Police investigating reported rape at Sigma Pi fraternity

Police are investigating allegations of a rape at the Sigma Pi Fraternity House, 1525 E. Drachman St., reported early Saturday morning.

A UA student contacted police and said a man had sex with her against her will at the house, said Sgt. Eugene Mejia, University of Arizona Police Department spokesman. Mejia said he could not release names or say if the man was a UA student or a fraternity member. [Read article]

Some high-heeled prancers welcomed the stares they got on the UA Mall yesterday - they were men donning ladies' pumps, sandals and platforms for a good cause.

In observance of Sexual Abuse Awareness Month, Residence Life's El Mundo Diversity Committee sponsored the first annual Walk to Stop Sexual Violence at noon on the Mall.

About 30 women and men, some donning ladies' shoes, walked a mile in laps around the south portion of the Mall, sporting a banner asking campus-millers to "put yourself in her shoes." [Read article]

Tall, curvy, short, thin, round, narrow, muscular and lean – the human body in its many shapes and forms is on display on the UA Mall to reveal the naked truth about body image.

The plaster casts of 20 male and female bodies, taken from volunteers across the country, are the work of Kansas City, Mo., artist Larry Kirkwood, who will lecture this afternoon about the sculptures in his collection and on body image issues and notions of beauty in society. [Read article]

Sometimes it takes a very close look at a corn plant to find out why some people have diabetes or cancer.

Corn plants are growing on top of a UA parking garage and are supervised by Vicky Chandler, UA director of the Bio 5 institute, who said in very basic terms, she uses the plants as model organisms to figure out how their genes work. Gene regulation determines why certain genes are active at a certain time and how the plant shows it. [Read article]

You can learn a lot from a mollusk. In fact, scientists like Karl Flessa have shown how mollusk remains unlock certain mysteries of past ecosystems.

Flessa is a professor of geosciences in the College of Science, where he teaches introductory courses in paleontology and oceanography, and also serves as an adviser to undergraduate and graduate students in the program.

Part of Flessa's research involves the study of clamshells, snail shells, bones of marine mammals and fish ear bones to determine what life was like in the Colorado River delta decades ago. [Read article]

If the campus seems eerily quiet today and a few of your friends are refusing to talk to you, don't be alarmed.

Today marks the first year of the UA's participation in the Day of Silence.

Organized by members of Students Promoting Respect and Individuality Through Education and the ASUA Pride Alliance, the day is meant to demonstrate the silence students in the gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual community have endured throughout their lives, said Alex Grubb, president of SPRITE. [Read article]

Festivities generate $50K for campus clubs

With Spring Fling festivities officially over, UA clubs are reaping the benefits of their hard work now that the money has been counted.

UA sororities, fraternities and other clubs involved with Spring Fling made an estimated $52,000 during the four-day event, up from last year's sales of about $42,000.

"I expected a little bit more," said Amanda Meaker, Spring Fling executive director. "But overall Spring Fling ran very smooth this year." [Read article]

PHOENIX - The higher education reform bill that failed in the Senate last week passed the Arizona House of Representatives yesterday.

The bill, formerly identified as HB2079, now labeled as SB1109, would fund universities and community colleges based on the number of full-time students enrolled, would allow certain community colleges to offer four-year baccalaureate degrees and would turn Eastern Arizona College into a liberal arts college, among other things. [Read article]

Read it and weep: Last night students at the Hillel Foundation, a center for Jewish students at the UA, played poker to raise money for the Ethiopian Jewish Community in Israel.

The event, hosted by Alpha Epsilon Pi and the Hillel Foundation, cost $10 to enter and was open to everyone.

Matt Van Horn, the president of the fraternity and a marketing and entrepreneurship junior, said he hoped the event would raise a lot of money for the cause. [Read article]

Whether you pass the UA Mall at 2 p.m. today or 2 a.m. tomorrow, you'll notice speakers, discussion groups and films offering students a powerful glimpse into the past.

Beginning at 10 a.m. today, the Hillel Foundation will be holding its 24-hour Vigil program dedicated the remembrance of the Holocaust.

The event, which is free and open to the public, features a variety of programs and events that address the importance of this year's theme: "Remembering the Past, Impacting the Future," according to a press release. [Read article]

Fundraisers, not fees, will be key

The Adaptive Athletics department still needs money to keep wheelchair sports running at their current capacity, even though the idea to ask students for a $1 activity fee never appeared on the Associated Students of the University of Arizona ballot.

The athletes, most recently known for their fundraiser "Lame for a Game" that paired adaptive players with the able-bodied UA men's basketball team, do not receive any funding from the state and rely on private donors and fundraisers to keep the program afloat, said David-Herr Cardillo, the assistant director of the Disability Resource Center. [Read article]

A screening of the Spanish movie "The Sea Inside" was held at the Gallagher Theater yesterday to encourage dialogue between disabled and non-disabled people, organizers said.

The movie intended to show the true story of Ramon Sampedro, a Spanish fisherman who, because of an accident, spent 28 years of his life paralyzed and bedridden.

Even though Sampedro taught everyone around him to appreciate life, he desperately wanted to end his own. [Read article]

The biggest surprise on the heels of Playboy's visit last week may not be who took off their clothes or how much they took off, but where the UA co-eds posed.

It is possible the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity house, 638 E. University Blvd., which was featured in the 1999 edition of the "Girls of the Pac-10," will be featured again in the October edition.

Playboy photographer David Mann, who also shot the 1999 issue, said he went back to AGR house because he knew what to expect from the house in regard to lighting and layout. [Read article]