1/1 - eCommons@Cornell - Cornell University

Acting on a tip from two Cornell
students believed to be members of
Theta Delta Chi (which lost university
recognition after a 1991 hazing
incident), the Ithaca City Police and
Cornell Police found the stolen goods
in a 30-by-40-foot room secured by a
bank vault door and an electronic
surveillance system, according to
Cornell Police senior investigator
Scott Hamilton.
Included in the collection was a
coffin used to hold charters taken
from other fraternities, two partial
skeletons, trophies and plaques,
tables and chairs, university paintings
and busts, flags and street signs,
and hands from the McGraw clock
tower. And, in a tongue-in-cheek
reflection of the secrecy of the tradition,
every object with a face was
blindfolded. "Little trophies had tiny
black rags around to protect its eyes
from the gaze of public scrutiny," said
Stevens. "The moose on the wall had
a mask around its eyes, the elk had
a mask around its eyes, the photos
had sunglasses on or the eyes were
cut out or covered up."
Stevens said he had no evidence
to suggest how the thievery started,
but speculated that it may have
grown out of pranks common in the
1950s. "A fraternity would steal a
sorority [photo] composite until they
would agree to a social event," he
said. "They would see it as a prank
and humorous. It appears this escalated
to something much larger than
that." On April 6, the Cornell Police
filed charges with the university's
judicial administrator against the 28
members of the fraternity, asserting
probable cause that each member
knew the fraternity possessed stolen
items and acted to impede recovery
by keeping the items in a locked
room, in violation of the Campus
Code of Conduct.
The case was resolved in mid-
April when Sigma Phi accepted terms
that placed the chapter on probation
for two years and ordered the payment
of $10,000 to the university by
July 1 to support art historians and
archivists in an inventory of Cornell
memorabilia. Members were also
required to complete 35 hours of
community service each; serve as
monitors at the Libe Slope party on
the last day of classes; hold a workshop
on leadership and moral development;
and return all stolen items
as soon as permitted by the
Tompkins County district attorney,
who at press time was considering
whether to file criminal charges.
BELOVED TEACHER DIES
ON DAY HE WAS TO
RECEIVE AWARD
Russian Prof. Michael J. Harum, a
self-effacing and generous teacher
and a brilliant and witty linguist, was
killed in a car crash in early April,
only hours before he was to learn he
had received one of this year's Clark
Distinguished Teaching Awards.
Harum was 41 years old.
The accident occurred on April
7, during one of the last snow storms
of an unusually bitter winter. Harum
was driving to work on Route 13
when he lost control of his Toyota
sedan on the icy road near the
Tompkins County Airport and slid
into the oncoming lane. His car was
broadsided and knocked off the road
into a ditch. He was pronounced dead
at the scene.
News of the death of the young
teacher who joined the Department
of Modern Languages in July 1991
and was fluent in Czech, French,
German, Russian and Swedish, devastated
many of his students and
colleagues.
"There are not enough words in
any language, in every language, to
describe Michael. They just won't
do him justice," says Mel Haung '95,
who had studied
with Harum for two
years. "It's the consensus
that he is the
favorite in the de-
partment for all of
us. Born in Rapid
City, SD, Harum's
love of languages
began when he was
a child and lived for
a time in Denmark,
France and Sweden.
He earned a
BA at St. Olafs College
in Minnesota
and an MA in Slavic
JUNE 1994
linguistics at the University of California
at Los Angeles. He taught for
three years at the University of California
at Irvine before coming to
Cornell.
He is survived by his sister, Mary
Hart, co-anchor of television's Entertainment
Tonight, his brother, David,
and his parents, Dorothy and Robert
Harum of Fresno, California. The
family has established the Michael J.
Harum Memorial Slavic Languages
Scholarship Fund in his memory.
Donations may be sent to Robert
Scott, Cornell Development Office,
55 Brown Road, Ithaca, NY 14850.
JGSM STARTS 12-
MONTH PROGRAM
The Johnson Graduate School of
Management will launch a new 12month
MBA program in June 1995
for students who hold graduate degrees
in scientific or technical fields.
The program is the first of its kind to
focus on a target group.
"There are a significant number
of highly qualified scientists and engineers
in this country who could
greatly benefit from an MBA education,"
says JGSM Dean Alan G.
Merten. "This program could fit individuals
with degrees ranging from
an MD or PhD in science to a
master's of science or engineering."
The program will allow individuals
with advanced science or engineering
degrees to gain management
skills in their field or pursue management
positions in other areas of
business. It would also encourage
technical and engineering companies
'98 Undergraduate
Acceptances
Letters of admission were mailed on April 2
to a total of 6,545 undergraduate applicants.
Of these: 3,490 were men
3,055 were women
1,929 were minorities, including:
1,139 Asian-Americans
417 Hispanic-Americans
346 African-Americans
27 Native Americans