Tuesday, December 10, 2002

by Alexis Reedy
News Editor

Ivan Boothe ’04, who pled guilty to charges of child pornography possession
and criminal communication with minors this past October, will not be
returning to Swarthmore next semester as originally planned.  Due to delays
in the legal proceedings against him, Boothe will now postpone his return
until at least the fall of 2003.

Last May, Ivan Boothe ’04 was charged with 500 counts of sexual abuse
against children, 506 counts of criminal use of a communication facility, 6
counts of dissemination of child porn, and one count each of criminal
attempt to unlawful contact or communication with a minor and criminal
attempt to corrupt a minor. At the time the charges were brought against
Boothe, the student had plans to take a leave of absence during the fall of
2002 and return to campus for the spring semester in 2003. The
administration had wanted to wait until after the legal proceedings were
completed before deciding what action, if any, the school would take.

As of October 27, the charges against Boothe were narrowed down to one count
of criminal communication with a minor, six counts of criminal use of a
communication facility, one count of possession of child pornography, and
one count of dissemination of child pornography. Boothe pled guilty to all
counts.

“My sentence will be imposed on or before January 27. The reason for this is
a 90-day waiting period after I enter my plea for the Commonwealth to
evaluate whether I am a ‘violent sexual predator’ and should be registered
as such for life. I have no reason to believe they will decide this (it’s
the designation usually given to serial rapists), but the evaluation still
must take place before the sentence can be handed down,” wrote Boothe in an
e-mail communication.

Right now, Boothe plans on taking another leave of absence during the spring
semester. “Because of the repeated postponements of my trial, the legal
proceedings will still be taking place into next semester. Since the reason
I took the fall semester off in the first place was so that my academic work
would not be affected by these proceedings, it wouldn’t make sense to return
until they are complete. My original court date was set for Sept. 9, 2002,
and this indicated to me that everything might be complete in order for me
to return in the spring of 2003. Since the court date was postponed to late
October and the 90 day waiting period was included, I’ve had to revise my
plans,” wrote Boothe.

Boothe remains hopeful that he will be able to return to Swarthmore in the
fall of 2003: “At this time I hope to return to Swarthmore next fall,
barring any subsequent delays. I have made a formal request to the
administration to return in September 2003. I will continue to be an
enrolled student on academic leave until then. At this time I haven’t
considered a secondary plan.”

“The entire campus has been incredibly supportive. Last spring I received
anonymous and signed letters of support, which were all tremendously
helpful. Students, professors, and administrators have all voiced their
personal support. I would not be requesting to return to campus if I felt
that the Swarthmore community was not receptive to my return. If the
administration feels that it is not, I would respect their assertion and
withdraw my request,” wrote Boothe.

The administration has not yet responded to Boothe’s formal request. When
asked about whether Boothe would be allowed to return next fall, Dean of the
College Bob Gross declined to give comment.

by Jeremy Schifeling
Co-Managing Editor

The string of thefts and vandalism that has plagued the campus this semester
continued this past weekend, leaving Public Safety searching for leads in
the latest incidents.

by Charlie Buffie
Gazette Reporter

Over one month ago, before the throngs of backpack, laptop, and DVD player
thefts, there was an incident of seemingly insignificant, yet prophetic
value. On October 30th, 2002, a white plastic stool was unrightfully
abducted from Office Services in Parrish 115, without any warning, reason,
or explanation.

Many were bewildered by what seemed to be a completely unsolicited act of
injustice. In order to help shed some light on the mystery, a Reserved
Students e-mail was sent out. Soon word of the stoolnapping spread across
the entire Swarthmore community.

“When I first heard of the stoolnapping [via the e-mail], I thought it was
the most absurd thing I had ever heard. I mean, who steals stools? Really?
Especially at a place like Swarthmore,” pondered Alex Leader-Smith ’06.

For days, nothing was known about the whereabouts of the wayward stool.
However, shortly after the abduction, the stool was located near the post
office, just down the hall from where it had originally vanished. The stool
had materialized just as mysteriously as it had disappeared.

