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
Friday, September 25, 1998
Volume 3, Number 14
CORRECTION:
On Thursday, September 24, the Gazette mistakenly referred to Nelson
Mandela as the “retiring African President”. He should have been referred
to as the “retiring South African President”. The Gazette regrets the error.
NEWS IN BRIEF
1) SC and SBC approve Rattech and SCCS funding
2) CC printing problems decrease
3) World news roundup
4) Campus events
SPORTS IN BRIEF
1) Field hockey game goes into double overtime against Lebanon Valley
2) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests
WEATHER FORECAST
Today: Morning clouds, then partly sunny. High in the mid 70s.
Not funny, you say?
Tonight: Partly cloudy with a chance of sprinkles. Low around 60.
Well, we can’t all be Rafi Dowty.
Extended Weekend Forecast:
Saturday: Partly sunny. High in the low 80s.
Sunday: Fair. High around 80.
NEWS REPORT
1) SC and SBC approve Rattech and SCCS funding
The Student Budget Committee approved $19,600 for Rattech equipment and
$3,700 for SCCS at last weeks’ SBC meeting. Because the amounts were so
large, Student Council had to endorse SBC’s decision. Student Council
approved the SCCS funds at last week’s meeting, while the Rattech Funds
were finally approved at last night. SCCS (Swarthmore College Computer
Society) funds will help replace condor, the school’s primary, student-run
server which crashed over the summer. Rattech, a student-run organization
which handles sound equipment and sound design for on-campus concerts and
parties, will use the new funds to replace equipment damaged in a flood in
Olde Club over the summer and to purchase equipment upgrades and a new
control system soundboard.
The money for this equipment will come from SBC’s Capital Replacement Fund,
a fund designed to maintain and replace equipment that SBC purchased for
various clubs. It is completely separate from the money distributed to
organizations for day-to-day activities. Currently, the fund has $143,000,
plus $140,000 from the Student Activities Endowment; the money comes partly
from a portion of each student’s activities fee, partly from interest which
accumulates each year, and partly from “roll over” of the money remaining
from the previous year. Josh Bess ’00, Student Budget Committee Treasurer,
says that SBC believes the campus will be well served by the equipment
purchased with these funds. “It is SBC’s responsibility to make sure that
students’ money is spent wisely,” Bess said. “In my opinion, that includes
not over-spending AND not letting the money remain idle… SBC wants to be
proactive and make investments that allow students to have a good time.
That’s what activities
are all about.”
The SC endorsement is a relief to many members of SC and SBC after nearly
two weeks of concern. SBC mistakenly overlooked the stipulation requiring
SC approval for the allocation the funds over $999.99; as a result, Rattech
had already ordered equipment by the time SBC realized their error. SBC
wrote a check for $9600 for Rattech despite the fact that SC had not yet
approved funding. Bess apologized for the mistake, but he feels it “was in
the best interest of the campus to write the check.” It is his job, he
notes, to “maintain good relations with outside vendors without whom we
couldn’t do the things that we do. That includes making sure the bills are
paid on time and that other expectations are fulfilled.” The day after the
check was written, Student Council approved $7800 to replace the damaged
Rattech equipment, but members requested more information. At last night’s
SC meeting, Martin Carrillo, Production Intern at the LPAC, and Nick
Kourtides, a staff member at LPAC, assured SC that the equipment would be
secure and well used. The remaining money was approved at the meeting.
Rattech looks forward to having the “additional equipment to handle student
demand,” Kourtides said.
Though some members of Student Budget Committee were worried that SC is
“micro managing” their activities, they agree that SBC and SC have a
generally good relationship. Jared Solomon ’01, a member of both SBC and
SC, notes that when Student Budget Committee presented its budget for
approval during spring budgeting this year, it was approved by Student
Council “within fifteen minutes.” Bess seems optimistic, suggesting that
this miscommunication “will impact relations in a positive way… For a
school this small I am often amazed at the lack of communication between
groups. Hopefully this situation will further illuminate where those gaps
exist and will encourage us to fill them.”
*****
2) CC printing problems decrease
“All Four Printers Are Now Working! (Yes, even ‘C’!)” proclaims a sign at
the Beardsley Computer Center. Public printing dilemmas, which abounded at
the beginning of the semester, have now been largely taken care of. The
return to Swarthmore just weeks ago found many students frustrated with the
printing facilities, which were sometimes slow and sometimes just didn’t
work. “I tried for an hour and couldn’t get [my paper] printed,” recalls
Christabel Pinto ’02.
According to Chris Couples, Social Sciences Coordinator for the Computing
Center, the problems were mostly due to a lack of toner. “At the beginning
of the semester we hadn’t laid in enough. One by one we ran out of toner
cartridges,” he says. When printers didn’t have toner, sometimes there were
“four printers’ worth of work going to one printer.” Couples also says
“there have been a couple of problems with the print server,” Some of the
slowness may be attributed to the new Windows NT print server, which
recently replaced a 1994 Macintosh print server with half the memory of the
current one.
