Brown and White Vol. 127 no. 8

              The Brown and White
Vol. 127 No. 8
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
‘All the Lehigh News First’
The Founder’s Day student speaker committee, through a comprehensive interview pro­cess, has selected Alexandra Stephanou, ’15, to address the community at Lehigh’s annual celebration.
Lehigh’s Founder’s Day not only celebrates the universi­ty’s rich tradition and beloved founder, Asa Packer, but also the present Lehigh community who contribute to the success of the university.
“It’s really about welcoming everyone together at the start of the year to celebrate where we’ve been, where we are and where we are going from every popu­lation that relates to Lehigh,” said Celia Cameron, Assistant Vice President of Advancement Communications and Donor Relations. “That’s why the fac­ulty are invited to be there, the donors are there who have given and then the students who are the lifeblood of Lehigh.”
The student speaker is a huge part of the Founder’s Day celebra­tion. Each year a group of candi­dates is narrowed down through a series of interviews to choose a speaker who is a representation of the Lehigh student population.
“I’m a big fan of Lehigh tra­ditions so Founder’s day is just another one,” Stephanou said. “I’ve gone to it every year since I have been at Lehigh, and I think it’s really neat that tradition has been going on so long and it really brings everyone at the ceremony back to Lehigh’s values and foun­dations...why Asa Packer made Lehigh and how we are carrying on his tradition. It sounds very cliché but when you look at what he wanted this school to be, we are doing it so many years later.”
Vice Provost for Student Affairs John Smeaton echoed Stephanou’s sentiments, speaking on the importance of student perspective and its representation in the cel­ebration.
“Students are at the heart of our mission,” Smeaton said. “I want their voice heard when we gather as a community.”
The process to find the stu­dent speaker has been changed from previous years. In the past, the Office of Student Leadership Development would hold the stu­dent leadership kickoff dinner in August. At this dinner there would be a handful of student speakers, with the speaker for Founder’s Day being chosen from that group.
However, this year’s kickoff dinner had only one or two speak­ers. Unlike prior years, the stu­dent speaker search committee asked various groups from across the staff at Lehigh, including the Office of Student Leadership Development, Alumni Relations and Residence Life, to recommend candidates.
Of that group, the Events Department contacted seven or eight potential speakers to see if they were interested, with three students accepting the invitation to go through the interview pro­cess.
The first round of interviews was with staff from Special Projects and Events departments. This round was about trying to uncover what Founder’s Day meant to the candidate and what they would bring to the table in terms of topic idea for the speech.
Smeaton and Cameron, as well as Associate Vice President in the department of Advancement, John Welty, spoke with the final two recommended speakers and narrowed their choices down to a finalist.
The collective recommendation was then passed on to the Office
By CARLY NYMAN
Assistant News Editor
Courtesy of Alexandra Stephanou, ’15
Alexandra Stephanou, ’15, has been selected to be this year’s student Founder’s Day speaker. Stephanou said she will speak about why Asa Packer established Lehigh and how that vision is alive today.
Founder’s Day student speaker selected
Alexandra Stephanou, ’15, to address Lehigh community at annual eventINSIDE | Family living in Sayre Village: A Lehigh
professor makes Lehigh her home.
See Page 7
Phi Kappa Theta fraternity has been charged with various viola­tions of the Lehigh Code of Conduct after two incidents at off-campus parties on Aug. 21 and Sept. 6.
An anonymous Lehigh commu­nity member, who attended the Aug. 21 event, sent an email to the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards with a video recording of the broth­ers chanting a song with lyrics that included, “He’s gay, he’s gay, he’s gay as f---,” according to the Lehigh Greeks blog.
The person indicated that it made them feel harassed and asked the university to investi­gate. The Lehigh University Police Department also overheard the song on Sept. 6 when they investi­gated an off-campus party.
After seven members of the fra­ternity met with Chris Mulvhill, assistant dean of students, six of them confirmed the lyrics, as well as said that it is accompanied by “an encouragement to consume large quantities of alcohol,” the blog stated.
They also said that the brothers sing this song to other members on their birthdays.
This was declared hazing by the Office of Student Conduct. One brother who was interviewed said that he was “able to avoid (the
Phi Kappa Theta faces hearing for Code of Conduct violations
By GABY MORERA
Assistant News Editor
See PHI KAP Page 3
See SPEAKER Page 3
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