Brown and White Vol. 115 No. 35

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 115 no 35 friday february 27 2009 all the lehigh news first fraternities bid numbers second highest in a decade by megan hanks numbers from previous years and the es tablishment of the two non-residential frater nities indicate that about 300 men will likely accept their fraternity bids this year said tim wilkinson director of fraternity and soror ity affairs bids were distributed by chapter houses the week of feb 9 354 men attended open houses and 310 bids were given out to 259 men said mi chelle rebholz a greek life coordinator as of feb 17 241 men had accepted their bids about 93 percent of the men who re ceived bids with the addition of delta chi and pi kappa alpha non-residential fraterni ties the number of men accepting bids is ex pected to be around 300 wilkinson said the average new member class size is 14 men per fraternity house rebholz said this year represented the second highest number of men accepting bids in ten years this statistic does not include the men who intend on joining the non-residential fra ternities rebholz said during spring 2008 recruitment 364 bids were extended according to the fraternity and sorority affairs web page of the 364 bids 258 men accepted some men were extended more than one bid the overall acceptance number is down slightly from last year however lehigh also has two less fraternities than in spring 2008 rebholz said since the interfraternity council is hold ing fraternities accountable it is proof we are going in the right direction wilkinson said more men are joining fraternities for the right reasons he said the greek system as a whole is coming words can heal b&wphoto by lisa kobayashi paul rusesabagina the hotel manager depicted in hotel rwanda addressed a packed baker hall tuesday night rusesabagina saved over 1,200 people by housing them in his hotel during the 1994 rwandan genocide economy sparks tuition spending adjustments by gwen purdom president alice gast and the board of trustees have ap proved a tuition increase of 2.9 percent for the upcoming school year the smallest percentage increase in 40 years the change will be among several actions the administration plans to take in light of the national economic downturn according to a campus-wide e-mail from gast the total cost for an undergraduate to attend lehigh in cluding tuition room and board charges and the undergradu ate technology fee will be 48,850 an increase of 1,530 from the 2008-2009 year additional financial steps will include a 10 percent reduc tion in non-salary administrative expenditures per department careful review of vacant staff positions reduced overtime and wage costs a 15 percent reduction in adjunct teaching staff costs and the building of a reserve for financial aid and enroll ment the e-mail said the undergraduate financial aid pool will contain 56.3 million the highest level ever at lehigh i do not believe that our current budget was bloated and i appreciate that the decisions we must make require hard think ing and tough choices and will result in some reductions in services we have been accustomed to gast said in her e-mail we must all now more than ever be careful stewards of our university's resources the e-mail cited the uneven toll the economic situation will take on various people and departments these differ ences can be partly attributed to the economy's impact on the genocide survivor says words bring peace by elaine hardenstine renowned humanitarian rwandan genocide survivor and inspiration for the acclaimed film hotel rwanda paul rusesabagina spoke about the power of words to heal or destroy a community and his life experiences tuesday night rusesabagina who filled baker hall with students staff and community members said language is the best weap on in the human arsenal he learned firsthand the impact a calm and sympathiz ing tone or a berating screaming voice can have on others when in april 1994 tutsi rebels shot down rwandan's president's plane the death of president juvenal habyarimana a hutu the tutsis rival ethnic group in rwanda sparked a mass killing of rwandan tutsis in a little over three months 500,000 rwandans were murdered the deaths were usually at the hand of a ma chete rusesabagina said causing people to beg to be killed with a shotgun anything but being slashed to death he said his neighborhood friend who he described as a cool guy who is good with people was walking outside the day after the fighting began and rusesabagina saw blood dripping off a machete in his hand i knew the country had gone mad he said somehow throughout the chaos rusesabagina re mained calm the assistant manager for one of the most prestigious hotels in rwanda hotel dcs mille collines rusesabagina said he used his connections with high-ranking diplomats and soldiers to keep the hotel guarded and safe when he and his family were first taken from their home by the hutu militia rusesabagina said he thought his family would remain safe temporarily however as they were escorted in jeeps to the hotel with multiple vehicles full of friends neighbors and more militia moving to what they thought was safety he said the jeep at the front of the line stopped rusesabagina was pulled from the driver's seat and ordered to shoot everyone who had traveled with him in cluding his wife and children that day i was scared rusesabagina said but he quickly overcame his fears i saw a small window of dialogue and started opening it he said see bids page 2 see spending page 3 see rwanda page 4 springserve offers fiidl wrestling completes business school alternative break raj record-setting season dean talks economy page 5 page 12 thebrownandwhite.com