Wednesday, November 29, 2000

Wednesday, November 29, 2000
Volume 5, Number 52

NEWS IN BRIEF

1) Budget Committee clears up fiscal situation in fireside chat
2) SCCS making plans for new student space
3) World news roundup
4) Campus events

SPORTS IN BRIEF

1) Women’s basketball routs Bryn Mawr by 63 points
2) Men’s basketball falls
3) World sports roundup
4) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests

WEATHER FORECAST

Today: Cloudy, possible late rain. Highs around 50.
Rain? But it’s cold…

Tonight: Rain – snow towards morning. Lows in the low 30s.
Does that mean it might….

Tomorrow: Snow likely. Highs in the low 40s.
Hmph.

TODAY’S SHARPLES MENU

Lunch: Italian stromboli, french fries, cheese and vegetable stromboli, *butternut squash and sage orzo, broccoli, cauliflower
**Wing bar

Dinner: Turkey London broil, mushroom rice, *lentil stew, pasta with sauce, corn on the cob, whole green beans
**Pasta bar

NEWS REPORT

1) Budget Committee clears up fiscal situation in fireside chat

The Student Budget Committee held a fireside chat in the Kohlberg coffee bar Tuesday night to discuss the Student Activities Fund. Main points of the conversation included the distribution of the $350,000 SAF budget this year, the effects of last year’s 19% budget cut, and possible improvements to SBC’s current system of allocating funds.

Though no formal conclusions were made, the chat provided an open forum for representatives of student groups to voice their concerns and opinions.

Budget Committee Treasurer Marvin Barron ‘02 opened the discussion with background information on the SBC’s procedure in distributing funds to student organizations. Each year, the SBC recommends a student activities budget; after the college reviews this figure, the money is accrued through the Student Activities Fee included in each student’s tuition. This year’s fee was $250 per student, providing for $350,000 to be distributed among the 97 student organizations on campus, according to the Committee’s review of each group’s proposed budget.

The Committee must also devote money to rebuild the Capital Replacement fund, from which money is taken when activity spending exceeds the budget, and which has been severely depleted over the past few years.

Contrary to popular belief, the infamous 19% budget cut has not decreased the amount of money available to student groups; this has actually increased by $8,000 from last year.

Major concerns raised by the small group of mostly organization representatives included poor communication between the SBC and student groups, lack of public information on how to receive additional funding from the SBC, and the wide range of funds allocated to different groups.

Representatives from activist groups in particular raised the issue of smaller groups receiving less money and less attention than larger, more popular groups, citing the fact that activist groups are equally important as larger organizations, often do not have the kind of traditional, annual events that larger groups have, and consequently do not have concrete budget proposals at the beginning of the semester.

Another issue was the seeming passivity of organizations this semester and the popular misconception of limited funding leading to psychological constraints in planning events: students pointed to the decreased number of SAC-funded parties this semester as an example.

In response to these comments, the Committee addressed the fact that several large-scale organizations simply require substantially more money than smaller activist groups: the Student Activities vans and WSRN, for example, annually need extensive funds to maintain and/or replace equipment.

Having all student groups actively attempt to plan out their agenda and submit concrete proposals at the beginning of the year could help ensure groups the funding they need and decrease the amount of unspent rollover money at the end of the year which other groups could have used.

At the same time, the SBC reminded students that organizations are not bound to the funds allocated to them at the beginning of the semester; groups can request and receive additional funding for special events, speakers, etc, and are encouraged to do so.

Other possible remedies included asking the College to sponsor some of the student organizations ­ such as the Halcyon ­ currently supported by the SBC, and a general decreasing and/or consolidation of student organizations on campus, thus allowing the SBC to distribute the same amount of money to fewer groups.

Lastly, the Committee encouraged student groups to raise money independently and not to be entirely reliant on SBC funds, emphasizing that groups would not receive less money from the SBC because of it.

“We certainly wouldn’t penalize groups for fund-raising on their own…At the end of the day, we’re just students,” concluded Barron. “We don’t enjoy cutting budgets for kicks.”

– Pei Pei Liu

2) SCCS making plans for new student space

After winning last week’s student referendum on the former game room space in Tarble basement, the Swarthmore College Computer Society (SCCS) hopes to turn the space into a computing center as early as possible.

Tom Stepleton ’02, President of SCCS, said that the college architect who is supposed to handle the renovations is going on maternity leave.

