Brown and White Vol. 115 No. 16

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 115 no 16 friday november 2 2007 all the lehigh news first lunch lines for charity photo courtesy of john jephson alpha gamma delta sorority and the goosey gander sponsored do it for dave to raise money for lehigh alumnus david hahn 81 who is battling colon cancer the oct 26 event raised 987 dollars for the charity abandoned tracks fated for green transformation by greg alvarez bethlehem city officials have for mulated a plan to convert the town's abandoned railway tracks into green space and parkland through an ini tiative called the south bethlehem greenway darlene heller director of plan ning and zoning in bethlehem spoke to students professors and local resi dents thursday about the details and location of the new green space heller used maps and blueprints of south bethlehem to describe the loca tion of the greenway and what steps are needed to accommodate the path construction of the path is sched uled to begin by january 2008 and take about five years to complete the greenway will run from union station on the west end of the south side and will extend past the lynn street bridge on the east end it runs like a spine downtown from east to west heller said the greenway will be approxi mately 12 feet wide in most areas of the path and where possible will open wider to accommodate park and recreational land its primary function will be as a walking path and bike trail heller said that the more open parts of the path will one day be used to hold events such as farmer's markets and concerts heller said lehigh will play a vital role in the creation and maintenance of the greenway lehigh has been a great partner with the city in many ways heller said drug charges can lead to loss of financial aid by dana anderson college students may face more than jail time and fines if arrested for a crime involving marijuana convicted students may be stripped of their financial aid eligibility as well the aid elimination provision restricts a stu dent's financial aid for a period of time based on the student's record of offense since the law's enactment in 2000 nearly 200,000 students have been denied financial aid according to a press release from the students for sensible drug policy organization the aep suspends financial aid of first-time drug offenders for one year second-time offenders are ineligible for two years and multiple-repeat offend ers are barred indefinitely this includes the loss of grants loans and work study opportunities students may regain eligibility before the end of their suspen sion if they participate in a drug rehabilitation pro gram and pass two random drug tests chief of police edward shupp said lehigh gener ally arrests about 10 to 15 people with marijuana related offenses per year but the number varies each year the law is in place and if you get charged you can lose your financial aid shupp said that's something students should know before they start partaking in illegal activities the law is stated in the student handbook to in form students of the penalties of smoking he said director of financial aid linda bell said lehigh has yet to have a case in which a student has lost financial aid eligibility due to a marijuana-related conviction the law also does not seem to affect stu dents behavior she said the law has been in effect but i don't think we've seen any change in anyone's habits quite frankly bell said the financial aid department relies on a student's campus gets d in sustainability report by matt brichta â–  lehigh's overall score dropped with fs in several categories the institute says lehigh did not respond to any of its surveys lehigh received a d plus in the college sustain ability report card 2008 issued on oct 24 the report developed by the sustainable en dowments institute based in cambridge mass measures on-campus and endowment-related sus tainability activities of north american colleges and universities the d plus is a drop from last year's c minus mark orlowski executive director of the sus tainable endowments institute said the drop is not necessarily the result of a change in school policy he said the institute changed its grading criteria and began to use a more rigorous rating procedure this year the report consists of eight categories each with its own grade lehigh received its highest grade a b in food and recycling but got fs in transporta tion endowment transparency and shareholder engagement other categories include administration climate change and energy green building and investment priorities orlowski said the report is based on independent research and three surveys sent to the school he said the institute sends a general campus survey to the president and a dining services and endowment survey to their respective departments orlowski said 88 percent of schools contacted an see greenway page 6 see marijuana page 6 see grade page 5 gesundheit flu /\ o^k wrestling season state official gives season hits campus l^tkpfr kicks off peacekeeping brief page 7 page 13 thebrownandwhite.com tufts university b university of north carolina b new york university c brandeis university c â–º lehigh university d wake forest university d college of william & mary d design by lindsey sutkui lehigh's ranking compared to other similar tier schools