Catalyst

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HE Volume XIV, Issue 4 worth its weight in gold Board of Trustees says 'aye' to Michal son, new deans The powers that be: from left, Pre.sidelll Michalson Chairman Bub Johnson. and Foundation President Rolland Heiser by Michael Sanderson "All in favor." There was a chorus of ayes. "All opposed." Chairman Bob Johnson put his hand to hi ear and let the si lence in the Music Room of College HaJl hang a moment longer than he needed to. 'The motion as es," he aid and for Pre ident Gordon S. "Mike" Michalson, who the board voted to keep in his tion until a permanent president can he found "Everything IS going ex tremely well,'' Johnson said in his chairman's report at the be ginning of the meeting The board took action to secure the footing of New College. They approved M1chalson 's adjust ments to the administrative a report from General oun el John Smolker on what legal struc tures the college needs. The ew College Board of Trustee also approved Pre ident Michal son's changes to the administrative structure, creating the position of "Dean of Student Affairs ," "Dean of Admissions and Financial" and other At the sugge tion of Tru tee John Cranor no titles wiJI indicate the ositions are mtenm we can a I know we're looking around," he said, "but I think in our face to the public we ought to have firm leadership." Michalson told the board that enhancing the e positions would create an "administra tive structure that fits our new standing" and ''define the func tional units i n a way that coordinates with the state funding system." He said that he wasn't sure his chan es bOard approval t aid he welcomed the board's advice and consent, and the board approved the chart. fs-EE ''TRUSTEES" PAGE I October 3, 2001 If at first you don't secede ... At last. Nev. College has its own e-mail sy tem indepen dent of SF. On an interesting side note. our reporter at tempted to send her article to the Catalyst from her brand new ncf edu addre s. TI1e file did not make it through ... but we got the tory anyway. STORY, PAGE 5 Another student bu ted Ofl sex charges In a case oddly remini cent of last year' infamous" treaking'' trial, third -year Charlie Quiroz has been brought up on obscen ity charges. The charges relate to pornographic adverti ements for his September 7 "wall It is unclear whether Quiroz will be m de court. STORY, PAGE 7 Saturday's disaster relief concert almost a disaster in need of relief by Christine Bottoms It was a sunny, excited, and long Saturday. Student and community volunteers milled about the grass lawn of the Caples Peps1 Co. Arcade. Bands set up their equipment behind velvet ropes Red Cross repre sentatives sat behind tables littered with pamphlets and cash boxes It was Music to Unite, a concert to benefit the Red Cross Disaster Relief fund. Bands would play, and vendors, such as Hungry Howie's, Rita's Italian Ice and The Pretzel King would donate all their ings to aid the victim of the September 11 World Trade Center terrorist attack. It was an event that made people glad. It made people sad. It made peo ple mad. Low crowd tumout really "rocked" the New College benefit show. In the fledgling moments of the event, positive "isms" domi nated the atmosphere. A team of Novo Collegians and members of the community organized the event. On the ew College side, the cause was spearheaded by fourth-year Rob Ward, lead singer and guitarist for the band, Pop. Working closely with Alena Scandura and Lori Bergstresser, Coordinator of Public Functions at the Mildred Sainer Music and Arts Pavilion, Rob was responsible for secur ing the space at Caples, organizing volunteers, as well as the numerous other details involve in orchestrating an event of this nature. The organizers were all very positive about the benefit and the cause. "This is a way to give people who might not be com fortable with prayer circles and candlelight vigils to feel like they can help," aid Bergstre ser. Rob Constable agreed. Constable, a faculty member who teaches the electronic music class and who e band, Handshake quad, performed at 2 p.m., said "It's a good thing. I hope New College can do more things like this." Not all the acts performing Saturday were di rectly tied to New College. Local bands. too, were enthusi astic about helping the cause. ''It was [tragic] what happened to the people in the World Trade Center," said Jason Nwagbaraocha, bassist and singer for Strangeways. "so the band is trying to do all they can musically to help them out.'' Drew Schade, vocalist for Dim ynd1cate said, "We wanted to help. but the only thing [the band! could contribute was [our] mus1c." It was Dimsyndicate that opened the show at noon, Saturday mommg. Their stylings were listened to avidly ... by a crowd of vendors, organizers, volunteer and a mall family of three sittmg in lawn chairs near the back. This first act set the tone for the rest of the day: a lot of energy for the cause directed at a meager audience. @EE ''DISASTER" PAGE 41 Prto 1: The Dollyrots perfomz for charity, but not many students.

