Seamus Griesbach gives a whole new meaning to the term “commuter student.” Last fall, the St. Anselm College freshman commuted 140 miles to get to school – on foot!

“The idea just popped into my head,” says Griesbach. “I had a free week before school and I didn’t want to sit around home and stress. I knew I wasn’t going to do anything productive. I thought it would be relaxing.”

Relaxing? Griesbach insists it was. “But a little bit strenuous,” he admits of the eight-day, seven-night hike from Lisbon Falls, Maine, to Manchester, N.H. He didn’t walk alone, though – his 14-year-old brother, Leon, and his dog, Belle, helped him keep pace.

“We would aim to get to a town or residential area around 6 p.m., and we’d knock on people’s doors and ask them if we could pitch a tent in their yard. Most people looked at us like we were crazy,” says the pedestrian. We spent three nights in people’s yards, two nights in baseball diamonds, one night in a playground and one night we managed to hit up a camp site.”

But despite walking through thunderstorms and sustaining a few nasty blisters, Griesbach says the trip was worthwhile. In fact, he plans to enlist a few buddies and walk to school again next fall, this time for a cause.

“I’m trying to get pledge sheets and have people pledge per mile,” he says. “I’m toying with the idea of having each walker pick their own cause. I’d love to see it take off as a national trend. It might catch on.”

But don’t sell your car just yet.

By Jessica Lyons

As a college freshman, you’re bound to sign up for at least one credit card just so you can snag the free T-shirt you get with the deal. And you won’t be alone – according to Simmons Market Research, some 63 percent of college students are card-carrying members of the “charge it!” set. And that’s okay. You need a credit card to make hotel or plane reservations and it sure comes in handy for emergencies, like when your car breaks down or when you’re on vacation and your cash gets stolen.

The trick is to plunk down your plastic only to buy things that you have enough money to actually pay for and to pay off your bill in full at the end of each month, instead of being like the 16 percent of students who admit that they pay only the minimum due each month. Otherwise you could end up like Ohio State U.’s Randy Borntrager, a fifth-year senior who now owes more than $4,000 and pumps out major monthly payments.

So forget about English Lit 101 for a minute and take this crash course in Credit Management.

Credit Card Smarts

• When you make a purchase, subtract the amount immediately from your checking account.
• Shop for a card with the lowest interest rate.
• Pay your bills on time or you’ll get slapped with a nasty late charge.

Things I Shouldn’t Pay For With My Charge Card

• a car
• tuition
• rent
• car insurance
• the entire Victoria’s Secret catalog
• bar tabs
• my other bills
• 1-900 numbers
• anything advertised on a 2 a.m. infomercial
• holiday splurging
• anthing that says “for a limited time only”

Sara Lyle, U. of Florida, contributed to this story.

In college, like in life, it’s all about the Benjamins. Today’s college students are working more but earning less, according to a 1997 study on student employment by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. So when you do get some cash, you’ve got to spend it wisely. Here are 10 tips on how to make your money go the distance.

1. Check out the student-run www.1freestuff.com for free samples of all kinds of stuff.
2. Keep in touch with your friends back home via e-mail instead of the phone and you’ll save a bundle.
3. Wait to do your laundry until you visit mom and dad.
4. Buy furniture from garage sales.
5. You can’t go wrong with ramen noodles.
6. Buy used books from fellow students instead of from the campus bookstore.
7. Head to a superwarehouse like CostCo or Sam’s or Price Club and buy in bulk for you and a group of friends. But beware – that 20-lb. jar of peanut butter can come back to haunt you .
8. Hit the thrift stores for hip, trendy and best of all cheap clothes.
9. “Liberate” stuff like napkins, salt, pepper, etc. from the cafeteria.
10. Chow down at bars during happy hour when the food is free and the drinks are cheap.

By Sona Charaipotra, Rutgers U.

By Kelly Kaufhold

Some students suffer through twelve years of education and three different schools, struggling to get good enough grades to carry them to college. Just when it’s all coming together, when they’re finally strutting into their high school senior year, three little letters can blow it all away - S-A-T.

Ask most survivors and they’ll tell you the Scholastic Aptitude Test is four hours of test hall hell - a half-day horror that can unseat a decade of carefully laid groundwork. “I would have to say I don’t agree with it because I did very well all through high school and then I didn’t do very well on the test,” laments Illinois State business senior Nicole Mosher.

While she’s delighted with her four years at ISU, it wasn’t her first choice. She was tripped up by an aptitude test. “I applied at U of I (the University of Illinois) and my GPA was high enough, but my ACT wasn’t.”

