The Beta Theta Pi case at Chico State goes before a justice Dec. 17.
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Month: December 2007
From the Greenville News
Clemson freshman’s body found at frat house
Teen was Greenville High grad, grandson of longtime lawmaker
By Paul Alongi
STAFF WRITER
A Clemson University freshman who was a Greenville High School graduate and
the grandson of a longtime state legislator was found dead Sunday at a
fraternity house, according to Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis.
One of Benjamin Garrison Sprague’s frat brothers found the teen lying on a
futon at Sigma Nu’s off-campus house near Seneca at 7:40 a.m., Addis said.
An autopsy will be performed today.
He said Sprague, a member of Sigma Nu, had attended a party there the night
before.
Sprague, 18, was the grandson of T. Ed Garrison, a Democratic state
representative and senator from 1959-1987.
He was a general engineering major who graduated from Greenville High
earlier this year and played center for the Red Raiders’ football team,
said family friend Jeff Dezen.
“Ben is one of the most brilliant, loving, kind young men I have ever
known,” Dezen said, “and I have known him since he was a little boy.”
Sprague became the seventh Clemson student to die this semester and the
second during the weekend.
Ralph Nathaniel Pinnock Jr., 21, lost control of his motorcycle and
collided with a pickup on Highlands Highway near Walhalla about 1:20 p.m.
Saturday, Addis said. Pinnock, of Columbia, was a senior majoring in
chemical engineering, said university spokeswoman Robin Denny.
Clemson plans to offer counseling services to its 17,000 students, she said.
“This is exam week,” Denny said. “It’s an especially difficult time to be
dealing with this very sad news.””
Clemson placed Sigma Nu on interim suspension, pending an investigation by
its Office of Community and Ethical Standards, Denny said. Sigma Nu’s
executive director in Lexington, Va., couldn’t be reached for comment.
The Oconee Sheriff’s Office is also investigating Sprague’s death and has
asked for help from the State Law Enforcement Division, said SLED Inspector
Richard Hunton. Sheriff James E. Singleton couldn’t be reached for comment.
Sprague is the son of Joel and Gaye Sprague of Greenville and has an older
brother, Jay, who attends Clemson, Dezen said. Relatives wanted to grieve
in private Sunday, he said.
Garrison, the namesake of Clemson’s livestock arena, owned Denver Downs
Farm on Clemson Highway for years. His son Bart Garrison also a Clemson
graduate, died in a silo accident on the family’s farm in May 1990.
Sprague was an outstanding athlete and scholar, Dezen said. He played on
the Red Raiders’ soccer team. Greenville County Schools honored him for
being one of 12 students who never missed a day of high school.
“In his intelligence, his spirit and his joy for life, Ben Sprague was a
giant,” Dezen said.
Staff writer E. Richard Walton contributed to this story.
News
Hazing investigation results to be made public next week
December 7, 2007
By Nat Herz
Orient Staff
Bowdoin’s investigation into allegations of hazing by the sailing and women’s squash teams has been completed, but Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster said that because the teams involved have not yet been notified, the results would not be made available to the public until next week.
The investigation, conducted by Director of Athletics Jeff Ward and Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs Margaret Hazlett, was organized by Foster in response to an October article in the Portland Press Herald.
In the article, Dr. Susan Lipkins, whom the Press Herald identified as a “national expert on hazing,” alleged that photos of the women’s squash team posted online showed “mild hazing.”
The sports editor of the Press Herald said that “a source” had tipped him off to the photos, posted on Webshots.com.
In addition to completing the report, Foster has begun preliminary steps toward the creation of a specific college policy on hazing. Currently, the college policy on hazing is embedded in the “Conduct Unbecoming to a Bowdoin Student” section of the Social Code.
“My feeling is that this topic…needs to be more than a word referenced under ‘Conduct Unbecoming to a Bowdoin Student,'” Foster said. “We need to have a clear community understanding of what constitutes hazing, and we need to have a policy about hazing.”
Foster added that while he does not believe serious hazing happens at Bowdoin, he does think that less serious instances do.
“I think it’s mild in nature, but that doesn’t mean it’s not problematic or could become problematic,” he said.
Ward agreed, though he also said that he did not think hazing was a serious problem at Bowdoin.
“I believe that there are some things that have gone on that meet the technical definition of hazing,” he said.
Foster said that any new policy would ultimately come from the Student Affairs Committee (SAC), which is made up of faculty, students, and administrators. President Barry Mills would then have to approve it before it became part of the Student Handbook.
A new policy would be shaped by input from many different groups, Foster, said, including Bowdoin Student Government. He added that the College would probably also examine other schools’ hazing policies, as well as the NCAA’s and NESCAC’s.
The adoption of a new policy would also entail a more explicit definition of hazing, Foster said.
“From the conversations we’ve had as a community, this is not a black and white issue,” said Foster. “We need to better define what constitutes hazing and what the expectations are.”
Foster has created a preliminary document titled “Toward a Definition of Hazing,” that he will discuss with the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) at its next meeting. He said the he would like to like to draft a preliminary policy over the semester break, and then use the next semester to vet and discuss it.
Also, last Wednesday the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs brought Lipkins, the hazing expert, to campus. She conducted a development session with 40 to 50 members of the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs, including coaches and members of the Office of Residential Life.
In the evening, Lipkins gave a lecture to a group of specifically targeted juniors who were athletes, residential life staff, or club leaders.
Foster said that these juniors were invited because “these will be the people who will be helping to shape the culture of the place.”
In a follow-up discussion held by Foster on Tuesday, students said that they disagreed with Lipkins’s message.
“I think her definition of hazing was much too sensitive,” said David Funk ’10, a member of the squash team.
“She was making some ridiculous assertions, like getting freshmen to bring water to the fields is hazing,” said Rob Lynn ’09, also a squash team member.
Foster said that while he felt Lipkins’s presentation was valuable, he thought that she was “highly provocative.”
“I found her presentation didn’t meet us as a community, but that’s hard when you’re an outside perspective coming in,” he said. “The most positive part of her presentation was her ability to generate dialogue on campus…She got people really talking and thinking about it, and that’s positive.”
But students at the debriefing asserted that most rituals and traditions among Bowdoin sports teams are innocuous.
“People don’t try to hurt people they care about,” said Stephen Gonzales ’09, a member of the sailing team. “Nobody wants to haze anybody else…If you’re part of a team, you obviously have to have some sort of special relationship with your teammates if you want to perform.”