Catalyst

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Features Review: Gladiator -page4 Review: Keeping the Faith, Weird Science -pageS Volume XI, Issue 11 New College students register to vote, act locally by Nikki Kostyun "It only takes 1.5 minutes to get political" wa the slogan boasted by the campus-wide Voter Registration Campaign that appeared, among other places, in Marriott and The Four Winds last week. The cam paign, organized by Lori Eisenberg and Mandy Odom, was a project of the Community Action Research Seminar, a class created by the Community Action Research Initiative (CARl) office. Yielding 40 new Sarasota County registered vot ers from the New College student ments to register, and sets the for a large registration, election, and voting project to be implemented this coming FalL Over the five days of the first week in May, the campaign coordi nators and volunteers set up registration booths and went doorto-door in hope of registering on-campus students. Both Monday and Friday were spent at a booth in the Marriott Cafeteria. Tuesday was the Four Winds cafe, the most suc cessful location, generating about 75% of the regi trations. The Westside Student Center was the planned registration site for Wednesday in order to include University Program students, but Odom realized that UP students were already finished with their se mester, and hence no UP students registered. Thursday Eisenberg and fellow eminar student Joel Mann covered the Pei dorms, and were able to obtain six registrations. Overall, 40 people were registered through the effort 23 of which were already registered in another county or region, leaving 17 newly registered voters. The idea of the campaign came about when 3rd year Eisenberg wanted to help Newtown resident Fredd Atkins obtain signatures for lSEB ':VOTE" ON PAGE 6 Opinion Editorial: Asolo Theater exists across the way -page7 May 10, 2000 Professor McDiarmid tenders resignation McDiarmid will be pursuing scholarly research in Washington D. C. by Heather Whitmore After weeks of contemplating retirement options, Associate Professor of Literature John McDiarmid has decided to leave New College to pursue scholarly writing at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. His post as guru of Medieval and Renaissance Literature will be temporarily taken up by Professor Paul Outka for a one year stint. Students are surprised and saddened by McDiarmid's exit. Students and faculty will miss Professor McDiarmid. "I think of it as taking early retirement," remarked McDiannid from across his tidy wooden desk. The deci sion was finalized last Friday after several weeks of consideration. Although he was settled on leaving some weeks ago, McDiarmid was unsure whether he wanted to take a phased retirement, allowing indefinite part-time profes. or status, or full retirement from New College. With some financial considerations, McDiarmid found full retirement to be the most lucrative approach to real izing his academic career goals. Arriving at New College in 1983, McDiarmid is no torious for his courses in Medieval, Renaissance, and British literature. While he is currently teaching courses on Shakespeare and Milton, McDiarmid is the father of courses on Homo-eroticism and theater with the Asolo. Located in the often forgotten Viking region of campus, McDiarmid's wood-panel office reminiscent of Calvin Klein ads and the seventies has been a favorite place of literature students for the last 17 years. time to pursue the scholarly writing side; that's what I'll do when I leave." With an undergraduate degree in his tory and post graduate work in literature, McDiarmid has plans to explore his fascination of 16th century jsEE ('MCDIARMID" ON PAGE 3 Sullivan Bill again defeated in the House Agreement between Sullivan and USF officials states that the bill could be revived by Kelly Jones On the last day of the annual legislature session, the House denied approval of Bill 0292E-1 sponsored by Senator Don Sullivan R-Seminole, which would create new univer ities in Pinellas and Sarasota counties. The mea ure was officially killed at 7:20 Friday May 5, the time that the chamber adjourned. An agreement that the issue might be revived was reached between USF officials, university system Chancellor Adam Herbert and Sen. Don Sullivan. According to the Tampa Tribune, revival doesn't seem unlikely. A six month study, beginning in October will be con ducted by the state Postsecondary Education Planning Commission to identify if there is a need for baccalaure ate degrees in the two counties. The commission would work in consultation with Herbert, who would act as an objective