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2 The Catalyst N HE WORLD "And behold, a pale horse. by R)an l\kConnick Pri Afghanistan and the rest of the world continued a slm de nt into chaos this week. as the Taliban publically announc d for the first timc that 0 ama bin Laden wa hidd n in a ccret location within their border as r port d by th Afghan amba sador to P.tki tan. Pakistan hold th, t ther i I ittle hope that the Taliban will surr nder Bin Laden to the vengeful Amt.:I i an while th leaders of the militant I Iamie St.: t hold a hardlin 1. nee again t th threat of l' bombard ment Fears con inu to grow in Afghani tan as its citizen flee the cities while civil war rage in the mountain In n ighboring Pakistan. outbur ts ot anti-American sentiment among the people. unparalleled since the Iranian demon !rations of the I 980s. had the Pakistani govt.:mmcnt gravel" concerned. In the United tate meanwhile, an anti-war demonstration gath ered thou and of protesters in shi gt D.C. itt.:d Scate sliiJ proclaiming it fear of furth r auack continued etting up the massively-powerful Office of Homeland Security whi lc Auorney General Ashcroft called for further police powers to he granted to nited State forces. claiming that 500 people had been arr t d in connection with the September 11 hijackings. Despite the proclamation by audi rabia that it would not permit its massive military air control cent rat Riyadh to be u ed by the Americans and their allies to launch attacks General Editor Michael Sander on Layout Editor rin Marie Bla o Web Editor Michael Gimignani on a Muslim nation. Pre. idcnt Bu h has continued to end in battle hips, warplanes and troop under the jurisdiction of the War Pov..ers Re elution. pa ed by a special ongr sional ession on cptember 14. Whil it was initially re port d that th Taliban had offer u to negotiate with the nited tate rcgarding the c tr dition and ubsequcnt trial of Bin Laden. now it i stated that th y ha e rejected all attempts at negotiation by American diplomat 'urprisingly, it i. al o reported that Wa hington ha rej cted any att mpts at di cussion. According to White Ho 1 c chief of staff Andrcw Card. "Th president has said we're not negotiating.'' Air Travel, Tourist Industries Still Suffering The Air Travel Association, a trade group repre enting the interest of the nation s various airlines, has stated that American are slowly beginning to fly again. light thi past ursday, September 27, averaged at 46% of capacity, up from 39% last week, and a total of 665.714 pa sengers flew that day. 0 il September 27, 2000, over I million passengers took to the air on flights that were 90o/l full. The Federal Aviation Administration has cut back on their evere security mea sures slightly, allowing some airport to begin curb ide check-in again in order to save time, if tighter security is implemented on the procedure. Other FAA security standards Right: Talibtw Amba sador to Paki:.tan, Abdul Salam Zaeef Left: 1/is translmor, Rmib. continu d this week, with the 'ational Guard patrolling large airport and more strco uou metal detector security checks becoming the norm. President Bush stated that the gov rnment would not fully federalize airport ecu rity, despite calls for ju t such an action by former Amcri an A. lines chairman obert ran a us s ate t 1at airport security was a "home defense measure" and should be treated as such. In Medical ews: eThe West 'ile virus warning has been extended to all of outh Florida. ince the events of eptember 11, insec ticide-spraying flight. have been slowed down drastically. and this combined with th heavy wet season has allowed the mo quitoe bearing the disease to rally in numbers. West 'ile encephalitis is a disea e that can be p tentially lethal to the very the elderly. and those with defi cient immune sy terns. 'itizens are urged to wear protective clothing at dusk and dawn. avoid or eliminate stagnant water. and to consult their doctor if they experience feverish symptom roup n is s i nt has been computer modeling a drug which may be able to halt to progres ion of cancer in certain cases. The drug is intended to target the production of the enzyme telomera e, which is the magic key that allows cancer cells to divide and divide without ever reaching th end of their lifespan. If the drug works, the mutant cells will reak down nonnally and ideally not be able to pread so radically th oughout a human body. eBetw en 1954 and 1970. the thigh bone from 3,400 dead Briti h infant were exhumed. ground up, incinerated and then te ted for levels of strontium-90 by the British Atomic Energy Authority. who found startling rises in the level of atomi material in the bones, attributed lo the use of nuclear weapon n rem however, but from the fac t that the Authority chose not to seek parental consent befor conducting the tests. "We used child bone samples supplied by ho pitals following post mortem," an Authority pokesman told' the BBC. "Regrettably, it is clear that parental consent was not ought at the time." Information taken from tlze Assoczated Press, the BBC, the Library of Congress, the Briti h Broadcasting Network, and Reuters. The Catalyst is available on the World Wide Web at http://www. sar. usf edr.t/-catalystl Managing Editor Ma Campbell The Catalyst is an academic tutorial sponsored by hofe sor Maria Vesperi. It is developed in the Contribution may range in length from 250 to 500 words. Letters to the Editor should be no more than 250 words. Submissions hould be labeled as either Letters to the Editor or contributions and include nam s and contact information. Photographer Crystal FraMer Editorial Assistant Graham Strouse 'ew College Publications Office using Adobe Photoshop and Quark Xpres for PowerMacintosh and printed at the Bradenton Herald with money provided by the New College Alliance. Direct submissions and inquiries to: 1 he Catalyst Printed ubmissions may be placed in campus box 75, and all other contributions may bee-mailed to catalyst@virtu .. ar.usfedu. No anonymou submis ions will be accepted All submi sions mu t be received by 5:00 p.m. Staff Writers 5700 '. Tamiami T1: Bo #75 ara ota, FL 34243 catalyst@,irtu.sar.usfedu Saturday in order to appear in the following week' is 'Ue. Ryan Me orm1ck Price, E. q David Savar se, Valerie Mo"eiko, Jag Davies. hri line.: Bouoms, Christopher DeFillippi, Renee Maxwell, Liz Palomo. Abby Weingarten The Cat
