Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
The Daily Gazette
Swarthmore College
Thursday, March 20, 1997
Volume 1, Number 34
NEWS IN BRIEF
1) Former dean lectures on gay rights
2) A cappella groups make CDs, bring off-campus guests
3) World news roundup
SPORTS IN BRIEF
1) Ted Dixon named region’s indoor track coach of the year
2) Spring break results: golf
3) Tonight’s and tomorrow’s contests
NEWS REPORT
1) Former dean lectures on gay rights
Gay and lesbian rights should be expanded and protected, Fernando
Chang-Muy, a former assistant dean of the College, said in a lecture on
campus Wednesday. “Some of the things you take for granted as heterosexuals
may not be taken for granted by gays and lesbians,” he said. He urged his
audience to take action to change the situation.
Chang-Muy’s lecture focused on how the rights of lesbians and gays are
violated around the world. He began by giving a brief history of the
concept of human rights. When the United Nations was founded after World
War II, 78 countries signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
which Chang-Muy described as the “standard against which we measure human
rights.”
He systematically examined each article of the declaration to show how the
civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of gays and lesbians
are violated all over the world, including in the United States.
Chang-Muy said that gays and lesbians in the U.S. are often subject to
discrimination in housing and employment. The privacy rights of gays and
lesbians are not always recognized by American courts, he added.
In a personal anecdote, Chang-Muy described how difficult it was for him
and his partner to adopt a daughter, because of the obstacles placed in the
way of gay and lesbian couples.
Chang-Muy, who left Swarthmore last year, is currently an adjunct professor
at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. His speech was part of a
lecture series on “Human Rights in Theory and Practice.”
In-depth coverage of Chang-Muy’s lecture will appear in The Phoenix this
Friday, March 21.
*****
2) A cappella groups make CDs, bring off-campus guests
Swarthmore’s a cappella groups continue to put out CDs in their
never-ending quest to spread the music. Mixed Company recently made 500
copies of its newest CD, Tastes Like Chicken, and sold 110 copies in
advance. Sixteen Feet has sold almost the entire run of its first CD,
Something’s Afoot, and about half the run of its most recent CD, Sasquatch.
Both groups hope to sell more CDs this weekend, when they host six
off-campus groups in an a cappella weekend.
CD production is a long, expensive process. Scott Friesen ’97 of Sixteen
Feet said it cost almost $7000 to make the group’s most recent CD, partly
because recording was done in Boyz 2 Men’s Philadelphia recording studio.
“The CD-making process is under-appreciated,” said Friesen. “People don’t
realize how much goes into it. It’s a little bit scary. I love it.”
Mixed Company’s Anne Richards ’97, who has made three CDs as a member of
Mixed Co and Doppler Gang, agreed: “CD making is a really unique
experience, a bonding experience because you have lots of people in a small
room for a long time. A really intense experience, but it was worth it.”
Friesen estimates Sixteen Feet has sold over 500 of the original 1000
copies of its most recent recording. At least 100 copies have been sold
off-campus. “Almost every time we go to another school, we sell some,”
Friesen explained. Sixteen Feet’s Web site has also generated a number of
sales.
This weekend’s entertainment features Stanford’s Fleet Street Singers,
Illinois’ Xtension Chords, Oberlin’s Obertones, and Sixteen Feet performing
at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday in the Lang Performing Arts Center, while Mixed
Company performs with Stanford’s Mixed Company, Northwestern’s Significant
Others, and the UPenn Pennchants at 2:00 p.m. Sunday in the Friends Meeting
House.
*****
3) World news roundup
CIA REVEALS ANOTHER POSSIBLE GULF WAR CHEMICAL WEAPONS INCIDENT
Gulf War troops may have been exposed to chemical weapons in a previously
unreported incident in March 1991, the Central Intelligence Agency said.
Previous disclosures have focused on two separate times when U.S. soldiers
destroyed Iraqi chemical weapons at the Kamisiyah ammunition storage
facility in southern Iraq. The CIA now says troops destroyed rockets at the
same site on a third occasion, again detonating chemical-armed rockets in
an open pit. It is not known whether traces of the poisonous chemicals
escaped from the exploding rockets.
BARGE LEAKS TOXIC FUMES ON MISSISSIPPI RIVER
A barge carrying 400,000 gallons of flammable chemicals capsized and
started leaking toxic gases near Baton Rouge after striking a highway
bridge across the Mississippi River. The students of Southern University,
located just two miles upstream from the capsized barge, were evacuated
Tuesday; law enforcement officials feared a sudden shift in the wind could
force the evacuation of downtown Baton Rouge. The barge, which carried
toluene and benzene, two toxic and flammable liquids, was part of a string
of 25 barges that broke apart after striking the bridge.
The world news roundup is produced by Swarthmore Radio News, which airs
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and midnight on WSRN 91.5 FM.
*****
SPORTS UPDATE
1) Ted Dixon named region’s indoor track coach of the year
The United States Track Coaches Association recently voted Ted Dixon,
Swarthmore’s head coach for indoor track and field, the 1996-97 Mideast
Region Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year.
Dixon led the women’s indoor track and field team to a 10-1 season and a
Centennial Conference championship, in addition to having one athlete
qualify automatically for the national NCAA Division III meet. This is
Dixon’s fourth year as a coach at Swarthmore and his third as head coach.
Dixon also serves as the head coach for cross country and outdoor track and
field for both men and women.
*****
2) Spring break results: golf
GOLF
The men’s golf team traveled south for spring break to North Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina. The team scrimmaged only one opponent, Coker College, on
its trip but played at least once and sometimes twice a day. Swarthmore
looks forward to bolstering its lineup with several players who were not
able to make the spring break trip, including Kyle Barnett ’97 and Chad
Brown ’97. Coach Mark Duzenski is confident that the team will be very
competitive in its first match on Monday against Widener, Philadelphia
Pharmacy, and Philadelphia Textile.
*****
3) Tonight’s and tomorrow’s contests
TONIGHT
Softball travels to Cabrini College for a 3:30 game.
FRIDAY (21 Mar.)
Women’s tennis has their home opener against Ursinus at 4:00 p.m.
Men’s tennis travels to Atlanta for the weekend. Their first match is
against Pomona at 3:00 p.m.
*****
***Write for The Daily Gazette! If you are interested in reporting or
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The Daily Gazette
Board of Editors
Fred Bush
Kate Doty
Jennifer Klein
David Lischer
Eric Pakurar
Sam Schulhofer-Wohl
Sylvia Weedman
Contributing Writer
Toki Rehder
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This concludes today’s report.
Copyright 1997 by The Daily Gazette. All rights reserved.