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www.michzgandadiy.com Ann Arbor, Michigan m Vol. CXV, No. 117 @2005 The Michigan Daily
Campus chapter of ATO
0 All current members will receive decision Friday by ATO's local alumni board of trustees, Uni- As a result of the closure, the fraternity's pledges were on M
closed
March 23, OGL received a letter from the national frater-
alumni status but may not do anything
J
under the fraternity's banner
By Carissa Miller
Daily Staff Reporter
The University's chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega frater-
nity is being closed by chapter alumni and the national fra-
ternity, the national organization announced yesterday. The
Interfraternity Council will no longer recognize the chapter
or its members.
Although the fraternity's members were notified of the
versity units were not made aware until yesterday morning.
Wynn Smiley, chief executive officer of ATO's national
organization, said the chapter's closing was prompted by
risk management violations, including lack of respect for
the chapter's house by fraternity members. However, Smiley
stressed that no incriminating photos were received by the
national fraternity, an issue that was speculated to be a factor
in the decision to close the chapter. Smiley declined to further
elaborate on the risk management violations.
"(The chapter) was not under a magnifying glass of scru-
tiny, but risk management violations are unacceptable today,"
Smiley said. "If we thought reform was possible, we would've
gone down that road."
released, and all initiated members are now considered alum-
ni but may not operate under the banner of ATO in any way.
Smiley said that instead of operating under an appeal pro-
cess, the national fraternity automatically puts undergraduate
members on alumni status. Unless these individuals choose
not to be considered alumni, or they do something to prompt
the national fraternity to remove this affiliation, undergradu-
ate members retain alumni status, he said.
The ATO house, which is owned by a housing corporation
consisting of local alumni, will remain ATO property, Smiley
said, adding that no decision concerning the future use of the
house has been made that he is aware of.
Office of Greek Life Director Mary Beth Seiler said that
nity that prohibited ATO members from participating in any
activities in the name of the fraternity. This included Greek
Week, she said, which is why ATO was forced to pull out of
the program's planned events.
While the national fraternity usually closes two to three
chapters a year due to low membership or risk management
issues, Smiley said this situation has never before occurred
with the University's chapter.
"We are not in the business of closing chapters by any
means, so when we do it is obviously serious," Smiley said.
"It is a very sad situation for the undergraduate members that
are on the receiving end of this. It is never easy for someone
See ATO, Page 7
Google CEO
to speak to
Enin grads
U' alum Larry Page will speak
at College of Engineering
commencement next month
By Karl Stampfl
Daily Staff Reporter
Trumping in public recognition the choice of former Xerox
scientist John Seely Brown as the University's main com-
mencement speaker, the College of Engineering announced
last week that Google founder and University alum Larry
Page will speak at its graduation ceremonies.
"Clearly, Page is one of our alums who have changed the
world," said Stephen Director, dean of
the College of Engineering. "Google has
changed the way the world gets its infor-
mation."
Page will speak at the School of Engi-
neering's smaller, more intimate ceremony
for Engineering students. Engineering stu-
dents also have the option of attending the
University-wide ceremony, where Brown
will speak.
Before graduating from the University
with an honors degree in computer engi- page
neering and moving on to Stanford Univer-
sity in 1995, Page used Lego bricks to build an inkjet printer;
he was also president of the University's Eta Kappa Nu Honor
Society. In the 10 years since, he founded the Internet's most-
used search engine, of which he is currently co-president.
"I use Google daily for everything," Engineering senior
Andrew Chandler said. "I'm also an outspoken proponent of
it, and I get angry when people don't have it as their homep-
age."
Chandler said he was disappointed by the University's
choice of Brown as the main commencement speaker, citing a
desire among the student body for a more prominent name. To
demonstrate his dissatisfaction, Chandler started a group on
Thefacebook.com, an online college community, called "Hey
Mary Sue! the 2005 Commencement Speaker Blows."
See SPEAKER, Page 7
The University community commemorates the medical breakthrough of the vaccine
BY ADRIAN CHEN DAILY STAFF REPORTER
f his four years at the University, April
12th, 1955 remains particularly vivid
for David Livingstone. That morn-
ing, he and the entire country waited with held
breath to learn of the results of a massive study
undertaken to determine the efficacy of the
polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk and his
colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh.
The results were to be announced at
Rackham Auditorium by Salk, who spent
the early 40s as an assistant professor at the
University, and Dr. Thomas Francis, the man
who led the study and the head of epidemiol-
ogy at the University
If proven successful, the vaccine would mark
the beginning of the end of this virus which had
terrified America since the early part of the cen-
tury; if not, it would be yet another setback in
the long battle against polio.
"The atmosphere was electric," said Liv-
ingstone, a sportswriter for The Michigan
Daily, at the time, who was in the newsroom
at the time the success of the vaccine was
announced. "We all realized that we were
witnessing a truly momentous event."
