Brown and White Vol. 99 no. 8

              students who do not attend classes because of these events so they would learn their les son it is a person's personal responsibility to wake up for work regardless of whether he or she has been drinking the night before the student added accounting professor robert mills respond ed to this statement by saying there are very few faculty members who want to fail a student for not coming to class as a faculty member though he said he hoped the university moved in the direction of banning pubnites professor mills continued on to give the trustee report at which time he said the university and the board of trustees were concerned about the suit brought by the clery family he said two separate law firms had been hired to defend those university officials named in the suit mills also reported on university fund-rais ing efforts according to mills the recent efforts began last fall with a goal of raising 85 million mills announced lehigh had raised 51 million by june the amount is now up to 58 million in lehigh's annual fund drive which is different from the others mills reported the goal of 5 million had been passed according to mills the amount now stands at 5.5 million mills also said 60 percent of lehigh's alumni see forum page 4 baw photo by young hong packer chapel celebrates 100 years this weekend for a schedule of events see page 4 by rich rosier brown and white news writer reiteration of recent social policy changes and outlines of subcomi tlcc charges took place at the forum xvi i i meeting sept 29 vice president for student affairs marsha duncan delivered the president's report for president likins a which time she again discussed the recent changes in the social policy duncan said changes are necessary not because the social policy has failed but because state law liability problems and national social pressures demand them duncan called on student groups to help debate the possible changes and help enact them in a reasonable way for lehigh duncan said the two recent social policy changes marked the end of unilateral action duncan however was firm in saying changes must be made soon we need lo do whatever it is make whatever changes arc necessary this year for next year when asked about l.he possibility of pubnitcs being abolished duncan said pubnites arc real high on my list of activities that interfere with academics if it were my choice there would be no more weekly mega-alcohol events that disrupt academics on campus one student said professors should fail those government looks to make up the difference in tuition so tuition is therefore a tax liability lehigh cannot a fiord to call tuition scholar ship si nee it cannot afford to pay the tuition of all ras huth said the university is continu ing its efforts to find an acceptable solution to both the ras and the university but he said dean of students office gives meningitis warning by teresa kent brown and white news editor baw photo by havey an unidentified lehigh student catches up on her sleep while soaking in some last bit of warmth before the cold weather sets in lehigh will not be issuing new contracts previously tuition remission awards were not taxable since they were not considered payment for services rendered the awards were considered to be virtual scholarships stipends however were taxable because the stipend was considered payment the new tax code however taxes tuition awards resulting from services such as teach ing or research according to a letter sent by see tax pago i by rich rosier brown and white news writer grads lu bypass new tax law aprovision ofthe tax reform actof 1986 has created a crisis situation for graduate students at lehigh and across the nation the new tax law has greatly increased the tax liability of gradual students receiving tuition remission awards and stipends for services such as teaching and research tui tion remission awards involve the university's paying for the tuition costs of teaching assist ants tas graduate assistants gas and research assistants ras through grants pro vided by sponsors after consultation with university attorneys on tuesday it was determined that stipends and tuition for tas and gas can be separated stipends are reasonable compensation for services rendered and therefore taxable while tuition awarded on the basis of merit and therefore a scholarship is not lehigh however is still trying to find a solution to the problems ras face agreements between universities and sponsors of grants are subject to a document called a2l which governs these agreements only in the field of research gas and t\s arc not affected by this regulation a2l identifies costs allowable for tuition and stipend reimbursements accord ing to the regulation scholarships are not allowable costs according to f robert huth jr of the controller's office lehigh cannot consider tuition as scholarsh i ps since sponsors will not pay for it the federal government does not reimburse institutions for tuition granted as scholarship the government does however reimburse for stipends huth said because ras hours of work are more than those of tas and gas the govern ment considers stipends as unreasonable com pensation for servi.es rendered he said the a lehigh freshman admitted to st luke's hospital sept 29 with meningitis was moved from intensive care to a private room early this week where it is predicted he will stay for at least another week according to dr carl ruch medical director of the lehigh health center ruch said although the virus causing meningitis is con tagious only people who have extended contact with the patient such as a roommate are likely to contract it it is not passed through casual contact he said even with others living on the same hall associate dean of students mark erickson said everyone who fell into the at-risk category has been examined and no further cases have developed ruch said the gestation period for the virus is four to 10 days and if you get past a week without secondary cases developing you're usually home free the primary symptoms for meningitis are a high fever headache and stiff neck followed by a rash according to ruch but other symptoms can develop depending on the individual the virus attacks the brain and spinal cord specifically the meninges which lines the spinal column hence the name and can be very serious if untreated ruch said as many as 5 percent of the population especially in a closed environment like lehigh can be carrying the organism that triggers meningitis ruch said he added whether a person gets it depends on his or her resistance and it is often triggered by an upper respiratory disorder the brown and white v 01.99 no.b friday october 9 1987 lehigh university bethlehem pennsylvania 215 758-4181 pubnights under attack