evaluator, and will report to the Legislature by January with a plan of implementation. Originally, Sullivan's plan would have provided for USF branch campuses, including New College, to split from the main campus as part of an effort to create four independent universities in Pinellas and Sarasota coun ties. This measure (Senate Bill 2448) had its first "If a Comprehensive University is created in Sarasota County, New College shall become a part of this institution and NewCollege will continue to maintain its liberal arts honors program of national distinction and continue to be the honors college of the State of Florida, and there shall be no change in the operation of New College." -The failed Bill 0292E -1

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2 The Catalyst NEws OF THE WoRm BYHEATIIER WHITMORE May 10, 2000 Scientists Map Chromosome 21 In an achievement that could point the way to treatments for a host of illnesses, scientists have mapped chromosome 21, the smallest human chromosome and the one associated with Down syndrome, epilepsy, Lou Gehrig's disease and Alzheimer's. It is the second human chromosome whose DNA has been been fully de ciphered. Chromosome 22 was mapped last falL The Human Genome Project expects to have a rough draft of the entire human ge netic blueprint done this ummer. The public project which is ex pected finish its work by 2003, is competing against a private com pany, Celera Genomics Corp. of Rockville, Md., which hopes to sell the information to pharmaceutical companies and others. 'Love Bug' Virus Suspect Arrested MANILA, Philippines (AP) -Philippine police arrested on Monday a bank employee who along with his girlfriend has been linked to the "1 LOVE YOU" computer virus that has overwhelmed networks k"""" ....... around the world. The virus has caused a flood of e-mails with the subject line "ILOVEYOU" to course through computer systems in more than 20 countries since it ap peared last week. When opened, the virus can destroy graphics and other saved files, ultimately crashing the computer. The virus uses technology first seen in the "Melissa'' virus Ia t year to replicate itself and send itself to everyone in a user's address book. Several variations appeared soon after one masquerading as an e mail joke, another as a receipt for a Mother's Day gift, and others as virus alerts and protection informa tion. Senator Says Elian Is Being Drugged SALEM, N.H. (AP)-A U.S. sena tor said he believes Elian Gonzalez is being drugged to make him more amenable to returning to Cuba, and called the Maryland compound where Elian is living "a concentra tion camp." In a speech Sunday, Republican Sen. Bob Smith said the 6-year-old is being "re-educated" by Cuban visitors to the compound in preparation for an asylum hearing Thursday. Elian's pediatrician, Dr. Caridad Ponce de Leon, was with a group of Cubans that flew to the United States on April 27 to spend time with the boy. Cuban state tele vision reported that U.S. Customs agents took medicines including tranquilizers from Ponce de Leon upon her arrival. Authorities said Ponce de Leon cannot practice in Maryland and will get the medica tions back when she leaves. The drugs included the sedative pheno barbital, anti-bacterial medications and an asthma medication. Federal authorities said they were part of the doctor's regular medical kit. and they had no information about what she intended to d o with them Thousands Come To Honor O'Connor NEW YORK (AP) Cardinal John O'Connor's life was celebrated Monday at a funeral Mass marked by pageantry, prayer and an outpouring of love for the man who served the archdiocese's 2.4 million Catholics for 16 years. The funeral began with a procession of 800 people, includ ing priests, l20 bishops and 15 cardinals, winding its way through the great bronze doors of St. Patrick's Cathedral, where an estimated 3,500 catalyst General Editor Shanon Ingles Editor Ben Rub; invited mourners including President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton had gathered. