Thursday, April 8, 2004

by Greg Leiserson

News Editor

Seniors Jonathan Konits, Timothy Lang and Matthew Miller have each
received Fulbright Fellowships for 2004. Konits intends to study
contemporary Israel criticism in Germany, Lang plans to examine the
implementation of environmental policies in Poland, and Miller will
travel to Iceland to study geophysics and astronomy. The fellowships
provide free housing and a stipend to cover living expenses while
scholars engage in research after their senior year of college.

Lang, a double major in engineering and religion, applied to the
program in large part because of the time he spent in Poland during his
junior year. While abroad he engaged in field work and observed “that
the heavy industry prevalent during communist times had really harmed
the environment.” Now, he is excited “to get back to Poland and be part
of what will essentially be a mass implementation of strict
environmental policies in a place where there are large environmental
problems; when this task is successfully completed it will be a
logistical triumph.”

He plans to write articles and conduct studies “in collaboration with
professors, professionals and hopefully municipal officials,” and hopes
to avoid an ivory tower perspective in his work by staying focused on
the pragmatic real world implementation of environmental policies. Lang
also hopes to publish articles studying the implementation of
environmental policies in the past and why they have either succeeded
or failed.

Following the time spent in Poland Lang is considering graduate school
related to implementation of environmental policies, but is not yet
sure. “Basically,” Lang summarized, “the Fulbright Fellowship will
enable me to do exactly what I want next year, academically and
socially.”

As announced by the Swarthmore College Office of News and Information,
Miller, an astronomy major and history minor, plans to do graduate work
on planet formation theory and stellar evolution after finishing his
time in Iceland. At Swarthmore, he has been active as a physics
teaching assistant and as an astronomy research assistant.

Konits, a philosophy major and German studies minor, hopes to examine
the connection between Zionism and fascism while in Berlin.

*****

by Victoria Swisher

Gazette Reporter

Funding for club sports will now be directed by the Student Budget
Committee instead of the President’s Office. For the past two years,
the President’s discretionary account has been providing the $10,000
needed annually to hire coaches for club sports.

Jeff Traczynski ’04, SBC manager, is confident that SBC will be able to
cover the costs, stating, “We’re in good financial shape. We will be
able to maintain club sports at their present level; the teams
shouldn’t see any disturbance.”

Student Council President Emiliano Rodriguez ’05 sees the shift in
responsibility for funding as a positive change. In an email, he
stated, “…we see it as an opportunity to push for standardized and
institutionalized support from athletics for club sports. Additionally,
I think this will provide club sports who make national/regional state
finals more leverage when trying to get funding from the president’s
office for those said trips.”

*****

This past weekend, Swarthmore’s College Bowl team sent two teams to the
NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournament) Intercollegiate Championship
Tournament in St. Louis. The Division I Team, comprised of Will
Schricker ’04, Chris White ’05, Emily Ullman ’06 and Matt Fowles ’04
finished 20th out of 32 teams. However, the team placed 7th among the
14 teams eligible for the undergraduate championship, as many Division
I teams also include graduate students. The Division II team of Micaela
Baranello ’07, Arthur Chu ’06, Ben Bagley ’04 and Blake Setlow ’06 also
performed well, finishing 16th out of 32 teams. This was the first year
since 2000 that Swarthmore sent a Division I team, and first time since
1997 that two teams attended.

Thanks ro Chris White ’05 for providing the results.

*****

* U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has reaffirmed the U.S.’s
resolution to remain in Iraq.  His statement followed the U.S.
bombing attack of a mosque in the Sunni Muslim Iraqi town of
Falluja.  According to the BBC News, “Several days of clashes have
claimed more than a 100 Iraqi lives, and left at least 30 coalition
soldiers dead in the worst escalation of fighting since Baghdad fell to
U.S.-led forces a year ago.”  Rumsfeld claims that U.S. troops
face a “serious problem” but that it is “being worked on.”

* Claiming the law denying same-sex marriages is unconstitutional,
thirteen same-sex couples have sued the state of New York.  They
argue that “state health regulations defining marriage as being only
between a man and a woman violates the state the constitution’s equal
protection, privacy and due process clauses,” according to the New York
Times.  While the state prohibits issuing same-sex marriage
licenses, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer claims that state laws can be
challenged as unconstitutional.

* According to environmental groups, the Amazon Rainforest (the world’s
largest rainforest) is disappearing rapidly.  Figures from 2003
indicate that it is losing acreage more rapidly than in 2002, but not
as rapidly as in the mid-1990s.  According to BBC News, “Rising
exports of beef and soya in Brazil are said to encourage farmers to
clear the forest for farms.”  While the figures may not seem so
drastic, with an increase of about 200 acres more lost in 2003 than
2002, conservationists, like Rosa Lemos de Sa of conservation group WWF
Brazil, worry that this trend may continue downward, “The tendency is
for it to stay high unless drastic measures are taken, and I don’t see
the government doing anything drastic.”

*****

Religion Lecture: “Islamic Ethics: Pre-modern to Post-colonial”

Scheuer Room, 4:30 p.m.

Cooper Frederick Wiseman Screening and Lecture: Titticut Follies

LPAC Cinema, 7:30 p.m.

“Hang Tough, Martina” Screening and Talk-Back

Kohlberg 226, 8:00 p.m.

“Mystery Seder Theater 5764”

Science Center 199, 8:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

The men’s tennis team was defeated by Penn yesterday, 5-2.  Zach
Rodd ’06 took a victory in first singles, winning 6-2, 7-6(5). Justin
Durand ’05 brought the Garnet its second point of the day with a 6-4,
3-6, 6-4 win in sixth singles action.  Ben Rae ’04 and Jonathan
Reiss ’07 also came out on top 8-3 in third doubles.  The team
returns to action on Saturday at Mary Washington, with a 1:30 p.m.
match.

****

Today:

Women’s Tennis hosts Washington, 3:30 p.m.

Baseball at Muhlenberg, 3:30 p.m.

Women’s Lacrosse hosts Bryn Mawr, 5:00 p.m.

Softball at Rutgers-Camden, 5:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:

Golf at Widener, 1:00 p.m.

Baseball hosts Ursinus, 3:30 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best
advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.”

— G.K. Chesterton

*****

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