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The Catalyst NEWS Army Reserves enlists New College students b y Abby Weingart e n At 4:30 a.m., Sept. 11, seco n d-year Aidan Delgad o was at the Ta m pa re cruiting station finalizi n g his p aperwork for the Army R eserves, a move he'd been planning since last year. At a quar te r afte r nine, still at t h e station, Delgado saw t h e secon d of two planes crash into t h e World Trad e Center. "Everybody went int o a flu rry of action," he recalled, "and I sort of got fired up about it. T hat's when I finally resolved to join the mi l i tary. I felt like I would have a purpose." Second-year Andy Young and thirdyear Tash Shaheen also enlisted that week. Like Delgado, their decision was not entirely a result of the terrorist at tacks. After all three received the maximum score on the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), they had hoped to train last summer after meeting with a visiting recruiter, but no positions were feas i ble until this fall. The attacks didn't hin der their plan however. As Delgad o sa id "it cleared my head of doubts and h elped steel my reso l ve to join." The exact number o f N e w College s tuden ts who' v e enli sted is not y e t known. Sergeant Van Dyke in B r ad e nton told th e Catal yst t ha t he has recru i ted seven students from Manatee Community CoJlege. Five students from SF1IDrtpa' ha'Ve e st ac S e rgeant Jone s of the Tampa recruiting office and the numbers are steadily in creasing mostly because of patriotism." "I feel like I could do some good," s aid Shaheen, who plans to train a s an EMT/healthca re worker. 'The s ta te is p a ying for my education, so i t' s al s o a w .1y for me to give back to the citizens of F lorid a Xoung. like Shaheen, plan s to complete bas ic over summer break t h en continue his advanced trainin g a s a he a lt i ..tre paralegal. D elgado, on t he othe r hand, has taken a leave of absence from New Colle ge. He d e p a rt s Nove m ber 1 for 11 week s of boot camp a t Fort Knox, Kentucky. H e pl a n s t o return for the sprin g semeste r and expects to continue a d vanced train i n g as a ve h ic l e mech ani c next summer. As fo r th e po ssi b ili t y of war, Delgado r e m a ins f ai rl y c on fi dent that he will not be d eployed for active duty. "I'm not scare d of l ife and l imb," he sai d "I sus pect they're goi n g to assassi nate bin Laden and some of t he ot her h ighu ps, but I don't think Afghanistan will be able to sustain a general war." the Reserves are composed of support positions, Young explamed that even in the event of a large-scale war, "it would be more Likely th.at they would institute a draft. During V1etnam, being in the Reserves was a good thing; it lessened the chance of you actually going to war." Young said, "I have faith in our administration's dislike of American casualties." Though he also believes that the odds a re in his favor, Shaheen said, "I'm going into t hi s pre pared to spend a year in Afghanistan." Youn g and D e lgado a r e n't you r typical p atriots. Neither h a d ever lived i n the United Sta tes be for e t hey came to New Their lo -Egypt. They an high school there and caught some glimpses of the tensions between Arabs and Americans. According to Delgado, "there was a running battle between Egyptians and Americans while I was in high school that was galvanized along racial lines. I think the Arab people liked the U.S., but they were resentful of its foreign policy because of Israel." "Being overseas has really made me appreciate America's institutions said Delgado "but it has made me see from a foreign perspective how h eavy-ha nd e d we really a r e. American s d o n't cons id e r t h e rig ht s o f in d igeno u s peopl es when they make foreign p ol icy d ecis i o n s, and I thi nk t hat's w hat's rubbin g peopl e th e wro n g way." Shahee n a lso l i ved in L iberi a f o r tw o year s A b roade r se n se o f life outsid e th e sphere 9fth e U.S. has m a d e them a w are frrsthand t hat, as S h a heen sa id "th is st uff ha p pens arou n d th e w o rld ." As a res ult o f the a tt acks, p re j udice i s in the air. "I have to t ell you I'm co n cerned," said S h a heen, w h o is pa rt Syrian "Shaheen i s an Arabic name." Delgado said, "I think p rejud ice w ill con tinue long after thi s event beca u se i t caps a lot of anti-Ara b fee l ing t hat h as been runn ing in the U.S. fo r a w hi le. Bigotry may cause Arab s not to wan t to immigrate." But will America's post-attack patri otism continue? ''I want those peo pl e who are d onating blood to d o it two months from now, but I don't th ink they will," Shaheen sa i d. Delgado said, "We'r e still ri din g th e s hoc kwave of the d isas t er, so we won't be a bl e to t ell u ntil about six months down the l ine when everything has re turned to normal whether the unity is long-lasting or just a temporary fad years one weekend a month and two weeks a year of drills and training. In response to the anti-war protests that have been springing up on campus, Delgado said, "I think a lot of the peace protests are unfounded In this circum stance when we're dealing with a violent person, we're going to have to destro y him or his ability to make war. There s no way to do that other than military ac tion." Shaheen said, I can se e going to Aidan Delgado, the barefoot soldier. wanted to go to war. l ,_'""""'"" sanctity of human life is very high and that it should be taken only in the gravest of circumstances. I don't ever want to to kill anybody and I would be thoroughly disappointed if they mobi lized me. But it would be better for me to !!O than for somebody else to get shot. S e rgeant Van Dyke in Bradenton said that anyone interested should c ontact him at (941) 228 9758 Labrador-Rodriguez teaches about Caribbean slavery in literature by Christopher DeFillippi As a child growing up in a small uneventful town in rural Puerto Rico, Sonia Labrador-Rodriguez turned to reading as an escape. Now one of the most recent additions to the New College faculty, Labrador-Rodriguez has had a love of the written word !!Ver since reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude in sixth grade. She credits this experience for her decision to pursue the study of Spanish literature. "I