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani greeted the guests and shook hands with Mrs. Clinton, his rival in what has become a bitter Senate race. Sierra Leone Rebels Fire Into Crowd FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP)Rebel soldiers fired into a crowd of rock-throwing demonstrators Monday as thousands of angry Sierra Leoneans marched on the home of rebel leader Foday Sankoh. At least four people were killed and dozens were injured. Reacting to the in creasingly unstable situation here, Britain's defense secretary deployed troops to Sierra Leone to help evacu ate British citizens if necessary, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan authorized the evacuation of nonessential U.N. personnel. The moves came after a week of clashes between rebels and U.N. peacekeep ers that have threatened to throw this West African nation into chaos. ir orce auncbes Titan Rocket CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) The Air Force on Monday launched a critically needed defense warning satellite after three consecutive fail ures of the troubled Titan rocket at Cape Canaveral. It's got to be the most beautiful sight I've seen in 16 years in this business." said Maj. Todd Ganger, deputy chief for missile warnings at the U.S Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. If all continues to go well, the $250 million DSP satellite the rocket is carrying will enter orbit and become operational in about 30 days. The satellite is lined with more than 6.000 small infrared sensors used to provide beyond-the-horizon detec tion of missile launches and nuclear detonations. National crime figures show record decline With serious crime down 7 percent last year, the nation is eight years into its longest-running crime de cline on record, but experts see signs that a bottoming-out is coming. Preliminary figures for crimes re ported to police in 1999 exten ded a trend begun in 1992, the FBI said Sunday. That eight-year crime de cline is now nearly three times longer than the second-longest de cline -the three years from 1982 through 1984. Railway killings suspect pleads in sanity Lawyers for a drifter accused of being the Texas Railroad IGller ac knowledged Monday that he's responsible for nine murders in three states and entered an insanity plea at the start of his trial for one of the slayings. Angel Maturino Resendi z, 40, faces the death penalty if con victed of the December 1998 murder of Dr. Claudia Benton at her home. She is one of six people he is accused of killing in Texas, two in IUinois and one in Kentucky from 1997 to 1999 The slaying all took place near train tracks. Compiled from Associated Press Online The Catalyst is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.sar.usfedu/-catalyst/ La.)OUt Editors 1arto Rodnguez and 11 J-.acl Sandci> is ue.

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3 The Catalyst News May 10, 2000 Opportunity knocks thrice for the Natural Science division Three new natural science professors to start full-time teaching next year. by Max Campbell spent one year as a visiting professor at the College of Worcester, and then Through good chance or a twist of fate, New College's Natural Sciences spent another such year at Kolbey College. "Kolbey College is a very good division will be three professors richer as of next semester. The fall term will liberal arts college in Maine," Sherman said, "And that's where he is right see the arrival of two new physicists and one Physical Chemistry professor. now." Colladay is a theoretical High-Energy Physicist. "His work is almost The hire of the new Physics professors IS the result of a grueling three-year all theoretical," Sherman explained, "but he brings a lot of knowledge of high search for that elusive, perfect professor to fill a nagging void in that departenergy physics and subatomic particles with him, which will bring new ment. "We've had this open line in Physics for a knowledge and research opportunities to New while, so we're very pleased in hiring two physicists ,...-.--------------------. College students." this year," Division Chair Suzanne E. Sherman said. "We were looking for individu-The new hire for Physical Chemistry, Jabal, got "We were waiting for the right people." his Ph.D. at Cambridge University, and then spent The newly hired Physics professors, Mariana als who had a strong record of two years performing postdoctoral work at Los Sendova and Don Colladay, came to New College in success in research, and also a Alamos National Library. Since then, he's been work January to meet and greet their prospective cohorts, ing at Pomena College for the past two years, in while Physical Chemistry professor Malkiat Johal good record of success in teach-California. "He's originally from India, but he grew visited in February. According to Sherman, all were up in England," Sherman said. "He does work with greeted with enthusiasm: "I got feedback from stu-ing .. .It wasn It necessary to have lasers, and is very interested in how to make ordered dents via e-mail, or by their talking to faculty, and microstructures. He makes such structures and uses all of these candidates were favorably received." had a lot of experience in teach-lasers and other such