Courtesy of Andrew Bort

Josh Bleicher (right) was the leader of ZBT's Movember initiative last fall, which helped raise over $1000 for the Movember Foundation.

“We really wanted to refocus on the good aspects of being a fraternity and not as much on the social because we know it’s been detrimental in the past,” said Andrew Bort, the public relations chair for Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT).

One event, called “Get on the Ball,” will raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network. The other event is “Movember,” in which participating students grow out moustaches for all of November and help raise awareness and money for men’s issues like prostate cancer and depression.

“Get on the Ball” will kick off on Oct. 2 at 8:30 p.m. with a concert in College Hall. There will be a $5 entrance fee to see several a capella groups, including the Pikers and the Stereotypes, and student bands, including the Elefanatics, a rock band made up of ZBT members.

The actual event will involve rolling a giant ball around campus Monday through Wednesday. Brothers will be collecting signatures on the ball. Parents and other sponsors will pledge to pay a certain amount for each signature.

“Get on the Ball” is a national ZBT event, and its beneficiary, the Children’s Miracle Network, gives money to children’s hospitals.

“Since it’s the first year, we have realistic expectations, but we’re hoping to raise awareness,” said Corey Cantor, ZBT’s philanthropy chair.

The event hasn’t happened in the past two years because the chapter was on probation by both the University and the national organization.

The chapter has since regained national recognition and is on modified social probation with the University.

“We’ve done plenty of good things in all past semesters. Our main issue is that it’s not as visible to the community as we’d like it to be, and what tends to get out to the public is just the negatives,” Bort said.

But the Movember philanthropy event will be visible indeed.

According to the Movember Foundation’s U.S. website, “Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men.”

Money raised for Movember’s campaign goes to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

ZBT will be tabling throughout the month of November to take donations. Last year, ZBT raised more than $1,000 for the Movember Foundation.

The fraternity hopes to get others involved and even have a moustache contest at the end of the month.

“We feel that by having our main events be primarily the charities and philanthropies, that will help the community realize what our goals have been all along,” Bort said.

ZBT is currently prohibited from having any programming and is essentially a non-functioning body.

“A temporary suspension simply means that we, along with their national headquarters, are investigating alleged policy violations and that the chapter should not put itself in an even more difficult situation by continuing in a business-as-usual manner,” Director of Greek Life Michael Hayes wrote in an e-mail to Student Life on Sunday. “It protects all of the stakeholders.”

The alleged infractions occurred during the recruitment process that ran from Jan. 23 to Feb. 3. The fraternity’s recognition was suspended on Friday, February 5.

Student Life could not confirm details about the alleged recruitment infractions.

According to Kurt Wall, president of the interfraternity council (IFC), ZBT was not allowed to participate in bid acceptance night on Saturday as other fraternities were.

Prospective members who were extended bids from ZBT met with chapter leaders and David Wallace, coordinator for housing programs in the Greek Life Office (GLO), and were told that ZBT was not currently accepting new members but that they could potentially accept their bids in the coming weeks pending the results of the investigation.

If applicable, prospective members could also accept a bid they received from another fraternity.

The first part of the investigation will occur Monday when sophomore Lian States and junior Zachary Buckner—the vice president of standards for the Women’s Panhellenic Association and IFC respectively—meet with Hayes to determine whether ZBT will face the Greek Life Standards Board.

Wall said that it is likely that the case will reach the board.

The Greek Like Standards Board consists of States, Buckner and one delegate from each sorority and fraternity chapter. The board is the self-governing judicial body for fraternities and sororities and conducts hearings for chapters that have violated University, state, or Greek Life policies.

At stake are the fraternity’s national and University recognition, which are not necessarily contingent upon one another.

If ZBT loses its national recognition, it could also lose its house. The fraternity chapter is housed in an off-campus apartment on Forsyth Boulevard. The apartment is owned by the national ZBT organization.

But Wall said that the outcome of the investigation does not have to be an all-or-nothing result.

“There are intermediates between the two extremes,” Wall said.

Wall noted that the ZBT chapter has been cooperating with the GLO, IFC and the standards process.

Junior Andrew Bort, president of ZBT, said that he was confident that the chapter would come out of the investigation as a recognized fraternity chapter.

“We believe that we are in the right here,” Bort said. “So we are pretty sure that we will come out of this just fine.”

Wall said that the investigation would likely be completed in one or two weeks.

The man, of course, is Harold Ramis, one of the writers behind “Animal House,” and he is back at his alma mater to speak to the Wash. U. community.

Ramis, a 1968 graduate, will kick off the Assembly Series with a speech entitled, “Existentialism, Post-modernism and Deconstructionism: Will This Be on the Test?” in Graham Chapel.

