Brown and White Vol. 104 no. 15

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 104 no 15 all the lehigh news first friday november 1 1996 by casey bahrenburg news writer best buddies ignites friendships entering its third year at lehigh best buddies a program that pairs lehigh students with people who are mentally retarded has tripled in size becoming a huge success amanda smith 98 the best buddies director said the program's expansion this year has been greater than expected she said this year over 60 people attended their first outing and that overall interest has been higher than it has in the past students interested in being part of the buddy program must complete an application if accepted the student is then paired up with a buddy with whom they will interact on a regular basis my buddy's name is freddy and he is 25 smith said we talk on the phone several times a week and we see each other about every two weeks it is really funny though because in the beginning he wouldn't even talk to me and now he is completely open with me cathy garscar the host site coordinator is in charge of seeking out people with dis abilities in the local bethlehem area she and smith pair them up with lehigh students garscar is impressed with the way the stu dents have worked together to make the pro gram a success i was really pleased with the lehigh stu dents because after only one meeting they came together and they formed this successful group on their own she said stephanie ojeda 98 has been involved in the program for two years and she said the friendship she has with her buddy has been a wonderful addition to her life my buddy jody and i have an excellent relationship ojeda said every time i am stressed out she is the perfect person to call because she has a special way to calm me down she makes me laugh all of the time and i think we both bring a lot of joy into each others lives smith said the experience was extremely rewarding because both she and her buddy are benefiting from the experience it really makes you think about what friendship is smith said i think that a lot of the time at lehigh for example people tend to take them for granted with all of the people around senate addresses binge drinking by gabriela b schneider assistant news editor john smeaton assistant vice president of student affairs attended the student senate meet ing tuesday to discuss the robert wood johnson foundation grant on binge drinking the grant focuses on one part of alcohol abuse smeaton said this is not an effort to dry the campus nor eradicate all under age drinking on campus we don't have any magical answers we want to develop strategies smeaton emphasized the importance of student involve ment during this first year of the grant's implementation he encouraged senators to muster support from their con stituencies and asked all students to comply with lehigh's efforts to research and curtail binge drinking on campus he said lehigh is among six other institutions including the universities of colorado vermont and delaware involved in this study they were chosen through a study conducted by harvard university doug herman 98 president of student senate stressed the significance of senate's involve ment in helping to follow up on the grant's focus this is an important issue that will face each and every one of you so don't let this issue fall to the wayside herman said sorority representative orly tabak 99 asked smeaton how lehigh was classified as a binge drinking school and also asked whether lehigh had a reputation as a party school smeaton denied suggestions that lehigh's rowdy reputation influenced the decision made by the robert wood johnson foundation to include lehigh in its research we did not get this grant because we're the no 1 party school smeaton said we got it because we have an alcohol prob lem at lehigh other topics tackled by senate included increasing efforts to poll students about their opinions con cerning a campus pub senator dawn fuchs 97 head of the ad-hoc pub commit tee distributed a survey to all senators these surveys will help poll the student body about their considerations for an on campus pub fuchs said gryphons will con duct hall meetings to give them to freshmen and the remaining sur veys will be mailed out the survey's questions focus en whether students prefer a quiet relaxed atmosphere such as a coffee house a dance-oriented club or a sports-themed bar fuchs said she had met with jenny volchko associate dean of student life to examine prelimi nary design plans for the pub current plans place the pub in lamberton hall to which the radio station might also relocate once the music department moves to the zoellner arts center these plans however are still indefinite she also said volchko reiterat ed the administration's mission for the campus pub which emphasizes social gathering b&w photo by julie kracower kappa alpha theta sisters enjoy a post-game cheer with the boys and girls club of bethlehem theta brought the kids to a volleyball game on tuesday local kids cheer for lehigh by ari klein news writer kappa alpha theta sorority brought bethlehem children together when they took the local boys and girls club to a lehigh vol leyball game tuesday the evening game was held in grace hall and children from both the north and south sides of bethlehem attended adrienne miller 98 said there were a lot of kids at the event so the turnout was see senate page 5 see theta page 5 * hi men's soccer beat rider university 1-0 tuesday see page 24 sports 20-24 football 20 volleyball 22 cross country 23 women's soccer 24 students will travel to prague this summer see page 7 news § 1-8 sammy service 3 panhel 4 stalker update 4 spring break 5 ifc 8 career services 8 the university provides students with activities to relieve stress during finals see page 9 lifestyle 9-16 culture corner 10 horoscope review 11 not just a face 1 4 matter of opinion 14 wr more than 45 percent of kidnappings world-wide take place in columbia with abductions every two and a half hours source usa today