Brown and White Vol. 115 No. 31

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 115 no 31 tuesday february 12 2008 all the lehigh news first board members interact with student groups by alison stravitz members of the board of trustees met with 16 student groups thursday afternoon to experience student life and learning outside the classroom the theme of the meeting was promoting student success said john smeaton vice provost of student affairs smeaton said the board contacted keeling and associates llc a group of experts in the area of higher education to help with the event we wanted them to help us understand the con ceptual framework smeaton said and know why this is important and how this is important to an organization of higher education the board members were provided with an op portunity to understand what is happening at lehigh because learning happens both inside and outside the classroom smeaton said then in the small planning group we had thought about this in terms of how best we could engage the trustees he said and what better way to do that than to invite them to participate with stu dents face to face in the actual learning opportunities that they're engaged in day in and day out smeaton said the board meets three times a year and uses the strategic planning initiative president alice gast set forth last summer this effort relates to the student life and learning initiative thursday at 4 p.m the board members broke up into 16 groups and attended a variety of student activities across campus smeaton said some of the experiential learning activities included a theater performance rehearsal a swing dance club meeting a fraternity workshop and a live learn and serve meeting he said the board members tried to provide themselves with a good sampling of experiences that students state department weighs in on trade b&wphoto by nowell kahle charlie shapiro an ambassador from the u.s state department spoke to lehigh oklahoma columbia and southern california universities during a video conference tuesday see story page 5 two fraternities face allegations suspension by julie stewart chi phi fraternity is under tempo rary suspension from its national head quarters and sigma alpha mv fraternity has been suspended by the university according to tim wilkinson director of fraternity and sorority affairs chi phi fraternity is under inves tigation related to allegations of an unregistered party last week wilkinson said in an e-mail to a brown and white reporter according to the university's social policy any occasion deemed to be an event with alcohol that has not been registered with the dean of students office will be considered an unregis tered social event and will be subject to disciplinary action wilkinson said the chapter will not be allowed to hold any social events un til further notice from its headquarters chi phi's national headquarters has given them permission to have a new member class he said wilkinson did not comment on whether the university will take action against the chapter both wilkinson and chi phi presi dent rob fagnani 09 said they would have more information about chi phi's status next week fagnani declined additional com ment at this time in an e-mail message to the presi dents of lehigh's greek houses wilkin son said all activities of sigma alpha mv fraternity at lehigh have been im mediately suspended this suspension comes pending the investigation of allegations of multiple university and interfraternity policy violations by the chapter wilkinson's e-mail said the chapter may not hold any activ ity on or off campus including recruit ment activity wilkinson's e-mail said active members alumni and potential new members have been notified the e-mail said former u.n employee u.s is losing respect by allyson planders the u.s needs to be a better leader in the world said gillian sorensen senior advisor at the united nations foundation in a speech wednesday about the u.n.s role in world affairs and its relationship with the u.s sorensen's lecture entitled the united nations the united states and the university was held in sinclair auditorium i speak to reinforce our friends and address our critics she said sorensen is a former assistant secretary general of ex ternal affairs of the u.n working under kofi annan from 1997 to 2003 sorensen now works for the united nations founda tion but she still believes strongly in the power of the u.n the u.n is the place where realism and idealism meet she said the u.n is a voluntary association of governments who come together to accomplish more than any country could do alone sorensen said no other organization is able to do so much with so little she said the u.n works on a shoestring that they do as much as they do is amazing sorensen said peacekeeping efforts are the only part of the u.n.s work that makes headlines sorensen said we need to widen the lens and remember that u.n is so much more she said the u.n has won nine nobel prizes on humanitarian relief she said to say it changes and saves lives is too little a state ment she said cameron copeland 08 president of the global union said the u.n does more than anyone gives it credit for sorensen said the u.s is a superpower and should use this leadership role - a role it seems to have lost in the past few years she said the u.s is now seen as the bully on the block the u.s has the power to be a role model in military might and the soft power to be a beacon of what other countries should be doing she said sorensen said the u.s has the privilege to lead and should be taking that responsibility seriously it pains me to see we have fallen from our own high standard sorensen said when asked by a student which presidential candidate she believes the u.n would endorse sorensen said she believes senator barack obama would be its choice she said her prediction is only a guess but the message it would send to the world would be extraordinary rita jones director of the women's center said the beijing declaration proved that the u.n has invested in many issues including treatment of women at a dinner in the lacocca hall tower room prior to the lecture sorensen spoke about the u.n foundation and important issues facing the world today the un foundation was launched 10 years ago with see board page 3 see nations page 4 wind enemy fails r^^fea/a wrestling squad check online for to catch on defeated by hofstra breaking news page 9 page 20 www.thebrownandwhite.com