Brown and White Vol. 122 no. 3

              Vol. 122 No. 3 - The Debbie Pearsall Edition
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
‘All the Lehigh News First’
THE BROWN AND WHITE
Lehigh University’s Student Newspaper Founded in 1894
SPORTS
Swimming & diving ready for Patriots
Page 12
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Eating good
around town
Page 5
LIFESTYLE
By ERIN COOK
Members of Lehigh’s chap­ter of Pi Kappa Alpha frater­nity received news of their impending spot on the Hill in December 2012.
The process of selecting a new chapter to take a spot on the Hill began after the Delta Tau Delta chapter had its charter revoked in the spring of 2011.
Following their removal, the facility was empty for the remainder of the semester.
Much deliberation occurred throughout the summer by Lehigh’s System Wide Assess­ment Committee regarding a plan for the previous Delta Tau Delta facility. The com­mittee decided to allow the two non-residential fraternity chapters at Lehigh to apply for the opportunity to occupy the open house on the Hill; Pi Kappa Alpha, commonly known as Pike, and Delta Chi.
Pike took the chance to prove to the university and the deciding committee why its chapter deserved to move onto the Hill.
Pike’s former president Rob Sobieski, ’12, said it was not always his chapter’s primary goal to acquire a house on campus.
“Our goal was always to be the best fraternity on campus, whether that involved having a house or not,” Sobieski said.
“Our goal was never to move into a residential facil­ity, but of course it was always in the back of our minds,” he said.
“When the former Delta Tau Delta house opened up at the end of last year, we saw an
Remembering one of our own, Debbie Pearsall
By DARCY MONOGHAN
Iranian diplomat Seyed Vahid Karimi met with and briefed 22 Lehigh students during their visit to the Iranian mission to the U.N. on Thursday, Jan. 26.
Karimi told the students that the U.S. stance toward Iran will be a major factor in 2012 U.S. presidential election.
Karimi said he believes that the U.S. and Iran will not go to war because “there are too many factors,” and that “Iran can’t close the strait [of Hormuz] because it is an international waterway.”
Karimi said the U.S. is not at­tacking Iran because it cannot.
He went on to say that if Iran’s international adversaries are not obeying international laws, the Iranian government would con­sider it an act of war.
Karimi told the students he be­lieves if the Iranian government were to release any statement and claim that Obama sent it, the move could affect the outcome of the election entirely. He also reassured the students that such a move was improbable.
The Iranian government tries
B&W photo courtesy of EVA GATHURA
Seyed Vahid Karimi, counselor for the Iranian mission to the U.N., met with Lehigh students when they visited the U.N. headquarters on Thursday, Jan. 26, as part of the LU/UN Partnership.
Iranian diplomat briefs Lehigh students at UN
See IRAN Page 2
See PIKE Page 2
n Members of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity are looking forward to having a house of their own.
B&W photo courtesy of MARY NUNLEY
The Lehigh community mourns the loss of Debbie Pearsall, ’12, who passed away the night of Saturday, Jan. 28, at age 21.
Pike prepares to move into house on Hill
By MELISSA COLLINS
Debbie Pearsall, ’12, member of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority and former editor in chief of The Brown and White, passed away Saturday, Jan. 28.
She attained many achievements over the course of her 21 years, most recently she earned a position working as an editorial intern at Men’s Health magazine in Emmaus, Pa. She also earned a prestigious Dow Jones News Fund internship working for the St. Petersburg Times in Tampa, Fla., from June to August during the summer of 2011.
Prior to those internships, Debbie served as editor in chief of The Brown and White from December 2010 to June 2011. From her first year at Lehigh, she was a highly committed and im­portant member of the student newspaper. She rose through the ranks quickly from assistant to section to managing editor positions, and eventu­ally was voted by peers into the paper’s highest position.
“Debbie arrived as a freshman and dove right into The Brown and White,” said Wally Trimble, associate professor of journalism and com­munications and faculty adviser to the student newspaper.
“I remember one of her senior editors then describing her as a ‘force of nature,’” he said. “She soon became an editor and held a succes­sion of posts, culminating with being editor in chief during the spring semester of her junior year.”
Also during her junior year, Debbie joined Zeta and was a founding sister of the sorority’s Lambda Zeta chapter at Lehigh.
She held the position of assistant historian reporter for Zeta, which involved managing her chapter’s website.
Through Zeta, Debbie met Mary Nunley, ’12, and the pair of crown sisters quickly became close friends.
“We had known each other less than a year, but became so close in such a short amount of time,” Nunley said.
Nunley said the last time the sorority
See DEBBIE Page 3