Whenever I remember Boy Scout summer camp two sensations come to mind: constipation and exhaustion. This first pain I attribute to a lifelong fear of public restrooms. Every year my dad would smile and remind me to bring toilet paper with me. To be honest I do not know why he grinned. There’s nothing enjoyable about squatting over a hole in the ground and hoping you don’t poop on your shoes. Using a latrine is an act so shameful that it can turn even the most well adjusted boy Catholic, which explains my vow to go an entire week without using a square.

p. Unfortunately this goal, like much of summer camp, always went to shit.

p. Getting past the constipation, my exhaustion stemmed from an endless barrage of merit badge classes. In this way, summer camp always reminded me of high school. I spent every hour in a class devoted to one merit badge. While many badges offered essential knowledge such as fire building, wilderness survival, and first aid, I favored that which would benefit me most. Who can say that my music appreciation class wouldn’t prove useful if I was lost in the woods? At least if I died on some endless track of wilderness I would know who Miles Davis was.

p. By my last year I was understandably jaded by the summer camp experience. The summer before I had only lasted four days before squatting, and my stomach still occasionally hurt from that struggle. I felt stuck. Nothing could top my previous summer, when three scouts from my troop got high and lit hay barrels on fire. I was ready for college and parties — instead, the only thing I had to look forward to would be the night we had ice cream. Unbeknownst to me, I was in for one behemoth surprise that year.

p. The instructor who taught my citizenship merit badge was beyond fat. I most remember his bulbous neck, which bulged out like a bowling ball under the pressure of his tight collar, and the giant pit stains shaped like gummy bears beneath his arms. “My name is Chuck Peters, and I will be your merit badge counselor.”

p. He was a writer’s dream. A rotund man with big jowls that shook from side to side as he discussed the United States Supreme Court. William Faulkner would have loved to get inside Chuck Peters’ head for one minute. Sometimes in the middle of an explanation of the separation of powers he would suddenly shift the conversation toward topics like beer steins and the Vietnam War. “Sure Congress matters, but the U.S. government would be horse shit without strong armed forces.”

p. “What would a real man say is the most important branch of the U.S. Government?” he once asked us. We did not know. “Marines you sissies!” What would he think if I told him I disdained military service? If he learned of my lifelong desire to join the Peace Corps, would I leave his presence with less than three broken bones? I was terrified of ever upsetting him, so I mostly sat in the back of the room and stared at the folds in his chest fat. I watched the layers shift like tectonic plates as he breathed.

p. During my third day at camp I learned the source of Chuck Peters’ girth. While sitting outside of the wood burning shack I overheard several boys talking. “His plane crashed in the middle of Vietcong territory, and he had to survive for weeks carrying his injured friend on his back.” Evidently the only thing he could find to eat was eating monkey brains. After making it out of the jungle, he promised never to starve again, and obviously he hadn’t stopped eating since. I was impressed by his heroism, but part of me was disgusted at how Chuck Peters let himself go. War heroes ran for president and owned banks. They did not become obese and they certainly did not teach civics at a summer camp

p. If a war hero could not do better, then where would a sissy of my caliber end up in life? I pondered this question as I sat outside the wood burning shack. The sky was tinged copper at the ends, and the sun had begun to dip behind some trees. My stomach rumbled angrily and I wondered if my body would explode from all the pressure. I still had an unused roll of toilet paper.

p. __James Damon is a Confusion Corner columnist. To this day, he still hoards toilet paper — just in case.__

__Lehrer, O’Connor and others sat on World Forum panel yesterday in W&M Hall__

Former Supreme Court Justice and current College Chancellor Sandra Day O’Connor, former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and Dr. Ali M. Ansari, director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at University of St. Andrews, were in attendance at the World Forum on the Future of Democracy panel, “The Future of Democracy: Why does it Matter?” Moderated by Executive Anchor of the NewsHour, Jim Lehrer asked questions about religion, security, foreign policy and global markets, along with questions about their relation to democracy both at home and abroad.