love literature for its ability to open up a different world to the reader," she said. She received her bachelor's from the University of Puerto Rico and her master's and doctorate from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Labrador-Rodriguez has been a guest lecturer at Princeton University, and a number of other well-respected institutions, but New College will only be the second college she has had experience working for full time. Nonetheless, she has described her move from her faculty position at .the University of Texas to New College with an unmistakable air of confidence, and has expressed her enthusiasm about beginning this new stage in her career. "At the University of Texas at Austin, it was difficult to work closely with the undergraduate students said Labrador-Rodriguez, as she described the school's "greater emphasis on graduate work." Also responsible for supervising the University of Texas's teaching assistants for the intermediate Spanish classes, she dedicated the remainder of her time to working closely with the honors stud ents in constructing their t hesis projects. Giving personal attention to each of her honors students was one of her favorite aspects of working for the University of Texas, which played a major role. in her decision to teach at Ne\Y College. Labrador Rodriguez found that the small d'
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4 The Catalyst FEATURES October 3, 2001 Despite low t urn o ut, concert meets collection goal IFB'OM PAGE I "Wow, there's no one here. .it's kind of creepy ... That was what one of the few students who came to the show was overheard say ing. As the day wore on, the general tone of the event changed from one of optimism into one of frustration at the palpable lack of attendees. Gene Cassidy an alum nus who graduated last spring, spent his day watching the perfonnances for almost the entire duration of the event. "Often at New College, people devote a lot of time and energy to causes of all kinds worker s rights. the environment and all other points on the ac tivism compass," He said. I expected at least a hundred people ... at most, there were 25 students here." He continued, "we just had to show up and give a lit tie money; money we could've spent on beer smokes, or some other recreational habit ... I hate apathy, but I especially hate it among people who claim to give a damn." Others involved in Saturday's events echoed his sen timents. One of the perf01mers, Rob Wisenheimer, drummer and vocalist for The Sixth Act ( a three-man punk band prone to noodle ish bass guitar licks and witty banter between songs), said, "It's important that the people realize what's going on around th e m and around the world .. as far as around here campus wide, we [the band] see where that stands." People started to trickle in during the Dollyrots set, but the small crowd dissipated soon after th e Handshake Squad set ended. After a sparse afternoon more people showed up later that evening when homegrown acts Pop and Anti Anti took the stage. All four bands have member di r ectly tied to New College (two of the bands hav e who are c urre tl e n rolled as N e w College students, a faculty member is also a Handshake Sq ua d member, and the two core members of the Dollyrots are alumn i ) Stud e nts, for the mos t part were absent duri11g the sets of the local acts. During this lull, organizers worried about the success of the benefit show. In the middle of Pop's set, organizer Lori Bergstresser shared exciting news -over $1,000 had been raised for the Red Cross. This was largely in part to the members of the band Glib who donated $500 By the end of the evening, Bergstresser said they bad raised $l.l95.97, the goal being to collect roughly around $ 1 ,200. It was a happy ending, but organizers were still frustrated at the lack of student participation. There was speculation over why the event almost failed. Bergstresser cites a number of reasons: short notice, in sufficient advertising and location. "The fact that Caples is 'too far away' is a sorry excuse for not com ing," she said. As for Saturday's troubles, she said that she is "really put back by the lack of support [New College students] haveforeachother ... ifwecan'tsup port our own community, how are we going to impact our surrounding community, especially now that we are an independent institution?" It was stiU a good show despite the tum out. None of the bands canceled due to the lack of audience (Green Goblin, however, was a no-show due to transportation problems). Most of the acts were punk rock oriented, but other acts such as Handshake Squad, Pop, and the old fashioned rock trio Glib, made it an eclectic mix. Other than crowd turnout, the event ran smoothly. ''The bands were goOd, said first year Brian Ellison, but I think they would have been better had there been more people there." There were rumors of an incident with a drunken off campus visitor. This wa s confmned by campus security and while they could not elaborate before this article went to print they said the s ituation was e a s ily brought under control. For the few that were there these things c o uld not keep them from rockin g out. In th e w ord s of a little boy who looked no ol d e r than fiv e o r si x: I loved the music! proving that in the e nd, i t' s all a bout the music. It's that kind of energy that's important to the Dollyro ts, an act whose brand of nostalgic, pop-core unk usual\ draw s a l e c ro wd fr o m its New Coll e e fan-base. Kelly Ogden, the band's lead singer and bassist doesn't like a lot of the aggressive "angry-kid mus i c that is popular rig h t now, findin g th e s uburban ite-angst of what the media sometimes calls "rap-metal-mooks" to be "inappropriate "It's impor tant for us to have positive music because we still have a lot to be positive about," she said. Other bands also want to promote a "positive" image. Third-year student and guitarist and vocalist for Anti-Anti ''BiUy Anti" said that being positive was also what his band was all abouL "That's the name of the band: 'anti-anti'; 'anti' negative message," he said. Most bands, no matter what kind of music they played, were just glad that they could help out by play-The Pret z el King app e ared at the con c ert. Was h e l o okin g for the Medieval Fair ? ing Chris t opher Laine sin g