Down the road, the Rackham Building
was swarming with people anxious to hear
the results of the study. The third floor had
been converted into a newsroom packed
with 50 buzzing telephones and half a
dozen clacking teletype machines. They
were there to accommodate the nearly
100 reporters invited to the event and who
were to file the reports that would splash
the front pages of every newspaper in the
country the next day.
"News coverage of the report will prob-
ably be the greatest ever accorded a medical
meeting," wrote the Daily.
Inside the packed auditorium, reporter Han-
ley McGurwin bumped elbows with high-level
government officials and big name reporters as
he covered the event for the Daily.
"Every seat in the place was filled.
Everyone was extremely excited - it was
the topic of conversation wherever you
turned," he recalled.
Having been left completely in the dark
about the study's results, rumors and specu-
lation abounded among those in attendance.
"Since the University was making such
a big deal, we assumed that it would be
favorable news," McGurwin said.
The crowd was expecting big news,
and at 10:20 a.m. Francis fulfilled this
expectation: "Safe, effective and potent"
was how Francis described Salk's vac-
cine. The vaccine had been 80 percent
effective and had prevented hundreds of
cases of polio among the test subjects
who received it. Salk took the stage and
quickly promised that the next generation
could be nearly infallible.
See POLIO, Page 5
FILE
PHOTO
The
April
12 and
April 13,
1955 edi-
tions of
The Michi-
gan Daily,
announcing
the success
of the vac-
cine and its
licensing.
Failed polio vac- Jonas Salk's polio
cine is developed vaccine is publicly
by John Kolmer released on April
Polio confirmed to 12, 1955
caused by a virus US experiences An oral I
record number cine is de
of polio cases
China records last
Polio case
i
Greeks homophobic, LGBT say
t Some members speculate
that hazing may have
led to punitive measures
* By Andres Kwon
For the Daily
In an effort to bring the Greek commu-
nity closer with the LGBT community on
campus, the multicultural sorority Zeta
Sigma Chi sponsored an event last night
that aimed to raise awareness of the issue
of homophobia in the Greek system.
Titled "Homophobia in The Greek
Community," the event took place at the
Michigan League to address a "topic that's
been out there but no one has addressed,"
said LSA senior and Zeta Sigma Chi pres-
ident Nagmeh Shariadtamadar.
Many students at the event said a cen-
tral issue for LGBT students who wish to
join or are already part of the Greek com-
munity is the perception that it does not
tolerate homosexuality.
This perception stems from stereotypes
about the Greek community, Shariadtama-
dar said, adding that there is a tendency
among the public to associate the Greek
community with images of "hyper-mascu-
line" or "hyper-feminine" members.
The perceived homophobia of the Greek
community detracts LGBT members from
joining it or, once in, from "coming out,"
Trotter House prepares
for summer renovations
Upgrades to building will include "The building was made
additional restrooms, showers for for students ... and it's
residents and more office space being renovated because of
By Amber Colvinse
Daily Staff Reporter students. If they don't have a
0
The William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Cen-
ter will be emptying its rooms and closing its doors
in the next week to begin this summer's planned
$800,000 infrastructure renovations.
The majority of the renovations are intended to
bring the building up to code, including the electri-
cal system, fire safety and plumbing, said Patricia
Aqui Pacania, director of the Office of Multi-Eth-
nic Student Affairs. She added that the plans also
include the addition of restrooms on every floor with
showers for residents, more adequate student office
space, conference rooms, meeting spaces and a
small assembly space. Other improvements include
new furniture, paint, flooring and carpeting.
Pacania said the final plans for the renovations
would be set in the next few days, although a compa-
ny has not been selected yet to perform the repairs.
The building will officially close April 19, the last
day of winter classes.
All renovations will be completed by the building's
opening for next fall semester, Pacania said. Originally,
say in what goes on, it's not
going to be their building"
- Brittany Marino
Trotter Center Advisory Council member
dinator for Trotter, said the key interest in the reno-
vations was safety.
"That's just the bottom line - the facility will be
safer. Everything will be brought up to code," Bur-
nett said.
Much attention was given to Trotter House last
spring when the student-interest group Student Voices
in Action and the Michigan Student Assembly demand-
ed funding for renovations from the University admin-
istration after it cut the MESA budget. SVA protested
the cuts outside University buildings, leading to meet-
ings with University President Mary Sue Coleman and
other administrators. MSA held a series of meetings
ait Trotter House a2nd incluide~d a $1 increase of stuident
LSA sophomore and Delta Delta Delta member Erin Taylor, left, and Engineering
senior and Alpha Chi Omega member Kim Kunihiro, middle, discuss the negative
effects of Greek ads at the Greeks and Homophobia workshop yesterday.
members of the LGBT community wish
to join fraternities and sororities for the
same reasons as their heterosexual coun-
"Although this can empower minor-
ity and homosexual Greek organizations,
it can also segregate the organizations
from-.',- *l.,, m n trram -i(I~raI, nmnn nitt;
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