But not all schools use the SAT or ACT scores when considering granting the admission of a new student. “That’s correct. We haven’t required SATs ever, really,” says Mary Backlund, vice president of Student Affairs at Bard College, located a few miles outside of New York City. “The reason for that is the SAT tells me how well somebody scores on an SAT, but it really doesn’t tell me what kind of student you are.”

Like a handful of private and religious schools nationwide, Bard does not use standardized tests. But that doesn’t mean it offers an open door - Bard staffers have their own tools. “The transcript. What courses students studied, how they scored,” says Backlund. “We do interviews, we do everything that normal people do, but the tests, they’re optional.”

That doesn’t mean students who struggled through the Saturday morning mind marathons wasted their time. “I took SATs, yeah. I only applied to Bard,” admits student Joe Elwin. “At that point it said they weren’t required, but I took it anyway.” The photography senior says he took the test for two reasons - because it gave him one more way to shine on his application and because he wasn’t sure he’d get in to Bard. “Most people that I know think like I do, they take it anyway.”

It’s a good idea because most other schools require it. “All the Ivy’s do,” says Cornell University’s Linda Mallett. “The SAT is a valuable tool to use as one piece of the admissions process.” At some colleges it’s the heaviest tool.

“We take about 60 percent of the students based on GPA and SAT’s alone,” says Mary Mehdizadeh in the UCLA admissions office. “Sixty percent we look at academics, GPA and SAT, then 40 percent we look at the highest [ranked] students, then we start to look at interviews.”

Mehdizadeh says it evens the playing field. “The students come from different schools, so the same subject may be harder or easier in some schools. To see how much they really know — they do standardized tests.” Cornell’s Mallett cites another reason. “We see more students that are home schooled. It does give a measure of how well prepared they are.”

Since many students are stronger in one subject than in another, the scores will reflect both their strengths and their weaknesses. But there’s no need to panic, according to Mallett. She says at Cornell and a few other schools, the different majors handle their own admissions, so if a student applies to the school of engineering they’ll be judged more on their math and science scores than reasoning and verbal.

Prestigious schools like Cornell also look past the scores. “We look first at the high school performance,” adds Mallett. “We ask if the grades are weighted or unweighted, how courses like the [honors courses] play into the students record. We look at how much of a challenge has been available and how well that challenge was taken on by the student.” Admissions advisors at most schools also look at after-school activities like clubs and sports.

If a senior just can’t stand the thought of a four-hour frenzy with a number two pencil, there is another option. “We have not used SAT scores,” says Angela Sales of the City University of New York. “The city or state law of New York says if a student graduates from a public high school they can attend City University.”

Rich Hasselbach explains, “Community Colleges have tended to be more of an open access,” says the assistant to the President at New York’s community college. “If their test scores haven’t been good and they haven’t been able to get into other schools, perhaps the institution of their choice, they can come to community colleges.”

It’s the same story at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, and most of the country’s CCs. “We serve a non-traditional school population, mostly adults,” says J.D. Leonard in Golden Gate’s admissions office. “To require admissions tests would be pointless.”

There are some tips students should be aware of. Some colleges accept both SAT and ACT scores, while others require one or the other. Students should research their top choices before they take a test by calling the school and asking for a pre-test guide, or by logging on to their Web site.

Even some students at four-year schools like the idea of skipping standardized tests. “Yeah, I think that’s a very good idea,” says Illinois State’s Mosher. “Because then you can tell them who you are, not just fill in dots on a test.”

By Minauti Dave

It is the dreaded question that every parent asks: So what are you doing after you graduation? Often the answer is: Whatever pays well. In some cases this could mean staying in school for a year or more to bump your bachelor’s degree up to a master’s.

In fact, you may have heard those nasty rumors floating around campus that a B.A. is a dead degree in the real world because of the demand for higher education — not to mention higher pay. Put simply, “The higher the degree the greater the earnings,” says Peter Syverson, vice president of research with the Council of Graduate Schools.

In 1996 students with a master’s earned an average of $46,332 a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — 24 percent more than a college grad with a bachelor’s degree.

For Harvard University sophomore Josh Weaver, a professional degree is inevitable, but money doesn’t play a huge role. Weaver is studying Cognitive Neuroscience and says he is definitely going to pursue either a master’s or medical degree. “Money is important, but I don’t want to be rich. I want to be secure and modestly happy,” he says.

