Catalyst

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T 1E Volume XIII, Issue 2 Compromise ends by Michael Sanderson Genshaft has satisfied Sullivan. At a pre s conference last riday, Pinellas Count] tate Senators Donald Sullivan and Jim Sebesta, along with U F President Judy Genshaft, announced they have reached a compromise that will allow USF's St. Petersburg campus to remam a part of USF. r he bill announced does not mention the Sara ota campus, and Bradenton Senator John McKay, who has expressed concern over whether USF at Sarasota meet the needs of local area residents, has not commented on the announcement. President ( JCnsl. It aid, "I hope that the model that we're using for St. Petersburg will be a model for the Sarasota/New Colleg-:: Faculty and st dents debate quantitatively, our best issue ever plan to spin off USF at St. Pete campu ." The compromise bill deal. exclusively with the St. Peter burg campus, which wa always the focus of 'ullivan efforts. It will rename the campus ''University of South Florida St. Petersburg," and create a new chief executive for the campus, as well as a five-member board of Pinellas County resi dents to over ee the new budgetary process. The proposal emphasize fiscal autonomy for the branch campu providing that the legislature will appropriate funding for St. Petersburg separate) y from Tampa. The future of the Sarasota campus re mains in doubt because Sen. McKay, who took the greatest interest in Sarasota, has not said if this compromise will satisfy his concerns. St. Petersburg Times staff writer Barry Klein wrote in aturday's Time\, "The nightmare scenario for US!is that McKay will attach a measure separating the arasota campus to the bill that protects the St. Petersburg branch." Laurey tryker, chief executive officer of the Sarasota University Program, transferred from Tampa last fall as part of the reorgani zation Genshaft implemented. That separated ew College and the University Program administratively as the fir.st phase of Genshaft's plan to demonstrate USF's commitment to the branch campuses. tryker aid Gen haft hopes the legislature will vote her plan for Sarasota into law this se sion. "COMPROMISE" 200 Palm Court Party a space odyssey with intergalactic theme by David Savarese Is New College the educational environ ment we believe it to be? What facts can the institution use to prove this to prospective students and the outside world? At the Town Meeting February 13, third-year Peter Brin on, a member of the Educational Policy ( ommittce, presented the current steps New College tudent faculty and udmini tration are taking to place our school under a sepa rate flag of accreditation. At a faculty meeting the following Wednesday, faculty and admini tration grappled with these plans that will bring New College more national recognition. 1 he University of South Florida has sup ported ew College since its inclusion as a regional campus 25 year ago. It appears that the appointment of a new USF pre ident, Judy Genshaft, will allow New College even more autonomy. Dean Michael Bassis of New College said, "independent accredita tion for New College will be enormou ly useful and I applaud our new president for recognizing that and encouraging our ef forts." The intended pursuit of accreditation will allow New College to keep the ties we have to U F, but attain separate, regional accreditation and expo ure. According to Student Affairs director Mark Blawei the separate exposure will, "increase our entry into li ting of 'Top 50' chool and attain more grants and fellowships allowed to !sEE "ACCREDI1AfiON" PAGE 3 I by Ryan McCormick Price, Esq. smce time immemorial. This reporter fir t A dark monolith stood in Palm Court. arrived at approximately I 0:30 p.m., when No crash of horn had greeted it, no hint the mu ic had just started jamming and the of Kubrickian cinematographic magic had court had begun to slowly ebb and flow called it into being, but there it stood. with a trickle of alien lifeforms seeking Surrounded by the wondering eyes of hunamusement. The decorations made good dred of strange being pointing eternally u e of tran lucent plastic draped over the into the night sky amid t the wizened palm edge of buildings for a softening effect and tree there it stood. And then omeone wrapped around some of the palm trees for turned on the fla hing rainbow lights and a "palm tree partially wrapped in Saran kicked on some thrashing techno music. Wrap" effect. Glimmering tinfoil enThe 2001 Valentine's Day Palm Court shrouded the base of other tree reflecting Party, titled the "Big Bang PCP" for its scithe twinkling lights and acting as a living fi theme, had begun. mirror. Black strands !retched between the The party did not begin rolling until late upper reaches of the trees, forming a ddi in the evening, in the fine tradition of PCPs cate ring from February 21, 2001 Dort Drive enters a cocoon of fencing; it will emerge a beautiful brick walkway ew campu construction ha brought us eemingly endles lr a n g e fencin g a nd c ircuitou s 1outes-all for the sake of impro-vement. will replace wit h brick, II r on streetlights historic lighting. Both the final plans and the temporary disruption arc controvcr ial, however. STORY, PAGE 3 Litzenburger bring creativity to ew College litterati Studying literature can deaden your creativity. some believe. ow the time 01 resurrection i at hand. Seck solace, yc soulless, through the expertise of ew College' very 0\\11 writer in re idence. This emester she is teaching a course designed to help a piring" riters find their own vo1ce in the world. STORY, PAGE 4 Monkeybone: another James and the Giant Peach it's not What's not to love about a movie starring a raunchy cartoon monkey? Leave your expectations of profundity at the door, and you will not be disappointed. If you're looking for something more, however, stick with The Nightmare Before Christmas. MOVIE REVIEW, PAGE 5