er and bassist for Glib, th e trio who contribution might have saved the show. s aid ''lately I've found it really hard to play music v. ith the same pass i on that I once did h e aid. "Compared to what lhas bcenj happening, anything I sing about seems incredibly insignifica nt," he con t in u ed. "I don t h a v e any re a l political o r r eligi ou s l o yalt ies, bu t I d o n't lik e people who threat e n my w a y of life and I w ill d o any thing in my power to protect it. .if s in gi n g my s tupid songs can help in some way then I'll s in g m y s tupid songs." If anyone would like to contribute to th e R e d Cross Disaster Relief Fund in like of the recent eve nts, c ontact Rosemari e Fisher, Director of FinaJJCial D eve lopm e nt by calling 379-9300 e xt. 224, or v ia email: Rosemarie@arcswel.org How the Other Half 'Lives b y Christo p h er D eFillippi HELLO, ALl. Yov lfaSPEcTrVE Yc1v STv()NTS ovT THEilt_T ARE fEoPL LI/cE NEW AN5WR 1HE FoLi.t;WitiG QvEsTrolf$ To ovr' You Afl WITH f A SY, !low,

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The Catalyst NEWS October 3, 2001 5 New e-mail server has lots of bells and whistles by Renee Maxwell As one more way to manifest its se cession from USF, New College now has its very own e mail server with the domain name ncf.edu." But it's far more than just a new domain name, it s a whole new adventure in electronic mail, particularly for those students who have been using the Pine-based virtu e-mail that is at best, archaic. The new server features the latest version of Microsoft Exchange 2000, a web-based graphic interface that puts New College up to par with corporate America, at least in terms of e mail technology Jesse Wallace, Coordinator of Computer Control Systems, is largely responsible for getting the new e mail server up and running. He is obviously very with it. "This is by far the nicest e-mail system I've ever seen," he said. Some significant improvements from the old system include a seven megabyte inbox quota compared to the typical limit of virtu and the ability to access accounts from any where in the world via the Intemet. In addition, there are a multitude of extras such as daily weekly and monthly scheduling calendars task reminders and the ability to search for e-mail ad dresses on the server. There is also an Instant Messenger built in to the system (but is not yet en abled), and a link to a download for virus software. As part of the licensing agreement for the e-mail server, stu dents with accounts are entitled to a free version of McAfee Virus Scan 2000 There is also access to a public folder, where announcements or documents can be made available to everyone on the server. Due to the large storage capacity of the server Wallace said that students could feasibly store documents in their account as an alter native to floppy disks. The server has the capacity to serve 50,000 typical users, which Wallace pointed out may be roughly equivalent to the usage of 650 New College students So far, the team at Campus Computing has not encountered any problems with the new server. because they have been diligently testing it since sometime in July, when they flrst received a demo version from a vendor. They are also working to make the tran sition easier for students and faculty that have been using their USF ac counts for years. According to Director of Campus Computing Duff Cooper, "it's going to take more work for us to get them on the new system because they had an old account and probably want to J...cep their old active for a while, so that wjll s till be a legitimate address for about nine months to a year, but will forward to the ncf.edu address." Off campus access to the modem pool will not change either, and both old and new usemames will be valid for dial-up set tings during the nine to twelve month transition period. Students and faculty can open a new account by fllling out a simple form and bringing it to the Campus Computing office located in Palmer Building A 224. These forms were distributed to student mailboxes, but can also be obtained at the Campus Computing office. Once the form is filled out and turned in, accounts can be accessed via a link from the New College home. There is also an ''E-mail Q&A" available on the Campus Computing page which ad dresses general questions and problems for faculty and students. Peace Corps spokesperson speaks of Jordan., Ba) watch by Erin Blasco As a Peace Corps volunteer in Jordan, New College alum SoniaChloe Ramian, graduated 98, f ace d ste r eo types, marria _ge proposals and amoebas. It was a life-changmg experience, and by the end, even her mission had changed -from saving the environment to helping women. Ramian, regional recruiter for the Peace Corps, spoke at New College on Sept. 26 about her experiences. New College psychology professor Dr. Bauer also spoke about working as a Peace Corps volunteer at the National School for the Mentally Retarded in El Salvador in the 1970s. He spent the first three months of service depressed, he said. But he got a new perspective on his job when he went on a vacation in the country. "I ran into American tourists and actually pre tended I didn't speak English," he said. "[My experience) became more rewarding as my Life became more Salvadorian. "When you go out of your village, if [the Jordanians) find out you're an American they see you as the American government," she said. "All of a sudden you are solely responsible for the Persian Gulf War. You're that whore on Baywatch and on MTV and on The Bold and the Beautiful. They have TVs and they get those shows, only those shows. They don't get Reading Rainbow or Sesame Street." During her two years volunteering as an environmental manager in Jordan, she felt it was her responsibility to change peoples' attitudes towards Americans. "If you knew you could spend a lot of time with a person you would [admit] you were an Ame rican and you' d prove to t hem that American s a r e not th at woman wit h fake boobs," she said. But in her village, remote from the c p e took a Jordanian name: Y asmina. "The little girl [of her host family] was my little sister. they were my parents," she said. "I was part of them and if some body new came to the village [they would say}, 'this is Yasmina, she's our daughter.' Sbe said that this was the kmd of small community experience