Brown and White Vol. 109 No. 5

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 109 no 5 tuesday september 18 2001 all the lehigh news first smeaton calls removal of flag from bus a mistake apologizes by tracey lomrantz assistant news editor vice provost of student affairs john smeaton released a formal public apology saturday for ordering the removal of an american flag from a lehigh bus and offending students who were anxious to show their patri otism smeaton asked that the flag be removed thursday around 3:30 p.m complaints from students and staff began almost immediately and the flag was replaced within an hour removing the flag was an effort on smeaton's part to prevent offending the diverse international population at lehigh samara fisher 03 saw the good in smeaton's intial reac tion but was glad when he apologized and replaced the flag i understand they were trying to be sensitive but it was unfair to those trying to show their unity in this time of tragedy fisher said smeaton made the follow ing apology statement for his actions last thursday after noon i made a mistake it is one that i deeply regret and for which i can only apolo gize smeaton was sincere con cerning his apology in my role i'm often in the situation of telling students to take responsibility for their actions and i can't in good con science tell them that if i don't apply it to myself smeaton said president farrington also issued a statement regarding this incident which was sent via a campus-wide e-mail and was also posted on the lehigh web site farrington said vice provost smeaton regrets his actions and has publicly apolo gized for them i believe john is an outstanding vice provost for student affairs and his forthright apology confirms my feelings about him and his personal integrity the morning call reported the incident friday claiming the bus driver and at least one student were extremely angered by the order to remove the flag and com plaints were called in smeaton told the morning call this was a misunder standing that was quickly recti fied the message was supposed to be that we are sensitive to everyone the flags are once again waving on lehigh's buses and throughout campus national day of prayer observed by greg meyer news editor the campus community came together friday after president bush declared it to be a day of national prayer and remembrance following the terrorist attacks in new york and washington lehigh participated in this endeavor by providing a non-denominational communi ty service at noon in packer memorial church led by father wayne killian and chaplain lloyd steffen hundreds of lehigh students faculty and staff were in attendance lehigh joined other institutions across the nation by sounding bells at the start of the service to honor the memory of the victims of last tuesday's attack on the country some students were encouraged by their b&wphoto by katie young students gather together to sing and pray at one of many candlelight vigils held friday similar services were held throughout the country ribbons signify hope community by renata gagnon distribution efforts to continue through the week to meet high demand news writer the council of student presidents handed out ribbons friday in response to last tuesday's tragedy the ribbons were distributed from 10 a.m to 4 p.m in rauch business center and the university center the council of student presidents is an organization on campus comprised of 13 presi dents from various organizations across campus the council met thursday at in the ulrich student center and put together the combination of brown white and yellow ribbons themselves jessica desantis 03 presi dent of the residence hall association said the council unanimously felt they should do something to show lehigh's support for the country dean of students sharon basso support ed the idea dean basso encouraged us to involve the other officers from our groups as well as other student leaders desantis said the senior class gift organization helped as well and president farrington stopped by for a while senior class president peter auerbach 02 helped facilitate the ribbon creation auerbach received the ribbons from dean basso who had bought them earlier that day auerbach said the council didn't want to use red white and blue ribbons because they didn't want to offend any of the minority groups and those of different nationalities on campus especially those who feel they are being grouped together with the people who committed the terrorist acts the last thing we wanted to do was alienate them auerbach said brown white and yellow ribbons were decided upon instead as a symbol that lehigh cares about what hap pened to the united states yellow ribbons are the univer see ribbons page 5 see prayer page 5 &~ w jb wc___\\lß_^^^^_\_i w women's soccer team beats drexel university 1-0 see page 20 sports 17-20 sports cancellations 17 women's golf 19 field hockey 20 lehigh alumnus recognized in time magazine see page 7 news 1-9 college news briefs 2 sorority rush 4 nyc photos 8-9 the economic impact of the terrorist attacks remains a mystery see page 11 business 11-13 history of the wtc 11 look who's investing 13 qgfi seedless oranges were not grown in the united states until 1871 source:http://www.uselessknowl edge.com