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2 The Catalyst Compiled by Darren Guild Iraq vows retaliation for air strikes Iraqi government new papers have called for revenge after United States and Briti. h air raids struck Iraqi radar systems five to twenty miles of Baghdad on Friday last week. Two civilians were re ported killed in the bombings. The strikes have raised concern among key ATO allie and UN Security Council members. Iraq sent a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urging for condem nation of Friday's attack. "The UN Secretary General and the Security Council Chairman hould condemn the military aggression and should take ap propriate steps to prevent such attacks from happening again," read a letter from Iraq's Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf to Annan. A few days after the air strike, an esti mated 10,000 Iraqis marched through the treets of Baghdad in protest. Many countries, led by China, Russia, and France have expressed concern over the attacks, and see them a a potential threat to the already fragile Middle East stabil ity. "The air raids have ju t complicated the ituation and killed innocent people," Egyptian Pre ident llosni Mubarak stated. Bush's first military action since taking office Jess than one month ago. No more Napster? A panel of judges stopped just short of shutting Napster down la t week, sending a lower court ruling to a district court for reworking. The district court was in structed to create a narrower ruling that would require Napster to block the online trading of copyrighted music. In addition, the judge warned that Napster could be liable for financial damages, which, if implemented, would almost certainly put the service out of business for good. Napster has responded to suggestions made by the Recording Industry As ociation of America by announcing plans to use a high tech digital copy-pro tection program that would prevent NEWS OF THE WORLD activities such as burning COs. No more SATs? The head of the largest public University sy tern in the country pro posed on Friday to end the required use of the popular Scholastic Achievement Test. The President of the University of California, Richard C. Atkinson, con tended SATs distort the way young people learn and worsen educational in equities. His proposal needs to pass through the faculty enate and the univer sity system's governing board of regents. Initial indications are for supporting the plan, and if passed it could take effect by 2003. It is expected that if the University of California decide to no longer requires SAT scores, a domino ef fect could take place in the world of higher education, with many other chools following suit. Mr. Atkinson talked about visiting el ementary and middle school classrooms where students were pending hour on analogies. "The time involved was not aimed at developing the students' reading and writing abilities but rather their test taking skills. I concluded what many others have concluded-that America's overemphasis on the SAT is compromis ing our educational system." crash A senior naval commander announced that there would be a formal investigation into the circumstances that caused a US Submarine to collide with, and sink a Japanese trawler on February 9. The in quiry is to be led by three admirals who reportedly intend to hold public hearings about the incident, amounting to basi cally a public trial for the submarines' captain and the crew. The USS Ureenv11le's captam and two other offi-cers face the possibility of criminal charges. "The seriousness in which I view this tragic accident i reflected in the level of investigation and the seniority of the court members," Admiral Thomas B. Fargo, commander of the Pacific Fleet said. "It will provide a full an open accounting for the American and Japanese people." The incident happened approximately mne miles to sea from Honolulu, Hawaii. The Greenville bur t to the surface in a maneuver known as an emergency main balla t blow, and struck the Ehime Maru, a 190-foot training vessel. The Ehime Maru sank immediately, but 26 people were able e cape and be rescued. Nine other are still missing and presumed to be dead. Fifteen civilians were aboard the sub marine the day of the crash, and two were reportedly at the controls. Senior Navy officers have maintained, however, that the civilians could not have contributed to the accident. San Francisco to fund sex changes for city workers San Francisco plan to become the first U.S. city to finance sex change oper ations for city workers under its health care benefits program, officials aid Friday. The proposal allows city employ ees to claim up to $50,000 of the cost of a sex reassignment surgery. The proposal is expected to be approved by the Board of Supervisors and Mayor Willie Brown, and would take effect July 1. "This is a medically diagno ed condi tion-gender identity disorder. One i t hs cavalierl It r ally is a matter of equal benefits for equal wo.(.k," Supervisor Mark Leno said. The estimated cost of a male to female opera tion is $37,000, and female to male is $77,000. Man caught with bird eggs nestled An Au trian tourist was caught trying to smuggle parrots and snakes in his lug gage and bird eggs tucked into his underwear in Brazil police said on Wednesday, February 14. Police discov ered 21 parrots, four parakeets, and two snakes hidden in two large suitcases be longing to Austrian botanist Johann Zillinger. They soon found five parakeet eggs in a sock nestled in Zillinger 's un derwear. "He put (the eggs) near his testicles so they would be at nest temperature," a po-February lice spokesperson said. Animal traffick ing in Brazil is believed to be worth more than $35 million a year. Zillinger was re leased on bail but faces charges of animal trafficking. President Bush talks with Mexico's President Fox about immigration President Bush traveled to Mexico on Friday to hold informal talks with Mexican President Vicente Fox over im migration issues, which have long caused diplomatic strain between the U.S. and Mexico. The discussion ranged from subjects such as granting legal re idency, to the hundreds of thousands of undocu mented Mexicans now working in the United States, to Mexico' goals to open the border to a freer flow of Mexican guest workers. One permanent outcome of the talks was the formation of an "immigration working group. "We are compelled to take a deeper look at the whole question of migration," the United State Ambassador to Mexico, Jeffrey Davido, said. "There' going to be an interesting debate about amnesty and the guest worker problems." Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge G. Castrada said one long-term goal is an easing of U.S. law enforcement efforts along the border that have forced e ican i igrant to through isolated desert areas where they die by the hundreds each year from expo sure to the heat or cold. An estimated 150,000 undocumented Mexican immi grants enter the U.S. each year. Their labor has been used in Florida orange groves, Georgia onion fields, Las Vegas hotels and Oregon nurseries has fueled growth in many parts of the U.S. econ omy. Remittances from Mexican immigrants between $6 billion and $8 billion a year-is Mexico's third largest industry. Information taken from yahoo.com and nytimes.com. CATALYST The Catalyst is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.sar.usfedu/-catalyst/ General Editor Max Campbell Copy Editor Zac Konkol Managing Editor Michael Sanderson Web Editor Kathryn Dow Staff Writers Photographer Crystal Frasier Ben Ruby, Darren Guild, Ryan McCormick Price, Esq., Zac Beck Anna Maria Diaz-Balart, Zachary Konkol, David Savarese. Jag Davies, Valerie Mojeiko The Catalyst is an academic tutorial