Serving James Madison University Since 1922 Vol. 87, No. 15 Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunny n 72°/ 48° chance of precipitation: 20%
Homecoming
Tailgates go off without a hitch
redefining party
Ryan Freeland / File Photo
Homecoming weekend saw 19 alcohol-related violations on campus with only five of 12 drunk in public violations during peak tailgating hours. By Molly Haas and Aaron Koepper The Breeze
Graphic by Nataliya Ioffe / the breeze
New Greek life policies address alcohol at recognized events By Ryan Platt The Breeze
The 15 social fraternities and nine sororities now have a new set of policies that govern all chapters, specifically regarding alcohol and party policies. Oct. 5 marked the end of the probationary period placed on the chapter members of social Greek life, which began Sept. 7. It also marked the implementation of the new alcohol policies. Fraternity and Sorority Life leaders, including presidents, ex-presidents and general members, have revised the set of rules and regulations they abide by. They created a new set of policies that all chapters agreed upon and the FSL administration approved. While all of the FSL Greek community was involved, three students in the Greek community were the driving force behind the changes — seniors Josh Dodson and Callie McGee and fifth-year senior Ryan Birckhead. The old wording made it unclear about what exactly defined a “party” for a fraternity or sorority, explained Birckhead. “The definition of a party is any fraternity or sorority event that is registered with the university and Harrisonburg Police Department where alcohol is present,” Article III of the new policy states. Violations are approached from a standpoint of not just punishing chapters for violating charter policies, which contrasts the previous policies where a majority of the time FSL members were somewhat unaware of what the exact charge was, according to Birckhead. The new policies include a creation of a Standards Committee, where now if there are any accusations of violations, the chapter in question would be brought to the standards committee, which would judge if the function being investigated was an officially recognized fraternity or sorority function. “It’s worded in a way that you may or may not be brought to a standards meeting, which doesn’t
Some new Greek policies n If there are discrepancies between a
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chapter’s national policies and the JMU policy, the stricter policy will apply. A minimum of six sober members per sponsoring organization must be present at the event where alcohol is served. Sorority parties shall not exceed the size of the sorority plus three guests per sister. Fraternity parties shall not exceed more than 250 registered guests and 30 unannounced guests. Chapters must maintain a collective 2.7 GPA.
necessarily mean you’ve done something wrong, just that there are questions about what actually happened versus the accusations,” Birckhead said. The new policy states that in the case of a reported violation, all organizations involved will be brought up on charges and the chapter president will be contacted Monday by 5 p.m. Alcohol education was another focus of the policy amendments. “Each fraternity and sorority must have all executive members complete sober training,” the new policy states in Article V. “Each fraternity and sorority must have all of their new members participate in a sober team training program as apart of new member education.” Additionally, chapters that have below a 2.7 cumulative GPA will be placed on social suspension, meaning the organization cannot have events where guests would be allowed to consume alcohol. “A large focus was made for standards in terms see GREEK, page 4
Saturday’s Homecoming tailgate was the most relaxed of the year, according to some students, despite initial concerns of a crackdown on drinking with heavy police prescence. Police presence seemed minimal compared to previous games this year in both student and alumni lots. There were about 65 to 70 JMU, Harrisonburg and Virginia State Police Officers on duty Saturday, 15 of which were assigned to patrol tailgate lots, according to JMU Police Chief Lee Shifflett. The officers not assigned to patrol tailgate lots worked traffic and stadium security. This year, police gave out 12 drunk in public citations and seven underage possession citations on-campus from 7 a.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday, up from 15 total alcohol citations on the Saturday of last year’s Homecoming game. However, only five of the 12 drunk in public citations occurred during tailgating hours. “This is definitely the best atmosphere yet,” said Emily Govel, a senior international business major, while tailgating in the Convocation Center lot. The parking lot behind the Convocation Center was filled with alumni, families and students playing cornhole, ladder ball and throwing footballs. “I think every game is getting a little better,” Govel said. “At the beginning of the year, they really cracked down. I still tailgate at every game even with more police around.” Mike Prior, a sophomore media arts and design major, agreed. “There’s definitely been an increase in police at other games, but today is a good atmosphere,” he said. Prior tailgated on Saturday in both the R-1 and Convo lots, and he said the increase in police earlier in the semester would not stop him from coming out for the game.
