Brown and White Vol. 96 no. 45

              th e brown and white bethlehem pennsylvania lehigh university 215 861-4181 vol 96 — no 45 friday april 19 1985 cohen will resign consult next year after six years as associate dean by lori soderlind asst managing editor robert cohen associate dean of students has announced that he will be taking a half-time non-administrative appointment in student affairs for the 1985-86 academic year he will resign fully from the university as of july 1 1986 cohen is planning to develop a private practice as an educational consultant and will continue working on educational publications outside of his responsibilities at lehigh next year it was time to make a move toward an independent endeavor rather than to another institution cohen said i've worked in student affairs for 16 years i'm ready to be my own boss now before coming to lehigh in 1979 cohen worked for 10 years at hunter college in new york city he held the position of acting dean of students there until he became associate dean at lehigh i have no regrets cohen said adding that his work at lehigh has prepared me to make the next move what i've gained from working on the front lines has given me a first hand view of what's going on in the academic world during six years at lehigh much of his work has involved student disciplinary cases cohen said he sees that role as a service to the community something which must be done but he noted he won't miss that aspect of his work b&w photo by patty boustany associate dean robert cohen seltzer elected sac president bynickjanulis stuart seltzer was elected president of the student activities council sac tuesday receiving 258 votes defeating both randy bruckman and amy roth nearly 600 people voted for the 22 available positions on sac lisa broder this year's sac president reported that the voting turnout was good but unfortunately 138 ballots were declared invalid because voters failed to follow the directions printed on the ballot last minute candidate laura kaufman won the vice presidential slot with 348 votes defeating dave greenbaum with 372 votes kim greenbaum was elected treasurer over greg balbera robert michaels received 344 votes to beat out miles grant for film chairman while karin krueger won the public relations position carolyn bromley was elected vice concert chairman eight of the 22 positions had candidates running unopposed there was no op position against kirsten myhre for secretary rhonda stone for publicity chairman jon opert for lecture chairman al bluestine for concert chairman brian okun for hourglass chairman dan friedman for hourglass vice chairman david cohen for residence halls council representative and mona klein for off-campus representative greg weiner won fraternity represen tative and diane paton won sorority representative b&w photo by adam seveu stu seltzer universities nationwide review social policy by alden cushman colleges and universities around the nation are becoming more aware of their legal liabilities when alcohol is served on university-owned property cases like the one in which an ohio state university student involved in a fatal automobile accident won a 137,000 case against a student organization that sponsored a party have led many schools to review their own social policies and regulations fraternities serve minors such cases exacerbate the problem of under age drinking on campus said joseph burch dean of students at the university of kentucky we have preached and tried to educate the fraternities and students about the liabilities and problems about serving to minors but it's difficult lehigh dean of students john smeaton contended that lehigh is very concerned about its legal liability but lehigh has always been aware of its liability what we are now seeing is a greater awareness of the issue across the nation school officials at the university of kentucky carnegie-mellon university and lafayette college stated that they tell fraternities to check for proper id but do not strictly enforce the rule while schools like villanova univer sity cornell university and rensselaer polytechnic institute rpi make more of an effort at checking for ids and even stamping the hands of those who are allowed to be served organization in kentucky we have had few if any such cases and i believe you can't take every law suit and project it to your particular situation but all it takes is one big law suit to lead the way and that could happen at anytime personally i don't believe in the idea of a minimum drinking age it sets a milestone for people that once they reach it they can then get drunk every at ohio state university a student involved in a fatal automo bile accident won a 137,000 suit against a student organization sponsoring a party i think there is an obvious concern about the increased liability of a school said lafayette associate dean of students alice sivulich but strictly enforcing the state drinking age of 21 is a near impossibility burch pointed out that states like pennsylvania new jersey and ohio have more case precedents involving the liability issue of a school or time they go out said rpi dean of students betty hagan if there are too many rules and regulations then students look at them as things to break rather than follow legality over education burch noted that another problem with having numerous strict regulations concerning drinking on campus is that it pushes the school's administration away from its real purpose and that is to get involved with the students he contends that legal responsibilities soon become more important than educational ones if i were to have my way ex plained burch i would rather be dealing with students behaviors than their ages smeaton agreed with burch on the problem of balancing the university's concern about legal responsibilities with concern and interaction with the students he said there is more a feeling of shared responsibility bet ween lehigh's administration and the students we are giving the students the opportunity and support to regulate and control their own behavior said smeaton this is the ideal way to handle the situation if it can work then this is the best approach unenforced drinking laws burch noted that until recently most students brought their own alcohol to parties which was fine with see social page 4 greek awards announced ■ features nlor sendoff p 7 sac responds ... p 9-10 sports women's lacrosse and tennis undefeated p 15-16