“But,” he added, “I don’t think it’s unreasonable for us to open by fall semester of next year.”

Larry Schall, Vice President of Facilities and Services neglected to comment on when the SCCS area would open, saying, “It is too early to tell.”

Stepleton said that the SCCS space will hold the servers and a computing area with nine available workstations. The computing area will be a place where students can do video-editing, and make webstations.

“We will have resources down there,” Stepleton said, “and we will be down there to help people.”

The SCCS space will also house a DVD player and projector, a Playstation II, and a seminar/conference area.

“We want to focus more on the creative aspects of computing,” Stepleton said.

To see the complete SCCS proposal as it was submitted to Student Council, go to http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/~tss/referendum

– Kanani Milles

3) World news roundup

Florida circuit court judge N. Sanders Sauls scheduled a hearing for Saturday on disputed ballots in three Florida counties, despite pleas from Democrats to force an immediate hand recount in Miami-Dade.

President Clinton will visit Nebraska next week for the first time in his eight years in office, completing a tour of all 50 states.

Thousands of people rallied in Dili, East Timor Tuesday, marking the 25th anniversary of East Timor’s initial declaration of independence. The crowd gave a hero’s welcome to the territory’s first president, Fransisco Xavier do Amaral.

Amid continued conflict with Palestinians, the Israeli parliament overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to hold new elections. Prime Minister Ehud Barak reluctantly agreed to demands for an early vote from hard-liners in the country.

The Netherlands became the first country to legalize physician-assisted suicide Tuesday, as the Dutch parliament approved a bill legalizing euthanasia. Patients-rights advocates praised the move, which openly lets doctors help suffering patients end their lives. But many Christian groups spoke openly against the move, led by the Vatican, which said the law “violates human dignity.”

4) Campus events

Congreso de Latinos Unidos’ Freedom School and Mentorship Programs
Information Session about Internship Opportunities
Parrish Commons, 11:30 a.m.

Senior Class Yearbook Portraits
Parrish Parlor – West 12:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

“Regarding Philosophical Intuitions” by Joel E. Pust, University of Delaware
Papazian 324, 4:15 p.m.

Capital Group Information Session
Bond Memorial Hall, 7:00 p.m.

French Movie Night
Kohlberg 116, 7:00 p.m.

College Democrats Meeting
Parrish Parlor – East, 7:30 p.m.

Race Poverty and the Drug War
Students for a Sensible Drug Policy
Kohlberg 115, 7:30 p.m.

Italian Movie Night
Kohlberg 330, 8:00 p.m.

Folk Song Sing-Along
Parrish Parlor – West, 10:00 p.m.

SPORTS UPDATE

1) Women’s basketball routs Bryn Mawr by 63 points

The women’s basketball team remained undefeated in their Centennial Conference opener as they hammered Bryn Mawr 72-9 on Tuesday. The Mawrters, with only six players, shot 4-31 from the field. Heather Kile ’02 led the scoring for Swarthmore with 16 points and four steals. Katie Tarr ’02 added five points and a team-high nine rebounds. Alison Furman ’03 added 13 points in the win, which raises the team’s record to 4-0, 1-0.

2) Men’s basketball falls

The men’s basketball team fell to Division Lehigh on Tuesday, 98-41. Eran Ganot led Swarthmore with 11 points and five rebounds. Zack Ellison ’04 added eight points and Michael Jeffries ’02 and Jake Letendre ’04 each contributed six in the losing effort. The team’s record is now 0-5 on the season.

3) World sports roundup

They almost lost it, but Duke held on to its No. 1 ranking by edging No. 8 Illinois 78-77 on Tuesday. Jason Williams had 23 points for Duke, and Mike Dunleavy equaled his career high of 21. …Earlier Tuesday it was reported that the Yankees had offered free-agent pitcher Mike Mussina a six year deal, but the talks are now on hold as rumors indicate the Mets have joined the fray. …The Sonics gave new head coach Nate McMillan a win in his first game as coach. Meanwhile, recently fired coach Paul Westphal blamed forward Vin Baker for the dissension that led to his firing, not guard Gary Payton.

4) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests

There are no contests scheduled for today or tomorrow.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Recounts before certification aren’t good enough in Florida, but they’re good enough for the voters of New Mexico.” – Jenny Backus, Democratic Party spokeswoman, as Republicans contest Gore’s 485-vote victory in New Mexico as 570 votes went uncounted.