OCR::/Vol_094/WLURG39_RTP_19950310/WLURG39_RTP_19950310_001.2.txt “« .2’ ".'.“v='.". raw‘ :4,» av; iafun. f .; ‘if-W5 Rebekah Prince earns third straight All -American Honors title Sagan’ s Pale Blue Dot reviewed Page 3 he ilting-tum lfilii WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY Page 8 .7 M VOLUME 95, No. is LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA MARCH 10, 1995 Facu Blood drive pulls into town hoto by Betsy Green, The Ring-tum Phi lty chooses winter Rush Vote taken to gauge opinion, not to arrive at final decision By MICHAEL HEWLEIT Phi Staf Writer story on page two. Chi Psi sponsored a blood drive on March 9. Scott Dittman was one of those who volunteered to give blood. See Washington and Lee faculty mem- bers voted 83-3 in support of Winter Rush in a meeting Monday afternoon. The Student Affairs Committee re- quested the vote to get an idea of what the faculty thought about Winter Rush, said Executive Committee President Kevin Webb. He said the vote was taken simply to gauge opinion and not to implement Winter Rush next term. SAC members will make recommen- dations based on students’ opinions at the April 3rd meeting. The faculty will make a final vote in May. In a four-hour meeting at Dean of Students David Howison’s house, SAC members voted unanimously to delay any consideration of Winter Rush for next year and approved the InterFraternity Council’s condensed Fall Rush program. Under the new IFC plan, pledgeship would be completed the week before Thanksgiving break, and initiation would occur in the first week of Winter Term. Webb said the majority of faculty members supported Fall Rush for next year. He said Winter Rush would be impractical next year because of the Mock Convention and other events in the academic schedule. Howison agreed but argued that Winter Rush would unify students and give freshmen more time to decide on fraternities. In a statement made at the faculty meeting, Professor of Physics H. Tho- mas Williams cited several documents, including the Coeducation Review Committee Final Report and a two year study conducted by the Univer- sity of the South, as evidence that supported Winter Rush. He said the University of the South study surveyed 17 schools. Twelve of these schools had Winter Rush and had had no prob- lems with it, he said. He said W&L should try Winter Rush. If it doesn’t work, the university can always go back to the old system, he said. IFC President Kevin Batteh said Winter Rush would distract freshmen from theirstudies. He said Winter Rush would hurt the house economically because most of their money comes from pledge dues. He said upperclass- men would be pressured to maintain house numbers. Fall Rush gives pledges access to upperclassmen who "can help them with classes, Batteh said. Panhellenic Council President Suzanne Sharp said it’s important for Panhellenic to support Greek life. When 95 percent of men rush in the fall, a larger percentage of women will rush in the winter, she said. Sophomore Kathleen Quirk said Winter Rush would be unfair to the freshmen. Freshmen would either feel isolated from the W&L social scene or u->See RUSH, page 2 Gorham wins run-off , 2500 travel to Paris for 88th Fancy Dress drinking citations handled by the ABC Board. By DAN ODENWALD Phi Staff Writer Sophomore Amy Gorham won Thursday’s run-off election for Secretary of the Executive reorder were sold out again within two hours. He felt attendance F.D. weekend,” and was pleased By CHRISTINE GARNAVISH to note the remarkably good be- Phi Staff Writer was partly due to this, because havior of the guests. The fraternities, always a . . when people like the package Lexington Chief of Police prominent part of Fancy Dress Committee ,w"h 348 Votes‘ . they tend to purchase tickets more Bruce Beard agreed with Young,_ weekend, also enjoyed great suc- Monday 5. el°.cn9" pm her 1" Many W&L students making readily. noting that there were no reports cess. With nine band parties on a mmoff Wm‘ Jumor Graham their first trip to Paris last Friday were awed by “Une Soiree Parisienne” with its art, flowers, music and even can-can dancers. Joe Frampton, head of the F.D. Steering Committee, was very pleased with results of this year’s ball, giving special recognition to his fellow committee mem- bers and their efforts. The committee, which had been working since early Octo- ber, had a few months, a $73,000 budget, and a great amount of creativity and devotion, making the 88th Annual Fancy Dress Ball one of the most successful in W&L history. Frampton esti- mates that about 2500 people turned out for the event, most of whom were W&L students and faculty. Committee Vice—Chair Dan Felton agreed with “Paducah Joe” that the ball went “tremendously well,” again giving credit to the hard-working committee. Felton felt that the success was due in large part to the fact that the members of the committee “clicked,” though he jokingly remarked that the “can-can danc- ers were key.” He said