Brown and White Vol. 132 no. 21

              The Brown and White Vol. 132 No. 21
Friday, April 28, 2017 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
Getting down and Derby
Sigma Chi’s philanthropy event returns with new partnerships
Vincent Liu/B&W Staff
Members of Sigma Chi fraternity kick off the dance competition with their performance Monday in Packard Laboratory. Sigma Chi is hosting its
annual philanthropy event Derby Days from Moday until today.
By MADISON PETERSON-PORTA
B&W Staff
As Sigma Chi fraternity hosts its
annual philanthropy event Derby
Days this week, it won’t be alone.
The fraternity will be partner-ing
with Phi Sigma Kappa, another
Interfraternity Council organiza-tion,
to host the week-long event.
Derby Days was created through
Sigma Chi’s headquarters and takes
place on other campuses across the
nation.
The philanthropic event, which
was first held on campus in 2011,
will still depend on participation
from Panhellenic sororities. This
year there will be opportunities for
other Greek organizations to get
involved, particularly the Cultural
Greek Council.
While the money raised tradition-ally
goes to the Huntsman Cancer
Institute, this year’s funds will
go toward raising awareness for
spinal cord injuries after a Sigma
Chi member suffered from a spi-nal
cord injury earlier this semes-ter.
Bill Ulrich, ’18, a member of
Sigma Chi, said proceeds will go
to the Christopher & Dana Reeve
Foundation. Christopher Reeve,
known for his role as Superman in
the 1978 film, started the founda-tion
after he shattered his first and
second vertebrae and was left para-lyzed
in 1995.
“The change shows the house’s
solidarity and support for one of our
members,” Ulrich said. “Hopefully
this will raise awareness for all the
people who suffer from SCI.”
The chapter has looked for ways
to make Derby Days more inclusive
with the help of CGC sororities
and the cultural Greek chapters in
general. In future years, the frater-nity
hopes to get even more people
involved by reaching out earlier in
the semester.
Chapter president Bryce
Prison tutor
program
searches for
volunteers
By MARISSA McCLOY
Designer
A tutoring program is looking
for volunteers to travel out of the
“Lehigh bubble” and step into prison.
As part of the Lehigh Prison Project,
students and faculty visit and tutor
inmates at the Northampton County
Prison once a week.
Professor of religious studies Lloyd
Steffen started the Prison Project
in 2008. At the time, Steffen had
been teaching a class that incor-porated
community service at the
prison. When the course was no lon-ger
offered, he decided to continue
the service in the form of the Prison
Project.
Students travel to the prison dif-ferent
days of the week depending
on their schedules, as the tutoring
hours occur while Lehigh classes are
in session. The inmates are working
on high school equivalency prepa-ration.
The tutoring sessions last 90 min-utes,
and volunteers have to travel
30 minutes each way to get to the
prison, so students and faculty try to
coordinate rides.
Steffen said while some students
start volunteering at the prison so
they can include it on their resumes,
most of them end up loving the expe-rience
because they feel like they are
making a difference.
The program has drawn students
from a wide range of colleges and
majors, and the program offers stu-dents
an unusual addition to their
Students host town hall to discuss safe drinking
By EMILY WARD
News Editor
Student Senate president, Dakota
DiMattio, ’17, never thought she
would be having conversations with
the Lehigh administration about
how to keep students alive.
After four near-death experiences
this semester as a result of excessive
partying, the administrators have
been looking to her for an answer.
DiMattio is hoping her fellow stu-dents
can help her come up with one.
On Wednesday, Student Senate
hosted a town hall to discuss campus
climate and brainstorm solutions
to dangerous drinking habits. The
discussion was only open to Lehigh
students. Administrators, faculty
and staff were not invited to attend.
At the event was a panel consist-ing
of DiMattio, Margaret Burnett,
’17, the president of the Panhellenic
Council, Kyle Durics, ’17, the presi-dent
of the Interfraternity Council,
and Alexandra Fotinopoulos, ’17, the
president of University Productions.
DiMattio said the aim of the town
hall was to come together as a stu-dent
body to devise tangible goals
for Senate to bring forth at the next
board of trustees meeting May 18.
The Senate president is always
in attendance at board of trustees
meetings, but DiMattio said this is
the first time the organization will
go in with a concern and a tangible
proposal it would like to address.
After a brief introduction,
DiMattio invited students to ask the
panel questions, speak openly about Annie Henry/B&W Staff
Ian Davis, ’18, engages in conversation during the open town hall event Wednesday in Rauch
Business Center. Davis will serve as the vice president of Interfraternity Council next year.
See DERBY Page 2 See PRISON Page 3
See TOWN HALL Page 4