Even after the recovery of the stool, the search for answers continued.
“Students were using [the stool] to reach the top mailboxes,” reasoned
Cheryl Robinson of Office Services.

Due to the misuse of items of the stool, new changes in student lending
policies may be in order.

“I really try to help the kids out by lending my supplies to them,”
explained Robinson. “But it really is a shame that a few students who borrow
objects can’t return them to the proper place, it ruins it for the other
kids. Now, I am sure that I won’t lend out supplies afraid that they won’t
be returned–they are expensive to replace”.

*****

Swat’s College Bowl team made the trek up to New Haven this past Saturday
for Yale’s annual “Bulldogs over Broadway” tournament.  Will Schricker ’04,
Chris White ’05, Matt Fiedler ’06, and Emily Ullman ’06 represented the
squad and produced a solid 4-6 record against stiff competition that
included graduate-school participants.  Schricker led the team, made up
wholly of first and second-year players, in overall points, but each Swattie
notched a high-score in at least one round.  Notable achievements for the
squad included a victory over the nationally-ranked Rutgers-New Brunswick
team and a narrow, 5-point loss to a tough Harvard contingent.  Swat next
takes to the buzzers at Penn Bowl, after winter break.

*****

* Iraq’s 12,000-page arms declaration, which claims to catalog all of the
country’s past and present weapons programs, was provided to the US
yesterday following a deal which circumvented the UN Security Council’s
decision to not release the report.  The report, which is also being copied
for the other permanent Council members (China, Russia, France, and the UK),
is believed to contain statements linking numerous countries and companies
to the development of Iraq’s weaponry, but does not admit the possession of
weapons of mass destruction.  As such, American officials are expected to
pour over the document, looking for discrepancies between intelligence
reports and Iraq’s claims, potentially solidifying a pretext for military
intervention.  Meanwhile, US troops  stationed in Qatar began the latest in
a series of war games, testing different scenarios for a possible invasion
of Iraq.

* John Snow, chairman of railroad firm CSX Corp., was nominated to be the
new Treasury secretary by President Bush yesterday, following Paul O’Neill’s
ouster from that position last Friday.  Though Snow must still be confirmed
by the Senate, it is expected that their will be little opposition to his
nomination, paving the way for Snow to unroll the President’s upcoming
stimulus package, including up to $300 billion in tax cuts for companies and
individuals.  Snow made news of his own on Monday by severing his ties with
Augusta Country Club, the embattled host of golf’s annual Master’s
Tournament which has taken heat for its ban on female members.  Snow enters
a recessed economic scene that is showing some signs of recovery, but is
still facing major problems, such as United Airline’s bankruptcy filing
yesterday.

* Senate Republican leader Trent Lott apologized for a remark made last week
that suggested America would have been better off had Strom Thurmond
captured the presidency in 1948.  Thurmond,  a South Carolina senator
stepping down after 48 years of service, ran for president on a
segregationist ticket and was notorious for his opposition to integrationist
policies during the 1950s, despite later changing his stance on the issue.
Lott made the remark at Thurmond’s 100th birthday on Thursday and after
being accused of racism by Al Gore, amongst others, rescinded his comments
and chalked the incident up to a “poor choice of words.”

*****

December Housing Lottery
Scheuer Room – Kohlberg, 4:00 p.m.

Newton Book Award Discussion: Jonah Volk ’03 and Chirag Chotalia ’03
McCabe Library Coffee Bar, 4:15 p.m.

Aikido Practice
Wrestling Room – Lamb-Miller Field House, 7:00 p.m.

Observatory Open House
Sproul 300, 8:00 p.m.

Animal Rights Coalition
Hicks 211, 9:15 p.m.

———-
Terpsichore (pronounced Terp-SICK-ery), a student dance group, will be
performing tonight at 8:00 p.m. on the LPAC Mainstage.