she wanted when she applied to Peace Corps. She knew that she could do more for the environment, and for peo ple, in Jordan than she could in the United States. "If I applied for any [en vironmental) job in America, they'd have me just knocking on doors:" she said. "What I can do overseas ts ten times more than I can do for the envi ronment over here." After graduating from New in the spring of 1998 with a deg:ee m Environmental Studies, she apphed to Peace Corps became the environmental manager for "the Grand Canyon of the Middle East" at age 21. Before she got there visitors would get a brief tour and but "it wasn't too interactive because they just didn't have the manpower," she said. Her job involved educatmg the public about the reserve and about environmental problems in Jordan. ''All the houses are rock solid cement but those [cement] factories pollute t he water, they pollute the air," she sat?. "It's horrible. Some of the schools we d go to were near cement factories and Peace Corps regional recruiter SoniaChloe Ramian, right, talks with fourth-year Drew those people have horrible diseases and her on including campmg, they don't even realize [the cause]. htkmg and cltmbmg Every kid has asthma. We couldn't out-When she. was not wtth htm, howright say, 'Your cement factory has ever, Jordamans assumed she iven your children asthma,' or 'Your looking for a husband. Then, she satd, job gave you this illness.' but they're just going to to ld Say things like 'Well do you you. They want that vtsa to Amenca. I we cou 1 I ant think it might pollute? Do you think got so many mamage proposa s c you could filter your water or even .. count. It must have been over But after spending more ttme m 200. J dan she found that the environment Desptte the dtfficultles, Ramtan satd focus. "My focus changed," the good ?utwei.ghed the bad. "You she said. "Helping the earth is not as know you gomg to get damn-ass important as helping women. raising sick," she satd., "but the other. their self-esteem in little baby steps you know re gomg to be ki:km without overstepping cultural bounds. back a beer wtth the ambassador. Some You find out what's important to you child will throw a rock at you d h t t but you're going to go to pyramtds m an w a s no. She found everyday life difficult as Egypt. The are so great. a female in Jordan because she always And you thmk, .I needed a male to leave her house after bas. I can expenence anything. You dark or to walk around the city. can do Peace Corps, you can do anyEventually, she began dating a British thing.'' computer programmer who accompa-

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6 The Catalyst NEWS Meet New College's new "behind-the-scenes" man by Jag Davies This summer, in response to the growmg responsibilities which come with indepen dence, New College created a new administrative position known as the "Vice President for Finance and Administration," whose job is to coordinate the ....... job. After receiving his bache lor's of science in Business 1 Administration from the University of North Carolina, and a master's degree in public 4 administration from Florida budgeting, accounting duties and various other business functions between New College and the University of South Florida. With over twenty-five years of experience in higher educa tion administration. John Martin was just the man for the State University, he held various administrative posts at schools such as Duke University and Florida State University. His most recent po sition was "Associate Vice Chancellor/ Associate Vice President for Admmistration" at the University of Houston, where he worked for the past three years. Martin should fit his new role well, considering that his long-term goal has been to serve as a chief business and fiscal officer of an institute of higher education. He also loves Florida, and enjoys golfing, sailing, and spending time with his wife, Judy, to whom he has been married to for twenty three years. So far, however. he has had to deal with an extremely heavy workload. "The legisla tive action came so quickly, we didn't have the luxury of a lot of planning," he said. ''When Florida Gulf Coast University was established, they had two or three years to plan the tran sition here, we only had a few weeks." As of now, USF still con trols distribution of funds to New College. Martin's job is to make sure that those funds are all sent to the right places at the right time. Although USF Sarasota/Manatee and New College split the costs of cer tain support services equa1Jy, each acts as the managing part ner for different services. For example, New College is the managing partne1 for mainte nance, custodial operations, utilities, facilities planning and the police department, while USF is responsible for manag ing services such as the business offices, the cashier's office, campus computing and parking operations. Martin's job is to oversee each of the services in which New College is the managing partner. Martin said that by November, the NCPD New College Police Department -October 3, 2001 should make its debut. Officers will be outfitted in new blue uniforms, and police cars will bear the New College insignia. Also, in the coming months, New College will hire someone to the position of "New College Controller" to help handle certain financial services in-house, rather than relying totally on USE ''We need to have an adequate ad ministrative infrastructure to support the college's needs in finance, accounting, purchas ing and personnel,'' said Martin. He stressed that, although stressful at times, the transition to independence iJ; going smoothly. "Hopefully, to stu dents, everything will look like business as usual, but there's a lot of behind-the-scenes work going on," said Martin. "The transition is going well -I want students to know that. We've got great support from the USF administration in try ing to separate out something that's been a pan of them for twenty-five years." Board of Trustees endorses Michalson's plan for new deans, directors itROM "TRUSTEES" PAGE 1 I The state budgetary process motivated many of the enhancements, Michalson said. For example, it will provide more support for dean's offices as opposed to directors' of fices. There are greater salary ranges for different positions, and "it's just to our advantage