey Bourke holds up anti-hazing legislation at last night's IFC meeting in the Michigan Union, as Vice President of Internal Affairs Jon Anderson, far left, and Vice President of Recruitment Kevin Mulvaney look on. Binge drinking rampant in hazing allegations By Emily Kraack Daily News Editor Although details are still vague about alleged hazing of fraternity and sorority pledges, one thing is certain: Alcohol played a big part in all incidents currently under inves- tigation. Interim Dean of Students Susan Eklund said alcohol was a factor in the so-called haz- ing incidents. "Virtually all of those situations had extreme misuse of alcohol," she said. She added that some reports of hazing incidents included pledges drinking in excess of 15 shots of alcohol and two to three beers. The Greek system does not allow alcohol during Rush activities, so giving alcohol to pledges would violate its rules as well as laws as well as laws against providing alcohol to minors. University administrators say one of the reasons for taking quick actions to investigate the allegations is the very real fear that a com- bination of alcohol and hazing could result in serious injury. Last fall at the Sigma Chi fraternity, Kinesiology junior Evan Loomis suffered kidney failure after participating in hazing activities. Ekund and University spokeswoman Julie Peterson pointed out that, even in the absence of hazing activities, drinking amounts of alco- hol as high as those allegedly consumed by hazed pledges this fall can be deadly. Peterson pointed to the death of LSA freshman Court- ney Cantor in 1998, in which Cantor attended a fraternity party, engaged in heavy drinking 25 percent of University students report they binge drink frequently in 2003. and later that evening fell out of her residence hall window and died. Byung-Soo Kim, an Engineering sopho- more, also died in November 2000 after attempting to consume 21 shots on his 21st birthday. Friends called the Department of Public Safety after they became concerned that he did not appear to be breathing. Eklund stressed that the University's aim is not to completely halt drinking activities; instead, she said the focus of Division of Stu- dent Affairs officials is preventing harm to students. See ALCOHOL, Page 7A ELECTIONS '04 'Candidates pitch plans for affordable tuition By Donn M. Fresard Daily Staff Reporter With Iraq, jobs and taxes dominating politi- cal discourse in the final weeks of the presi- dential campaign, some college students and families may not have noticed the results of a College Board tuition survey released yester- day: Tuition at U.S. public universities rose an average of 10.5 percent this year. That figure is the second-highest in the past decade, behind last year's 13 percent increase. As a result, the presidential candidates' higher education plans, all but ignored in stump speeches and debates recently, may become even more important for determining the future of college costs. President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry each have proposals to make college more affordable, and their plans differ significantly. Bush's higher education proposals consist mostly of increases in funding for student loans and the Pell grant pro- gram - currently the federal government's How they main outlet of finan- cialaid forlow-income Keny's and Bus college students. proposais Since Bush took office, the number of Proposals to in Pell grants awarded programs are cen per year has increased from 3.9 to 5.1 mil- U A national serv lion. The president has lege tuition for stu said he will increase time for two years the maximum size of Pell grants by $1,000, bringing the top award to $5,050. However, Bush pledged during his 2000 presidential campaign to increase the maximum y sh icr tr Vic :ud 's i grant to $5,100; during the first year of his presi- dency the maximum increased from $3,300 to $4,050, but it has remained frozen differ at that amount for three years. 1's higher education Bush has also proposed increasing stu- rease the Pell grant dent loan limits al to Bush's plan from $2,625 to $3,000 for first- ce plan to pay full col- year students dents who work full- and allocating is part of Kerry's plan more money to community col- leges. Kerry's plans for higher education are in many ways more ambitious. He has proposed See HIGHER ED, Page 7A Students to monitor against tion at polling sites The Boston Red Sox celebrate after defeating the New York Yankees 10-3 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series last night. o make sports history with winMagaistYees By Michael Kan Daily Staff Reporter Breaking down what they call the barri- er of voter discrimination, student groups of the University's Asian American com- munity plan to send student volunteers to monitor polling sites on election day. will be a host of voter monitoring in this year's election, the Asian American groups' focus is on the failure of polling institutions to accommodate minority voters, said the law association's political action chair Amrita Mallik. "Historically, Asians have faced dis- crimination at the polls. Traditionally was a number of voters who received discrimination as a result of Sept. 11," she said. Past reports of discrimination include incorrect translations of ballots for non- English speakers, which mislabeled the Democratic candidates as Republican and vice-versa, said Fung. Other cases inrl-.1rl Arnh vr~narc havigto n nlur. NEW YORK (AP) -Believe it - the Boston Red Sox are in the World Series. They got there with the most unbelievable comeback of all, with four sweet ewx inocftPact'if iPrA Cnfrleea h mn the lewu X'rlr There is no torture this time, no hour of humilia- tion. Better yet for Boston fans, it's the Yankees who are left to suffer the memory of a historic collapse. "i'svrv amazing-" Red Sox vmanage~r Terrv Fran- I I I