Brown and White Vol. 127 no. 2

              The Brown and White
Vol. 127 No. 2
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
‘All the Lehigh News First’
By CHRISTINA HOLDEN
B&W Staff
In an effort to expand fitness space, address women’s needs and maximize the use of new rooms for fitness intramurals and club sports, Taylor Gym underwent several changes this summer.
Campus Athletics has surveyed students throughout the past few years and found that the major concerns stressed about Lehigh’s fitness center included the need for more cardio space and equipment, women’s weight training and a lack of opportunity for club sports in cer­tain areas.
In order to solve these issues, Campus Athletics decided to make some major changes, which were driven by significant alumni inter­est, said Assistant Athletic Director of Campus Athletics Doug Strange.
Strange said the wrestling pro­gram has moved to the top of Grace Hall, leaving an opportunity to ex­pand fitness space on Taylor Gym’s fifth floor. Several weight machines, mirrors and dumbbells, which were previously located on the mezza­nine, have been relocated to this floor. The purpose of this new fifth floor, Strange said, is to service club sports, women’s weight training, fit­ness classes and also offer a space to certain student groups for their practices and pursuits.
Many women using Taylor Gym now believe their only option is to lift weights on the lower level with the men, which has caused some complaints with regard to comfort. Strange says women will soon have a space on the fifth floor after the process of re-purposing and con­structing this new area is completed.
“It can sometimes be intimidat­ing on the ground floor; some girls can feel awkward lifting weights in front of guys,” said Ryan Spirko, ‘16, facility supervisor. “It’s a per­sonal preference, but if girls feel un­comfortable, they will now have an alternative.”
The newly cleared mezzanine area is now filled with over ten car­diovascular machines, which meets
Taylor Gym renovates, responds to student concerns
The Fraternity Management As­sociation, a company that provided 13 Lehigh fraternities and two soror­ities with financial services and man­agement, stopped operating this past March, leaving the Greek chapters with debts unpaid and money lost. Six months later, the affected Lehigh organizations are still recovering, but have moved forward with new methods for organizing and spending funds.
When the FMA declared it was no longer operating, some chapters had to let their chefs go and give up philanthropy and social events for which they’d already planned and budgeted. Many chapters, however, were fortunate enough to receive do­nations from their alumni associa­tions and pay their debts.
The FMA operates independent­ly of Lehigh and is contracted by the Greek chapters. When vendors were not receiving payments, they tried calling the FMA but received no response, according to Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Tim Wilkinson. That was when the vendors reached out to the universi­ty, calling Wilkinson and Director of Residential Services Ozzie Breiner. Wilkinson said that he and Breiner talked and realized that something did not make sense.
Because the OFSA works with the Lehigh Greek chapters and not with the FMA directly, Wilkinson sent out a memo to the affected Greek chap­ters that had been receiving phone
By KATIE ZABRONSKY
B&W Staff
calls from their vendors about not receiving payments. Wilkinson sug­gested these chapters reach out to the FMA.
After alumni contacted the FMA, Betty Fisher, its director, sent a memo to all affected chapters essen­tially stating the organization could not pay its finances and intended to declare bankruptcy. At that point, Wilkinson said, the alumni and chap­ters convened and called an emergen­cy board meeting.
“We were left with absolutely no money to operate with,” said James Marshall, ‘15, who was previously fi­nance chair of Sigma Chi fraternity. “Not only did we lose our money for philanthropy events and date parties, we also lost the funds that were used for food and even around $50,000 in savings.”
Many house chefs were also af­fected by the losses. Sigma Chi was able to keep their chef for a fraction of their usual meals, Marshall said. Alpha Tau Omega fraternity’s presi­dent at the time, Jared Turpen, ’15, said his chapter discovered “that our chef of thirty years and friend, Rod­ney, and his wife had not had their health insurance paid.”
The chapter and its alumni set up a donation site and, through both alumni and family donations, was able to pay its chef his normal sala­ry, buy enough food for him to cook two meals a week and pay the most pressing bills, Turpen said. However, he said that the money they had bud­geted for events was gone.
“So we were held back from par­ticipating
in a lot of things,” Turpen said.
The FMA was not responsive to vendors or chapters.
“We were simply told no when we asked for our financial documents,” Turpen said.
The FMA was a private company with paid staff members, but it also had a board of directors. According to Wilkinson, that board was not ac­tually elected, but instead simply ap­pointed. The alumni and members of the affected groups united to elect a new board, giving the elected board
See GYM Page 2
See LOSSES Page 2INSIDE | Lehigh’s football team falls to James Madison University 31 to 28 in the home opener.
See Page 12
Break the Silence gets own home
By ABBY MCBRIDE
B&W Staff
See BTS Page 2
Break the Silence has found a new home at the recently opened Office of Gender Violence Education and Sup­port after a breakaway from its for­mer place in the Women’s Center.
The goal of the office is to change the campus environment with re­gard to sexual assault, rape, intimate partner abuse and stalking by using the tools of education and a support network for all campus members. The office plans to provide education programs throughout the year, host interactive workshops and speakers, and run awareness campaigns.
Brook DeSipio, the office’s director,
Meghan Reilly, ’17/B&W Staff
Sarah Cassidy, ’17, completes a snatch at Taylor Gym. This summer, two lifting platforms were added to the fitness center, allowing more space for students to lift.
Elissa Miolene, ’15/B&W Staff
Alpha Phi is one of the Greek chapters affected by the Fraternity Management Association’s bankrupcy. The loss of FMA, which managed the necessary finances for houses, such as money for meal plans, changed the way these chapters now run their budgets.
Inside Sports
FMA losses still outstanding