Brown and White Vol. 98 no. 41

              the brown and white lehigh university bethlehem pennsylvania tuesday march 31 1987 21 5 758-4181 v 01.98 n0.41 fire guts birkel home by elizabeth varga hidwii tlllll whllf w.i i.i . in lullllll four lehigh students are staying with friends according to the dean ot students office after a fire gutted the second floor of their rented birkrl avenue home last week the cause of the lire was uu determined as of yesterday l>m damage is estimated at 70 80,000 bethlehem fire marshal william i iiiii.ini said firemen arrived at the 446 birkel aye blaze thursday at about 11:40 p.m according to bethlehem police sgl gerald fox who called in a second alarm immediately firefighters worked for an hour to extinguish the flames and then proceeded with overhauling checking for hotspots for a couple of hours reinhaid said we were called back about an hour and a hall liter there was a rekindling in v hidden area that couldn't l»c found earlier due to the constim tiofl t the building reinhaid iiuj liny were called back a second lime at abom -, a.m friday senior suzanne saacke who lives ai 444 birkel aye separated from 446 by i ii mow illt-y she had just gone to bed when she looked out her second floor window and everything was red saacke then swelled smoke and saw the flames she phoned the fire department and got everyone else out of her house since birkel consists of successive pairs of row houses many residents worried the blaze would spread to ihcir m&wl'liol l.y mahy raision flames engulfed the second floor of this blrkel avenue rowhouse home of four lehlgh students at about 11:40 p.m thursday boyd favors pledging changes byadamgottbetter brown and while news writer coordinator of greek affairs michael boyd contacted the national offices of all nationally recognized lehigh fraternities with a two-semester pledge program last fall recom mending a switch to a one-semester program although he did not inform the university chapters he said he was not acting in a covert manner we bounced off the idea to the nationals late last fall as an exploratory thing and their reaction was why haven't you done it already as of this spring only six fraternities operate a one-semester pledge program the national standard for the length of pledge programs is 10 weeks according to boyd boyd said longer programs hurt academics and place pledges in limbo he said he has challenged pledge masters asking them why they must have longer programs and has been told " they've always done it that way or it's tradition and most common is the pledges should live in the house before becoming a brother " boyd said boyd noted the success of delta upsilon chi psi and lambda chi alpha fraternities who have relatively short pledge programs pledges are able to escape pledging when they live on freshman halls but when they live in the house there's no escape he said other houses should use du as an example of an excellent program sophomore mark mcgowan du pledge master said however most brothers thai went through a longer program cite a need to learn how a house is run pledges wouldn't be able 10 run the house correctly in one semester so when they move into the house they will be overburdened and it will be a mess junior robert matthews pledge master at thetaxi said we're not going to pursue it at this time boyd said explaining he is busy with other projects with higher priorities nicaraguan memorial set for lehigh display by craig hofsess brown ami while vftv.t kililor a memorial originally built at moravian college was scheduled to be erected today on the university center lawn as a student protest of american economic aid to nicaraguan rebels according to senior edward condon whose idea it was to bring the wall to lehigh a vigil beginning shortly after sunset tonight is planned at the site in event of rain it will be held in packer memorial chapel the names of civilians who have died in nicaragua will be on the 8-foot wall specifically protesting the 40 million in aid given annually to nicaraguan rebels by the american government condon said the project is being handled by the progressive student alliance in conjunction with the moravian students for political and economic consciousness and the muhlen berg alliance for progressive action other moravian student groups petitioned in opposition to the wall and appeared in protest at the first dedication condon said the wall was abused during its two-week display at moravian by students objecting to the memorial and at least in part by unpolitically motivated vandals repairs were necessary before the wall was reassembled we thought it would be a shame to just pack it away after all that work condon said the memorial will next be erected at muhlenberg college greek bed race to cut corners by brian johnston rowh nil whim news writer several changes including the bed race course have been planned for april 6-1 1 greek week 87 festivities according to assistant coordinator of greek affairs karen wolfe the bed race occurring friday of greek week will start at phi sigma kappa fraternity and end at phi delta theta fraternity the curves around delta phi fraternity and by delta tau delta fraternity will be eliminated ac cording to coordinator of greek affairs michael boyd because of danger and steepness of the hill junior rick potts interfraternity council social chairman said i did everything 1 could to save the course but the administration would not allow the present course a danger involved in the bed races according to boyd is when students become rowdy and obstruct moving beds we want to cut down the beer-throwing because the beer in the driver's face is our biggest danger boyd added another change according to wolfe is the replacing of the dating game with a family feud game because the dating game got out of control last year the pan hellenic council canceled its tuesday pubnight due to legal liability lack of funds she added other greek week events will remain the same as in recent years festivities on sunday the steckbcck run and the softball tournament will be held at the murray h goodman campus in saucon valley at 10a.m and 1 1 a.m respectively the opening ceremonies including the banner toga parade and toga race will begin 4:10 p.m monday in taylor stadium on tuesday a simon says game will take place at 4:30 p.m on the front lawn of the university center actor tony randall will speak 8:30 p.m in grace hall the pie-eating greeker-eating and keg-hunt events will be wednesday in beta theta pi'b parking lot beginning at 4:30 p.m at 7:30 p.m there will be a comedian in packard lab auditorium followed by panhel's family feud . ' ' various field events will be held thursday in sayre park starting at 4:30 p.m and the annual airband contest will begin at 8 p.m in theta xi fraternity's parking lot the bed race parade begins at 4:30 p.m friday with the races beginning at 5 p.m a fashion show will be held at 7 p.m in the u.c and national lampoon s animal house will t>e shown on the u.c lawn at dusk greek week 87 will culminate saturday with a concert and picnic in sayre park a noon see fire page 4 i clown