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Two fraternities suspended for KKK costumes ASSOCIATED PRESS AUBURN, ALA. - Two Auburn University fraternities were sus pended Monday because members dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes and blackface — one with a noose around his neck — during a Halloween party. Delta Sigma Phi and Beta Theta Pi fraternities, both with mostly white members, are being investi gated for violating Auburn’s dis crimination and harassment rules, said spokesman Jim Jackson. The university began its inves tigation when professionally tak en pictures from the party were put on the Internet over the week end, officials said. PartyPics.com, a service that photographs social events, later pulled the photos from its Web site. “These images are shocking and outrageous, and they are un acceptable,” said Interim rresiaeni wniiam warner. wxi behalf of the faculty, staff and stu dents, I apologize deeply for the hurt that has been caused for so many by the insensitive acts of a few students.” The photographs show two stu dents, one wearing a Klan robe and hood, pointing a gun toward a third student wearing blackface with a noose around his neck. The three stood in front of a Confederate flag. In another photo, fraternity members are wearing blackface, wigs and shirts with the letters of Omega Psi Phi, one of four pre dominantly black fraternities at Auburn. None of the students have been publicly identified. Omega Psi Phi President Octavius Walton said fraternity members copied the photos from the Internet and contacted the ad ministration. “We knew it would be a problem trying to prove it. We had to have evidence,” Walton “These images are shocking and outrageous, and they are unacceptable.” WILLIAM WALKER INTERIM PRESIDENT OF AUBURN UNIVERSITY said. “It’s not what you can say, but what you can prove.” Delta Sigma Phi members apol ogized for the incidents Monday night before a group of students from the Black Student Union. Jon Hockman, executive direc tor of Delta Sigma Phi’s national office in Indianapolis, called the images “deplorable and com pletely contradictory to our fra ternity’s values and beliefs.” Beta Theta Pi has not made a public statement. Fewer than 10 percent of Auburn’s 22,000 students are black. Neither of the two fraterni ties has a black member. Interfraternity Council President Todd LaCour said the two fraternities aren’t represen tative of Auburn’s Greek system. “We neither encourage nor con done this behavior,” he said. “And we’re working to see that it doesn’t happen again and that ap propriate punishment is handed down.” Auburn University needs to thoroughly investigate and prop erly punish the fraternities, said Sanford Johnson, president of the Black Student Union. “We want to see these groups and these individuals held ac countable,” he said. “So much racial progress has been made the last few years, and one incident like this could reverse all of that.” The Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery has launched its own investigation. Banquet Day of Fast other main Oxfam event CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 who received rice and beans; and high-income, who were fed a large meal of rice and chicken. The number in each group was representative of the percentage of the world population in that income group, so 55 percent of the attendees received rice on a banana leaf. Adam Eccles, a third-year hospitality and hotel manage ment student, was one of the 15 percent who received an entree with chicken. “I came so I can get a different experience of what it's like for less fortunate people in poverty-stricken coun tries,” Eccles said. He said he thought he did pretty good, this being my first time here.” Ashley Johnson, a first-year computer science major, was one of the USC students in the lowest income group. “My ini tial reason for coming was for University 101 community ser vice hours, but now I want to do community service work,” Johnson said. “If I can stop peo ple from eating stuff like this, it's worth my time.” Johnson also said she was n't going to eat her meal be cause she was saving room for dinner at the Russell House af terward. After the distribution of food, Oxfam Carolina members asked the attendees to stand and then described diseases or circum stances that would kill a person in a country without health care. People who met the de scriptions of being over the age of 58, having had surgery or be ing female were asked to sit be cause they would have died in countries without adequate re sources. Various speakers also tried to put hunger statistics into per spective, including Joe Alley, a past director of the Cooperative Ministry. Local band Fling also provided entertainment be tween speakers and after the banquet. The Hunger Banquet is one of Oxfam Carolina's two main events at USC, the other being the Day of Fast on Nov. 11. On the Day of Fast, students can do nate their lunch meals or $2 from their cash cards to Oxfam Carolina, which will be directly sent to the efforts to relieve hunger in 30 countries. Nicholas Young, a second year business student, said it was rewarding to help explain to people how prevalent the worldwide hunger problem re ally is. “Even the least [wealthy] Americans are still so very much ahead of the rest of the world,” Young said. Eric Arner, president of Oxfam Carolina, said represen tatives will be in the Grand Marketplace, Capstone, and Patterson until Friday so stu dents can sign up to donate their meals. Students with questions can call 799-7363. Goldson encouraged students to participate in the second event sponsored by Oxfam Carolina next week. “Remember that not everyone is as fortunate as you,” she said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com. MUSC Where to put center poses problems CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 “That place is a maze. Nothing flows well. Parking is awful. It is not consumer-friendly. It is not pa tient-friendly,” Bailey said. “The trend in health care is to he closer to the patient. Where do people live in Charleston? Not on the peninsula.” At the same time, another lo cation wouldn’t be as convenient, and MUSC has relationships with the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center and owns Charleston Memorial Hospital, which are both nearby. So where to build is a critical decision. “We’ve got to answer that question,” Smith said. “There are very strong pros and cons on either side.” Arena Conflict threatened several projects CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 that were caught up in the show down. Those include the city’s new convention center as well as the EdVenture Children’s Museum and Three Rivers Greenway. McKinney said signs of the so called “town-gown conflict” could be expected every once in a while. “I think when you push back and look at the big picture, things like that are natural from time to time,” he told The State. The deadlock had endangered several projects because many faced crucial November or December deadlocks on bond is sues and other key aspects of ' construction. Signs of the conflict over the arena had spilled into the public in several media accounts, and some Midlands leaders had sug gested the city and USC might need a third party to straighten out their differences. Columbia had threatened not to turn over its money because of the lack of an agreement between the Inferno and USC. The city said the two parties had agreed that hockey was part of any arrange ment before they went in front of county government. The university has worked with three local governments on the project. The city’s $2.5 mil lion will be grouped with equal contributions from Richland and Lexington counties. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com. Sera Tec CAN HELP YOU EARN SOME y FAST CASH! 7 New donors can earn up to $110.00 in 2 weeksl Bring ID with date of birth A social security number. Hours: Mon., Wed., A Fri. - 7:30 - 4:00 Tues. A Thurs. - 7:30 - 5:00 • Sat. - 8:00 - Noon I-iTcohoZI L Ji Bobo Norman sponsored by Shandon Baptist Church and j»«a!4iK» And don't miss the Post-game events Sunday, November 18 Shandon Baptist Church Gym 10 am College Bible Study Featuring Adrian Despres, Chaplain USC football team 11:30 am Contemporary Worship Sendee Free lunch after Worship Service For more information email college@shandon.org or call 782*1300 ext/105 Ticket Outlets: All area Christian Bookstores and Shandon Baptist Church sponsored by Shandon Baptist Church and