To address these problems, new procedures have been implemented. For
instance, print queues are now periodically cleared. Dispatcher manager,
Josh Lewis ’00, claims “We now sing to [the printers] to make them feel
better, and we water them daily.” And, reminds Humanities Coordinator Eric
Behrens, students’ personal printers can be connected to the network with
an Ethernet card and cable, so not everyone has to print to Beardsley.
*****
3) World news roundup
HURRICANE GEORGES SWEEPS THROUGH CARIBBEAN, EXPECTED TO HIT FLORIDA FRIDAY
Hundreds of thousands of people in southern Florida were advised to
evacuate early Thursday as weather officials predicted that Hurricane
Georges would unleash heavy wind, rain, and flooding in the area on Friday.
Residents of the Florida Keys, which were expected to meet 105-mile per
hour winds from the storm early this morning, were given a mandatory
evacuation order on Wednesday. Georges has already caused nearly 200 deaths
and heavy structural damage while pummeling the Caribbean Ocean,
prompting the United States to supply aid to Haiti, the Dominican Republic,
the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. The Dominican Republic was hit
particularly hard, with at least 70 dead and at least 100,000 more left
homeless. The hurricane is expected to intensify over the next couple of
days; by Sunday, wind speeds could possibly reach as high as 125 mph over
the Gulf of Mexico.
NATO DEFENSE MINISTERS THREATEN MILOSEVIC WITH AIR STRIKES
The defense ministers of the sixteen nations of the NATO alliance resolved
Thursday to prepare forces for air strikes against military targets in
Yugoslavia unless President Slobodan Milosevic stops ordering attacks on
ethnic Albanians. The Serbian province of Kosovo has been torn by violence
directed against ethnic Albanian villages in recent months, leaving over
700 people dead and as many as 275,000 homeless. The NATO ultimatum
followed an issue by the United Nations Security Council Wednesday that
demanded Milosevic halt fighting against separatist groups in the region.
No exact deadline has been set for Milosevic to respond to the threat.
IN OTHER NEWS…
The House Judiciary Committee set October 5 or 6 as the date on which to
vote on an impeachment inquiry against President Clinton; if the inquiry is
resolved upon, the full House of Representatives would vote on the matter
three or four days later… President Clinton contacted Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat Thursday
and arranged separate meetings with the two at the White House next week in
order to further the Middle East peace process; it will be Clinton’s first
meeting with the two since January… Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi of
Iran has announced that his nation is disassociating itself with the death
warrant placed on British writer Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini in 1989, allowing British-Iranian tensions to loosen and Rushdie
to emerge from the life of hiding he has conducted for nearly a decade…
The Environmental Protection Agency has announced a plan to reduce
smog-causing pollutants in 22 states by 28 percent by 2007, primarily by
forcing tighter standards on coal-burning power plants.
*****
4) Campus events
FRIDAY
Dead Dog Evening Cafe
Mary Lyons, 8:00 p.m.
8:30 p.m. Magician James Muspratt
9:30 p.m. The Backwater Blues Wayne Miller Tribute Band
11:00 p.m. Open Mike
Ethan Holland ’98 is opening with his band Strap at the Pontiac tonight on
South
Street and 3rd. Email ethanb@sccs for more details.
Movie: “The Big Hit”
DuPont Lecture Hall, 7:30 p.m., 10:00 p.m.
SATURDAY
CIVIC Volunteer Orientation
T.A.C, 9:00 a.m.
Historias Performance,
L.P.A.C, 8:00 p.m.
Movie: “The Princess Bride”
DuPont Lecture Hall, 7:30 p.m., 10:00 p.m.
SUNDAY
Greatest Movie Countdown #43: “King Kong”
Mary Lyons, 10:00 p.m.
*****
SPORTS UPDATE
1) Field hockey goes into double-overtime against Lebanon Valley
The field hockey team fell to Lebanon Valley last night, 3-2. Lebanon
Valley took the lead, scoring the first two goals of the game. The Garnet
fought back though, and in the last six minutes of play, Holly Baker ’99
scored two goals pushing the game into overtime. Donna Griffin ’99 assisted
with the first Garnet goal and Lynn Steuerle ’99 took the second. Lebanon
Valley scored the winning goal with 1:18 left in the second overtime. Baker
was pleased with Swarthmore’s performance and stated, “We were really proud
of how well we played.” The team travels to Wellesley tomorrow for the
Seven Sisters Tournament.
*****
2) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests
TODAY
Women’s tennis visits the College of New Jersey for the Eastern Rolex.
TOMORROW
Women’s soccer hosts Western Maryland at 1:00 p.m.
Men’s and women’s cross-country visits Allentown with Muhlenberg and
Lebanon Valley at 10:00 a.m.
Field hockey travels to Wellesley for the Seven Sisters tournament.
Football visits Gettysburg at 1:00 p.m.
Women’s volleyball visits Rutgers-Camden at 1:00 p.m.
*****
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The Daily Gazette
Board of Editors
Joseph Genereux
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Lorrin Nelson
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Ben Geller
Megan Haberle
Lindsay Herron
Ilya Leskov
Ira Lindsay
Pete Schilla
Jaspal Singh
Nellie Tong
Weatherwoman
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This concludes today’s report.
Copyright 1998 by The Daily Gazette. All rights reserved.