to fit our own organizational chart to the system that will fund us," Michalson said. "''ve [sent) cautionary notes to our heads of Student Affairs and Admissions and Financial Aid-this doesn't automati cally mean they will see all that money in their salaries," he said, but the extra salary money can be used in "flexible ways." In addition to the two new deans, Charlene Callahan is now "Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs" in order to better posi tion the provost in relation to the Vice President for Finance and Administration, since the provost is second in command and serves in the president's absence. Her position will han dle many of the functions of the former dean and warden's office, and "this makes the President," Michal son said, "Tampa," explaining that many decisions that would go to Tampa for approval will in stead go to him. The new structure also en hanced several other positions. The position of registrar was created to replace the director of records and registration. "Our registrar tells us the in dustry standard on these things is to have a registrar," Michalson said. The title of "director" will go to the heads of the library, career center and writing center. In addition, an Institutional Research department was cre ated under the provost's direction, which will collect in formation about the school, which is essential for the process of accreditation and grants. A data administrator was created under the direction of the vice president of finance and administration. The Office of Public Affairs was made a function of the president's of fice. Also high on the board's agenda was a report from General Counsel Smolker, a New College alum who's a se nior partner at a law firm in Tampa. ''I'm reaJly thrilled to have this opportunity to serve the college," he said. "This is part labor of love and part op portunity to expand my own professional horizons." "We thought we needed someone with a definitive his tory of New College," Johnson said. Smolker gave the college a substantial discount on his normal fee; and since he's teaching an environmental law class this semester, his trans portation costs are already covered. "This is probably one of the highlights of my profes sional career," he said. ''Trying to become instant general counsel for a university that has just become 'instant uni versity."' Smolker is providing legal advice and insuring New College is complying with all relevant state law-some 600 pages of statues and rules. His position will be even more challenging, he said, because of the upheaval in the state uni versity system. New College will take liberally from poli cies it already has developed, and selectively from those of the University of South Florida. The school has the obliga tion to create some legal structures, he said, such as a Student Ombudsman who will bring students' concerns to the administration, and a Student Judicial Review Committee. He also dealt with issues in volving rules, by-laws, and liability of the board of trustees. The critical business of the trustees' meeting came during the first hour and 15 minutes of the meeting. Also that morn ing, during his chairman's report, Johnson mentioned meeting with Senate President John McKay, ''The President, [Vice President of Finance and Administration] John Martin, General Heiser and I met with John McKay on Thursday morning. We had a very posi tive meeting. We outlined for him not only our present bud getary situation but the effect of the veto and the deficit bud get and how its creating little holes and problems for us." Johnson said, "The one thing that we do have a commitment on at this point is ... that we would be held harm less in any new budgetary cuts. We took our cut in the veto. We took about a 7.1% cut over the rest of the system." The board heard a report from President Michalson, in which he thanked everyone in volved in the transition and outlined his vision for the col lege for the next one to two years, the expected time before a pem1anent president comes on board. He thanked Chairman Johnson and General Heiser, "with whom I've been in contact basically every day." He said that Johnson's work had been "tremendous! y reassuring," and said that after one morning of work, "I realized John Martin and I get paid for this, and Bob doesn't." Michalson also thanked Suzanne Janney, who, he said, wears many hats. She received a round of applause. He also thanked the heads of almost every other department. and commended the "sense \r team spirit."

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The Catalyst 0PINIO Letters to the Editor: 'Banner motto' was hurtful to FMLA Dear Editor: A one of th llH.l 'nt in FMLA's "Love Your Body Day" event last Wednesday, T am di. appointed hy )OUr ju enile and gratuitous choice of caption unde1 neath the Catalyst t>ann r in t his week's i uc. La t Wednesday. the Femini. t Majority Leadership Alliance put col o r ed slip of paper in all New Collcoc mailboxc. with little mes age uch as Y u are o beautifuL" and "Hi. you're go r geou Have a great Love Your B ody Day!" The Catalyst caption mockingly states, "Hi! You're ugly! Have a great Hate Your Body L ife'' A nd my only question i W h y? W hy be rude a n d inse n si t ive? Why act as i f ea t ing di orders a n d body i ma g e i sues are trivial? Does i t bother you a s m u h as i t bot hers me to hear that 80% of fo u rth-grade girls arc on a diet or tha t o n e i n every twe n ty col lege a g e women i b u limic? It: pe rc han ce, the cap tio n w a in tended a j u st a silly I a t m i nu tc j o ke t o get a chea p lau gh all I c an say i s, Better luck n e xt tim e. Degradin g hum o r d tra t from effective jou mali m. Dear Editor of the Catalyst: Ouch! That hurt I did not need to se e pecially not now that things ar p1hng up on m (not that I expect you to always be nice) and especiall not after seeing dozens of A' beautifyino pink po. ters. PM A pent weeks for Lov Your Body Day only to be in orne people's mind by sp ll! econd however long it took the meaning of your m s age to ettlc in. It mean that some nc among tL would be willing to undo in a few seconds whatever it took a group at more thought and power to do. It frightens me to think that t her: is an enemy among us who i. willing to tum up that "voice'' in the back o f our head that so man y of u s came to New College toes cape. R aea K. H i c k s The banne r m otto was in response to a sli p place d in tlze C ata lys t box. We did not m e an t o mock th z s st u dent activity. Corrections eln the artic l e on the Crosley Estate the Catalyst stated that the environmentally sensitive acreage on the Crosley Estate is 20 acres. It has about 10 acres. aJulie Morris has been a Florida Fish and Wildlife Commissioner for nine years. Her recent appointment was to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. October 3, 2001 7 Clar"ficatlon aNew College is not the 11th state university of Florida. It is not a university. It is the 11th "ent ity'' i n the state university system 17w C'atal ) t intnxlutes tl u new feature tlw t hopefull y w ill omt b e di co ntinue