sponsored by Professor Maria Vesperi. It is developed in the New College Publications Office using Adobe Photoshop and Quark Xpress for PowerMacintosh and printed at the Bradenton Herald with money provided by the New College Student Alliance. Direct submissions and inquiries to: The Catalyst 5700 N. Tamiami Tr. Box #75 Sarasota, FL 34243 cataly t(A virtu.sar.usfedu The Catalyst re erves the right to edit subrniss10ns for space, grammar or style. Contributions may range in length from 250 to 500 words. Letters to the Editor should be no more than 250 words. Submissions should be labeled as either letters to the Editor or contributions and include names and contact information. may be saved to the Catalyst Contnbutwns folder in the on the "Public" file server, printed submissions may be placed in campus box 75, and all other contributions may be e-mailed to catalyst@virtu.sar.usfedu. No anonymou submissions will be accepted. All su.bmissions must be received by 5:00 p.m. ?aturday m order to appear in the following week's tssue. Information about upcoming events is welcome throughout the week.

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The Catalyst N E WS Dort Drive closed to pedestrians until June, to cars foreve;bruary 21.2001 3 .. ... Iron bars do not a prison make, but fences are still pretty damn annoying by v ... Mojeiko tury, similar to that at Fine Arts, It s the fust day of cla:'ses. You slumwill replace the current lighting system, ble College Hall m an attempt to and benches will be added so that stube on your 9 a.m. lecture. dents can stop for rests on their treks Everythmg IS gomg_ smoothly. From Pei, across campus. For safety reasons walk you place one foot m front of the other, ers, bicyclers, scooterers, and through the overpass the library. rollerbladers are urged to stay outside of Suddenly, your motion IS stopped by the fences until the project is complete. what. seems_ to be a network of orange, First-year Mark Hengge said it is "a plast1c fencmg. Your eyes blink open. little ridiculous ... I don't think it will be You ha;e just made contact with our a good area for people to sit and chat. It campus s newest feature. eems like more of a corridor." The orange fencing enclosing Dort Whatever its eventual merits the conDrive is part a current 5.2 million dolstruction poses problems' today. campus-w1de c?nstruction project Third-year student Meghan Cassidy, who fmanced by the Pubhc Capital is currently suffering from a sprained e u e a euvcrin around project has already blessed us with tbe the obstacle. t '-not handicaP ace'eSSi new chiller building complete with comble," she said. puterized climate control system, As for vehicular traffic, drivers can maintenance of water and electrical utilinow travel along the newest expanse of ties, and a new road on the north side of road on the north edge of campus, which campus. Currently underway are the restretches from the inter ection of General modeling of Dort Drive and palm Spaatz and Bay Shore Drive to College relocation on the east side of General Hall. Spaatz boulevard. And there is more to Palm relocation is the most current come. undertaking in the construction plan. Most of Dart Drive's asphalt will soon Palms are being removed from the grassy be removed and replaced with brick. areas just south of the new Gen. Spaatz Washingtonian palms and oaks will reDrive and being replanted in a line along place the native palms. Historically the roadway. Trees Trees employee, accurate lighting from the early 20th cenSteve Hazeltine, can be seen operating a This architectural drawing, provided by Campus Architect Rick Lynle, maps out many of the changes to the west side of campus. The stars lining Dort Drive, the central vertical road, are new palm trees. Dark circles are other new trees. New walkways and a plaza, the rectangle at center, will also be constructed. College Drive is on the right. truck with a sharp cone on the back called saved, I think it's a good idea.,., a treespade. It is being used to pick up The current construction wiJI not last palms and move them to a more desirable forever, however. According to campus location, rather than killing them and architect Rick Lyttle, "All of that will be buying new ones. According to completed right at the end of the school HazeJtine, "Instead of destroying trees, year, right around June 1. ... I think it is we're reusing them. Anytime trees can be going to work quite well." The trick is to put the quantitative into our analysis jFROM PAGE I I individually accredited universities." Presently, New College is accredited to give bachelor of arts degrees through USF. To achieve independent accredita tion, however, New College will need to establish quantitative measures of stu dent progress. This is a difficult act because we do not have grades or other quantitative systems normally used to gather such data. The Educational Policy Committee has created three ways to measure scholastic development at New College. First, the student writing assessment. It would compile data from admissions essays, a fifth-term writing sample from classwork, and the senior thesis. No addi tional student testing would take place. Second, a student would need to fill out a "student satisfaction survey." This would survey graduating students' satis faction with the academic experience, the level of their education and the New College environment. Finally, and most debated, is the stu dent Academic Program Assessment. Professors would complete this for their thesis students around the time of the Baccalaureate. They will be asked about student's abilities and their advancement. New College needs to prove quantitatively that a majority of students leaving campus are more educated then when they entered. Most of the information needed already exists, but the systems of gathering it must be consolidated, streamlined and compiled. The faculty questioned the student Academic Program As essment due to the complexity of rating students in a campus without grades. This is, however, the first draft of the survey. The questions are not intended to judge students' abili ties or lack thereof. Although it does involve a ranking system, the anonymous results will be used to judge the school' impact on students' abilities. The Educational Policy Committee, u ing other liberal arts institutions as a guiding force, will need to go back to adjust orne specifics on the survey. The survey will oegin spring term of next year to serve as a test of its effectivenes and show spe cific need<; for future revisions. Many students are unaware of the de bates, but are excited about New College's independent accreditation. New College Student Alliance President Molly Robinson, a forth-year, said, "I think it would be a good thing for New College, it will bring about national recognition."

