California Polytechnic University At Pomona

A campus fraternity in Pomona has been suspended while the school investigates claims that a student was burned during an initiation. Cal Poly Pomona announced Wednesday that it suspended the local chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon and nine fraternity members. College spokesman Tim Lynch said the school is investigating an alleged initiation in which 14 students were blindfolded, driven to the high desert in March and placed around a bonfire.

When Joaquin Lim landed in the northern Chinese city of Dalian a few months ago, a smiling airport official immediately ushered him off the plane and through immigration and customs before the rest of the passengers could even empty the cabin. When Lim arrived in the airport's terminal, he noticed a huge banner that read: "Welcome to Dalian Respected Teacher."

Mary Ann Hughes impatiently chewed gum, whispered disparaging remarks and glared sternly at the speaker, waiting for her opportunity. It was a year ago Wednesday that Kevin Cooper, the man convicted of killing four people, received a last-minute stay of execution. One of the victims was Hughes' 11-year-old son, Christopher. And on this anniversary of what they had hoped would be Cooper's death, Hughes and her husband, Bill, listened to actor Mike Farrell call for an end to the death penalty.

Cal Poly Pomona officials are notifying more than 31,000 current and former students and employees, as well as a number of student applicants, that hackers may have gained access to files containing Social Security numbers and other information. Ron Fremont, Cal Poly's associate vice president for university relations, said authorities have no evidence of misuse of any data in the June 29 incident. The main student database was not affected, he said.

Authorities on Thursday identified the three people aboard a small plane that crashed in a field at the Cal Poly Pomona campus Wednesday night but have not determined why the aircraft went down. James Shear, 56, of Chino and Jeffrey David Rice, 32, of Bakersfield were killed when Shear's single-engine plane, a Piper Comanche 250, crashed in Cal Poly's Sprada Ranch, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Donn Walker said Thursday.

Irvine police are investigating whether a college student who died after a weekend football game between pledges and UC Irvine fraternity members was a hazing victim. Kenny Luong, 19, of Rosemead died of head injuries about 2 p.m. Tuesday at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where several dozen friends and relatives had gathered to grieve. Luong was among a group of Cal Poly Pomona students pledging Lambda Phi Epsilon, a nationally recognized fraternity.

Members of a UC Irvine fraternity "poured it on" against pledges who were outnumbered 5 to 1 by the end of a weekend football game that led to the death of a 19-year-old student, a friend said Wednesday. Kenny Luong, who died Tuesday apparently from head injuries suffered in the game, was one of 12 Cal Poly Pomona students who applied to join Lambda Phi Epsilon, a nationally recognized fraternity.

Tara Sethia was raised in the faith tradition of Jainism, a religion that has stressed ahimsa, or nonviolence, since its founding 2,600 years ago in her native India. But living in the United States, she says, she found that belief neglected and often misunderstood as a wimpy act of surrender. "History books always explain change in terms of war, as if it is violence that will bring results," said Sethia, a history professor at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona.

Two massive concrete letters -- C and P -- have weathered 45 years on a hillside above Cal Poly Pomona, a symbol of the state university in the same way that the Hollywood sign welcomes visitors to the entertainment capital. But last week, a second P (for Pomona) was added to the monument on Colt Hill, and the 19,804-student campus celebrated a visible icon of its independence from the other Cal Poly, 230 miles to the north.

J. Michael Oritz, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Cal State Fresno, was named president of Cal Poly Pomona by the state university system's board of trustees Thursday. Oritz, who has been at the Fresno campus since 1996, succeeds retiring Cal Poly President Bob Suzuki, who has been at the Pomona campus for 22 years.