Chicago actor-director Harold Ramis promotes his new film “Year One” at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, Ill., on June 16, 2009. (MCT)

Award-winning alum

Nearly every movie Ramis touches turns to gold. His films are found sprinkled throughout the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…” lists; he is part of the reason you have that giant poster of Jon Belushi in a COLLEGE sweatshirt plastered to your wall. The notable Wash. U. alum has written, starred in, directed—or some combination of the three—classics such as “Animal House,” “Meatballs,” “Caddyshack,” “Stripes,” “Ghostbusters,” “Groundhog Day” and “Analyze This.”

This year alone, he was honored by the Just For Laughs Festival in Chicago, the Nantucket Film Festival, and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. These accolades, however, must all pale in comparison to his star on the Delmar Loop.

Richard Chapman of the Film and Media Studies Department said: “In comedy, execution is everything, and Harold Ramis, for my money—and for all of his for that matter—is the best at portraying eccentric characters in often absurd situations, yet maintaining a level of credibility that allows the viewer to not only laugh at times, but also get a little moist around the eyes. He is a master of smart comedy with heart, but he never gets gooey. He still maintains edge, perception and great physical gags.”

Cinderella story, out of nowhere

Ramis was born and raised in Chicago, Ill. But it was at Wash. U. where he started writing comedic plays and became an active member of Zeta Beta Tau, the fraternity he would later use as source material for “Animal House.”

After graduating from the University, Ramis remained in St. Louis for seven months working in a mental institution. He is often quoted as saying that this job prepared him to become a director.
He then moved to Chicago, where he worked as a substitute teacher, and was hired by “Playboy” to edit jokes. While in Chicago, Ramis joined the cast of The Second City, the improv comedy troupe that has spawned the likes of Peter Boyle, Eugene Levy, Mike Myers, Steve Carrell, Tina Fey and Jack McBrayer. It was there that Ramis met the actors—John Belushi, Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray—who would later help to shape his movies.

Ramis, Belushi and Murray headed to New York to host “The National Lampoon Radio Hour.” And while Murray and Belushi became cast members of “Saturday Night Live,” Ramis wrote and starred in the short-lived sketch comedy show “Second City TV.” When he left “SCTV” three years later, he began to collaborate on his first feature film: “Animal House.”

Two years later, he made his directorial debut with “Caddyshack”—not too shabby. Bill Murray’s “Cinderella Speech” is still a staple of golf courses everywhere. Whether they are fighting the Greek fraternity system, the rich campers, the pretentious golf club members or the Army, nearly all of Ramis’ protagonists are outcasts or misfits. But, unlike many people in this position, they aren’t marginalized by society; instead, they take the role upon themselves and embrace it.

Analyze this

Assistant Professor of Performing Arts Phillip Sewell noticed the slight shift from Ramis’ ’80s comedies to the 1993 “Groundhog Day.” Many critics dub “Groundhog Day” Ramis’ crowning achievement, and Sewell said it’s his favorite Ramis movie (aside from “Meatballs,” for completely different reasons).

“‘Groundhog Day’ is a more contained and tonally consistent film in some ways. It has a tighter narrative to it,” Sewell said. “He has to live the same day over and over again, allowing him to explore different tones while having them still be completely accounted for within the narrative conceit. I also just really like the thematics of the film. It has some real meat on its bones.”

Who ya gonna call?

Ramis is often cited as an inspiration by many of today’s renowned comedians. With “Animal House” came a new kind of comedy, one in which crude and intelligent humor were not mutually

exclusive. As Ramis went on to prove, this new type of comedy attracted huge audiences.

“Ghostbusters,” according to Sewell, is one of the most successful live action comedies when domestic grosses adjusted for inflation are taken into consideration.

“It and ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’ which also came out in 1984, decisively demonstrated that the blockbuster paradigm, which was well underway with other genre/modes, could work with comedy,” Sewell said.

Ramis’ influences are still found in the Judd Apatow type bromance comedies of today. Ramis literally embodied this fact by playing the father of Ben—Seth Rogen’s character—in “Knocked Up.”

Throughout the day, Ramis will be attending classes and meeting with teachers and students. He is also participating in a luncheon in which the executive board of Filmboard get to attend. In anticipation of his visit, Filmboard has screened both “Animal House” and “Ghostbusters” in the Danforth University Center’s Tisch Commons the past two nights.

“We’re very excited. When we first got involved, we thought we just get an extra row at the Assembly Series,” said senior Anna Studstill, president of Filmboard. “We didn’t realize we would get to meet him.”

“Any student who is interested in popular culture and film should avail themselves of the opportunity to hear someone who has such a profound influence on comedy, film and television,” Sewell said. “I think it’s really great when we have grads of Wash. U. come back and give their time to students. It’s also a nice opportunity when we get to hear comedians speak to understand the value that comedy has as both a form of social criticism and also a way of making people’s lives a little nicer by bringing us laughter.”

Enjoy Student Life’s favorite Ramis-centric scenes below, and look for Cadenza’s interview with the acclaimed jack of all trades in Friday’s issue.

Meatballs

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4N66sWvZiQ

Caddyshack

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg8lSyGavc4

Stripes

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=einZgVrnfG0

Ghostbusters

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyRqR56aCKc