However, happy doesn’t pay the bills. The U.S. Census Bureau shows that between the ages of 25 and 64, a master’s recipient earns about $240,000 more than someone with a bachelor’s degree. This translates to a lifetime salary of $3.3 million.

Although money talks, it may not be what pushes some students to get a master’s degree. Weaver makes a point that for certain careers, especially in natural sciences and law, an entry level degree for college graduate is one step beyond a B.A. Career Services director at Penn State University, Jack Rayman agrees, and says that in some cases, “You just don’t get a job unless you have a PhD.”

For senior Sean Flynn, more coursework is not the answer when he graduates from Georgetown University this year. “I’m tired of school but I can envision myself doing it in the future,” he says. The English major is confident, a bachelor’s degree from a reputable university, and his internship at the Washington Post, will help him land a job as a newspaper journalist.

For burned out undergraduates who would rather take the degree and run, there is hope. According to a 1999 study done by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, companies are expected to increase annual salaries for graduates with bachelor’s degrees this year by 4.7 percent.

“In general the opportunities for recent college graduates are excellent. …Of course how long that’s going to last, I don’t know,” says Camille Luckenbaugh, employment information manager for NACE.

The following is a breakdown of average estimated earnings for 2000 graduates in four career fields - all of which reflect the salary surge:

Computer and engineering: $45,698

Accounting: $34,356

Management Information Systems: $38,938

Liberal Arts: $31,617

Despite all the talk about hefty salaries for master’s degree graduates, enrollment at graduate schools is decreasing little by little every year, Syverson notes. Statistics from the Council of Graduate Schools shows enrollment at some 500 graduate schools decreased by one percent, and two percent reported no change between 1996 and 1998.

“This is not a precipitous drop. Nobody is panicking about it. I think it’s of concern, but not of great worry. … It’s being caused by this very attractive labor market,” Syverson says. In translation: College students see lots of good jobs with attractive salaries, ready and waiting for applicants, so why spend the extra time in school to get the master’s degree when the dream job’s open now.

Nevertheless, Rayman suggests, “If the economy is weak and demand is low in your particular field, it’s better to use your time furthering or enhancing your skills than hanging around the water cooler.”

Penn State junior Mark Goodwin hopes to get a job as a physical education/health teacher at a high school. Once he is working, Goodwin says his employer will pay for his master’s degree. “Once I get a job, I want to do whatever I can do to better my situation.” He says with a master’s degree not only is the pay better, but so are his chances of teaching at the college level.

“From a teacher’s perspective a master’s degree would do you better. In any overall major it would help you do better financially,” he says.

So goes the trailer for the sequel to Austin Powers,proving that even Mike Myers’ ad people have a sense of humor. And while the cinematic resurrection of Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi is sure to attract more hype than that movie about that 87-year old boating accident, we’ve got to confess that we’re secretly more excited about the return of Britain’s most shagadelic secret agent.

It’s The Spy Who Shagged Mewith Myers returning to the dual role of secret agent Austin Powers and his arch-nemesis Dr. Evil. This time, Powers is heading back to the ’60s, so he can reclaim the “mojo” (the life force that gives him his shagging abilities) that Dr. Evil stole from him. A serious mission, but the secret agent doesn’t stand alone. Seasoned bombshell Heather Graham offers a helping hand and ample pick-up line opportunities as CIA operative Felicity Shagwell. Sure, fans will have their preferences between her and Powers’ wife Elizabeth Hurley, but Myers won’t say which is his favorite hottie. “Both are equally shaggable in different ways,” Myers says. “And I have the science to prove it.”

Okay, but we all know there is more to this spy than his legendary libido. Austin Powers is about an era, an attitude – all reflected in his groovy duds. But don’t let Myers’ on-screen composure fool you – pimpin’ out in ’60s fashions isn’t all it’s cut out to be. “They’re hot and uncomfortable and raise your body temperature to 1,000 degrees Kelvin,” he says. “(The United States) should take the lead of Canada in adopting their own version of the ‘Anti-Velvet Act of 1970.’”

If that obscure historical reference didn’t tip you off, Myers grew up in Canada, attending high school in his hometown of Toronto. After graduation, he shunned a college education and instead hooked up with the city’s renowned Second City comedy troupe, which Myers jokingly refers to as “The Devry of comedy.” It was during his “comedy college” years with the troupe that Myers was discovered by “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels.

