Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006 | 7:56 a.m.
It's almost a given that college students will be involved in at least one dumb prank.
With the advent of MySpace, a social networking Web site, students are now publishing their stupidity online.
UNR's student body president, Jeff Champagne, is in hot water for his involvement in a prank officials are investigating as a possible hazing incident.
Hazing violates Nevada law and Board of Regents policy. Champagne could get off with as little as a warning - or he could be expelled and convicted of a misdemeanor.
Champagne videotaped his friends, including fellow student government Sen. Shane Steinbauer and Web master Jared Hostmeyer, kidnapping Jared's little brother, freshman Sean Hostmeyer, from his residence hall over Labor Day weekend. Reminiscent of a scene from the movie "Old School," the students duct-taped the freshman's arms, legs and mouth and flung him over one of their shoulders, carrying him out to a waiting vehicle. A later video shows him duct-taped to a wall as Steinbauer yells expletives at him.
Champagne posted the videos online on the students' MySpace pages. He has since told numerous media outlets that the incident was staged as a prank, one that he regrets now that it has brought negative attention to the university.
The 23-year-old business major may want to rethink his MySpace involvement altogether. His page, easily found using his full name, shows him pictured with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and his headline asks, "Want me to use my influence to get you (sex)?" He goes on to say that he hates school but that it "will all be worth it when the $$$ starts rolling in!"
Champagne's case has been referred to the Washoe County district attorney's office, who will decide whether to pursue charges, and he faces disciplinary hearings before the student government and the student judicial board. In an unconnected incident, Steinbauer is also facing criminal charges for allegedly throwing a brick at a campus shuttle on Oct. 3.
UNLV's student body president, Jeff Panchavinin, also has a MySpace page but he plays it a little smarter. His headline only says, "Mr. President," and the rest of the site is blocked from public view. Only people he invites can view the site.
If those UNR students decide they need a lawyer, they can turn to recent graduates from the Boyd School of Law. The school posted its highest first-time pass rate to date for its recent graduates, with 80 percent passing. Statewide, 75 percent of first-time testers passed.
Dean Richard Morgan has called the school's pass rates its "Achilles' heel" in the national U.S. News and World Report's best law school rankings.
Only 64 percent of the law school's first graduating class passed in 2001. Morgan enacted new programs to help students better prepare for the bar to stop the school's slide down the rankings.
Morgan says all of the credit for the improved scores goes to law professor Pavel Wonsowicz, who works full-time preparing students for the bar.
Local trial lawyers will test their own skills in two upcoming mock trials Friday in Reno and Nov. 17 in Las Vegas. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday will face wrongful death charges in a civil suit brought by Kathleen McLowry, the mother of two cowboys killed in the shootout at the O.K. Corral.
The Boyd School of Law is hosting the mock trial with the American College of Trial Lawyers as a way to raise money for the law school and provide continuing education credit for local attorneys. Lawyers will be able to observe some of the state's best trial lawyers, see the resulting jury deliberations and discuss legal strategy.
There are limited spaces available to the public. For more information, contact Becky Linford at 384-7000.
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