microscopy to study them." The two Physics candidates, she said, "Gave very ing, but we were lucky enough She went on to remark that Johal's work and good seminars, which is one of the most important Sendova's has some overlap: "I think that some good ways that we can tell if they'll able to teach and to get people who did, and had synergy may come out of that." In addition, Sherman to interact well with New College students." explained, the two new Physics professors' were choSendova attained her Ph.D. at the University of gotten very good reviews." sen to dovetail with New College Physics professor Sophia, in Bulgaria. "She taught there for a couple Professor Suzanne Sherman George Ruppeiner's own field of expertise. of years," Sherman said, "And has done postdocRuppeiner himself could not be reached for comtoral work in Hong-Kong University and at the ment. University of Emory, in Georgia. She is currently residing in Sarasota, which These three bright, shiny new professors will be here to stay starting this Sherman described as an anomaly among past New College candidates: "It's August, and begin teaching classes for the upcoming fall term. "We were unprecedented in hiring at New College, to have them right there in the area. looking for individuals who had a strong record of success in research, and It' sort of funny." Trained as an Experimental Physicist Sendova has been also a good record of success in teaching," Sherman said. "1t wasn't neces. since eamin her Ph.D. and stud in their reactions to have had a lot of but we were po he very interesred in iDdUStriid r.q_II!JI! .. I4JII,.:ilill""*ll physics," Sherman said, "And I think that brings something new to Physics there a fourth opening to majors here, also." Colladay got his own Ph.D. at Indiana University. He a candidate has yet to be selected; thus, the hunt continues. Students emark on McDiarmi 's epartu e wth sadness IFROM "MCDIARMW" ON PAGE 1 j English intellectual history after New McDiarmid as he sipped from an insulated 'chill out' mug. College. He went on express his affection for teaching at New College, "I enjoy McDiarmid':) next stop is the Shakespeare Library situated in teaching classes very much. The student here are remarkable .. (they) have Washington D.C., where he plans to continue work on a manuscript that a kind of involvement, energy and delight in their education that is not true is currently one-third fini. hed and produce scholarly arttdes. The Folger other places." Shakespeare Library is renowned for its exten-____________ ___, For third-year literature students McDiarmid's SJve collectt.on of Shakespeare's work. acquired "D fi I J 1 d resignation means finding new thesis sponsors. e tntte v, t 1e tterature epart-f d h th 1 d. from England during a time of financial crisis. J: But or many stu ents, t at s not e on y JsapM cDiarmid feels comfortable with the future b l ff pointment of his exit. Some student don't know ment lS gotng to e a ot worse 0 how to feel about the decision and will miss state of the literature department. With Professor Andrea Dimino\ return in Fall 2000, the depart-without him .. .lie's the only one that McDiarmid's high-integrity teaching style. "I ment will run at full steam with Outka remaining think it's weird. Definitely, the literature departa visiting instructor. In addition to teaching will help you in the writing process. mentis going to be a Jot worse off without him," courses in American poetry and prose, Outka will explained third-year literature student and RA B h r h d th He's the person that will let you Charles Ferrin. As a student of McDiarmid's be the temporary ntis lterature ea m e since his second semester, Ferrin sees next academic year. Taking up McDiarmid's h h McDiarmid as a critical asset to the literature delead, Outka will hold a Shakespeare course in the know what he wants, w ereas ot er fall and Renaissance literature in the pring. partment, "He's the only one that will help you in McDiarmid is confident in Outka's new role in professors will continue to pour on the writing process. He's the person that will let 1 d you know what he wants, whereas other profesthe department and remarked, "J'm very Pease h d all t' sors w1'1l continue to pour on the criticism and that Outka will be here next year; he'll do a great t e crtttctsm an not re y no tee not really notice there's a problem." job." bl While he looks forward to academia in there's a pro em. Currently taking his first (and po sibly last) McDiarmid course, second-year math student Washington, McDiarmid will miss New Ch 1 F -ar es errtn Joseph Corneli shared Ferrin's sentiments, College's unique atmosphere and is stillleavmg room to return a an adjunct professor. L-----------------____1 "(McDiarmid) is very good. He' very compasMcDiarmid explained how this campus has provided a ensionate and serious; he's a1 o fairly patient which is a nice comh
