Brown and White Vol. 113 No. 6

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 113 no 6 friday september 23 2005 all the lehigh news first another fraternity bites the dust by lindsay moyer alpha sigma phi placed on administrative suspension by nationals loses house assistant news editor alpha sigma phi fraternity was placed on administrative sus pension tuesday by its national headquarters because the chapter posed an unacceptable risk lia bility vice provost john smeaton said because of the national head quarters decision alpha sig is no longer a recognized chapter at lehigh according to an e-mail sent by the interfraternity council and the panhellenic council to all presidents of greek houses nationals suspended all members due to repeated violations of fra ternity and university policies my understanding is that the national will revoke the charter as the next step but that hasn't hap pened yet smeaton said the 11 brothers living in the alpha sig house will have to move into new housing by pacing break which begins oct 10 smeaton said on-campus housing will be provided for the six sophomore brothers who will most likely move into thomburg house there are currently dou ble rooms in thomburg occupied by only one person so residential services is asking the residents of these rooms to con sider doubling up with people they've met in their housing areas to make room for alpha sig sophomores we're trying to make it work for everybody involved smeaton said the five juniors and seniors in the house were offered on-cam pus housing spots they also said they have the option of moving off campus when the brothers were informed of the suspension on tuesday night they were initially told that they'd have to move out sooner first they said by friday and everybody flipped out alpha sig house manager harry mcavoy 08 said then they said monday and we flipped out again the alpha sig brothers have been informed that they will be held liable for any damage to the house that occurs until they move out on oct 10 the house must also remain alcohol-free and no safety or policy violations can occur campus police will do walk throughs of the public areas of the alpha sig house there will also be an event staff member hired by the campus police in the house from 11 p.m to 7 a.m nightly they will be there to ensure that there are no violations most ly to make sure the safety of members is not jeopardized nor are there any problems with the physical structure smeaton said the alpha sigma phi national headquarters notified smeaton on monday afternoon about the decision to place the fraternity on administrative sus pension the brothers were unaware the meeting was called to place the chapter on administrative suspension our head alumni called a house meeting and said it's just a house meeting mcavoy said that's all we were told alpha sig phi executive director drew thawley sent the brothers a letter detailing the reasons for the national headquarters decision smeaton said thawley told the brothers the chapter was being placed on administrative suspension because they had vio lated university and fraternity policies and had not followed the ideals of the national fraternity prior to the start of the aca demic year the national fraternity placed a live-in adviser david skee in the alpha sig house to help the men live up to the national expectations of the rater nity skee left the house just over two weeks ago and some of the brothers said they felt this may have contributed to the decision of die national fraternity to sus pend their chapter we had a live-in adviser earli er in the semester and he left without telling us why mcavoy said we found out later that our advisor had found a beer can in the parking lot and had heard city says yes to gambling beth works to pursue slots by david webster news writer b&w photo by amanda wright bethlehem's city council rejected a zoning proposition that would have prohibited gam bling in the former bethlehem steel plant area clearing the way for beth works now to apply for a slots-only gambling license the vote gives beth works now in conjunc tion with the las vegas sands corp the go ahead to pursue an 879 million conversion project seeking to turn the 135 acres of bethlehem steel between the fahy and minsi trail bridges into an area of retail shops hous ing complexes and entertainment mainly in the form of gambling slots the 4-3 vote against the prohibition was essentially determined by city councilman robert donchez's swing vote tuesday the city council decision followed an open forum debate in the broughal middle school auditorium monday night beth works now is the primary group that pushed for the gambling zoning it handed out pamphlets in the streets on tuesday and circu lated flyers in the weeks before the vote advocates in attendance on tuesday said they see immediate and future benefits for the bethlehem community they said the beth works now project will create new jobs generate millions of dollars in taxes and help preserve bethlehem's legacy some citizens said they oppose the develop ment on moral grounds fearing the harm gam bling will do to their quaint historical city lehigh students and faculty also weighed bethlehem steel will be the site of an 879 million conversion proj ect to revitalize the area which will include a slots-only casino hawks now no 30 in nation by lindsay lachman sports writer after its stunning upset of no 20 binghamton last saturday the men's soccer team has done something that it hasn't done in two years the team is now ranked 30th in the nation the last time the squad was ranked was in october of 2003 despite these accolades the team is only focusing on its upcoming opponents navy and university of richmond come monday we need to put the win behind us and focus on navy head coach dean koski said with an impressive 3-1 record the mountain hawks find themselves ranked no 6 in the mid-atlantic region yet with the next two oppo nents being mid-atlantic teams the hawks said they can't let themselves live in the past we felt very good about the win over binghamton but can't stay up about it for too long freshman adam gazda said we have another big game this weekend although navy finished at the bottom of the patriot league standings last year it has already shown signs of improvement as it has jumped out to a 6-3 start richmond has already matched its win total from last season with a 3-3 start they are both much improved teams from last year so we anticipate two very difficult games koski said in preparation for the upcoming games the team has had grueling practices see alpha sig page 3 see gambling page 2 see soccer page 12 sports 12 16 news 1-3 field hockey 16 professor offers 3 football 16 possibilities for future of iraq