Tuesday, January 27, 2004

by Victoria Swisher
Gazette Reporter

Imagine, if you will, a cold shower on a frigid January day. That is
what Roberts residents returned to after break. Some came back to
flooded rooms. What happened?

On Monday, January 12, the cleaning staff alerted Facilities when
they discovered the basement of Roberts flooded and water “pouring out
the door of room 177,” according to Ralph Thayer. He went on to say,
“The hot water heater was ruined and had to be replaced…We had the
boiler running the same day and a new hot water heater in place by
Wednesday of the same week.” However, the circulating pump failed the
following weekend, causing Roberts dorm to lose hot water. The washers
and dryers of the dorm were also damaged, and they should be
operational by the end of this week.

More serious damage was done to room 177, and Ralph Thayer remarked,
“These particular pipes were in a vulnerable spot. In essence, the
closet insulated the pipes from the heat of the room. The combination
of poor pipe placement, extreme low outside air temperatures and
reduced building temperatures set this incident up as a disaster ready
to happen.” Of future damage, however, Thayer confidently remarked,
“[The pipes] are well insulated now and with the building occupied (and
warm) I don’t envision a repeat.”

Win Chia ’06 and Bernadette Baird-Zars ’06, residents of Roberts
177, were more directly affected by the broken water pipe. After
returning from a long road trip to Mexico, both students were shocked
at the state of their room, as Win remarked, “Nobody informed us at
all, no emails, nothing.” They returned to campus to a room in
disarray, everything piled on their bed, and a bag of wet, moldy
clothes that had a note attached to it that read, “Wet stuff, sorry.”
The flooding also spread to their blockmate’s room, Lisa Ubelaker’s ’06
closet.

While Chia and Baird-Zars were appalled at the state of their room,
they also appreciated Facilities’ efforts to save their belongings.
Baird-Zars said, “I’m really grateful to Facilities for saving stuff
that otherwise would have been wrecked. They saved all the important
stuff.” Only sheets, sweatshirts, and T-shirts were damaged, and
Baird-Zars is claiming $200 in damages. But she is happy, so far, with
how everything has turned out, “Having been through a flood, our room
looks great.”

Swarthmore’s Insurance policy, according to the Student Handbook,
states, “The insurance program of the College is designed to provide
protection for College property and does *not* include the property of
students or other individuals.” However, Dean Westphal commented,
“Everything is looked at case by case.”

Facilities is currently reviewing Baird-Zars’ claims. Of Baird-Zars’
claims, Thayer stated, “In this case, clearly, [the potential for
damage] was not foreseen by facilities, so holding the occupant of the
room even partially culpable would be completely unfair.” Any
compensation for room damage is paid out of maintenance operating funds
and is “well under $1000 a year on average.”

*****

This weekend the debate team competed at Haverford. From a pool of
36 teams, Sonya Hoo ’05 and Aviva Aron-Dine ’05 came in as the 4th
place team. Aviva finished as the 7th place speaker overall, and Sonya
was the 3rd place speaker overall. Additionally, Garth Sheldon-Causon
’07 and Chris Ford ’07 were the 2nd place novice team. Chris was the
2nd place novice speaker, Garth was the 4th place novice speaker, and
Lake Bookman ’07 was the 7th place novice speaker.

(Thanks to Emily Tredeau for reporting the results!)

*****

* A ruling released on Monday, January 26, has found part of the USA
Patriot Act unconstitutional. The act was created after September 11
and was designed to prevent further terrorist attacks. The unlawful
section, which had banned giving expert advice or assistance to groups
that had been designated as terrorist organization, was found to have
been worded too vaguely. The case was brought to court by the
Humanitarian Law Project, an organization dedicated to supporting
Kurdish refugees in Turkey. The group was threatened with up to 15
years in prison if they were to support the Kurds’ nonviolent
activities. The Patriot Act does not differentiate between advice on
violence and the encouragement of nonviolent movements. Another case
against the Patriot Act, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union,
argues that the act gives federal agents unconstitutional power to
seize library reading lists and records. This case is still pending.

* After spending three years of a life sentence in prison, Lionel
Tate, 16, was released on Monday. Tate, who was the youngest person to
ever receive a life sentence, was imprisoned in 1999 after being
convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Tiffany Eunick, his
6-year-old playmate. Tate, who was 12 at the time, claimed he was
imitating wrestling moves he had seen on television and accidentally
killed the girl. The case had been the subject of much controversy as
Tate’s mental capacity had not been taken into account in his original
trial. Tate’s original conviction has since been thrown out and a new
second-degree murder charge has been brought. If he pleads guilty to
the lesser charge, he will then be sentenced to one year of house
arrest, 10 years’ probation, counseling, and 1000 hours of community
service.

* Jeremy Ortell Kingston, who had married his 15-year-old cousin,
who was also his aunt, pleaded guilty to charges of incest on Monday.
Their mothers are sisters and his father is her half-brother. Kingston,
who was 24 at the time and has a reported 17 children, is a member of
Utah’s polygamous Kingston family, which contains over 1200 members.
LuAnn Kingston, the cousin, was Jeremy Kingston’s fourth wife and
claims that the marriage was not consensual. Kingston will receive a
year in prison followed by three years of probation.

*****

Lecture by Eric Behrens: “Autumn of Our Discontent”
Tarble All-Campus Space, 11:30 a.m.

New Hampshire Primary Study Break
Parrish Parlors, 6:00 p.m.

PA Training
Scheuer Room, 7:00 p.m.

Living Wage Campaign Workshop
Kohlberg 115, 8:30 p.m.
SWIL Movie Night: Ladyhawke
Science Center 101, 10 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

Today:
Badminton hosts Haverford, 8:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:
Women’s Basketball at Haverford, 6:00 p.m.
Men’s Basketball at Haverford, 8:00 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I never put off till tomorrow what I can do the day after.”
–Oscar Wilde

*****

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