Around the Ivies
Brown University: In preparation for Valentine’s Day, students at Brown University planned not only to engage in traditional activities — including dinner dates and weekend trips away from campus — but also to use the holiday for nontraditional activities including fundraising, The Brown Daily Herald reported. Students planned to raise money for the University’s first annual dance marathon, Brunothon. Students also attended a discussion hosted by Brown’s Alpha Chi Omega sorority at which they attempted to define love, with responses including “putting someone else first” and “mutual respect.”
Cornell University: This Wednesday, Cornell University administrators lifted an interim suspension Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, allowing the fraternity to resume all activities except for social gatherings hosting guests, The Cornell Daily Sun reported. Lambda Chi Alpha had been suspended on Feb. 2 pending an investigation into a potential sex offense, marking the second fraternity this semester to be suspended by the University.
Harvard University: Pending further discussion by the faculty of arts and sciences at their March and April meetings, Harvard University will likely endorse its first honor code and affirmation procedures, The Harvard Crimson reported. If approved, the code and student procedure for affirming it before taking exams, the former of which was approved in 2014, will likely go into effect in the fall of 2015.
Princeton University: In a donation valued at $300 million — the largest in Princeton University’s history — William Scheide, a member of the Princeton Class of 1936, has given his collection of 2,500 rare books to Princeton’s Firestone Library, The Daily Princetonian reported. Scheide, who passed last November, said at a luncheon honoring his 90th birthday that he would donate the collection to the University after his death.
University of Pennsylvania: Following reports of a noise that many thought was an explosion or a gunshot near the University of Pennsylvania’s campus, Penn Police have identified an exploding transformer on a telephone pole as the cause, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian. In the immediate aftermath of the noise, which was reported close to 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning, a “UPenn Alert” was issued to campus at 7:29 a.m.
Yale University: After Yale University announced sanctions against Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity for violations of University’s sexual misconduct policies, students interviewed by the Yale Daily News questioned whether the sanctions would impact the fraternity. While the penalties include a prohibition on hosting any on-campus events and a ban on using Yale email systems and bulletin boards, the fraternity is located off-campus and students said they did not anticipate that the fraternity would have trouble throwing events or recruiting their next rush class.