Tuesday, November 2, 2004 Weather News 3 Entrances to dorms change with voting Arts 9 Les Claypool brings the funk with his latest offering. Sports 12 Mann is steady in football, politics t1vlk LOW: 31 TOMORROW: One-hundred-fourteen years of editorialfreedom www.mkhigandaly.com Ann Arbor, Michigan a Vol. CXV, No. 23 62004 The Michigan Daily Greeks propose reforms for parties By Justin Miller Daily StaffReporter Students may have a harder time getting into fraternity parties if a proposed set of regulations are initiated next year. Executive board members of the Interfraternity Council and officers of the Pan-Hellenic Association proposed changes to the Greek system's social policy yesterday that aim to make Greek parties safer. Nothing has been finalized, but if the proposed changes are implemented, the parties would be open almost exclusively to Greek system mem- bers, who would have to bring their own alcohol. At the meeting yesterday, members of Panhel and IFC discussed three proposals. One proposal would put a cap on parties, limiting them to Greek system members, plus an extra 200 invited guests. The extra people would be let in using a supple- mental list that would be verified with Mcards. But party sizes may be limited by the number of party monitors present from the Social Respon- sibility Committee of the Greek system. Another proposal would only allow 20 people for every one committee monitor. Committee monitors would be stationed at the entrance to fraternity parties to keep a count of how many people are coming and going. Fraternities could be put on probation if they try to get more than the limit of people inside their houses. When a party reaches capacity, peo- pie outside would have to wait for some partygoers to leave before they could enter. In a second, alternative plan, Panhel and IFC members proposed making all parties strictly exclusive to members of the Greek system, in order to limit their size. "We need to find other ways to rush freshmen. We rush with cans of beer and not the personali- ties' they have," said Jared Stasik, executive vice president of IFC. Some attendees of the meeting, who were mem- bers of fraternities and sororities, raised concerns that the exclusivity proposal would reduce the number of potential freshman that want to rush. But, this year's total number of freshman rushing all fraternities was about 400 - only a fraction of a single party's attendance, the council said. The council heads continued their defense of Greek exclusivity by saying that See PROPOSAL, Page 7 ELECTIONS '04 Floridians brace for election debacle By Donn M. Fresard Daily Staff Reporter Police: No support yet for hazing allegations Police say criminal charges By Leslie Rott Daily Staff Reporter unlikely LAKE WORTH, Fla. - In Palm Beach County, where voters worry about another con-k tested election and party officials swap accusa- tions of fraud and intimidation, nearly everyoneF has different thoughts on the likely outcome oft today's election. If there is one thing residents of this county can agree on, it is that something almost certainly will go wrong. George Sabas, a Bulgarian immigrant who lives in the county and has already voted, said= he expects an outcome like that of the 2000 , e election - recounts, legal battles and weeks ofP uncertainty. "I'm not very comfortable with it, he said. But Carol Ann Loehndorf, chair of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party, said a repeat of 2000 - in which the two major candidates were separated by only a few hundred votes - is unlikely, owing to the huge numbers of new voters registered in the state by both parties. She said she is confident that Palm Beach County will turn out strongly for Kerry, and_ that he will win the state by a significant mar- H~ gin, largely due to the ground work she and other officials have done. The most pressing issue facing the Florida election, Loehndorf said, is voter intimidation g and fraud. She blamed local Republicans for what she said have been a series of attempts to disenfranchise Democratic voters in recent days. Such incidents have included fraudu- AP PHOTOS (top), SHUBRA OHRI (bottom left) and Al OLSEN (bottom right) /Daily lently collecting absentee ballots and spreading Presidential candidates and University students alike venture out and make their last push to draw voters to their See FLORIDA, Page 7 campaigns. Campus groups push students to vote Police said yesterday that they have not found any evi- dence supporting the recent hazing allegations within the Greek system, although their investigation has not yet come to a close. "We have nothing to pursue charges on at this time," added Lt. Chris Heatley, the coordinating detective investigating the case at the Ann Arbor Police Department. AAPD plans to meet with the fraternities and sorori- ties allegedly involved in hazing incidents by the end of this week. The University announced two weeks ago that seven Greek houses were being investigated for hazing- related incidents. Heatley said after the AAPD's investigation, police determined that many of the accusations stemmed from rumors and not fact. "Rumors (involving the Greek system) get blown out of proportion," Heatley said. The Hazing Taskforce, a group created by students in the Greek community, is currently investigating all of