At “SNL,” Myers was the mastermind behind some of the most memorable skit characters, most notably Wayne, the happy-go-lucky, head-banging slacker brought to the big screen in the 1992 box-office smash Wayne’s World. And while the movie that made “sch-wing” a household word has already seen one sequel, it’s unlikely Myers will resurrect the character again. Austin Powers is his bag now, baby. “I would love to make more [Austin Powers movies] in the way that they made a lot of Pink Panthers,” Myers says.

A long-running series about a British secret agent? Hmmmm … kinda reminds us of another series we know. But honestly, who would win in a fight between Austin Powers and 007? “I don’t want to say because James Bond is a legend,” Myers says. “But let’s just say we’d be opening a can of JB whoop-ass. Enough said.”

Myers may be trapped in London’s swinging ’60s in Austin Powers, but in real life he’s doing things outside the paisley and polyester. His current projects include writing a script for a big-screen adaptation of the “Saturday Night Live” sketch “Sprockets,” where he’ll star as Dieter, the avant-garde German talk show host. He’s also set to star opposite himself in Just Like Me, the story of a romantically-frustrated man who finally meets his match, an exact duplicate of himself in female form, as well as the comedy It’s a Dog’s Life and the Irish drama Pete’s Meteor.

But, this comic’s still taking things one day at a time. “I never have a plan. My philosophy is: It’s just nice to have a job where there is no heavy lifting.”

If there’s one thing the new Austin Powers flick is guaranteed to have – it’s quotable one-liners. Here are some of our favorites from the original.

“Shall we shag now or shag later?”

“It looks like she was beaten with an ugly stick.”

“I never forget a pussy … cat.”

“I shagged her rotten, yeah!”

“Only sailors use condoms.”

“That’s fascinating, Vanessa, why don’t we go back and shag?”

“Oh behave … yeah, baby, yeah!”

“Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day!”

“I bet she shags like a minx!”

“She’s like the village bicycle.”

Last fall, more than seven million people tuned in to the premiere of the WB drama “Felicity,” attracted by the media hype surrounding the new series, and its 22-year-old star Keri Russell. Russell plays the show’s central character Felicity Porter – an unassuming college freshman who passed up a pre-med program at Stanford U. so she could follow her high school crush to New York City.

It’s a role that lends itself well to this soft-spoken belle. “Felicity, for as crazy as she is, hits pretty close to home for me,” Russell says. “She is sort of an exaggerated version of myself.”

While the show doesn’t boast as many earth-shattering crises as “Party of Five” or as much gratuitous sex as, say, “Melrose Place,” fans tune in because they can relate to Felicity’s coming-of-age dilemmas. “I think that’s what makes the show so unique,” Russell says. “Part of its success has to do with its universal themes. Just because she’s 18 doesn’t mean 35-year-olds can’t relate to what she’s going through.”

Russell’s character faces an eternal crisis: does she go for Ben (Scott Speedman) the ultra-stud she followed all the way across the country, or does she settle for Noel (Scott Foley), the “nice-guy” R.A. who’s always been there for her when she needed it? Russell won’t say who she’s rooting for. “I just hope she doesn’t get into any crazy long-term relationship,” she says. “I think girls in college tend to focus their attention on to a significant other. Sometimes that can be a mistake; not keeping yourself open to everything.”

A fitting statement from a young woman who’s always been open to new opportunities. Growing up, Russell wanted to be a dancer. That was before a talent scout discovered her when she was a teenager attending high school outside of Denver. Soon after, Russell landed a part on the Disney Channel’s “All New Mickey Mouse Club” and in the feature film Honey, I Blew up the Kids. She also appeared in the the short-lived TV series “Malibu Shores” as well as a few made-for-TV movies. To this day, Russell maintains a “take it as it comes” attitude. “I think that’s why I’m where I am right now, because I didn’t have anything decided,” she says. “This just sort of came along and I jumped on the boat – and I haven’t jumped off yet.”

So with Russell still onboard, what can we expect next from TV’s hottest freshman, Felicity Porter? The actress shares this little scoop: Felicity’s virgin days are numbered. And when the big day arrives, it won’t be the emotion-drenched melodrama you might expect. In fact, Russell tells us the “Felicity” writers took a different approach to the character’s sexual liberation. “They totally make fun of it, it’s great! That’s what I love so much about this character, she is constantly making fun of herself.”

While she acknowledges she “can’t deny the fact that (Felicity) is some sort of role model,” Russell thinks people tend to exaggerate the power of the tube. “Like when Ally McBeal was on the cover of Time and it said ‘is feminism dead?’ I mean, it’s a television character!”

