Tuesday, March 30, 2004

by Maki Sato
Gazette Reporter

Vice President for Administration Larry Schall denied rumors
spreading since Michael’s Pharmacy closed last week that the college
was looking into acquiring the property to bring a restaurant or other
establishment into the town’s center in order to liven the area.
According to Schall, “the college is concerned about what comes next”
since the central location makes the store front “an important anchor
for the downtown” but that the college is “not negotiating to buy.”
Schall did say that the college would be in communication with the
Swarthmore community about the future of the site, but only in the roll
of an interested party and not as a commercial player.

The sudden closing of the pharmacy last week was a shock to many
students, some of whom had shopped in the store early in the week and
yet saw no sign that it would soon be closing. Prescriptions ordered at
Michael’s were transferred to the CVS out Chester Road from the center.

*****

* Syrian Basel Ghayoun was charged with 190 murders and just under
1500 attempted murders on Monday in connection with the terrorist train
bombings in Spain on March 11. He was also charged with belonging to a
terrorist group and four counts of terrorist damage to the trains.
Ghayoun and Hamid Ahmidan of Morocco, charged yesterday with
collaborating with a terrorist group and drug possession—both
relatively minor charges—brought the total number of individuals
charged in connection with the attacks to 14. Ghayoun acknowledges that
he knows several of the individuals already charged in relation to the
attacks, and two witnesses saw him on the day of the attacks. Three
other men were arraigned Monday, but not charged due to insufficient
evidence.

* UN Secretary General Kofi Annan fired Security Coordinator Tun
Myat on Monday following the recommendation of a scathing report that
identified failures by a number of different officials in the days
leading up to the August 19 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad
that killed 22 people. According to CNN.com, the report accuses Myat
and others of being “blinded by the conviction that UN personnel and
installations would not become a target of attack, despite the clear
warnings to the contrary.” Louise Frechette, who chaired a committee on
Iraq when the UN allowed staff to return to the country in May
submitted her resignation following a rebuke from Annan, but he refused
to accept it. However, UN staff union officials said that Annan did not
do enough to punish negligent administrators. Said UN union
representative Guy Candusso, “Considering the gross negligence and the
lapses of security, this does not go wide enough or far enough to hold
people accountable.”

* In a 105-92 vote on Monday the Massachusetts legislature gave
final approval for this year to a constitutional amendment that would
ban gay marriage but establish civil unions. Before the amendment takes
effect it must successfully pass in the legislature again during the
next two-year session and then be approved by the majority of voters
statewide in the fall of 2006. Following a state supreme court decision
in November, Massachusetts must begin offering gay marriage licenses on
May 17. While the amendment will have no effect on that date, Governor
Mitt Romney has said that he may seek a legal method of preventing the
distribution of such licenses based on the amendment in progress.
However, the legal basis for such a case would be difficult to
establish.

*****

Modern Languages and Literatures Bilingual Poetry Reading: Russian
Fairy Tales
McCabe Coffee Bar, 12:00 p.m.

Lecture: “How Citizen Activism Saved the World from Nuclear War: A
History of Popular Pressure and Government Response”
Scheuer Room, 4:30 p.m.

Political Science Lecture: “Postmodern Imperialism,” by David Laitin
Scheuer Room, 7:30 p.m.

———-
“Screamin’ Eagle Tuesdays”
A new film series will be kicking off tonight with a showing of Robert
Rodriguez’s 1992 high-blood/low budget “El Mariachi” in LPAC Cinema at
10:30 p.m.

While earning room and board for a song, a down-on-his-luck musician
gets into deep hot water when he’s mistaken for a guitar case-toting
hit man in a small Mexican town. EL MARIACHI was produced by
do-it-yourself Austin, Texas amateur Robert Rodriguez (FROM DUSK TILL
DAWN, SPY KIDS) on a shoe-string budget for the Mexican video market
but earned a major studio release. Winner of the Audience Award at the
Sundance Film Festival. (from Yahoo movies

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

In their home opener, Swarthmore’s golf team beat both Cabrini and
Arcadia with a 324 score. Cabrini and Arcadia scored 342 and 454,
respectively.

Especially strong on Monday was Eric Zwick ’07 who posted a
career-low 78. Matt Draper ’05 snagged an 80, while Edward Goldstein
’07 rounded it out with an 85.

*****

This weekend, Swarthmore Ultimate Frisbee went 5-1 at the Haverford
Ultimate Frisbee tournament to reach the finals, beating Loyola College
17-1, Haverford College 17-7, Vassar College 17-12, LaFayette 15-6, and
Brandeis University 15-12. They fell to University of Delaware in the
finals, but took 2nd place.

Thanks to Paul Goldsmith Pinkham for providing the results.

*****

Today:
Softball hosts Ursinus (DH), 3:00 p.m.
Baseball hosts Muhlenberg, 3:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:
Women’s tennis hosts Bryn Mawr, 3:30 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an
hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute.
That’s relativity.”
–Albert Einstein

*****

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