Brown and White Vol. 125 no. 14

              Vol. 125 No. 14
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
‘All the Lehigh News First’
THE BROWN AND WHITE
Lehigh University’s Student Newspaper Founded in 1894
SPORTS
Hawks compete
in wrestle-offs
Page 12
ONLINE
Poll: How should FBR continue its dialogue?
thebrownandwhite.com
Singing choral
arts’ praises
Page 5
LIFESTYLE
B&W photo by CONNOR TAIT
FBR member Scott Grant, ‘16, responds to a student’s question at the From Beneath the Rug’s open forum.
B&W photo by SOFI BARRIONUEVO
Members of Sigma Chi and Alpha Omicron Pi participate in the 50-hour seesaw event on the University Center’s front lawn. The seesaw event raised money for Autism Speaks and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research.
AOII, Sig. Chi host 50-hour philanthropic seesaw event
Experts advise future leaders on courses of political action
FBR core hosts open forum
By SAMANTHA ORLAN
At “Millenial Generation: Paying the Price for Washington’s Paralysis” a panel discussed how the national debt is being thrust upon the next generation of Americans in Perella Audi­torium on Oct .22.
Moderator Stephanie Ruhle, ’97, co-host of “Market Makers” on Bloomberg TV, earned a B.A. in international business from Lehigh. She was joined by panelists Ken Langone, co-founder of The Home Depot; Geoffrey Canada, president of Harlem Children’s Zone; and Stanley Druckenmiller, an investor and philanthropist.
Attendees included students, faculty and alumni, many of whom were familiar with Canada and Druckenmiller. They had also been exposed to former Federal Reserve gov­ernor Kevin Warsh’s op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal titled “Generational Theft Needs to be Arrested.”
The piece emphasized the following points: “Government spending levels are unsustainable. Higher taxes, however advis­able or not, fail to come close to solving the problem. Discretionary spending must be reduced but without harming the safety net for our most vulnerable, or sacrificing future growth (e.g., research and education). Defense and homeland security spending should not be immune to reductions. Most consequen­tially, the growth in spending on entitlement programs—Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare—must be curbed.”
The three panelists expanded on these ideas in their discussion. Langone took Warsh’s place as the standing Republican.
“I am not here to tell you boomers should go bust,” Druckenmiller said. “I am here to tell you that entitlements are one of the great­est successes of the American government in the past 50 years.”
Druckenmiller discussed poverty statistics; concentration of wealth; disproportionate sup­port provided to the old; unequal number of American workers to American retirees; and the impending problem ahead that he illus­trated as a “true fiscal gap” with no alternative.
“America has the 34th highest child pov­erty rate,” Druckenmiller said.
In 1960, the percentage of every dollar of income per worker spent on children was 1.2 cents, with 15.4 cents going to the elderly. In 2011, 8.7 cents went to children and 56.6 cents went to the elderly. With the govern­ment’s projected spending for fiscal year 2013 at $3.7 trillion, $875 billion is allocated to social security, Medicare and Medicaid, while only $6 billion goes to children, he said.
Organizations like Head Start, National
See ACTION Page 4
By ALEC KROSSER
Sigma Chi fraternity and Alpha Omicron Pi sorority raised more than $1,300 for Autism Speaks and the Mi­chael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research at their annual ‘See-Saw’ phi­lanthropy event on the University Cen­ter front lawn from Oct. 22 to Oct. 24.
The 50-hour seesaw marathon had members of both chapters alternating between asking for donations and see­sawing on the front lawn to raise aware­ness for their respective charities.
Although the event has been held annually for the past 10 years, the chapters have not always donated to the same charities; the chapters choose charities relevant to their members’ interests.
“We try to pick a charity every year that we as a house have a per­sonal connection to in order to keep the meaning behind the event rele­vant to an organization that sees total membership turnover in as little as four years,” said Nick Kleinert, ’15, president of Sigma Chi.
Autism Speaks is an organization that was founded in 2005.
“This year we chose [an autism-based charity] because our adviser’s son has autism,” said Katie Hoffman, ‘15, AOII’s philanthropy chair.
According to autismspeaks.org. “[It is the] world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing the awareness of autism spectrum disor­ders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families.”
The Michael J. Fox Founda­tion for Parkinson’s Research was founded in 2000, and its mission is “finding a cure for Parkinson’s dis­ease through an aggressively funded research agenda and to ensure the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson’s to­See
SEESAW Page 3
By ABBY SMITH
FBR—From Beneath the Rug, a self-defined group of marginalized students fighting to change Lehigh’s culture—held an open forum Thursday eve­ning to explain and clarify its movement to members of the Lehigh community.
Students, faculty and staff filled Perella Auditorium at 7 p.m. to hear FBR’s core group discuss the movement, its begin­ning and its objectives. Rep­resentatives of FBR included Ralph Jean-Noel, ’15; Elizabeth Pines,’16; Kelly Petty, ’14; Jovan Campbell, ’14; Rawle Sterling, ’14; Scott Grant, ’16; Kevin Jaramillo, ’16, Chris Naunay, ’16; and Brenda Martinez, ’15.
“Lehigh is not doing a good job of making sure that all stu­dents have an equal opportunity to learn on this campus,” Grant said. “This institution sometimes too easily silences those who try to stick up for themselves.”
Grant added that FBR aims to give a voice to the marginal­ized on Lehigh’s campus and to ensure that every student has an equal opportunity to have a great Lehigh experience.
FBR intends to do this by working with the administra­tion. One objective the core group desires is the establish­ment of a cultural sensitivity course required for students across all majors.
“As students, as future work­ers, it is imperative that you can walk up to someone of a different color, a different race, a different background, and not feel uncomfortable,” Grant said. “It is really essential that Lehigh puts more emphasis into making sure their students are culturally aware and culturally conscious.”
Another institutional change the group seeks to make is es­tablishing a summer program for first-generation college stu­dents; this three-week program for credit would help prepare them for Lehigh’s academic rigor.
FBR also wants to imple­ment a screening process for
See FORUM Page 4