TV aside, what else is in store for Russell? While she recently finished films Mad About Mambo, The Curve and Eight Days A Week, she says she’s not sure how long she plans to stay in showbiz. “Right at this moment, this is what I’d like to be doing,” she says. “Next year, maybe two years from now, maybe college.” Then, she could follow in the footsteps of her character and her younger sister, a college student and avid “Felicity” viewer.

Until then, Russell continues to work long hours so that Tuesday nights can be a bit more endearing for young America. “A 12- or 14-hour day would be a short day for us,” she says. “Nine to five never looked so good.”

Neither has Keri Russell, for that matter.

By Andrew J. Pulskamp

Mike Stern and Peter Venech, founders of a business in New Haven, Connecticut called Aquarium Ventures, are both a part of a new generation of CEO’s.

“Running a startup company is like being a juggler with a thousand different balls in the air. You can’t let any of them drop,” offers Stern. And apparently both he and Venech can juggle quite well. An investment firm, Dagim Capital, recently sank $1 million dollars into the company. Not bad for two college students, huh?

Stern, who along with Venech, is a student at Yale University, admits that school, work and play can make for a difficult balancing act. But, he says, that won’t keep them from striking out into new business frontiers.

In some ways Stern and Venech’s collegiate creation is an indication of a larger trend in entrepreneurship at universities around the country. Aquarium Ventures is an incubator that helps out other student startups by giving them the tools they need to get on their feet.

“We provide them with financing, office space, a variety of services, including legal services, accounting services, staffing, hiring, human resources - just about everything they need to get started,” explains Stern. In return, Aquarium Ventures gets a piece of the pie when those companies start making money.

So naturally the corporation is always on the lookout for students with fresh business ideas. “With our business director, one of his jobs is to go out to the colleges and interview students and professors - looking for those ideas lurking just below the surface,” says Stern.

Those ideas are at the heart of entrepreneurship. Sure there’s hard work and the need for capital, but when all that is stripped away, one is left with the original idea — that gem of a notion that can lead to success. Fortunately for college students they’re pretty much on a level playing field with the rest of the business world when it comes to ideas.

“The remarkable thing about entrepreneurship is age doesn’t provide any barriers,” says Connie Bourassa-Shaw, the managing director of the Program of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Washington.

Bourassa-Shaw says students at UW have shown great zeal in the entrepreneurship arena. The school’s annual PEI business plan competition showcases some of the best ideas in the state. Collegians studying any major, from any state school in Washington, can offer up their ideas for what they think would make a good business plan. The ultimate prize is a hefty sum of cash, which could help them make that idea a reality.

“All judges are entrepreneurs. There are no faculty judges — which separates us from a lot of other competitions. This is all decided by people who do this every day,” explains Bourassa-Shaw.

When those judges narrow it down to one lucky winner, the victor can pad his or her pockets with $60,000 in seed money, which is plenty to get a business up and running.

Entrepreneurship definitely seems to be catching on at UW as is evidenced by the incredible growth of the PEI club. Bourassa-Shaw says, “Three years ago there were six PEI members. This year we have 160.”

A guy who has been there done that, and who is still doing it for that matter, when it comes to student entrepreneurship is Pete Findlay, the CEO of a corporation called Cybercamps.

Findlay was the 1997 winner of the PEI business plan competition. He started a company that combined his two passions - technology and children. Cybercamps, which was created while Findlay was a student at UW, provides a forum for kids to learn all the things about computers that they aren’t learning in school.

“I was faced with graduation and it was a choice between jumping into work for a big corporation or just taking the plunge and starting now,” says Findlay. He opted for the latter, “I thought I might as well do it now. I’m young; I have no family to support. So I jumped in and took a risk.”

That’s one advantage college students have over others in the business realm, according to Findlay. Being young leaves students with relatively little to lose. Taking risks isn’t quite as scary when a mortgage, car payments and kids aren’t in the picture yet.

Findlay’s risk paid off handsomely. His Cybercamps started as a venture that grossed around $40,000 in its first year, but has since grown into a multimillion-dollar operation with hundreds of employees around the country.

John Lunetta, a University of Indiana senior, may not have a multimillion-dollar corporation to his name, but his business still did plenty to help him get through school.

“The name of my business is American Wildlife Management, actually I incorporated myself so I guess you could say it’s American Wildlife Management Incorporated,” offers Lunetta.