many on the commit- tee worked well over one hun- dred hours a piece, but noted that they “do for the joy that it brings to all the guests.” Felton further noted the astro- nomical sales of tickets and memorabilia over any past year. Fancy Dress T-shirts sold out twice, and upon arrival of the Most of the guests agree that Fancy Dress was a good experi- ence and a lot of fun. One stu- dent, who asked that his name not be printed, remarked “It was great...what I remember of it.” However, this year alcohol was not as great a problem as it had been in the past. Head of W&L Security Mike Youngcomplimented the student body on a “quiet, well-managed of vandalism or property dam- age. He was “very pleased” with the outcome of the weekend, and extended his gratitude to the stu- dent body on behalf of himself and his department. He remi- nisced of “more aggressive” balls in years past, and was pleased to report that the only disciplinary problems brought to his atten- tion were a handful of underage Saturday alone, they were cer- tainly very active, although none reported any problems. In fact, the only unusual occurrence noted was that Sigma Phi Epsi- lon had to move an outdoor event into the house due to dubious weather. Sig Ep President John Cox spoke of the success of fra- ternity activities, but also complimented the ball itself as a wonderful experience. The garden was one of the many places couples could get their pictures taken at the Fancy Dress Ball. Frey. Also during Monday’s election, Keith Benedict ’96L won the presidential race, Bob Turner ran unopposed for Vice- President, and Madeline White ran unopposed for Student Con- duct Committee Chair, or Presi- dent of the Senior class. $3 million gift brings W&L closer to campaign goal By ETHAN KRUPP Phi News Editor The contributions President John Wilson and his wife, Anne, have made to Washington and Lee University were recognized by a $3 million gift to the University from Frances and Sydney Lewis. The Lewises, of Richmond, Va., are the co- founders of Best Products Inc. and benefactors of W&L. “This gift is to honor the service John and Anne Wilson have given socompetently and devotedly to Washington and Lee over the past 13 years,” the Lewises said in a statement announcing the gift last Saturday at the Board of Trustees meeting. The gift was revealed by Board of Trustees Rector A. Stevens Miles when he interrupted a report by Gerry benfest on gifts to the University. The gift caught Wilson totally off guard. “I just sat there, stunned,” he said. The $3 million, which will be used for scholar- ships and financial aid, is the latest gift from the Lewises. They have been some of the University’s most generous benefactors in the last 20 years. In 1972, they gave W&L $9 million for the construc- tion of a new law school. They also donated an additional $3 million over the years to support an addition to the law school to hold the papers of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, establish honor scholarships, and help other philanthropic efforts of W&L. Wilson said the gift helped W&L approach the Trustees. $31 million dollar goal for student financial en- dowment, a main target of the “On The Shoulders of Giants” campaign. Sydney Lewis graduated from W&L in 1940 and received his law degree from the law school in 1943. Lewis and his wife have both served as Wilson said he would like to spend his final months at W&L seeing “this campaign go smash- ing through the top.” He said the gift from the Lewises was a substantial help. OCR::/Vol_094/WLURG39_RTP_19950310/WLURG39_RTP_19950310_002.2.txt BEYOND THE BLUE RIDGE The World Walesa swears in new Cabinet On Monday, President Lech Walesa swore in Poland’s new Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Jozef Olesky. The Cabinet is the country’s sixth since the communists fell in 1989. Olesky is the first former communist to lead the government since 1989. The Cabinet has promised to sign Poland’s 1995 budget. Ground assault expected in Chechnya Russian forces seized a key stretch of road in southwest Chechnya , earlier in the week. Forces maintained rocket and artillery fire on the rebel- held neighboring town of Achkhoy Martan. Now that Russia controls this key portion of the road and has weakened the southern region of Chechnya, a ground assault is expected. Due to their concern about the continued fighting, the European Union has delayed signing a major trade deal with Moscow. Estonia elects conservative parliament Many of the young liberals who have been pushing for radical change in Estonia lost Monday’s parliamentary election to older, more cautious politicians. This conservative group is spearheaded by Tiit Vahi, who supports the free market, but hopes to form a stronger social safety net than that which existed under the young free market radicals. New alliances in former Yugoslavia Croatia formed a military alliance with the Croat-Muslim Federation in Bosnia yesterday. The alliance will