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4 The Catalyst News May 10, 2000 Scott's Gladiator successful y redifines the classica ep c Gladiator combines stunning special effects, pulse-racing combat, and good old Roman intrigue. by Shanon Ingles From the visionary director Ridley Scott come a truly artistic and en tertaining masterpiece that depicts the grandeur, violence, debauchery, and politics of the Roman Empire. In Gladiator, Scott recreate a tunning clas ical world, in which ancient aga uddenly become modem triumph and decent men become heroe The power of Scott's imagination i, e ident throughout hi work. In Alien. he redefined scien e fiction. In Legend, he redefined fantasy. And now in Gladiator, Scott is redefining the cla. sica! epic. And he's doing it well. The et is breathtaking. the characters are poignant, and the fight scenes are comparable to a re igious experience. Scott rna terfully reconstruct Rome. Through the u e of digital image the now pile of bricks known a. the Roman Forum is tran fonned mto the glo y marble city that robed Roman trolled thr ugh over a thou and year ago, making ancient intrigue. The film commences in Germania, where the great Roman G neral Maximus (Ru sell Crowe, The Insider) ha once again led the legion to vic tory on the battlefield. The dying Emperor Marcu Aurelius (Richard arris) watche the battle from a distance, pondering whether or not the annihila tion of these cultures really add to the glory of Rome. This i one of the main themes of the film: what make. an empire great? A theme that can be ea ily tran lated into the age of the American Empire. Ex-lovers: Roman princess Lucilla (Connie Niel en) talks with Genert1l Maximus before the death her father. Living in fear: Lucilla tnes to please her powerful and evil brother Commodu (Joaquin Phoenix). So what does make an empire truly eternal? Is it conquests, riches, or ab olute power? Or is it a whispered idea that is responsible for the birth of an empire? Aurelius believe that the true glory of Rome lie. within its found mg, the enate, and that empire hould be given back to its people. He looks to the moral and loyal Maximus to make sure this dream i realized. However. Aureliu. 'jealous son Conunodus (Joaquin Phoenix) won't let Maximus di band the dyna. ty so easily. The film then propels its audiences. as well as Maximus, into the violent world of the gladiator, where men urinate all over themselve before meet ing their death in the Coliseum. The fight scenes are frightening and realistic. They spin you around and make you dizzy, a. if you were really fighting. They combine the perfect balance of graceful choreography, ht torical reali m. and blood lust. And in thi. world of bloodied swords emerge a hero, Maximu who i ent to Rome to entertain the new and un popular Emperor Commodus. Commodu 1s feared because he i weak and jealou of Maximus' abil ity to win the loyalty and love of the Roman people. His si ter Lucilla (Connie Niel en, The Devils Advocate) al olives in fear of her life, as well a. the life of her on. the heir apparent. And in thi world of uncertainty and danger, Lucilla begin to weave a web that will eventually lead to the per fect culmination of the film: a truly rna terful conclu ion to a truly masterful epic. Maximus the Gladiator( Russell Crowe) baules a /egron of blood thmty Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) greets the glonous Maximus after a battle in Germ.ania. (photos courtesy of Dreamwork: 2000)

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5 The Catalyst Entertainment May 10, 2000 Weird scence: NASA to e ermine t e nat re of u verse? Anisotropy Probe is being used in an attempt to determine the shape of the universe. by Mario Rodriguez By next year, we may know whether the univcr. e i infinite or ju t a big doughnut. The investigation begin with A trophy ici t Gary Hinshaw's baby, the 83 million Microwave nisotropy Probe LMAP], which just took a ma sivc beating at ASA'. Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. As reported in the mo t recent is ue of Discover magazine, after with tanding the launch imulation chamber. which literally tried to shake the ensitive satellite to pieces, MAP will take over where it predeces or, COBE, began. COBE tand for Co mic Background Explorer. Launched in 1992, it Measured minute fluctuations in the temperature of the microwave back ground radiation permeating th night sky, which a tronomer claim is the residue of the Big Bang. MAP will mea ure these fluctuation or anisouopy, with greater precision. over the entire expan c of ky frame by frame. With ju t ten of these frames, however, free-lance geometry Jeff Wee May be able o patch together the top logy of the co. m David Spergel, a Princeton Astr physici t on the MAP team. contact d Weeks to help earch for repeated temperature pa!terns in the circular patches of sky that will be captured by MAP. The point is to eek out circles with matching temperature patterns along their perimeters. If enough of these correspond, the team of scientists may interpret this as evidence that the univece i maHer than we thought, folding back on tt self like a con oluted, higher-dimensional doughnut. ataxies in the night ky could simply b repeated images of our own galax at different tages in it history, the result of light bending around a finite, hyper-pretzel cosmo The ta k of u ing a few images to detem1ine this i tricky: the theory only fit one specific pattern of circles. It's al o extremely difficult when we don't know what our own galaxy look like. MAP' ambitious m.L sion c mes on the heels of another heady propo al, also fr m Princeton, which made headlines in early April. The development, which caused a tir among the pr ponent colleague invol 'ed uperstring theory. In a nutshell, the 25-year-old theory tries to im plify the burgeoning list of ubatomic particles by po tulating that they ar simply different vibration of infinitesimal tnngs. The theory calls for ix more spatial dimensions in addition to the familiar three. Th e dimensio would be o small as to require a particle ace lerator the ize of a galaxy to probe them. Dr Lisa Randall of Princeton Univer ity and Dr. Raman Sundrum of Stanford Univer ity suggested in early April ne of those. ix dimen ions i actually big. As reported in the New York arne., they suggest a 'megaverse' of four spatial dimensions, within which our universe is imply a three dimensional bubble--a 'membrane' or 'brane' a Dr Randall and Sundrum refer to it. Gravity, being carried by particle c lled graviton would not be bound to thi 3-D i land we call a universe. Whereas matter and the other forces in nature are generated by trings with their end embedded in our 'brane', ac e rding to the theory. graviton would be produced by vibrating loops. Th ould wander into other universes as they please. The my teriou source of the 'dark matter' so often touted by phy ici ts would then he cau. ed by gravitons pa sing through the fourth, large spatial dimensi n, called hyper pace, into our universe. AI o, according to this theory, ju t as our universe i curved through hy per pace. hyper pace it elf would be warped, g nera ing a ind of 'metagravity' between universes. Story compiled from the following ource : princeton.edu, disco er.com mkaku.org map.gsfc.nasa.gov tharnes.northnet.org/weeks/ Li ten to Dr. Michio Kaku' Explorations Tuesday mornings at 11 a.m. on WMNF 88.5

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The Catalyst The Dance Tutorial will be holding perfo ances on this Saturday a Sunday nig ts, May 3-14, at 8pm in the Sainer auditorium. May 23 i the last day you can submit your th si to the library. Official gradu tion invitation can be picked up at the A ociative Dean and ard n s 4.22.00 Theft of bicycles: Two unknown white males and o e white female were observed leaving three bikes by Goldsten and leaving area In a red Nissan. One bike was identified and returned to the owner. The other two bikes were impounded. Value esti mated at $250. 4.23.00 Criminal mischief reported In the HCL men's restroom. Unknown persons damaged the electric door opener, broke toilet seats, ripped hand towel cont al ers from the wa ll and trashed the area. office, CO I 203. Housing and Mea Plan fees for next fa I m t be paid by un 20 0% of rapist, kno their vic tim. he afe Place Rape Cri is C nter of ara ota ( PARC ) ofter fr rvic to victims. Call 365-1976 Estimated cost of repairs: $300. Two possible suspects identified. 4.25.00 Petit theft of a bicycle from near the Palmer Buildings. The bicycle was decaled and unsecured. Valued at 50. 5.01.00 Criminal mischief reported. Unauthorized painting of walls, stairway, tiles and tableswithwater soluble paint. Estimated cost of removal: $200. If you arc planning on a leave of ab. cnce for off-campu tudy next fall please fill out a mail fowarding reque. t form from the Office of Student Affair We wiH alJ m i ss Profe sor. Berggren, Demc. and McDiarmid and we wish them well in their re tirement and chololarly pur. uits.