p. The event was the conclusion of a year-long conference series hosted by the Jamestown 2007 delegation as part of an effort to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement. In addition to Monday’s panel, there have been several smaller panels run by scholars, public officials and experts discussing the future of democracy in a global context.

p. Yesterday’s panelists responded to questions from students and panelists from some of the other seminars.

p.Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell said he felt that the themes of the panel resonated strongly.

p. “I am excited all of you are here to be part of this ongoing tradition in the American experiment that is democracy,” he said.
O’Connor, Eagleburger and Ansari all drew upon their different experiences to discuss the successes and failures of democracy and why it matters today.

p. “Democracy is not a solution to all ills,” Ansari said. “It is the means to an end, not an end itself.”

p. Eagleburger, a former Board of Visitors member, offered advice to policymakers and discussed the importance of recognizing the threat of nuclear weapons.

p. “If we don’t deal with that now, we’re going to regret it, and our children will regret it until they die,” he said.

p. Lehrer and the three panelists stressed that the discussion of democracy is still relevant today.

p. “[A country] isn’t a success by hanging the word democracy on some system,” O’Connor said. “Each of us has to be involved to make it work.”

A Flat Hat investigation found that at least five dorms on campus can be entered without the use of an ID card. When notified of the findings, Vice President for Student Affairs Sam Sadler said he was “greatly concerned.”

p. “Keeping doors operable and locked and screens secure is critical to the safety of those who live in our residence halls,” Sadler said.

p. The investigation found that four freshman dorms and one upperclassman dorm were not secured.

p. Taliaferro Hall, located near the Campus Center, is home to 49 freshmen. While all of the doors require an ID swipe for entrance, the kitchen windows on Taliaferro’s first floor were left unlocked. The screens, thin and flimsy, lack the reinforcement of the second screen with which many first floor windows are equipped. These second screens, made of thicker metal, help prevent entrance through punching or cutting the flimsier screen.

p. At Barrett Hall, the first floor bathroom and lobby windows proved similarly vulnerable. The most apparent opportunity for entry was an unsecured window in the bathroom on the west side of the first floor. Attached only at the top, the screen in the bathroom could be pulled open from the outside without difficulty. Barrett Hall, once an all-girls dorm, is now a co-ed dorm where 176 freshmen reside.

p. The two largest freshman dorms, Yates Hall and Dupont Hall, which hold 266 and 264 students respectively, were also accessible. At Yates, an entrance to a common room in the back of the building was unlocked.

p. A back door to Dupont did not close all the way behind entering students. In addition, the sliding doors to the first floor balcony at Dupont were not locked.

p. The final oversight revealed by the investigation was a crawl space beneath Chandler Hall. Entrance to the crawl space could be obtained through window-like apertures at ground level. The crawl space connects to the building through an unlocked cubby in the basement near the laundry room.

p. When expressing concern, Sadler added that dedication to safety is shared by both the administration and Residence Life.
He said that it is the responsibility of the Residence Life staff to check all doors during their nightly rounds and that a repairman is on-call at all times so that breakdowns in security can be immediately rectified.

p. “Safety is everyone’s responsibility,” he said. “If we all report situations as soon as we first see them, we can help make the campus safer for ourselves and for others.”

p. Don Challis, chief of Campus Police, shared the sentiment that security is an area where the campus community cannot afford to be passive or naive.

p. “Students aren’t always aware of life’s realities,” Challis said. “On a campus so serene and calm, it is easy to forget about basic security issues.”

p. Challis censured the common student practices of leaving doors unlocked or propped. Having worked on three different college campuses, Challis noticed similar behavior from other students as well. “When we’re young, we don’t always think about these things.”

p. If students notice a door that is functioning improperly or a window that provides easy access to a dorm, the proper step is to inform Campus Police or a member of the Residence Life staff as soon as possible.