In a nutshell, he goes where the wild things go, then he catches the wild things. “I manage urban wildlife problems. Essentially I solve human and animal conflicts. But that’s not to be confused with going out and rounding up stray dogs and cats. This is strictly wildlife.”

Lunetta says you’d be surprised how much money one can make rounding up raccoons, skunks and beavers. He says that during the summer months, from about the middle of May into August, he can make about $25,000. He also says that most wildlife managers who work full time make well into six figures.

But dealing with all those animals that go bump in the night doesn’t come without a price, especially when one is trying to get a college degree at the same time.

“There was one time I was doing a job and I had a really big test at nine in the morning,” reveals Lunetta. “I got a call at seven a.m. that a trap I had set for a skunk had gotten the skunk. �So I thought, ‘this is slick I’ll get some coffee, get the animal, relocate it and go take the test.’”

Of course everything did not go quite as he had planned. Lunetta showed up to the house where the animal was trapped and neighbors, family and friends were already out in force gawking at the captured creature.

“I was walking up to the cage and this kid yells at me. Just as I was about to say something, I turned my head and I felt liquid go all the way up my left arm and down my left leg. It was the first time in my life I got sprayed.”

Such are the trials of running a wildlife management business. But although he was sullied, Lunetta still made it to his test. ” I sat in the far back row. �I flew through that test,” he says.

Though he enjoys his work, Lunetta reveals that he is going to sell the business. “I love the business but I’m ready for a change,” he says. Plus he probably wouldn’t have time to keep up with all the pesky critters anyway — he’s on his way to chiropractic school.

A trio of students at the University of California at Berkeley have a business of their own that some might regard as dealing with wildlife. They started an online food delivery service to feed hungry collegians at the West Coast university. It’s called CalSnacks.

Noam Lovinsky, a Berkeley sophomore, saw a real need on the campus for an affordable delivery service. He says, “The nearest grocery store here is about a twenty minute walk, and then you have to lug back the groceries. There is a little grocery store on campus, but you’ll pay four dollars for a carton of milk.”

Lovinsky says he came up with the idea for the business when he found out a friend was making trips to Price Club and picking up food for the people on his dorm floor. The guy didn’t get paid, but students usually chipped in to pay for his gas. Lovinksy says, “As soon as I saw that, I said hey, we can make some money doing this.”

And they do make money, according to Lovinsky. He says the company, which has now doubled in size to six people, can bring in anywhere from $500 to $800 a day. Although, Lovinsky says, that’s not where the real money is.

“The food is just a hook. �What we’re most interested in is the Internet site. We wanted this to be a trendy place that people would come to. It has the Cal logo and Cal can attract other people,” says Lovinsky. He also reveals another part of their business strategy, “We want to maybe put coupons in the shopping bags when we make deliveries and form some partnership with some advertisers.”

That may happen - and soon. Lovinsky says the company is in talks with several companies at the moment that are interested in some sort of partnership, but CalSnacks is in a transitional period since Berkeley has raised some questions about the company’s name. CalSnacks is trying to reach a contractual agreement with the school that will allow them to be back up and running by the end of the summer.

Lovinsky has learned a lot from starting his own business, but also says entrepreneurship is not as glamorous as people make it out to be. “It’s exciting to run an Internet startup. It’s not exciting to deliver food,” he says, then continues, “I guess what I’m saying is sometimes it’s not it’s all cracked up to be.”

Brenna Murphy is the coordinator for Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO), a national organization with a presence on 83 campuses, that helps students realize their business dreams.

Murphy has a bit of advice for those heading out onto the corporate range. Don’t be afraid to fail, but also realize that everything probably won’t go according to plan.

“You have got to be prepared for anything,” Murphy advises. “You even have to be prepared to be unprepared.”

Ryan VanMeter joined Delta Chi fraternity with every red-blooded American college freshman’s dream. “I was going to go to college and live in a fraternity and marry a sorority girl and be a businessman in Kansas City,” he says. “That’s what I thought my life was going to be like.”

And then he came out.

VanMeter comes from a small, midwestern town, and although he says he always knew he liked boys, the first time he ever said out loud that he was gay was the summer before his freshman year at the U. of Kansas. But trying to tell his fraternity brothers was a different story.

VanMeter tried to come out two different times to two different men in the house. One “was very cool about it” because he had a gay uncle, VanMeter says, “but I kind of beat around the bush and never really talked to him about it.” The second time, VanMeter tried to come out to a deeply religious member of Delta Chi who tried to save him. So VanMeter lied, saying he was only joking.