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4 The Catalyst NEWS February 21, 2001 .. Writer Ltzenburger bri gs creativty to New Co lege itterati b)' Zachary Konkol reative fiction writing ha finally made it a to 'ew College. In re -ponse to repeated requests !rom tudt:nts, Lie el Lltzenburger ha joined the faculty for thi pring s 'tncster as cv, ollege's fi t writer in residence. Litz nburger is teaching two identical fiction w iting clas es entitled Your Voice in the World, and will al o be giving r adings during her tay. Her fir t reatl ing is s hcduled for 'I hursday. February 22 at 7:00p.m. in Sainer Auditorium. As a pioneer in the program, Litzenb 1rger 'lid he wants to look at "getting thing. rolling and_ et up in term of creative riling and help tudents be aware that creative writing will bt.: available." h also :aid that she i interested in 'doing some work with gettinJ slu dc, t. out to the larger community and etting the Jar er community aware ot New College .. Litzenburger grew up in Harbor Springs, Michigan, although he said. "I ve lived in other places. l'vc lived in Texa and I've. pent some time in Brazil and I've traveled all over." he has written, on and off, for almost all her life. "I think I a one of those fROM ''COUPROJIISE'' PAGE J "There' three is ue that McKay has ex pre sed to me personally," Stryker said. "One is more community input -thi tend to be on the university side. econd, he want to make. ure the dollars ar well managed and go di cctly to pro grams. he third thing is that campus facilities are improved. '"The bill addresses the first two. The i u of facilities will be addressed beC< se proposal ill be made" by the new campu admini tration, she said. D an Ba i wa unavailable for com ment as this i sue went to pres .. Molly Robin. on and Andrew Hossack, 1 Tew College tudent Alliance co-presidents, aid developments arc too ecent to es tablish whether Ge1 shaft's proposal will benefit New College. Th y were in formed of the propo aJ at a previously scheduled lunch with Gcnshaft on friday. '1 bis compromise bill ends the nearly on -year drive by en. Sullivan to spin off the branch campu c into independent univer ities. His bill failed to clear the nallcgislative hurdles in the last day of th 2000 c:ion. but Sullivan had an nounced it would be hi highest le"i lathe prio 't in 2001. Jle asserted that USI neglected programs that all w local re ident:. to pur uc bachelor'. and rna ter' degree President Gen haft, who took office la t June. declared that he would not give up the branch campu es \Vithout a kids who ju t always wrot ,"she said. I loved to read. I grew up in a very small to\vn. We had one 'IV channel and we had a tiny TV set. There wasn't a lot in term of entertainment. My mother still has tacks of stuff [writings]. I wrote my fir t novel when I was in third grade or something. It wus really funny; horribly written." Litzcnburger ha written book reviews and articles for variou magazine and newspaper.;, includin" the Detroit Fre e Prns and the Chicago Tribune. Her lir I collection of short stories, ow You Love Me, is being publi. hed by Carnegie Mellon and is due out this 1arch. ht: a! o has another book currently in pro po al form. lt is a documentary on "One of the most important qualities a writer can have ... s ju t a faith it themselves and not necessarily caring or not allowing themselves to care too much what the outside world thinks." Litzenburger earned a bachelor' degree in English from the Univer, ity of Michigan and master of fine arts in creative fiction writing from We tern Michigan Univcr ity. Since that time, he has taught at everal colleges, including the niversity of Michigan. She was also the acting chair of the creative writing de partment at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. In addition to h r teaching positions, fight. Responding to Sullivan's allega tions that U F neglected the branch campu e he made high-profile moves to expand the ca.mpu es four-year degree programs. Seb ta, whose di trict includes parts of ampa and outhem Pinellas County, proposed the compromi e bill and will in troduce it in the state senate. At Friday s pre conference. which his office con vened, he said "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Stryker attended a Town Meeting with Dean Bassis Ia I o ember 1 to an wer que tion and said that Sen. Sebesta \Vas "totally opposed" to ulli an's plan. According to the Times Sebesta said that the St. Petersburg compromise could pro vide a useful model for Sara ota. Sulrvan mentioned the po ibility of re isiting separation years down the road, but ebe. Ia di mi :ed it. When