Brown and White Vol. 128 no. 3

              The Brown and White
Vol. 128 No. 3
Friday, February 6, 2015
‘All the Lehigh News First’
This story is the first in a series examining the actions Lehigh University is taking to address cam­pus climate as a result of its voluntary resolution agreement with the OCR.
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In response to Lehigh University’s Office of Civil Rights voluntary res­olution agreement, Lehigh’s Office of the General Council has hired Karen Salvemini, Esq., as the Equal Opportunity Compliance Coordinator.
In an email sent to the Lehigh com­munity Jan. 26 by Interim President Kevin Clayton and Provost Patrick Farrell, Salvemini’s position is described as being “responsible for coordinating the university’s efforts and initiatives to ensure compliance with all equal opportunity laws, as well as engaging the campus com­munity in educational initiatives and implementation of best practices in the reporting and response to incidents of discrimination and harassment.”
The creation of this position was not required by the OCR resolution but will “be an important element of our compliance and campus climate initiatives,” according to the email.
After holding the position for only a little more than a week, Salvemini has begun to see how things are han­dled at Lehigh.
“We have general ideas of what the position is going to be and different focuses, but it’s really going to be a matter of seeing where the need is and adapting the role to meet those needs,” she said.
A lot of Salvemini’s current work is focused on working through the OCR resolution. She is helping to make sure Lehigh is meeting both the deadlines and criteria outlined in the agreement.
“I’ve been working with a lot of those issues and making sure we’re addressing all of them and meeting the time frames that we’re required to meet,” she said.
The Office of the General Counsel handles all university legal matters, while Salvemini will be focusing spe­cifically on equal opportunity com­pliance and affirmative action poli­cies. Equal opportunity compliance involves addressing employment, discrimination and harassment laws such as Title XI, Title XII and Title IX. Salvemini will also be working on getting affirmative action policies in place and making sure they are implemented properly.
“(The Office of the General Counsel) as a whole handles all legal matters and then my role is more to deal with the compliance issues and affirma­tive action,” she said.
While she is currently her own sep­arate entity, Salvemini will be collab­orating with the five other members of the Office of the General Counsel as well as other offices on campus.
One of these colleagues is Frank Roth, Esq., General Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel.
“Compliance is one part of our practice and this area of equal oppor­tunity is really important,” he said.
Lehigh’s Fraternity Facility Selection Committee is now accepting applications from fra­ternities that wish to move into House 97, a non-affiliated resi­dence hall, which was formerly the Lambda Chi Alpha house.
Delta Chi and Phi Delta Theta, two fraternities without chapter houses at Lehigh, will both be applying for the house.
“The fraternities will hand in a packet of information based on the questions that were posted on the (Greek) blog,” said Tim Wilkinson, Senior Assistant Dean of Students and director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, in an email. “The chapters will then present to a seven-person committee, and have a question and answer session after the presentation.”
Wilkinson said the committee will then recommend one of the fraternities to John Smeaton, the Vice Provost of Student Affairs, who can either accept the recom­mendation or return it to the com­mittee to review again.
Colin Orr, ’15, and a member of Delta Chi, said the applica­tion process has several sections. These sections include an accredi­tation section, a membership plan for the house and a residential transitional plan.
Raven Atkins/B&W Staff
Karen Salvemini sits in her new office Feb. 3. Salvemini has been appointed to be the Equal Opportunity Compliance Coordinator, a new position created to organize campus climate initiatives.
By SAMANTHA TOMASZEWSKI
Associate News Editor
Karen Salvemini hired in response to OCR agreement
See HOUSE 97 Page 3
By REBECCA WILKIN
B&W Staff
Fraternities begin application process to live in House 97
Chapters are required to submit an annual report and conduct a 40 minute presentation to a panel of faculty, staff, students and alum­ni.”
The five areas that fraterni­ties are asked to focus on include “intellectual development, lead­ership development, communi­ty development, organizational development, and facilities man­agement,” according to the Lehigh website.
According to the blog, the apply­ing fraternity must also have a comprehensive recruitment plan to assist in the sustainability of the organization, and must be able to account for any necessary recruitment changes. In addition, members must be able to explain why moving to a facility will affect their recruitment strategy.
“It’s actually pretty similar to the accreditation process, but it focuses more on the facilities man­agement aspect of it,” said Greg Potter, ’16 and president of Phi
According to the Lehigh University website, listed under “Fraternity and Sorority Affairs,” accreditation is an annual process and it is a “comprehensive review and assessment of all facets of chapter operations and is a key process in the development and maintenance of chapter standards.
Nan He/B&W Staff
House 97 is currently a non-affiliated residence hall after being formerly occupied by Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Applications are now open for fraternities to apply to live in the house in Fall 2015.
See HIRED Page 2