Brown and White Vol. 134 no. 6

              The Brown and White Vol. 134 No. 6
Tuesday, February 20, 2018 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
Opioid epidemic hits home in Lehigh Valley
By CATHERINE MANTHORP
Sports Editor
‘Campus connector party’ unites student groups
By KAYLA SIPPIN
Associate News Editor
Tucker Aglio, ’20, parked his
car in the Alumni Memorial park-ing
garage and walked toward Psi
Upsilon for a party on Feb. 10. He
wasn’t expecting many people to
attend but soon realized he was
mistaken, as he watched students
from various clubs and organiza-tions
walking toward the house.
Aglio, a member of Alpha Tau
Omega, Kevin Mittal, ’19, a mem-ber
of Psi Upsilon, and members
of different student organizations
first came up with the idea to host
a “campus connector” party when
they attended LeaderShape.
“We were in a facilitated discus-sion
about how we could create
a more inclusive environment at
Lehigh,” Aglio said. “We actually
decided to take action and not
just talk about it, but do some-thing
about it.”
Mittal said members of the dis-cussion
group wanted to push stu-dents
out of their comfort zones
and encourage them to talk to
people outside their typical social
circles.
The result was a registered
party including Psi Upsilon,
Alpha Tau Omega, Alpha Phi,
the National Society for Black
Engineers, the Latino Student
Alliance, the Indian Students
Association, the Black Student
Union and Lambda Theta Alpha
Latin Sorority Inc.
The Happiness Collective and
campus dance groups also attend-ed
the party.
Mittal was the point of contact
for all organizations involved and
was heavily involved in the plan-ning
process. He said his ultimate
goal for the party was to promote
inclusivity among various campus
groups and students in Greek life.
“I’m really hoping this party is
a catalyst and that other organi-zations
on campus will start try-ing
to do the same thing,” Mittal
said.
Aglio said he feels there’s a
divide between Greek students,
athletes and non-Greek students,
and this event was a step to lower
barriers between those groups.
Cyrus Johannes, ‘20, a member
of Psi Upsilon, said the separation
B&W Staff
Psi Upsilon, along with other student organizations, hosted a registered party
Feb. 10. The party sought to connect a variety of campus groups.
between groups at Lehigh goes
beyond Greek life and includes
problems with race and the inclu-sion
of cultural groups.
Johannes said a person is
defined by much more than his or
her Greek letters.
“At the end of the day,” Johannes
said. “I can take off my letters.”
Before the event, representa-tives
from each group met to dis-cuss
music, expenses and other
organizational details. Mittal
See CONNECTOR Page 2
It started with alcohol and pot.
By the time he was a junior
in college, Joe was drinking from
the moment he woke up until
Photo Illustration by Kate Morrell
On Jan. 10, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf deemed the heroin and opioid epidemic a statewide disaster emergency. Wolf said this declaration was the first of its kind
for a public health emergency in Pennsylvania.
the moment he went to sleep.
Sometimes he drank as much as a
case of beer or a fifth of liquor in a
single day.
He dabbled with other drugs
here and there but always knew he
could put his responsibilities first
if he needed to. He didn’t believe
someone could get addicted to a
drug.
That changed when he tried her-oin.
Joe, a Lehigh master’s student
who requested his last name not
be used, lost his job, broke off his
engagement with his fiancee and
watched a close friend receive a jail
sentence of 7 1/2 years — this was
his breaking point.
So, when a friend presented him
with the opportunity to try some-thing
new, he thought, “Why not?”
See OPIOID Page 4