Reevaluations occurred this month for the Sigma Nu fraternity as a result of an incident that happened early in September. All people involved will remain anonymous for purposes of confidentiality.

During Labor Day weekend, Sigma Nu had an unregistered party on North Hall. A few freshman females walked onto the hall in downstairs North. Already appearing intoxicated, they were seen consuming more alcoholic beverages. Refusing to be escorted to their rooms by one individual, they would not leave that night. The women, going in and out of consciousness, were then placed in a quiet room on the hall.

The brothers present continued with their usual clean-up ritual, after which they retreated to their rooms to sleep. As noted by an independent observer, one of the intoxicated women began to take off her panties and twirl them around her finger. The brothers ignored this gesture and slept on the floor. The following morning, several Sigma Nu brothers tried waking the girl to no avail. Failing in their attempt, the brothers gave up and slept beside her.

No advances were made upon the women, according to all sources. Around 2 o’clock that afternoon, the girl wandered back to her dorm, encountering a frantic Resident Assistant and friends.

There were questions of a drug being put into the girl’s drink, but according to observers, that was an impossibility. A blood test was administered to her to detect for any traces of drugs. However, the lab lost her blood samples. On Tuesday, September 7, Director of Residence Life Lina Cottingham confronted the situation and reprimands were given to the people directly involved regarding the underage drinking.

"I reported the incident, and any further steps to be taken will be by the fraternity’s National Office," Cottingham said. On Thursday, September 9, Cottingham and Sigma Nu President Ryan Ego met with Dean of Students David Buckingham to discuss the incident. Cottingham noted that the fraternity would not be allowed to consume alcohol until further notice - when they figured out what they were going to do about the situation.

Ego had no comment about the incident. "I wish that the story not be published so that we can learn from it and let it blow over. I would like all the parties to move on as quickly as possible."

The fraternity is still in good standing with Virginia Wesleyan College and with their National Office. They are looking forward to Spring Rush and being available to accept rushees.

Marlini’s Dancers of India perform tribal dances in front of Boyd Campus Center as part of discovery days on Saturday October 2.

Virginia Wesleyan’s Office of Multicultural Affairs held its first Discovery Days on October 1 and 2. VWC students, faculty and staff, as well as community members, had a chance to learn about world cultures through song, dance, poetry, stories and lectures.

Discovery Days began with a performance by the Orisi Risi (pronounced o-RE-see-re-see) African story tellers and dancers. The event took place on the center stage in front of the Boyd Dining Center. Don Harrell, one of the performers, gave an introduction that led into the program. Harrell attended the University of California and received a masters degree in theatre arts from the Institute of African Studies. He also attended the University of Ghana.

Harrell’s wife, Ilenbilu Adetutu Harrell, known as "Tutu," is a native of Nigeria and enjoys singing songs from her homeland. She went to Crown College in London, England. Although Mrs. Harrell attended college in another country, she has lived in America for a long time. see DISCOVERY DAYS

After a two-year hiatus, WVAW 640-AM, the campus radio station, is staging a comeback. Due to technical difficulties, which have now been fixed, the previous staff was forced to abandon airtime because the stations frequency couldn’t be heard in most places on campus.

Junior Matt Cobis, general manager of the station, said that the station's new transmitter would allow anyone within a 3-mile radius to tune into the station "without plugging to the wall." The new transmitter allows students to access the station over the airwaves, a big improvement over the old direct-current equipment which restricted radio access to only Boyd Dining Center, the Grille and the residential villages.

"It is technically ready to go," said Professor Glenn Corey, faculty advisor to WVAW. "All we need is students to participate," he said. "See, all we need is for people to say, ‘Yes, I want my own radio show. Pick me!’"

According to Cobis, the station currently has ten deejays, but is still looking for student volunteers to man the station with on-air shifts. He said the station needs about 20 to 30 deejays.

"The goal is to play for 24 hours. In the beginning, we’re not gonna have live deejays 24 hours a day, however," Cobis said. "Even if we're full capacity, we’re always looking for students to get involved," Cobis said.

Junior Tara Cox said she knew the radio station had technical problems and shut down. However, she said that she would tune in if the station played interesting songs.

"I’d support anything, as far as Virginia Wesleyan students, in trying to get involved," she said. The station will survey students on music preferences. It will adapt a magazine format to serve the needs of the students who are radio listeners.

"We are going to play all kinds of music. It’s just that the most popular music will get the most air time and the best time slot," Cobis said. Since the rebirth of the station is so recent, most new students are not even aware that it exists.

"I don’t know much about it, but it sounds like fun and a good thing to have," freshman Sarah Mallard said.

WVAW is planning to promote student awareness. Aside from their "around-the-clock" goal, the staff also plans to create a website by the next semester. Students can expect listings of the radio shows, special events and upcoming games around the campus. They also plan to integrate news reporting along with the shows.

The station hopes to go on air soon. Cobis pointed out that college radio stations typically have a small audience. He is optimistic, though, that it would be different here on campus. "People are actually showing interest in it," he said. "I expect more and more people to come and hear us once they realize that we are up and running."