Wednesday, February 4, 2004

by Jonathan Ference
Living and Arts Editor

Do not be surprised this Thursday, February 6th, if you notice what
might appear to be an abnormally large quantity of unusually small
Swarthmore students tramping around campus. All that time in McCabe
hasn’t warped your perceptions; the would-be Lilliputians will actually
be students of the Swarthmore Rutledge Elementary School (SRS) spending
a day on the College’s facilities.

These 275 third, fourth, and fifth graders have been displaced from
their school building, located on College Avenue by the tennis courts,
for months. According to Swarthmore Vice President for Administration
Larry Schall, “the school was undergoing a large renovation that was to
be done last summer but has continued up until now.” When the project
fell behind, these students were housed in an empty school in Drexel
Hill; the other grades were temporarily sent to the local middle
school. According to the Weekly News, there is a gap where the students
needed facilities before they can return to the newly renovated school.

Schall explained that the College received a call and agreed to help
out. The students will be arriving by bus and spending what would be
approximately equivalent to a normal school day going to events hosted
by various departments in the College; the Weekly News lists the Scott
Arboretum, Athletics, Dining Hall, the Educational Studies department,
and the staff of LPAC and the Bookstore as groups helping facilitate
this day for the students.

College students may have seen posters in various locations around
campus giving notice of the impending visit. When asked whether
Swarthmore students should expect any impact on their routines as a
result of the College’s role as host for a day, Schall responded: “No;
just be friendly to the little people.”

*****

by Kenneth Patton
Gazette Reporter

In the budget proposal to be sent to the board of managers for
Swarthmore, the Student Activities Fee has increased from $302 this
year to a projected $312 next year. The increase is “definitely in line
with previous years increases” said Student Budget Committee treasurer
Jeff Traczynski ’04. The Student Activities Fee was set at $278 during
the 2001-2002 academic year and $290 during 2002-2003. Overall the
proposal marks an increase of 3.3%, which is currently inflation plus
1%.

The proposal began as a list of options and motivations for the
options presented by Traczynski to the Student Budget Committee. Four
different options were considered that included leaving the fee where
it was, increasing the fee by inflation, and also increasing the fee by
two other amounts. When writing the reasons for the proposed options,
“I try to find trends in what groups need” said Traczynski. For example
this year Traczynski commented that “club sports have had lots of
increasing interest, which leads to higher costs for more uniforms,
transportation, and registration.”

After the Student Budget Committee analyzes the options, they make a
recommendation to Student Council regarding their opinion on what would
best suit students. Student Council then examines the recommendation
and can pass it on to the College Budget Committee with approval. The
College Budget Committee also looks at the proposal and adds it into
the overall budget that is presented to the Board of Managers each
year. Although the Student Budget Committee and Student Council are the
experts on the matter and present all the facts, the Board of Managers
are the ones with the final say and can choose to accept the proposed
amount or set their own.

Each year the Student Activities Fee is fully allocated to student
groups, but groups do not always spend all of their allocated money,
which results in rollover for the next year. In the projection for next
year’s budget, Traczynski estimates an approximate rollover of $25,000
for a total budget of $410,000.

*****

A string of recent burglary attempts in Swarthmore and the Nether
Providence has prompted the search for a suspect, described by a
Wallingford resident as a black male, 5’11”, 220-230 lbs., goatee,
wearing a black knit cap and dark clothes. According to recent reports,
the suspect tries the doors of residences and knocks to see if anyone
is home before attempting to break in. If such suspicious persons or
activities are observed, please contact local police immediately.

*****

* The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating a possible
bioterror attack after ricin, a poison twice as deadly as cobra venom
was mailed to a United States Senate office. The discovery of ricin,
which has no antidote and can kill within 36 to 72 hours, caused
ripples on world financial markets after rekindling fears of
indiscriminate attacks on US targets. Sixteen people were undergoing
precautionary decontamination, said Capitol Hill Police Chief Terrance
Gainer. The Homeland Security Department was monitoring the situation,
a spokesman said. The FBI is awaiting a final test from a laboratory at
Fort Detrick, Maryland, before deciding whether to get more fully
involved in the case. The US Senate’s three office buildings will be
closed while all unopened mail is collected and removed. The Capitol
will be open, but all tours have been cancelled. The US Congress was
the target of anthrax mail attacks in 2001. Although the FBI has been
hunting the perpetrators, no arrests have been made.

* The admission by Pakistan’s nuclear founder, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan,
that he spread weapons technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea has
raised questions about whether the military knew of the transfers. US
officials, nuclear experts and a former Pakistani prime minister
expressed doubts on Monday about how he and his associates could have
circumvented the extraordinary controls on the nation’s nuclear
technology without the military’s blessings.In a background briefing to
20 Pakistani journalists a day before, a senior Pakistani official said
Dr Khan had confessed to covertly sharing nuclear secrets with the
three countries from 1989 to 2000. Dr Khan served as director of the
country’s tightly guarded top nuclear facility, the Khan Research
Laboratories named after him, until 2001. In Washington, a State
Department official said the United States was eager to learn whether
Dr Khan’s proliferation network reached senior military figures. He
said there were concerns that Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf,
fearing possible new threats to his leadership, might not push for a
thorough investigation. Dr Khan is under house arrest. Family members,
supporters and opposition leaders have decried the move and claimed
that he and the other scientists were being targeted to avoid
repercussions against the country’s military leadership.

* Five men who conducted their own sting on a French police
undercover operation by swopping a promised delivery of cannabis resin
for bars of chocolate were sentenced to prison after being convicted on
an obscure health law. But the lawyer for the mastermind of the
double-cross, 22-year-old Rodolphe Grosol, said his client was the
victim of an unsuccessful set-up. The police operation started when an
undercover officer met Grosol in a Paris bar in August 2002 and was
offered 30kg of cannabis resin for 50,000 Euro. On the day of the
delivery, police raided Grosol’s apartment and arrested his
accomplices. But instead of finding a stash of the drug, they found
five blocks of chocolate made up to look like cannabis – which Grosol
planned to pass off as the real thing. Despite protests from his lawyer
that he was not guilty of possessing drugs, Grosol was convicted and
sentenced for violating a little-known health law that bans ‘incitement
to the use of a substance presented as a narcotic’. His four
accomplices were also jailed.

*****

Summer of Service Internship Session
BCC, 11:30 a.m.

Bios Club Screening: Cane Toads
Science Center 101, 7:30 p.m.

Film Society Screening: “Viridiana” by Luis Bunuel
Science Center 101, 10:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

Today:
Men’s Basketball hosts Johns Hopkins, 7:30 p.m.

Tomorrow:
Badminton hosts Bryn Mawr, 7:30 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“When you pick something up with your toe and transfer it to your
hand, don’t you feel, just briefly, like a superior creature? Like you
could survive in the forest for a long time? Just briefly.”
–George Carlin

*****

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