ORANGE : Stripper Party Spurs Forum at Chapman

A campuswide forum on morals will be held today at Chapman College in response to an incident last month in which a stripper was hired to entertain at an off-campus fraternity party.

The forum, entitled “A Question of Values,” is set for 11 a.m. in Hashinger Hall on campus and will feature a discussion among students and faculty on values that Chapman College “stands for and should uphold,” Pamela Ezell, the school’s spokeswoman, said.

Ann Bolger, director of residence life at the 2,200-student college, said the stripper incident involving members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity “raised a larger issue of values on the campus.”

“We need to get together and discuss how we determine values,” Bolger said Monday. “This is an issue across the country. Many campuses are wrestling with the issue of values.”

Two members of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, Chapman College’s largest, invited the topless stripper to a party at their off-campus apartment on Sept. 28, according to the fraternity’s president. About 50 students, many of them fraternity members, attended.

The school earlier this month punished the fraternity with a one-year suspension and a second year’s probation. But Chapman officials decided to set the suspension aside and allow a student “Greek Judicial Board” review the incident and make recommendations.

Bolger said the board decided last Thursday to place the fraternity on probation for one year and to require its members to become involved in three educational projects on campus, such as holding a forum on the dangers of pornography.

The student board consists of members from all the school’s fraternities and sororities.