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8 The Catalyst NEWS October 3, 2001 USF professor accused of terrorist ties on national TV By Michael Gimignani Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a tenured profes sor of computer engineering at USF Tampa, was placed on indefinite paid leave Friday after appearing on Fox News Channel's Tlze O'Reilly Factor USF officials contend that the death threats the professor received after his interview undermined campus safety. "I will maintain this university as a safe and secure learning environment. This is why Dr. Al-Arian is being re moved from our campus,'' said USF President Judy Genshaft of the decision. The coutrover y stems from com ments Bill O'Reilly. host of The 0 'Reilly Factor, made Wednesday night all but accusing Al-Arian, and by asso ciation USF. of supporting terrorists and terrorist organizations. "It looks to me like there's some thing wrong down there at the University of South Florida ... am I get ting the wrong impression here?" said O'Reilly during the telecast. Later in the interview, O'Reilly told A1-Arian, "If I was the CIA, I'd follow you wherever Jewish-Christian dialogue on terrorist attacks Searching for Meaning in the you went. I'd follow you 24 hours." O'Reilly also grilled Al-Arian on a speech he made in 1988. "You were quoted as saying, 'Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death to Israel. Revolution. Revolution until victory. Rolling to Jerusalem.' Did you say that?" O'Reilly asked. Al-Arian, a prominent Islamic ac ttvt t, responded, "We have to under tand the context. When you say "Death to Israel, you mean death to oc cupation, death to apartheid, death to oppression." ''But not death to any human being?" O'Reilly countered. "No. absolutely not. Absolutely not," said Al-Arian. AI-Arian helped start the World and I lam Studies Enterprises, an Islamic intellectual think tank originally ba ed at USF. The FBI raided this organizatiOn in 1995, accusing it of being a front for Middle Eastern terrorists. As a result of the ensuing federal investigation, AI Arian was placed on paid leave for three years, from 1996 to 1998. He was also linked to several others with alleged terrorist connections of their own. One former colleague, Ramadan Abdulah Shallah, left the think tank and USF in 1995. He resur faced six months later as the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist or ganization based in Syria. Another acquaintance, FBI-suspected terrorist Tariq Hamdi, arranged an interview with Osama bin Laden for ABC News in 1998. A third, Al-Arian 's brother-in law Mazen Al-Najjar, wa jailed for years on secret evidence linking him to Islamic Jihad. Al-Atian himself ha never been ar rested or charged with a crime. In a press conference on Friday, Al Arian said he was the target of "terrorism perpetrated by journalists." He referred to O'Reilly's interview, which he called a "guilt-by-association exercise." "Not only did the producers lie about the purpose of the interview, but most of what the host said was old news, inac curate, irrelevant, bigoted and most ANNOUNCEMFNTS PAGE importantly, lacked time frame and con text," AI-Arian said. USF issued a statement Thursday separating itself from AI-Arian's com ments. "Dr. Al-Arian does not speak for the university on these issues, and it is incorrect to suggest that his views rep resent USF in any fashion," Genshaft aid. USF also cancelled a scheduled conference on the Middle East and ter rorism that was supposed to feature Al-Arian. "I mostly regret the fact that over 90 of my students will be affected by this decision," said Al-Arian. "I hope once the excitement subsides I will be rein stated. I hope it's in weeks rather than month ." lnfonnation from the St. Petersburg Times, the USF Oracle, and Fox News Channel was used in this report. Face of Catastrophe, a Jewish Christian dialogue will take place on Thursday, October 4th at 7 P.M. in Sudakoff Center. This discussion will feature Professor Lee Snyder and Rabbi Saperstein as part of the week long campus dia logue on faith. All are welcome and refreshments will be served afterwards. meets weekly to study and practice traditional Mahayana Buddhist meditation. Participation is open to all : it requires no prior knowledge of or commitment to Buddhism. Attendance is free of charge. Margeret D. Lowman, Ph.D. is the executive director of Selby Botanical Gardens. She has served as an adjunct professor at ew College, the University of South Florida, University of Florida, and Williams College. Dr. Lowman is also co-founder and Board member of the Science and Environment Council of Sara ota County. She received her bachelor's degree from Williams College in Mas achusetts in 1976, her master's degree from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland in 1978 and her Ph.D. from the University o Sydney in Ausualia in 1983. Dr. Lowman is a resident o Sarasota. and the Anthropo ogy of Performance Ben and Jerry's Devotional Society This Wednesday, October 3, at 9:30 pm in the cafeteria: a meeting of the Ben and Jerry's Club will be held. All students are are welcome. The purpo e of this meeting: come and eat free ice cream and sorbet and take a break with your friends. Come and enjoy the free good ness! Sarasota Mahayana Buddhist Meditation Group Time: Wednesdays 8:00 9:30 P.M. Location: College Hall Music Room The Sarasota Mahayana Buddhist Meditation Group The Mahayana "Great Vehicle" tradition of Buddhism was taught by the Buddha, developed in India, and then transmitted to Tibet. T