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, April 2, 1998
Volume 2, Number 109
NEWS IN BRIEF
1) Suspect in laptop thefts charged with trespassing
2) April fool’s day meets public safety
3) Room number changes demystified
4) World news roundup
5) Today’s campus events
SPORTS IN BRIEF
1) Softball takes out Beaver College
2) Volleyball falls to Textile
3) Scoreboard
4) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests
WEATHER FORECAST
Today: Should see some sun; windy. High near 65.
I’m bitter — Public Safety was too effective yesterday.
Tonight: Clear. Low around 40.
The funny April 1 stuff was gone before people saw it.
Friday: Gorgeous. High of 65.
NEWS REPORT
1) Suspect in laptop thefts charged with trespassing
A suspect in the stolen laptop computer incidents was taken into custody
last Thursday afternoon, arrested, charged with trespassing, and then
released. Rodney Sharp, in his late thirties, of Crum Lyn, Pennsylvania,
was not charged with any crime relating to the missing computers. “There
simply wasn’t and still isn’t enough evidence to charge him with burglary.
But he is still a suspect in the matter. There are other leads we’re
looking into, but he remains the most promising,” said Owen Redgrave,
Director of Public Safety.
Sharp was spotted in the library by References Librarian Ed Fuller
Wednesday but was not detained or questioned. He again entered McCabe
Thursday and was noted by library staff who called Public Safety.
Sharp, which is one of several names the suspect apparently goes by, was
issued a ban from entering college property. According to Redgrave, he
would be arrested immediately if caught anywhere on college grounds.
The laptops were stolen two weeks ago from McCabe. “On Monday, March 16 two
laptop computers were stolen from the library – the first sometime between
1 p.m. and 6 p.m. and the second around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 18,
around mid-day a third laptop was removed,” according to Terri Narkin, of
Public Safety.
The computers belonged to Ahsiya Posner, Anne Holland and Doug Rouse. None
of the computers have been located. “I have not recovered my laptop yet; I
don’t anticipate they will find it. I think Public Safety has done an
adequate job and I hope the current leads that they have will lead to an
arrest,” says Rouse.
“I haven’t gotten the computer back and I don’t really anticipate seeing it
again (despite my general optimism),” says Posner.
*****
2) April fool’s day meets public safety
According to Lieutenant George Iredale of Public Safety, there were a
number of attempted pranks on Tuesday night. Although a McDonald’s flag did
flutter from atop Parrish, most April fool’s day efforts were busted:
According to Iredale, Public Safety caught “furniture being removed from
Cornell Library” as well as some of Kohlberg’s furniture being placed on
top of the building and the wooden beams in the courtyard. Perhaps more
surprising is not what was being removed from the buildings, but what
almost was placed inside them: “A student was caught attempting to place
his Volkswagen Beatle inside [Cornell] library,” Iredale said.
On a more serious note “there were several incidents of fireworks” being
set off in “Pittenger, Hallowell, and Willets,” Iredale said, adding that
“the reports haven’t been compiled yet.”
The McDonald’s flag was not the only prank to slip past Public Safety’s
watchful eye: a fake Daily Gazette was mailed out as well. “Theirs was
funny too, who cares? And what does Public Safety have to do with e-mail?”
asked Lorrin Nelson, writer of this article. He answered, “ours was the
funnier one; you know, the second one.”
*****
3) Room number changes demystified
Every year, scores of frightened sophomores question each other, “Did they
let in too many new frosh this year? Will we get stuck in Strathaven?”
This year room number changes for Worth and Wharton have been feeding the
rumors. Be reassured–while major changes are planned this summer,
Assistant Dean Myrt Westphal guarantees that there will be no net
difference in housing space, “plus or minus two or three beds.” So then,
why are they changing?
This year the administration is transferring housing and student records
onto BANNER, the college’s new computer system for maintaining records
involving payroll, admissions, alumni, and housing. Housing Committee
members were sent to examine dorms to find numbering errors and
complications. Wharton’s convoluted numbering system, which makes it
impossible to find interior quad rooms from the hall or to identify them
from the directory, causes problems for incoming freshmen. The new students
are unable to contact their roommates based on the directories sent out
over the summer. With the new numbers, all three rooms in a quad will have
the same number, followed by an S, A, or B. Numbers alone will indicate
whether the room is in AB, CD, or EF and will be assigned counterclockwise
from above. The new system is on the bulletin board outside Parrish 158.
Worth is undergoing renovation this summer. The main changes will occur on
the second floor. To bring the building to fire code, I will be joined with
J, K with L, and M with N. In the process, a few rooms will be removed and
some others will change size. There will be, among other things, a large
new kitchen in KL and new carpeting.
Westphal dismisses fears of a humongous freshman class as groundless,
stating that they have no idea yet how many freshman will matriculate. If
2002 is larger than expected, turning some of the lounges in Danawell into
rooms would probably be the only housing change required.
*****
4) World news roundup
ARKANSAS JUDGE RULES LAWSUIT AGAINST CLINTON DOES NOT DESERVE A TRIAL
U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled yesterday afternoon that the
sexual harassment suit brought by Paula Jones against President Clinton was
not worthy of a trial. Wright stated that the allegations brought by Jones
did not constitute sexual harassment, although if true, the president’s
behavior was offensive. For Clinton’s behavior to constitute sexual
harassment, Wright said, Jones would have to allege that her career or
physical or mental state had been harmed as a result of refusing Clinton’s
advances. Jones’ lawyers had already introduced evidence detailing sexual
relationships between Clinton and a half-dozen other women. The president’s
initial reaction to this news was reportedly to ask his lawyers if this was
an April fool’s joke.
