Wednesday, March 27, 2002

* Afghani officials estimated yesterday that 1,800 people were killed in
Monday night’s earthquake in northern Afghanistan. 20,000 mud-brick houses
were said to have collapsed during the quake, with upwards of 1,000 people
possibly still trapped in their homes. Additionally, thousands of the
region’s residents who survived the disaster are now homeless, so
humanitarian agencies like ACTED and Doctors Without Borders have already
arrived in the area and begun to set up tent cities and medical facilities.

* The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to deteriorate as two
international observers were killed in the West Bank yesterday, allegedly by
Palestinian militia members. Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
announced Tuesday that he will not attend an Arab summit on Middle East
peace, set to begin today, because of unreasonable conditions placed on his
travel by the Israelis. Despite US pleas to allow Arafat to make the trip
to Beirut, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has stipulated that he can
only leave his Ramallah headquarters if he first calls for a cease-fire and
then may not be allowed to return if violence occurs while he is away.
Rejecting those stipulations, Arafat will communicate with the summitt
attendees by sattelite instead.

* Aetna, CSX, and FleetBoston were hit with a lawsuit yesterday, demanding
reparation payments to African-Americans for the companies’ involvement in
the slave trade. Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, a black activist who is leading
the class action suit on behalf of millions of descendants of slaves, said
that 12 other businesses would be named in the suit soon. Though no
monetary damages were specified in the suit, it did estimate the current
value of the unpaid labor derived from slavery at $1.4 trillion.

*****

“In Service to Their Country: World War II Conscientious Objectors and
the
Civilian Public Service Camps”
With Margaret Bacon, Timothy Stewart-Winter ’01, and Warren Sawyer
Bond Memorial Hall, 4:00 p.m.

“Visigothic Spain. How Roman? How Gothic?”
Mary Albertson Lecture in Medieval Studies by Jocelyn Hillgarth, Professor
of History Emeritus, University of Toronto
LPAC Cinema, 4:30 p.m.

MST3K Showing
Trotter 203, 7:00 p.m.

Film Showing: Little Big Man
Kohlberg 226, 7:00 p.m.

Film Showing: “Ramayana”
Funky Jap-animé version of classic Indian myth
Trotter 301, 7:00 p.m.

Informal all-campus discussion of the war, sponsored by Why War?
Kohlberg Coffee Bar, 7:00 p.m.

Helen Zia, Keynote Speaker for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Author of “Asian-American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People”
LPAC Cinema, 7:30 p.m.

“Why I’m a Christian, Why I’m an Atheist”
With speakers Mark Potter, Director of Greentree Campus Ministries, and
Norm Allen, Executive Director of African Americans for Humanism
Scheuer Room, 7:30 p.m.

College Democrats meeting
Parrish Parlor East, 8:00 p.m.

Film Society Film Screening
Kirby Lecture Hall, 10:00 p.m.

———-
WWII Conscientious Objectors the Subject of Speakers and Exhibit

Three speakers will address “In Service to Their Country: World War II

Conscientious Objectors in Civilian Public Service” at Swarthmore College

on Wednesday,
March 27, at 4 p.m. in Bond Memorial Hall.

The speakers are:

Margaret Hope Bacon, an independent scholar, historian, and author of many

books on Quakers, including Love Is the Hardest Lesson: A Memoir. The book
deals
with her experiences as the wife of a conscientious objector and working
with the mentally ill in the Civilian Public Service (CPS) camps.

Warren Sawyer, who as a CPS conscientious objector served at Philadelphia’s

Byberry State Hospital for the mentally ill.

Timothy Stewart-Winter, a 2001 Swarthmore graduate who wrote his senior
thesis on CPS. Stewart-Winter is now exhibitions assistant at the Museum of

Jewish
Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, in New York.

A reception will follow the talks.

The event is part of an exhibit on conscientious objectors in McCabe
Library mounted by Swarthmore’s Peace Collection. The exhibit runs through
March 31.
For additional information, call 610-328-8557.

———-
Every Wednesday from 4-6 PM Why War? Hosts “The Black Dot” on WSRN,
91.5 FM.

———-
The Swarthmore Christian Fellowship presents:
“Why I’m a Christian/Why I’m an Atheist”
Scheuer Room, 7:30 p.m.
Experienced apologists Mark Potter and Norm Allen come to campus to
discuss, debate, and explain their respective positions. Come with tough
questions and
open minds.
Refreshments will be provided.

———-
Helen Zia speaks on “Wen Ho Lee, Racial Profiling and Bridge Building
across Post-9/11 American Fundamentalism” at 7:30 p.m. in LPAC
Cinema. Sponsored
by the Intercultural Center, 10-Year Anniversary: Celebrating Growth,
Building Tomorrow, SAO Asian/Pacific American Month, and the President’s
Office.

Yesterday’s baseball game against Washington and softball game against
Goldey Beacom were postponed due to the rain. The baseball team will host
Washington today at 3:00 p.m., and their previously scheduled game against
Eastern has been canceled. The softball game has not yet been rescheduled.

*****

* Commissioner of baseball Bud Selig has promised that he will not lock out

players through the World Series this season but said that the owners may
meet in the offseason to impose new work rules. The players’ union was
quick to respond, calling Selig’s comments a “veiled threat” to move
ahead
with owners’ intentions of creating economic changes in the industry, which

could include a salary cap. Though Selig claimed that he was avoiding
action in order to preserve the sanctity of the upcoming baseball season,
he did acknowledge that the players’ union, whose labor contract expired on

November 7, may go on strike again this summer. The last time the union
went on strike was in the summer of 1994. The strike lasted 232 days and
forced the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.

* 58-year-old breast cancer survivor and diabetic Midge Cross is one of
five middle-aged women embarking today on a trek up Mount Everest. She will

be joined by Lynn Prebble, Jody Thompson, Kim Clark, and Alison Levine, who

has had two heart operations. The expedition, funded by Ford, would be the
first all-female team to scale Everest. In addition, Cross would be the
oldest woman to reach the peak. The women say, however, that the triumph of

the attempt and the dream are the most important aspects of the climb for
them: “It’s about going out there and working as a team. It’s about the

power of women, about perseverance, about the American spirit and how we
are not willing to give up our dreams just because there’s a lot of chaos
in the world.”

* The Atlanta Hawks clouted the Eastern Conference-leading New Jersey Nets

last night, 103-77. The Hawks, who have won seven of their last nine games,

handed the Nets their worst loss of the season with six players scoring in
double figures, including Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who had 18down from his
previous average of 32 points per game against the Nets. Jacque Vaughn
matched his career best with 18 points in addition to nine assists, four
rebounds, and three steals. Jason Terry and Toni Kukoc contributed 13
points, Alan Henderson had 12, and DerMarr Johnson added 11 as the Hawks
shot 50 percent overall. The Nets, led by Richard Jefferson with 21 points,

were 29-of-72, for 40 percent.

*****

Today:
Baseball hosts Washington, 3:00 p.m.
Men’s lacrosse at York, 3:30 p.m.
Women’s lacrosse at Franklin & Marshall, 4:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:
There are no contests scheduled for tomorrow.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“A Canadian is just an unarmed American with health insurance.”
–John Wing Jr.

*****
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