One current and two former College students who call themselves “The Treehouse” were arrested last week and charged in connection with a Feb. 13, 2006 burglary at Innovation Hall at George Mason University. The group, which was caught on video surveillance, allegedly stole $89,000 of electronic equipment including overhead projectors and computers, according to GMU police. Authorities also believe the suspects committed a series of similar thefts at the College, Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., and Elon University in North Carolina.

p. “After investigating, I think we’ll find additional colleges and other individuals involved,” GMU police Detective Tom Bacigalupi said.

p. It was a tip from a Baltimore pawn shop owner that finally led police to one of the burglars seen on the surveillance tape at GMU. Curtis White, 23, of McLean, Va., was apprehended at an apartment in Philadelphia, Pa. Sept. 5 after details of the ongoing investigation aired on the TV program “America’s Most Wanted” in late August.

p. Once White was captured, two other members of “The Treehouse” were detained, including Crystal Davis ’07, of Richmond, Va., and Jason Cutler ’08, of Chesterfield, Va. Cutler, the only enrolled student in the group, was arrested last week in Williamsburg. A fourth suspect, John McLean of Midlothian, who is also a fugitive on drug charges in James City County, apparently fled the country for Europe. The College students were roommates at the College, according to an “America’s Most Wanted” report.

p. This summer, investigators quickly linked the GMU theft to a July burglary at Huntley Hall on the campus of Washington and Lee, in which $44,690 of overhead projectors was stolen.

p. “We couldn’t put a name with a face until the case in Lexington,” Bacigalupi said.

p. After a Lexington, Va. police officer found the overhead projectors on sale for $1,300 each on eBay, authorities connected the crimes. They then went to pawn shops in Baltimore, Md. and found some of the stolen equipment.

p. “I’m very pleased but not surprised by the cooperation of all the police departments in this case,” Don Challis, the chief of Campus Police, said. He said his department is in the process of determining what thefts the The Treehouse group committed at the College in the last year and would not comment further about the investigation.

A knock on a door and a friendly, welcoming message ended Bid Week for many new sorority sisters Sunday. Bid Day is the culmination of the Sorority Recruitment process that began weeks ago.

p. The recruitment process is much more complicated than it may appear.

p. The Inter-Sorority Council’s 2005 Recruitment guidelines specify the rules by which recruitment must take place. The ISC is the governing body of Greek Life at the College and is a student-run group, according to Anne Arseneau, assistant director for Greek Life at the College.

p. The rules governing sorority Recruitment are designed to prevent any sorority from gaining an unfair advantage over another during the crucial period when girls look at houses and decide whether or not to participate in Recruitment. The rules also work to prevent unfair influences that could result from contact with sorority members, such as RAs and OAs, prior to the building process. According to the ISC’s rules, “a potential new member must attend the maximum number of events to which she has been invited each day.”

p. “Recruitment can be an overwhelming process for everyone involved. But I think that the process does a great job of allowing the sororities to get to know the potential new members [of] the sorority,” Sarah Black ’10 said.

p. The Recruitment process is designed to acclimate potential new sisters to the various sororities in order to ensure a good match. Black said that this process is essential to ensure a new sister’s future success in her sorority.

p. “In the long run, any stress associated with recruitment is so worth it,” Black said. “I knew, because of going through the recruitment process, that my sorority was without a doubt the one for me. I loved all of the girls I met in the house during recruitment, and I felt so comfortable there,” she added.

p. According to the College’s Office of Greek Life, about 28 percent of College women, or about 825 students, are members of in one of the College’s twelve sororities. The 72 percent of women not participating have a variety of reasons for not doing so.

p. “I decided not to rush any sororities at the College because it’s a large time commitment that I can’t dedicate myself to,” said Amanda Eclipse ’10. In addition, Eclipse cited the financial obligations of sororities as a key reason she didn’t wish to participate.

p. For those receiving bids, Sunday was the rewarding end to a long, exhausting process.

p. For those who do not receive a bid, sorority recruitment also occurs in the spring.