Brown and White Vol. 128 no. 13

              The Brown and White
Vol. 128 No. 13
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
‘All the Lehigh News First’
National news about Lehigh cre­ates a buzz, but it is ultimately the education that Lehigh offers that draws students to attend the univer­sity. Each year since the economic recession, the number of applications has been continuing to increase, said Maria Asayag, the associate director
By EMILY LAN
B&W Staff
Editor’s note: the names of the Delta Phi members mentioned in this story have been removed in order to protect them from possible nation­al and administrative repercussions.
Delta Phi fraternity has taken steps to address uncertainties regarding the notebook of hazing rituals found in its house since being dissolved from Lehigh’s campus on February 21 until February 21, 2019, as a result of the notebook.
On Dec. 1, 2014, several broth­ers of Delta Phi were emailed and asked to meet with Lehigh officials to discuss a hazing allegation and investigation. The administration had obtained a notebook from 2011 that had been found specifically detailing Delta Phi’s hazing and pledging rituals. According to the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affair’s Lehigh Greeks Blog, alle­gations included “coerced consump­of
admissions. The highest applica­tion pool occurred in 2008, when Lehigh received around 13,000 appli­cations, she said. This year Lehigh received its second highest applica­tion pool, reaching a total of approxi­mately 12,800 applications.
Although the applicant pool has generally increased from year to year, the accepted class size stays around the same. More applicants don’t lead to more acceptances — it just creates a lower acceptance rate. This upcom­ing year, Lehigh will be accepting a new class of 1,220 students. Some of these students have already received admissions decisions, while the rest will find out by the end of the March.
In recent years, there has been national news about Lehigh, such as the school’s position on several “top party school” lists and the basketball team beating Duke University during March Madness in 2012.
“What helps us gain these applica­tions is that buzz that’s generated,” Asayag said. “Generating that buzz helps generate recognition and puts Lehigh on the map if we weren’t before.”
Asayag also said that the name rec­Andrew
Garrison/B&W Staff
The Alumni Memorial Building is home to Lehigh’s Admissions Office, which serves as a point of contact for prospective students. This year, Lehigh received its second highest application pool with approximately 12,800 applications being submitted.
See ADMISSIONS Page 3
See APPEAL Page 4
tion of alcohol, line ups, servitude, and restrictions on sleep, contact, and behavior as well as degrading actions taken toward new members.”
Over winter break, the Delta Phi national headquarters hired an attorney to represent the fra­ternity in its conduct hearing and challenged Lehigh on the legality of seizing the notebook. According to a member of Delta Phi’s lead­ership committee, Lehigh officials claimed the notebook was taken in August when it was found on top of a heap of trash on the premises of the chapter house. The brothers of Delta Phi, however, said it had to have been taken over Thanksgiving break because multiple brothers had claimed to have seen the notebook throughout the first semester. Delta Phi was ultimately found guilty of several conduct violations and their appeal against the sanctions was rejected.
“Any student organization that is found responsible for violations of the code of conduct can appeal,” wrote Chris Mulvihill, the assis­tant dean of student conduct, in an email. “I wouldn’t say that groups appeal frequently, but when the consequences are very significant, appeals are often filed.”
He said that appeals can be filed for three reasons: If information that was not available at the time of the hearing is now available and this information can be reasonably expected to alter the outcome of the case; if the university disciplinary procedures were altered, and this may have affected the outcome of the case; or the sanctions are believed to be “unduly” harsh.
An organization can submit a let­ter to appeal and a response letter is then written by a member of the uni­versity committee on discipline or someone in Mulvihill’s office (in the case of a process appeal) addressing the points presented by the organi­zation. A disciplinary appeal com­mittee then meets and reviews the appeal.
“Appeals are sometimes granted, but not very often as the process is very fair and provides the organi­zation with many opportunities to provide information to the hearing panel,” Mulvihill said.
Some Delta Phi members said they believe Lehigh’s conduct and appeals process was unfair and biased. A Delta Phi general member said that Lehigh’s code of conduct is not clearly written. Additionally, he disagreed with the way appeals are handled by the administration.
“I think it’s unfair that you can only appeal on three grounds,” the general member said. “And I think that you should get to appeal that the verdict is incorrect because pret­ty much the way it is now is that whatever the verdict is, is the ver­dict. There’s no way to avoid that. And you only get three days to appeal from the day of the trial, so I think that you should be able to have at least a week or so to appeal if you think that that is necessary.”
Update: Delta Phi fraternity’s sanctions appeal rejected
By EMMA FRIED & ABBY MCBRIDE
B&W Staff
Value or buzz:
What makes students choose Lehigh?
With many prospective students awaiting acceptances this month, Lehigh’s Admissions says applica­tion volume stays fairly even yearly despite national news attention.