the bene fits of autonomy and the U F connection begin to make themselves felt in the years to come, he aid, ''Why would you do it?" At that, Genshaft burst into applau e. en. ullivan hailed the compror 1i e. relationship in Americas, titled Love Ame rica. When asked about her writing, Litzenburger said, ['m ju t someone incredibly curiou about people and about the world in general. Specifically, I'm really interested in the idea of fate: why people end up where they do, how they end up where they do. How people live their live ju t really fascinates me. Any person, I totally he-o. A proposed merger of USf at St. Peter burg and the junior college considerably alarmed many of the faculty at the USF branch, and many threatened to quit if it happened. Sullivan had advocated such a plan. Moreover, sudden independence could have adversely affected the Sara ota campus. Both the U and cw College receive their accreditation through USF. which would be Io t with eparalion, possibly for evcral years. lieve, ha some sort of interesting story to tell Although she has lived in a variety of place Litzenburger aid. '[spent my early childhood ... in Harbor Spring o that' where I tend to keep coming back to when I write." Litzenburger's interest in thew iter in residence program and the college in gen eral is obvious to anyone who meets her. he said, "I think it [ ew College] is a very :-.pecial place. I'm already im prc ed with the level of work going on here.'' Litzenburger aho had a few words of wisdom tor any young writers on the New College campus. he aid, "One of the most important qualihcs a \ riter can have ... i just a faith in themselves and not nece sarily caring or not allowing themselves to care too much what the out ide world thinks." Speaking of her own book due out in March, she said, "even if one person reads it and like it to me, that's all that matters.'' Litzenburger will he on campus until the end of the pring emester. If the writer in residence program continues, a 11 is planned to, a new writer will take her place ne t year to carry on creative writ ing at New CoHcge. Furthermore separation would require the new university to create from scratch numerous administrative function cur rently handled through USF. Sen. Sebesta warned that although he i enthusia tic about the expansion of the St. Petersburg campu under the new plan, finding funding for it could be prob lematic. ''It's going to be a tight budget year," he said. Information in this article taken from the St. Petersburg Times. c said last friday that ''I'm very atis tied and thi should sati fy the residents of Pinellas ounty." ullivan announced his next initiative \\'ill aim to expand St. Petersburg Junior College, renaming it t. Petersburg College and University Center and allowing it to offer four-year d grecs. This would rna e it the first commumty college in the state able to do Senator Su/Jimn, right, conducting hu ines.\ in the state legislature. ( tV> photo)

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The Catalyst ENTERTAINMENT February 21, 2001 5 Monkeybone: exciting visuals, good acting, guest stars, lousy plot by Crystal Fra. ier Monkcybune (voice of John Turturro). a story a old as time itself: Boy tu braves nightmares, god and even irl, girl help boy deal with hi Death hen .. df in order to return to hiS lccpin g disorder girl accidentally ere Julie (Bridget onda). atcs an amoral monkey cartoon character cour. e, 1t never that imple. Stu soon who becomes popular enough to warrant t.hscover lhat his orange alter-ego i. his own cable cartoon cries. And that' more than just annoying. before Monkeyhone actually open After Sauly, thi foray into slumbcrland that, it. to get weird. d?e n 't quite measure up to Sclick pre-Acclaimed director Henry Selick, the vtous succes cs. De pile Monkeyhone's mind behind James and the Giant Peach inlere. ting concept, talented actor and and The ightmare Before artful settings and character it ju t does pulls the tring behind this movie adap-n't quite pull together in the same way a tation of K.aja Backley's graphic novel, James and lhe Giant Peach. Watching the Dark Town. The outcome i a fun hourtran itions between the real world and the and-a half of beautiful costumes, land of dreams leave the viewer with a makeup, sets and spirited acting. ta lc for either one or the other, not both Monkeybone i a twisted combination of at once. Beellejuice and George of tlze Jungle. Still, Monkeyl>One i certainly not a The plot i fairly straightforward. waste ol admi ion price. The costumes After being involved in a giant monkey and sets arc beautiful, and the special cf related accident, cartoonist Stu Milely fccts mn the gamut from old-fashioned (Brendan Frasier) finds himself trapped foam rubber masks and daymation to im in the land of nightmare: a place more pres ivc pro lhetic makeup and computer Brendan Fras1er holds a Jarring inflatable monkey doll mildly di turbing than truly horrific. animation. star. arc i c, a even Edgar Allan Poe). At the very lea!