By the end of his freshman year, VanMeter decided he couldn’t live in the house anymore. “I knew that I wanted to be openly gay so I made the decision [to move out]. In my head I assumed that the guys wouldn’t accept it.”

VanMeter moved out of the house as a sophomore and deactivated from the fraternity his junior year. And while he doesn’t regret joining as a freshman, he now says being gay and Greek don’t mix.

“So many of our activities are heterosexually based. How would [my fraternity brothers] react if I were to bring guys to parties? When they’re kissing their girlfriends on the dance floor, how would they react if I started kissing a guy friend? I don’t think that there’s a place for gays in the Greek community.”

NOT-SO-MINOR MINORITY

Delta Lambda Phi, the only national gay fraternity (see box), argues that it provides a safe haven for gays who want to be a part of the Greek system. But DLP is only active on 19 campuses throughout the U.S., and there are some 2,000 colleges and universities in the nation. That leaves the majority of gays with two choices: join a traditional Greek house or join the ranks of the GDI (goddamn independents).

But joining a traditional house poses some serious challenges for gay students. Just think of the old “Animal House” stereotype of fraternities – houses lined with empty beer bottles and men touting their masculinity through heterosexual conquests and gay jokes. Not really a welcoming environment for gays.

Nonetheless, the numbers suggest that gay Greeks are more common than you might think. Most studies say that the 10 percent statistic –as in 10 percent of the population is gay – holds true for the Greek system as well. In fact, gays may be the minority group most fully integrated into the Greek system – and the most alienated.

The fear of losing friendships or being kicked out of their house if they come out looms large for gays in the Greek system. And acts of gay-bashing give homosexual members even more reason to stay closeted. In fact, several students U. interviewed for this article asked that their real names not be used, citing recent incidents such as the Greek-sponsored anti-gay homecoming float at Colorado State U. and the death of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the U. of Wyoming, as reasons to fear for their own safety.

While gay Greeks remain invisible to their straight brothers and sisters, straight Greeks continue to believe gay Greeks are nonexistent. Not so, according to Shane L. Windmeyer, co-editor of Out on Fraternity Row (see box), which explores the experiences of gay men in fraternities.

“Gay men have always been and always will be positive members of fraternities,” Windmeyer says. “I hope the book can offer some support to a closeted gay member of the Greek system in that he is not alone in his coming out. When I came out it would have been wonderful to have a resource that showed me that gay people join fraternities – you’re not the only one out there.”

For some students, coming out has been a positive experience. Take Sara Sperling, for example. She came out to her sorority when she was a senior at the U. of California, Irvine, during a chapter meeting.

“I stood in front of 140 women and told them I was a lesbian,” says Sperling who is now the Inter-Greek Council advisor at Santa Clara U. and a member of Alpha Phi sorority, as well as a national speaker on gays in the Greek community. Slowly the members started raising hands, and asking questions. “They were totally supportive. And right after I came out, I did a forum called Speak Your Mind where I brought the whole Greek community and the GLB [gay, lesbian and bisexual] community together in one room for an interactive forum which was educational for both groups. The next year, Alpha Phi took an openly bisexual woman into the chapter.”

THE FEAR FACTOR

Not all students expect that kind of support from their Greek brothers and sisters. “If someone is gay and Greek on a campus where it’s not a problem, more power to them,” says Amy Miller, a bisexual grad student at Texas A & M U., who didn’t think her sorority sisters would be accepting of her orientation.

Miller was a closeted Kappa Delta for three years at Drury College in Springfield, Mo., before deactivating her senior year. “If I came out to the sorority, I risked wrecking it. I was convinced that if I came out we would earn the reputation as a lesbian sorority and the chapter would fail.”

For many Greeks, it’s the fear of tarnishing the house’s rep that results in deactivation or spending four years in the closet. Cory Oakley, an Ohio State U. senior and openly gay member of Acacia fraternity, explains that a house’s ultimate success boils down to attracting new members.

“The Greek system is inherently homophobic,” Oakley says. “The biggest fear of a Greek fraternity or sorority is to be labeled a queer house because fraternities and sororities exist by recruiting new members. If a house gets some kind of stigma and the general public doesn’t want to be a part of it anymore, the house is going to fold.”

THE TIME IS NOW

So, what are the national headquarters of fraternities and sororities doing to address the issue? Good question.

Even though many national chapters provide educational programs on highly publicized topics, such as hazing and alcohol abuse, few provide material on homosexuality. Most do not even mention sexual orientation in their ethical codes. And there are currently no national policies on homophobia in the Greek system.