ISRAEL AGREES TO A WITHDRAWAL FROM SOUTHERN LEBANON; LEBANESE PESSIMISTIC
Israeli cabinet members yesterday accepted U.N. resolution 425, saying that
Israel will withdraw from the 9 mile strip of southern Lebanon it has
occupied since 1978. The withdrawal will be enacted as soon as a security
agreement can be reached with the Lebanese government to prevent guerilla
groups from using the area as a base for rocket attacks on towns in
Northern Israel. Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said he would welcome
an Israeli pullout, but that his government would not negotiate a security
agreement unless a peace agreement is concluded between Israel, Lebanon,
and Syria. The governments of Syria and Lebanon have said that they will
not accept any peace agreement with Israel which does not included the
return of the Golan Height to Syria, although the Israeli government has
ruled out the possibility of ceding that strategic agricultural region.
IN OTHER NEWS…
Admission statistics for The University of California-Berkeley were
released yesterday, and in the first year since California’s proposition
209 became law, prohibiting the use of race in state university admissions,
the number of Black, Hispanic, and American Indian students admitted to
Berkeley has fallen by 61 percent. … The US House of Representatives has
approved a $217 billion six-year transportation spending bill, exceeding
the limits set in last year’s budget agreement by $26 billion. … A
Philadelphia man refused to pay his bus fare yesterday afternoon, and then
ordered the bus’ driver and the other passengers off the bus at gunpoint,
took the wheel himself, and crashed the bus into a support pillar for the
Market-Frankfurt elevated line, breaking his leg and totaling the bus. …
A fourth bomb has exploded in Fremont, California, bringing the number of
sophisticated bombs found in that city since Sunday to six. … A toddler
in New York City fell out a window in his family’s third floor apartment
yesterday, and landed in the lap of a woman sitting in the shade of the
building on the street below.
*****
5) Today’s campus events
Lecture: “Economic and Political Condition of the African Continent” by
George Ayittey, American University.
DuPont 190, 7 p.m.
Lecture: “Conflict in Families” by Donald Cox
DuPont Lecture Hall, 7:30 p.m.
Lecture: “Identity, Community, Solidarity, Danger, and Justice: Jewish
Lesbian Politics for the 21st century” by Melanie Kaye-Kantrowitz
Martin Kirby Lecture Hall, 8 p.m.
3 Sopranos Student Recital
Bond Memorial Hall, 7:30 p.m.
Reading: Irish poet Eamon Grennan of Vassar College
McCabe lobby, 4:30 p.m.
Movie: International Club Video Showing
Kohlberg 116, 9 p.m.
Movie: “Thieves (France)”
DuPont Lecture Hall, 10:15 p.m.
Movie: Russian Movie Series
Martin Kirby Lecture Hall, 11 p.m.
*****
SPORTS UPDATE
1) Softball takes out Beaver College
The women’s softball team defeated Beaver College 6-4 on Tuesday. The
Garnet was behind 4-1 in the 6th inning when Michelle Walsh ’98 hit a
three-run double to tie the game. Swarthmore kept the momentum going,
scoring two more runs in the 6th inning. Mary Beth Alvarez ’98 was 2 for 4
with 1 RBI and 1 run, and Portia Kelly ’01 hit 2 for 3 and had one run.
Pitcher Dana Lehman ’98 threw five strikouts. Alvarez exclaimed “I love
Michelle for getting a triple. It was a really exciting game”.
*****
2) Volleyball falls to Textile
The men’s volleyball team fell to Textile on Tuesday, 3-2. Swarthmore got
off to a good start winning the first two games (12-15, 10-15) but
exhaustion set in causing the team to lose the next three (15-7, 15-8,
15-11). George Matuala ’98 led the team in kills with 18. Imran Posner ’01
provided 7 blocks for the team and Tony Cho ’01 set well. Dylan Humphrey
’98 commented, “The team is looking to make this the last loss of the
season”.
*****
3) Scoreboard
Tuesday, March 31st:
Baseball
Washington 11, Swarthmore 4
* Dan Johnston ’98 continued his 13-game hitting streak batting 1 for 5.
Joe Aleffi ’00 was 3 for 4 with 2 runs and 1 RBI.
Women’s Lacrosse
Johns Hopkins 15, Swarthmore 3
* Goals were scored by Betsy Rosenbaum ’98, Holly Baker ’99, and Alicia
Googins ’00.
Wednesday, April 1st:
Men’s Lacrosse
Drexel 11, Swarthmore 2
Women’s JV Lacrosse
The Academy of the New Church 20, Swarthmore 5
*****
4) Upcoming Events
TODAY
Men’s volleyball hosts St. Joseph’s in a 7:00 p.m. game.
TOMORROW
Baseball travels to Washington for a 3:00 p.m. game.
Golf jets to the Moravian Invitational at 1:00 p.m.
Men’s tennis hosts West Chester in a 3:00 p.m. match.
Women’s tennis swings to Franklin and Marshall for a 4:00 p.m. match.
*****
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publications.swarthmore.edu
The Daily Gazette
Board of Editors
Mary Elizabeth Alvarez
Ross Bowling
Massey Burke
Fred Bush
Steve Dawson
Lorrin Nelson
Cathy Polinsky
Elizabeth Weber
Staff Writers
Josh Bess
Joseph Genereux
Aarti Iyer
Tamala Montgomery
Nathanael Stulman
Maureen Vernon
Weatherman
Rafi Dowty
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This concludes today’s report.
Copyright 1998 by The Daily Gazette. All rights reserved.