->t, Before l?ng he face-to-fac.e w.ell_ (kids, keep your eyes open for seeing Brendan Fra icr doing a striptease h1s com1c creatton and hypcrachve 1d, LIZZie Bardon, Stephan King, anu yc is worth the 4.50 to get in. Monkeybone is rated PG-13 and opens in theatres everywhere Friday, February 23. Majo r Tom to Palm Court: I'm coming home V ROM uBIG BANG" PAGE 1 I which dangle-d a sol ar sy tern' worth of pheroids. The planet dr(}w e e a enti o from below. ""That could be a tu rn ,., said third-year Andrew Sylvia, pointi n g upward. at one of the many cele tial bodies hanging above, Saturn was a different color and had no ring ." The decorations were less elaborate than some previous PCPs, but were ele gant in their simplicity. The monolith L owered over a Palm O.mrt awa h in a wide schi7ophrenic spectrum of colors flashed from two powerful lighting de vice and the co tumes of the partygoer provided a pleasing milieu. Thi PCP wa a good one for people-watching, a it wa actually po. ible to pick out individual people incc the va t herdlike crush ol bodi that usually Palm Court Parties wa curiou ly absent. While there wns certainly a healthy crowd, they t ayed di pcrsed at a iblc di. Lance and a partygoer who had no interest in having his lung, crushed like c..:rcpc paper rould easily find refuge, either along one of the comfy wall or in the. amtnary of Hamilton Center. Hamilton Center was home to the beer, and as ucb attracted a wide variety of wildlife over the nurse of the evening. Fortunately, identifkati n was. tudiously <.:necked. and thus public inebriation was only indulged in by those of an age proper to. uch a thing. Hamilton Center was also the home of the ever-popular -chill out room'" where student could find rc.-.t and respite from the cndlc alien-nation of the PCP The chill-out room eaturcd upervisory tall l'hair tour walls. a floor and a ceiling, as well a a n a .. rtmcnl of movies. Fourth year the is student Mike Olson said, C<\,ffie iJl durin Starshi 1 Troo ers and then they put on Men in Black. Apparently i t was s o m e sort of c razy -ass alien-fighting theme, but thal's fine. I fight alien my elf." The rccordeu mu ic blaring from the peakers in the early hours of the party tended towards the techno-danceloud variety, although at one or two point in the evening the tunes were toned down for a bit to accommodate request from the outside world. The mu. ic always managed to rally a comeback, however, and kept the pace of the party thriving on into the early hours of the morning. Arter the lull, during which all non-Novo ociated partygoers were ejected from the premi cs, the PCP im mediately kicked back into full swing for all of those who had not fallen under the sway of Morpheus. For their benefit there was actual live mu ic fcnturin_g a man who rapped soulfully about ew College and the parties therein a well as a DJ ,...-ho cratche l and spun with grcal intensity. The of the party wa. somewhat Jc than previous Palm Court Parties, but the "Big Rang" can hardly be qualified a anything less than a succe. sin the eye of mosl The pol icc reported that no incidents had occurred ave for one in volving an unidentified young male who received a bad cut to his knee and refu ed trcatm .nt. Mike Campbell, who was keeping a wary eye on the proc dings from his golf cart, aid that he was plcascu to that the party was keeping to a comfortable level of rc aint: "IL' relatively tame, so lbe 'burgeoning tra jectory' has kept to a shallow slope ... ever [fo\\ckin and a\\ which \. goo but there "s nothing really twisted going o n Overall, the ca m p u s wa, e dified by thi brief extr a l e rrestrial invasion. ''Fantastic -top no tch, top o f the lin e, ju t tops,., beamed thesis tudunt Maggie Ray. Most stullcnt. ccmed to agree, an d an o erall good "vibc" emerged as a result f the peacefu l well-organized hip, phantasmagoria! Palm Court Party. Perhaps third-year Sara Bondi said it best when sbc urveyed the party with a satisfied expression and said, .. Everyone's wearing good shoes tonight." lvfark 8/aweiss, right, Mike Campbell, ec011d from right, and or her parroltfre PCP. He rem;nd.'i Dort and Goldsrein re>idems. rhmg, ar Ille . don !tang thing:> from them, don, even look at tllem in a way tlwt might up er them.