“I’m not at all hesitant,” he said. The once-overflowing baseball lot, however, was nearly deserted. “The baseball lot was closed off so we came here,” said Kelsey Dill, a sophomore social work major, while standing in the Convo lot. “There are a lot of cars but barely any people. This year I feel like everyone tailgates off campus at like Forest Hills and other places.” The commuter lots next to Godwin field and Zane-Showker Hall were flooded with purple-clad alumni and their families. “I love being back here,” said Avery Daugherty, a JMU alumnus who graduated in ’09. “To me, it feels just like last year. I don’t want to leave again.” Some never got the chance to tailgate as students. “When I graduated in ’97, there was no tailgating,” said Vince Coyle, a marketing alumnus. “After the national championship [in 2004], our expectations for our team changed, and this was one of the ways to support the team.” Kim Turman, a ’99 alumna, said she only went to two football games while she was a student and was happy to return. “This is the first time I’ve been back in 11 years, and I’m really excited there’s a tailgate,” Turman said. Despite the rumors circling about a police crackdown in the student lots, alumni who tailgated frequently said they noticed little change from last year. Some said they were told they had to pour their alcohol into cups, but other alumni played beer pong and had visible cans or bottles of alcohol. “I like tailgating in a controlled atmosphere. Everyone here seems to be having a great time,” said Kevin Kozlowski, a ’99 alumnus who attended the tailgate with his family. “It feels like a safe atmosphere.” Contact Molly Haas at haasmr@ dukes.jmu.edu and Aaron Koepper at koeppead@dukes.jmu.edu.
in the Community
Hustle, bustle in ’Burg
JMU traffic from Family Weekend and Homecoming brings more business By Betsy O’Brien contributing writer
With Family Weekend and Homecoming two weeks apart, local businesses experienced a boost in sales, yet Family Weekend brought in more money for some downtown bars and restaurants than Homecoming weekend. “Just from talking to our hospitality members everyone was extremely happy,” said Frank Tamberrino, the president of the Harrisonburg Chamber of Commerce. With Harrisonburg’s population at 44,015 and with JMU undergraduate enrollment at 16,896, widespread family visits means a jump in sales for local businesses. Many hotels, restaurants and bars were filled to near capacity. “We decided not to do reservations and it worked out better, we were able to seat more people,” said Clementine Cafe hostess Allie Hurst. Hurst estimated Clementine serves around 200 people on an average night. Over Family Weekend, they nearly doubled their business by serving 341. Homecoming didn’t quite measure up, serving 261 people.
Annual Homecoming Stompmania Step Show, which features sororities and fraternities, picks competition winner, page 9
10/18 Inside 3 news Testing alternatives Community test drives
hybrid vehicles on Friday.
01.FRONT.PRO.indd 1
7 Chipotle to fuel a food opinion Halloween booritos
revolution on Oct. 31 to keep kids healthy.
There seemed to be a crowd at many restaurants in the area on both weekends. “This year it was more appreciated because of the nature of the economy,” Tamberrino said. Tamberrino said Harrisonburg has a unique economy, as there is not one dominant employment center and many small businesses support each other. Joshua Wilton House on South Main Street has strong ties to JMU because the three owners are JMU alumni and was expecting a boost in sales. “Homecoming has been steadily increasing, although it’s not as slammed as graduation and Family Weekend,” said innkeeper Jamie Marsh, who explained a lottery system is used to determine reservations. The inn at Joshua Wilton House was fully booked for Homecoming, while the restaurant served more than 100 people. “Bar business was good, especially last night after the game,” said Anne Marie Coe, one of the owners. Unlike other restaurants in Harrisonburg, Homecoming weekend was busier than Family Weekend for Dave’s
Taverna. Manager Sara Kesser attributed sales to the weather and having the heated tarista on the roof open. Dave’s was prepared for the high volume of food sales over Family Weekend, but saw their sales shift towards alcohol for Homecoming weekend. “It was not quite as rowdy,” Kesser said. “I was expecting a lot of bizarre occurrences, but everyone was pretty well-behaved.” Allie Toro, a JMU graduate and bartender at Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint, said the restaurant had a large crowd during Family Weekend. “It was busy from the time we opened ’til the time we closed,” Toro said. “There were a lot of students showing their parents Jack Brown’s.” The burger joint was popular as sales for Family Weekend and Homecoming were about equal, averaging 450 to 500 burgers sold a day. Even clothing stores saw a boost in sales over those two weekends. The clothing store The Yellow Button, a boutique that has been gaining popularity since its opening a year and a half see impact, page 4
9 Halloween-themed woods 11 Volleyball comes back life Forest frights
sports Tribe stunned
lives up to reputation.
to win after 2-0 deficit.
10/17/10 8:00 pm