the allegations. The task force is an investigative unit, and not a judicial body. Some of the allegations reported to the University more than two weeks ago include heavy drinking, paddling, clothes being torn off sorority members and obscenities being written in permanent marker on pledges. Lauren Frank, president of the Panhellenic Associa- tion, said the fraternities and sororities under scrutiny will go through a judicial process before punishments, if any, will be handed out. She also said 14 new student members have been added to the task force to help investigate. "We are hoping to have the cases investigated and completed by the end of this week," said Alan Lovi, spokesman for the Interfraternity Council. Lovi said that depending on the results of the investi- gations, the case will be brought before the Greek Activ- ities Review Panel, the judicial board that presides over the Greek system. "GARP will come up with sentencing, and (the sentence will) be brought before the president of IFC," Lovi said. "If the findings are serious enough, the houses could be suspended or kicked off campus," Lovi said. The findings will be based on the results of the taskforce's investigation and the findings of individual national chapters. "All national organizations (of fraternities and sorori- ties) have been notified of the allegations," Frank said. "This is something we.are taking very seriously, not something being taken lightly." The University is also investigating the allegations through the Office of Student Conflict Resolution, the unit that admin- isters the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities, the student's conduct policy known as "the code." No one from the office was available to comment. By Aymar Jean Daily Staff Reporter A vigorous and lengthy campaign to mobilize students on campus for the presi- dential election will climax today, as stu- dent groups strive to bring students to the polls. Both the nonpartisan Voice Your Vote Commission, part of the Michigan Student Assembly, and partisan groups, including Students for Bush, the College Republi- cans and the College Democrats, will be on the Diag, at polling sites and in various ' voting districts. For some, the final push started last night. A few volunteers with Voice Your Vote distributed door hangers to student precincts last night. The hangers included information reminding students how and where to vote. The group will also call students liv- ing off-campus with the same informa- tion. Over the past week and a half, the commission has called more than 15,000 people to provide voting information, said commission co-chair Pete Woiwode, an LSA senior. "It took a lot of volunteers to get that work done," he said. Last night, the College Democrats also canvassed student neighborhoods with pro-Kerry literature from 4 to 7 p.m. They also made phone calls to an estimated 1,000 students registered by the group. Late in the night, they held a "psych up" party in the Michigan Union, where people called friends and family, decorat- ed their cars flyered and chalked all over campus. But today, the voter mobilization drive will reach its apex. Some students in the College Democrats will start as early as 5:30 a.m. by painting the Rock on Hill Street and Washtenaw Avenue. Students for Bush also started chalk- ing and flyering this morning throughout campus. They will be on the Diag during the day, passing out stickers, posters and other pro-Bush materials. This evening, the group will hold a "victory party" in the Union, although they concede that a definitive outcome is not guaranteed. "Nobody can be sure (of the winner) at this point. When the last vote is cast, then we'll know," Students for Bush co- chair and said Anthony Sandoval, an LSA sophomore. But throughout its campaign, Stu- dents for Bush has run into some stra- tegic difficulties, largely because Ann Arbor is predominantly liberal, Sando- val said. The less-visible Bush supporters have been "battling with group-think" and some signs of liberal antagonism. "I think people are scared to be the minority," he said. "More than any- thing, our goal is just to show that we are out there." The voter mobilization drive will last well into the evening. The College Demo- crats will work the polls, lobby on the Diag and drive voters to the polls by van, said See 'U' VOTE, Page 7 Voter monitors at polling sites aim for smooth election Know your voting rights Be prepared, and be aware. . Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters can only cast their ballots at their assigned polling places, which they can find by log- ging onto www.sospublius.org If you are voting for the first time in Michigan and did not reg- ister to vote in person at a government agency, you will have to show some kind of per3onaI identircation at the polls, such as a drivers' license. If your name is not on the voter registry at the polling place where you are voting, you may file a proVisfons baLot . You must swear in writing that you are registered in the precinct in which By Farayha Arrine Daily Staff Reporter lino, spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party. Poll monitors, largely trained and sent to polling sites by nonpartisan groups, %xl nk n lxrvflrlrto an. imath i-i aat inn c Due to rising tensions over voter fraud i V ~- - I I