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6 The Catalyst NEWS After the party, the fire still burned N w Smell something burning during PCP weekend? It's not the Tropicana plants. (Staff illustration by Kathryn Dow.) by Kathryn Dow acres were ravaged by flames. Students who stepped out into the open air durMost wildfires are man made, whether the reing PCP Saturday night might have noticed a suit of arson or accident. Given dry conditions, a peculiar burning odor in the air. Some students small fire can quickly become uncontrollably surmised that our local bastion of the large. Brisk winds can cau e even more rapid Tropicana plant. was particularly strong that night. growth, and this weekend, windspeeds ranged been c a u s ing the s m ell. B u t t h e source of tbe smok e and haze was actua ll y n earl y 80 mil es away in Polk Omnty. A wildfire which began Saturday bad ex panded to 10,000 acres of the green Swamp as of Monday, and had caused a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 4 to be closed for two consecutive days. No deaths or injuries had been reported, but resi dent of some Polk City homes had been evacuated, a well as 120 inmates from the Polk County Omectional Institute. Since January 1, there have been 1,230 sepa rate fires in Florida. According to fire officials, the lengthy drought and recent freezes have caused higher-risk conditions than in 1998, when 500,000 mce anuary 1, ere have been 1,230 separate fires in Florida. from six to ten miles per hour. On Saturday, these winds were from the northeast, blowing swampy smoke right into our Palm Court. The smoke and smog Saturday night may have added to the effect of any launching rocket ships in the area, but it had nothing to do with spacecraft-real or paper mache. Information taken from ABCnews.com. February 21, 2001 Inaugural Town Meeting "short and sweet" by ZakBeck The first Town Meeting of the semester began at 6:05 p .m. Tuesday with a full agenda and a newly appointed cabinet. The meeting opened with a motion by Molly Robinson to ratify the new cabinet. It was approved unanimously by those 70 New College students in attendance. The new cabinet boasts several new additions. The floor was then given to Mark Hengge NCSA Historian, and Brian Bonfanti to discuss the then-upcoming Valentine s Day Palm Court Party and the measures being taken to regu late it. These included a mock 2:15 a .m. music shutdown in which everyone who was not a New College student or a spon sored guest was encouraged to go home. Hengge also men tioned that, "It would be nice if you bought T-shirts so that we (the PCP committee] can buy more beer." Next on the agenda was an update on separate accreditation Brinson (see article page 1). Stud en t s w ere warne d t hat a "survey f or student engage ment might be appearing in the boxes of first-years soon. While Brinson conceded that the sur veys are almost "irrelevant to the accreditation process," he did urge the tudent body to "take the time to fill out the sur vey so it makes New College look good." Then pizza was served around 6:30. However, 12 pizns were not enough to appease the crowd According to thesis student Christan Blystone People would care more about the school if there were 24 piz zas. After the pizza break, the next item on the agenda was the topic of electronic balloting. It was suggested that electronic balloting be used for New College elections, due to its being faster and more accurate than paper ballots. However, the motion, which the Town Meeting passed, allows the use of electronic balloting but does not require it. The last item on the agenda was new business: information on upcoming events concerning New College. Announcements included the inauguration of President Judy Genshaft at College Hall, a talk to be held at the Sudakoff Center by a New College alum titled "Everything I Needed to Know in Kindergarten I Learned at New College," and an upcoming lecture a former sJP,Q-head on 1 n nce ments P age 8) Wh a t was amazing ab out this T ow n M e e t ing was its brevityit lasted less than an hour. NCSA Secretary Titus Jewel noted that "It was startlingly brief, but added, "the content has stayed the same." Another student in atten dance, first-year Jay, summed up the general feeling of the first Town Meeting when he said, "It was short and sweet." New College searches for headshrinkers to teach psych courses by Jagdeep Gabriel Davies IV His favorite movie is Dances With Wolves. His favorite band: U2. And, as he carefully pointed out, he has a special talent for whacking moles. "You know the Whack-A-Mole games at some carni vals? I don't know where this talent comes from, but I have, like, a ninety eight percent victory success rate at Whack-A-Mole. I don't know-it has no other application for the rest of my exis tence." His name? Kenneth Abrams. And he could be your professor the next time you take a psychology course at New College. English in the Czech Republic for two years, he went to graduate school at the University of Minnesota, where he re ceived both his Masters and Doctorate. Currently, be is doing a one-year intern ship in clinical psychology at the University of Vermont's College of Medicine. Abrams said he was drawn to clinical psychology because it affords him the opportunity to have a direct im pact on people's Jives -"it can be very rewarding to work with people with dis orders and help them ... added that "the faculty and the students seem to be very high-caliber ... my un derstanding is that (the students) are very bright, very independent thinkers, very motivated ... alcoholism. In his laboratory study, he found that people with panic disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and so cial phobia were two to three times as likely to develop AUD (Alcohol Use Disorder). He then examined the pos i ble casual pathways between these anxiety disorders and AUD. If Abram were to receive a position on the New College campus, be plans to continue re search on the same subject. Abrams, a native of the Washington D.C. area, received his bachelor's degree in Government and Economics from Dartmouth College. After teaching Abrams's four-day visit included countless interviews, meetings, activities and a lecture. The most appealing aspect of teaching at New College, he said, is the cohesiveness among the professors within the psychology department. He Professor of Psychology Sharon Callahan said that Abrams was "well-re ceived," and that "he seemed to relate well to the students, and the students seemed to relate well to him." Some students still held reservations, however. Sbanon Ingles, a third-year psychology major, said, "he seemed like a genuinely nice person certainly very passionate about his research; I'm just unsure as to whether his research will in terest students here." Abrams's lecture focused on the asso ciations between anxiety disorders and In the coming months, two more can didates for the clinical psychology position will visit New College. The psy chology department encourages students to participate in the selection process, both by interacting with the candidates and sharing feedback with the faculty.