Group director Emily CLough ’03, explains more:
“There are seven pieces to be performed, ranging in style and music type but
mostly modern dance.  The goal of the group is to make dance fun and
accessible to a people with a range of backgrounds in dance, to give them
the unique learning opportunity of working with each other and teaching each
other despite differences in experience, and to give choreographers the
freedom to be creative in their style of choreography and music choice.  The
group does not hold auditions–all participants are welcome.  There will be
a reception after the concert.”

———-
The semesterly a cappella Jamboree will be held tomorrow and Thursday nights
in Lang Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m.  Mixed Company will be hosting the event,
which features performances by many of the  campus’s vocal groups.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

The women’s basketball team took third-place at this past weekend’s Seven
Sisters tournament at Wellesley College.  The defending-champion Garnet were
very nearly knocked out of contention in the first round by last-ranked
Smith, but were rescued by frosh Debbie Farrelly’s clutch three-pointer at
the buzzer, sending the game into OT.  Farrelly proceeded to connect from
downtown twice more in the extra period, and Ali Furman ’03 sealed the game
with two free-throws at the end.

The following day, the squad faced off against Mt. Holyoke, the eventual
tournament champions, and fell 59-56, despite building up an 11-point lead
early in the second half.  Katie Robinson ’04 was solid in defeat, racking
up 22 points, 10 boards, and five assists.  Her double-double was matched by
Zoey Adams-Deutsch ’06, who notched a then-career-high of 14 points to go
along with 12 rebounds.  Ali Wolff ’05 contributed eight points, nine
boards, and four steals.

Finally, in Sunday’s third-place match, the Garnet rolled to a 59-48 victory
over Vassar.  Robinson again posted big numbers, recording 17 points and
seven steals while Adams-Deutsch also raised the ante, setting a new
personal mark with 15 points.  Furman was 3-of-5 from behind the perimeter
to add nine points to the victory.

Robinson and Farrelly were named to the All-Tournament team for their fine
performances while Robinson was also selected as the Best Defensive Player
of the Tournament.  The Garnet are now 5-2 on the season.

*****

Facing off against a broad pool of competitors at the Eastern College
Athletic Conference championship this past weekend, the men’s and women’s
swimming teams both fared well.

On the men’s side, the Garnet took fourth-place out of 16 teams.  Mike
Dudley ’03 finished second in both the 100 and 200 meter breastroke events,
while fellow senior David Whitehead took second in the 100 butterfly and
third in the 200 freestyle.  John Lillvis ’03 rounded out the senior
extravaganza with a second-place finish in 400 IM event.

The women ended up in ninth-place out of 20 competitors.  Davita
Burkhead-Weiner ’03, Tara Trout ’04, Melanie Johncilla ’05, and Patricia
Funk ’06 led the squad to its best result with a second-place finish in the
800 freestyle relay.  The best individual finishes came from Trout (200
backstroke), Funk (200 freestyle), and Meredith Leigh ’04 (200
breaststroke), who all placed sixth in their respective events.

*****

Opening their Centennial Conference season at McDaniel (the school formerly
known as “Western Maryland”), the men’s basketball team found themselves
locked in an offensive battle, but were ultimately outscored, 91-81.  Matt
Gustafson ’05 led all scorers with 24 points and David Pearce ’03 poured in
22 more, but it wasn’t enough to combat the Green Terror’s
near-invincibility at the free-throw line.  McDaniel ended up hitting
42-of-50 shots from the charity stripe, while the Garnet managed to connect
on only 18-of-35.  The loss spoiled junior Chris Loeffler’s first
double-double of the season (14 points, 11 boards) and left the Garnet with
an overall record of 3-4.

*****

Today:
There are no contests scheduled for today.

Tomorrow:
Women’s basketball at Washington, 6:00 p.m.
Men’s basketball at Washington, 8:00 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“To achieve the impossible dream, try going to sleep.”
–Joan Klempner

*****
.
Interested in reporting or writing for the Gazette?
Got a news or sports tip for us?
Just want to tell us what you think?