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Volume CXXI, No. 8
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Friday, December 7, 2018
December 7, 2018
Blasts from the past
These archived “blasts from the past” were compiled by copyeditor Shannon Zeltmann thanks to Special Collections in Musselman Library.
College plans to introduce business major B y P hoebe D oscher S taff W riter
343 Carlisle Street, the house at which the incident allegedly occurred (Photo Lauren McVeigh/The Gettysburgian)
Complaint filed against college, Phi Sigma Kappa alleges failure to address sexual assault B y B enjamin P ontz E ditor -I n -C hief A civil complaint filed in federal court in October says that the college violated Title IX by failing to investigate a reported sexual assault that allegedly occurred in October 2016. Kelsi Kennedy, who was visiting her brother Ryan, at the time a Gettysburg College senior, alleges that she went to a party at 343 Carlisle Street on October 22, 2016, was served alcohol, was led to a smaller room upstairs, and was “restrained to some degree” and “unable to move” as she was sexually assaulted. 343 Carlisle Street is owned by the Phi Sigma Kappa Druid Alumni Association and was, at the time of the incident, leased to seniors at the college living off campus. Phi Sigma Kappa was a fraternity at the college until 2014, when it was derecognized for a period of five years after a drug bust at the college that implicated 27 students. In addition to losing college recognition, the fraternity’s charter was revoked by the national Phi Sigma Kappa
organization. The local chapter’s alumni organization has retained ownership of the property and leased it to various groups of students living off campus and, this academic year, to the college itself for use as the Diaspora House, which is part of the College House (formerly theme house) program. Both Phi Sigma Kappa and its alumni organization are named as co-defendants along with the college and three alleged assailants: Edward Carroll and two unnamed John Does. A rape kit administered in the aftermath of the event allegedly detected the semen of Carroll and two others that have not yet been identified. Carroll, a Class of 2016 graduate who was not a member of Phi Sigma Kappa, did not respond to a request for comment. The filing also says that Kennedy reported the incident both to campus security and to Gettysburg Borough Police. No charges against Carroll have been filed, and the plaintiff alleges that the college “did not take any administrative actions
against the Defendants.” Kennedy is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $150,000. The filing alleges that the college was “on notice of past incidents involving rape and sexual assault, drinking, and out of control behavior of the residents and guests” at the address in question and, by failing to intervene to “prohibit such conduct at that address,” is complicit in what occurred. As such, the filing claims a violation of Title IX through the creation of a hostile environment and by failing to investigate and discipline the plaintiff’s attackers in a timely fashion. Further, the plaintiff alleges that the college “engaged in a pattern and practice of behavior designed to discourage and dissuade individuals who had been sexually assaulted on campus from being fully investigated and reported” and demonstrated “deliberate indifference” towards the plaintiff, preventing the realization of her rights under Title IX. Aside from Title IX, the complaint alleges violation of Kennedy’s -Continued on next page-
Plans are underway in the college’s management department to introduce a new business major. According to department chairperson Dr. Heather Odle-Dusseau, the department has already spent time developing the course listing and the dual-major aspect of this new major. They will continue to work on the proposal through the spring, including planning capstone and elective courses. Originally, the Provost’s Office requested that the department consider adding a business major to enhance the school’s success with recruitment. This addition would also be a way to add curricular innovation for incoming students, many of whom look for a business major in a potential college. Odle-Dusseau mentioned that the major is being considered by the department with the college’s best interests and future demographic shifts in mind. “It’s really in response our department being asked to consider this as a new curricular idea for recruitment to benefit the college as a whole,” she said. Presently, the Management department has a business minor, which encompasses many of the same courses and topics of the potential business major including accounting, marketing, and finance. A business major, however, would include a capstone project and more specific interdisciplinary courses. Additionally, it would operate as a dual or secondary major, meaning students would pair it with their primary major and complete the requirements of a double major. Gettysburg College
is not keen to have preprofessional majors, but the business major would not be a departure from that philosophy. In order to continue to enhance the liberal arts experience, the business major would pair well across many disciplines, with the dual major and electives reinforcing this idea. Even in its early stages, the business major has been well-received by many departments in the school. Professors in areas from economics to philosophy attended an interest meeting. Odle-Dusseau commented on the importance of interdisciplinary studies in conjunction with business, “Business is everywhere,” she said, “and the study of business is interdisciplinary, so it requires us to go beyond a traditional business program. It’s a great opportunity to make direct links with other majors. Students who apply will have to make an explicit connection to their primary major.” Odle-Dusseau also hopes that the department’s primary major, Organization and Management Studies (OMS) remains a strong part of Gettysburg’s major offerings. She noted that it is very popular among students with a range of broad perspectives. “The management department went through an external review in the spring and, as evaluated by professors from other colleges and universities, the OMS major is strong,” she said. Looking ahead, the next step would likely be working with the Academic Policy and Program Committee, who will then go through the necessary measures to introduce the business major as part of Gettysburg’s curriculum.