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-The Cataryst ________________ EVENTS Women at. work": see great movies a by Ben Ruby Thi :->emester tudent Affairs and the Student Life Committee are bnnging ew Olllege student the "Spring Film Series: Women and Work.'" The film e rie i only part of the tudent Life ommittce's goal, which a. ex plained hy Director of Student Affairs Mark Blaweiss b ''to have a theme and ha e movies and to bring in speakers." movies. r enjoyed it when they showed Mr. Smrth goes to Washington.,. The pring film series began with Contact, which aired Ia t Monday. Contact tars Jodie Fo tcr a scienti t who a. pir to discover life extra-terr trial life. 1 hird-year I.e lie Trinkle sai
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8 The Catalyst ANNOUNCEMENTS February 21, 2001 The Worker's Rights and Living Wage Project Labor work group-Tampa Bay Action Group. The Worker's Rights and Living Wage Project invite your partic ipation to join in a campaign for a Living Wage ordinance in St. Petersburg. A Living Wage ordi nance is simply a legal requirement that the city and all service contract ors with the city who hire locally pay a living wage to all of their employees. A Living Wage is not the same as the minimum wage. A Living Wage is a wage that would allow a full-time worker with a family of four to earn a alary above the federal poverty guidelines. Living Wage ordinances have been successfully passed in over a dozen other U.S. cities includ ing Miami, Florida, helping families to live above poverty. The Worker' Right and Living Wage project wants to involve any and all progressive commu nity organizations, churches and labor unions in working together to bring the Living Wage to St. Petersburg. Please come and join us to learn ab?ut the Living this very important issue to St. Petersburg! When: Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2001, 7:00p.m. Where: St. Petersburg main li brary auditorium 3745 9th Ave., North, St. Pete For more information/direc tions, call and leave us a message for Susan at (813) 6770455 Looking for a little extra money? Well, it's that time of year again. The University Police are looking for responsi ble individuals to assist them with parking during the Medeival Fair. Currently there are hifts available between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday March 1 4. If you are inter ested, stop by the University Police Department (behind the campus book store) in person and sign up. We do ask that if you sign up, you show up, so please be certain of your sched ule before you come to work. The deadline is February 22; jobs will be given on a first come, first-served basis. Open meditation and tea every Tuesday at Goldstein 203. Meditation begins at 7 p.m.; tea at 7. All are welcome. Que tions? Call Lori at 3605371. IMPORTANT! IMPORTANT! Unfortunately, the RA pager is on the blink. While we arrange for a replacement, we are only using the RA cell phone. That number is 780-8441. Please use that number to contact the RAs until further notice. A Salute to Black History Month through Poetry. Tonight, Co1lege Hall music room. Come and enjoy listening to the readins of famous black poets. It's also an opportunity for you to express yourself through readings of your favorite poet or your original poetry. A poetry lam will be available for tho e wishing to enter a competition. For more information call Juanita Mexwell-Nowak at 3594334 or Nancy Allan at 359-4405. The Catalyst online returns! Why are you reading this low tech paper edition when you SAC MINUTES 2/19 Members in attendance: Vijay Sivaraman (proxy for Julia Skapik), Shannon Dunn, Lindsey Luxa, Emma Jay, Eric Nowak, Adam Rivers First order of business: Request for Max Program/MSP/Pluggo Interactive Music & Video Programming Software for the electronic music tutorial, repre sented by James Powell and Marc Poirier,reque ted $300.00 for program to be installed in the pub lab. A motion was made by to Shannon to table the issue until next week when the price of the Windows ver sion can be determined. It was unanimously approved. The second proposal was made by Max Campbell and Michael Sanderson on behalf of the Catalyst. They are re questing $280 for the funding of their econd i sue to be printed at the Bradenton Herald Press. A motion was made by Emma Jay to allocate $280 and it was unanimously approved. could be reveling in the glory of this fine publication on your computer screen? See our web site rise up from the ashes at http:/ /virtu.sar. usf.edu/-catal yst. Web-edited by none other than the great Kat Dow. The Four Winds Cafe has now reopened for the spring 2001 se mester! Open from 10 a.m. until midnight on Monday Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, and Sunday from 8 midnight. We have more drinks than Starbucks! Also featuring smoothies, food, and an exciting new look. The final deadline to apply for Teach for America (TFA) is Friday, February 26. TFA is a program that trains highly-quali fied recent college graduates to teach in low-income classrooms. Each year several New College students have participated in this worthwhile program. TFA appli cations are available in the Career Center, by phone at 1-800-832-1230 extension 120, and at the TFA web-site http://www. tfanetwork.org/ Bible studies, Hamilton Center or Tuesdays at 8 in Pei 223. Family dinner, potluck, and hanging out on Wednesdays at 8 in the Second Court lounge. Prayer meetmgs every day behind College Hall at 2:30. Organic gardening is for every one! There arc regular work hours at the Old Caples gardens weekly, Wednesday from 1 5 p.m. and Sunday from 2-6 p.m. If you're interested, stop by any time! Ramapo Anchorage Camp: A residential ummer camp, serv ing children with emotional, behavioral, and learning prob lems is looking for summer camp counselors. For more in formation check out the web site: www.ramapocamp.org. S.A.C. presents Marathon Allocations Sunday, February 25, 2001. Fi hbowl, noon-5ish. Sign up for times at the sign-up sheet on the Fi::.hbowl. Don't be late. Turn in a S.A.T.A.N. form before Friday at 5 p.m. Questions? Contact Shannon at campus extension 2-5527 or box 137. New College welcomes President Judith Lynn Genshaft on her inaugural tQ.ur. Today, February 21, 3:30-4:30 p.m. at the Collehe Hall music room. 2.13.01, 10:20 a.m. Burglary_ of maint room inside PDE Lounge. Broke off lock and ha<;p and removed assorted band tools. 02.13.01, 2:34p.m. Burglary /Grand theft -2 stucfent victims reported person(s) unknown did enter the Pei donn room where resident student had $90.00 stolen from wallet and $900, ATM and credit card stolen from. purse of v1siting student Room was unlocl