Steve Zizzo, associate executive vice president for the National Interfraternity Conference, says the lack of a national policy doesn’t mean that individual chapters aren’t facing up to the problem. “Autonomy is very important for the member fraternities, so those statements are left up to the individual organizations themselves,” he says. “Alcohol abuse issues are where our focus has been lately.”

Some Greeks blame their national offices for skirting the issue. “There should be education on diversity in the greater community, and promoting not only tolerance, but acceptance for minorities, racial as well as those with different sexual orientation,” says Christa, who asked that neither her real name nor sorority be used.

Others say it’s just a matter of time. “I think people are just starting to get comfortable discussing gay issues,” says Michael Hammer, a senior at the U. of Pennsylvania. “I think that in 20 years there won’t be a problem if there’s a homosexual in a fraternity.”

Hammer, one of two openly gay members of Penn’s Delta Tau Delta, is living proof that some Greek houses are making progress.

“I brought a straight [male] friend to a formal last year because I wanted a guy to go with me and everybody loved it,” he says. “We were the hit. My fraternity brothers met my ex-boyfriend, and they welcomed him in as someone dating a brother. It was a nice image to see the boyfriend of a fraternity brother speaking with the girlfriends of fraternity brothers – it was so cute.”

Cute? Yes, but still rare. Most Greek houses still have their share of closets. But the doors are starting to open.

OUT ON FRATERNITY ROW

In Out on Fraternity Row ($12.95, Alyson Publications) gay men reveal the good, the bad and the ugly that goes along with being gay and Greek. All of the first-person stories deal with gays in traditional fraternities, not Delta Lambda Phi, the national gay fraternity. (See box for story on DLP.) These accounts illustrate experiences of acceptance as well as betrayal and violence. Several of the essays in the collection are written by gay members who held offices in their fraternities, and some contributors went on to become Greek advisors after graduating.

“The goal is to heighten visibility and provide support for fraternities on the issue of being gay,” says co-editor Shane L. Windmeyer, a gay man who joined Phi Delta Theta in 1992 while attending Emporia State U. “Gay brothers and sisters have always been a part of Greek organizations – probably the most integrated in the system simply because they’ve been closeted. By breaking the cycle of invisibility, you provide education and you start to create stronger Greek communities.”

Windmeyer is also the director of the Lambda 10 Project, a resource center at Indiana U. for gay, lesbian and bisexual members of fraternities and sororities. The Lambda 10 Project is currently working on a second anthology focusing on the experiences of lesbian or bisexual women in college sororities.

The Lambda 10 Project is currently looking for lesbian and bisexual women to contribute to the second anthology. If interested, e-mail contact information to lambda10@indiana.edu. All information will be kept confidential. Check out writing details on the Lambda 10 Project Web site at www.indiana.edu/~lambda10 under “Call for Writers.”

DELTA LAMBDA PHI

As an openly gay male, Joseph Criswell, a junior at Eastern Michigan U., never really considered himself to be a good candidate for Greek life. But he had always been curious about what it would be like to join a fraternity. After he saw fliers posted for an informational meeting about Delta Lambda Phi – a national fraternity for gay, bisexual and progressive men – he decided to give it a shot.

“I don’t have a lot of gay male friends, and I’m not really into the bar scene, which seems to be the dominant scene for the gay male community,” says Criswell, a junior and treasurer of the Alpha Mu chapter. “Joining Delta Lambda Phi has given me a chance to really bond with gay men and be part of the Greek community.”

Founded in 1986, Delta Lambda Phi is currently active on 19 campuses across the U.S. and boasts a membership of 1,200 – both active and alumni.

“We’re not just a house for gay men, we’re a place for any progressive, open-minded men,” says Peter Colohan, Delta Lambda Phi’s national vice president for outreach services. “We are the only nationwide fraternity that does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.”

By Jessica Lyons, Assistant Editor

If you’re moving into the wild world of dormdom for your freshman year, you’d better hope you’re enrolled at one of the following schools where students gave their living quarters a big thumbs up:

• Randolph-Macon Woman’s College
• Agnes Scott College
• Trinity U.
• Loyola College (Md.)
• Mount Holyoke College.

Too bad for you losers who’ll have to move into the projects, er, dorms at these schools where students gave housing a giant thumbs, fingers, toes and every other appendage down:

• Tuskegee U.
• Hampton U.
• U. of Oregon
• Morehouse College
• U.S. Military Academy.

Source:The Princeton Review