Brown and White Vol. 106 no. 15

              brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 106 no 15 friday october 30 1998 all the lehigh news first phi beta delta inducts new honorary members by antonetta stancu news writer the beta pi chapter of phi beta delta inducted their newest group of faculty and students tuesday in the tower room at lacocca hall forty students and 13 faculty members were honored for their achievements in international and study abroad experience phi beta delta stresses the importance of international relations we believe in taking a larger look at the world and how we exist in it said dr peter beidler professor of english and chapter president the beta pi chapter was introduced in 1992 to stimulate a favorable outlook on international relations and to praise those individuals who have taken advantage of abroad opportunities since its establishment several respect ed lehigh faculty members and students with international backgrounds have been inducted and the chapter now consists of 118 members the ceremony began with welcomes by beidler and richard n weisman professor of civil and environmental engineering and vice president of the beta pi chapter a keynote address was then given by president gregory c farrington farrington stressed the importance of global awareness in his speech this surely is one of the most exciting times to live farrington said scholars should use the advantage of education and the advancement of the infor mation age to increase their understanding of international relations he said inductees received certificates and red and gold medallions according to anne thomas director of the office of international education the red and yellow color of the medallions sym bolize the importance of human kind and the energy of the sun from which all people and cultures draw strength and life a candle lighting ceremony followed the award distribution the lighting of the candles symbol izes the passing of knowledge from the b&w photo by amanda strickler president farrington congratulates yuan ping xin on her induction into the beta pi chapter of phi beta delta eckardt remembered as comical and upbeat by eric luehmann news writer a memorial service to honor roy eckardt founder of the department of religion studies was held at asa packer chapel sunday roy's biggest achievement was starting the ball rolling in the fields of jewish christian relations said his wife alice he played a big role at lehigh with the starting of the department of religious studies roy eckardt was a one of the first people in the country to explore in depth christian jewish studies especially in the history and theology of anti-semitism and the ethical and theological significance of the holocaust lehigh benefited from his research by becoming one of the first american institutions to offer courses in these subjects other univer sities followed and developed their own reli gious divisions in christian jewish studies from 1955 to 1956 eckardt served as pres ident of the national association of biblical instructors and helped to rename the associa tion as the american academy of religion from 1961 to 1969 he edited the journal of the american academy of religion which defined the scholarly and secular field of jewish-christian studies in 1979 president carter named eckardt to the president's commission on the holocaust from 1981 to 1986 he served on the united states holocaust memorial council as a special advisor to chairman eli wiesel roy eckardt was one of the very best most sensitive most moving interpreters of the jewish life and all that is related to it including the tragedies which people endured wiesel said he was sensitive intelligent bright infinitely compassion ate and all of those who knew him will remember him eckardt retired from lehigh in 1982 after serving as the chair of the religion department for 29 years the college of arts and sciences named its honors program after eckardt the pro chats spark interest by janine chiagouris news writer freshman women had the opportunity to informally meet and speak with greek women sunday at fireside chats each sorority hosted a gathering of two sorority sisters from each house and fresh men to acquaint freshman women with greek living and to answer any questions they had robin neumann 02 enjoyed the event it was a great way to meet new people neumann said brie vincent 00 rush chair for gamma phi beta sorority felt it will be be a great year for rush since so many women are interested in greek life there was a ton of interaction between the girls vincent said we didn't even need to play ice-breaker games because the conversations were going so well beth stromstedt 99 panhel administra tive assistant was present at gamma phi i'm here to monitor and make sure all of the rush rules are being followed stromstedt said sam woods 01 said i got to know a few girls really well from talking in small groups b&w photo by kim carville julia martinez 01 talks to freshmen women about greek life see honors page 4 see eckardt page 4 ninety-five people got tested for hiv at the health center tuesday source bethlehem health bureau ill the football team perceptions differ in students get excited r-^w prepares to play the depiction of as halloween wofford saturday jewish culture through approaches jjki see page 19 artwork see page 3 see page 5 bjhy^hfin sports 18-20 news 1-4 lifestyle 5-12 y field hockey 13 world news briefs 2 astral signs 7 f\m women's soccer 20 police reports 3 look who's talking 9 swimming preview 20 mtv invasion 11