Presidential search committee enters interview phase “very impressed” with pool of candidates B y B enjamin P ontz E ditor -I n -C hief The Presidential Search Committee has moved a step closer to naming the 15th President of Gettysburg College. A message to the campus community sent Monday afternoon announced that the committee has entered the interview phase “excited, impressed, even flattered by the caliber of professionals who are interested in leading Gettysburg College.” Charlie Scott ’77, who is chairing the search, said in an interview with The Gettysburgian that one theme from the committee’s listening tour
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This week in 1898, several of the music groups on campus had their performances for the end of the semester. The Glee and Mandolin Clubs sang that week in two different concerts with large audiences at both. The Gettysburgian wrote, “frequent and painstaking practice is bringing the clubs up to a high standard of excellence.” Each one picked wonderful selections, although they do not list what the two groups sang, or at least, the highlights of their concerts. They do list the members of each group, with the leader of the Glee Club, A. H. Shoup, class of 1901, and leader of the Mandolin Club, Louis Young, class of 1903. This week in 1943, President Hanson had a message for students over winter break. Since World War II was going on, Hanson reminded students that they may find people have heavy hearts as they make their way home. He suggested for students to be “messengers of good cheer” during the holiday season by bringing happiness and being a spirit of Christmas to friends and family and those who need it. This week in 1958, the college created new Language Labs for 100 level foreign language classes, first with Spanish and French. This weekly, hour long lab was supposed to be a way for students to work on their pronunciation of foreign words, one of the most challenging aspects of learning a new language. They created ten booths with headphones and recording machines, so students could say a word or sentence and hear a native to the language say it and the student could correct their pronunciation if need be. Professors could listen in to the students working, so they could hear how the students are doing. There were also extra hours the workspace was open for students to get in extra practice with their foreign language. This week in 1968, a new nondiscrimination statement was established, which all campus organizations had to have signed by the 196869 academic year to be recognized by Gettysburg College. An original statement, “Statement on Discriminatory Practices,” had already been signed by all organizations, but this new one also needed to be signed by the representative of the National Council of each organization. At that point, only one club was in the process of having this form signed and that was the Phi Mu sorority. By the beginning of the new year, all clubs had to have this form signed.
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earlier this fall was that people wondered how the college would replace Janet Morgan Riggs, whom he called an “iconic leader” of Gettysburg College. “We want everyone to know that the search committee has been very impressed [with the quality of the candidate pool],” he said. The pool, assembled with the help of Russell Reynolds Associates, contains individuals from what Scott called “a broad set of fields,” but he added that those receiving the strongest consideration have backgrounds that include leadership positions in higher education. The committee
plans to conduct several rounds of interviews with a variety of the candidates in the pool including some “up and comers” that might be less obvious choices for the position. Scott added that the pool contains racial, gender, and experiential diversity, which was a key priority gleaned from the listening phase of the process. The committee plans to conduct candidate interviews as a full group rather than in smaller teams to ensure that each of the members’ priorities are considered during the interview process, Scott said. Because that requires coordinating 13 people’s
schedules along with the schedules of the candidates, that process will take time. The Board of Trustees, to whom the search committee makes a final recommendation, meets next in February; however, Scott suggested it is not likely the committee will have a recommendation at that meeting. “That would be aggressive,” he said. “A lot of things would have to fall into place.” The Board meets again in May, but Scott said the recommendation does not necessarily have to come at an official meeting. While he hopes that the process will move along
on its original schedule of naming a candidate during the spring, Scott cautioned, “We’ve entered the point of the process where externalities come into play,” so he could not affirmatively guarantee such a timeline. Scott declined to comment on how many people applied for the position, how many interviews will be conducted, or whether the pool is composed entirely of external candidates because the process remains active. “The recruiting process doesn’t end until we name a candidate,” he said. “We have an excellent pool of candidates from which to consider.”
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