give military support to the movement against Serb rebels in both Croatia and Bosnia. F ranjo Tudjman, the Croatian president, has ordered 12,000 U.N. troops out of Croatia by March 31. He attributes the Croatian govemment’s failure to win back territory from the rebel Serbs to the U.N. peacekeeping troops presence. The Nation Supreme Court rules on employee benefits The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that standard benefit plan wording that gives a company the right to amend the plan is valid. The court ruled in favor of the Curtiss-Wright Corporationiwhich cancelled the health benefits of retired non-union employees of a Wood-Ridge, New Jersey plant which closed in 1983 because of declining business. Gingrich protested at Washington hotel Five hundred demonstrators protesting changes in the school lunch program broke into a ballroom at the Washington Hilton Hotel yesterday. Gingrich was supposed to speak to 2,000 representatives from the National Association of Counties. His speech was canceled after protest began. Hillary Rodham Clinton to announce literacy Hillary Rodham Clinton observed International Women’s Day by announcing an initiative to increase female literacy. The announcement was made at the United Nations forum marking the observance of Intema- tional Women’s Day. Rodham Clinton also hopes to help more girls in developing countries to finish primary school. The State éi Tribe to regain land The Episcopal Church announced on Monday that it will donate seven acres of land at the base of Bear Mountain to the Monacan Indian Tribe. The Monacans have lived along the Blue Ridge Mountains for thousand of years. With the sacred land, the tribe will also regain a tribal meeting center and a mission schoolhouse where the Monacans were once educated. Rally held in support of gay rights activist About three hundred people met in a Norfolk church on Sunday to show their support for gay rights activist Mel White. White, 54, is on his fourth week of a hunger strike in the Virginia Beach city jail. Minister White was arrested on February 15th for trespassing at the Christian Broadcasting Network compound at Virginia Beach in an attempt to meet Pat Robertson. White has said he will continue to strike until Robertson agrees to meet with him to discuss Robertson’s negative views on homosexuality. Beyond the Blue Ridge is compiled by Bethany Bauman The Ring-tum Phi. March 10. 1995 I Hot Zone author offers to take , out Boston By DAN ODENWALD Phi Staff Writer . A nervous laugh followed by si- lence fell overthe Lee Chapel audience as author Richard Preston held up the tiny capsule. The pinhead—sized black speck in the center contained a tiny piece of liver infected with the deadly virus, Ebola Zaire. “There’s enough Ebola in here to wipe out one million people. We could do Boston,” said Preston. The acclaimed author of the best- selling book, The Hot Zone, spoke Thursday night to a packed audience about his novel which described an Ebola outbreak in a monkey house in Reston, Virginia. Ebola is the extremely lethal virus that has the international science com- munity baffled and terrified. Since Ebola’s origins are unknown and separate strains effect similar spe- cies differently, the virus remains a mystery to epidemiologists, those who study viruses. While the Reston strain of Ebola wiped out the monkeys in the monkey house, humans were unaffected. However, the Ebola Zaire and Sudan strains have been known to wipe out entire African villages. More frighten- ing still is that these strains are airborne and can spread among human popula- tions quickly. Ebola kills its victim by liquefying flesh, turning organs into giant blood clots, and causing the body to bleed from every orifice. This process is known as “crashing and bleeding out.” The enigmatic and violent nature of Ebola makes it one of the most serious biological time bombs ever. The United States had a near brush with an Ebola outbreak when monkeys inside a monkey house began crashing and bleeding out. The military quaran- tined the building, euthanized the mon- keys, and destroyed all contents within the building. The disaster was avoided Creative Dating arrives at W&L with little media attention. Enter Richard Preston. He stumbled across the story while talking to virolo- gists who were familiar with Reston. He knew he stumbled in to any reporter’s gold mine — a great and little-known story. “Coming across an explosive story is like digging rocks and finding an enormous cave lit only by your flash- light,” Preston said. The reporter uses his “flashlight” to gain knowledge and eventually know the story like the back of his hand. After extensive research, Preston delivered The Hot Zone. The book was fantastically successful. This week it appeared at #3 on the bestseller list of The Wall Street Journal and at #2 on the bestseller list of the New York Times. Preston responded to questions about critics who claim the book was a plea to prevent the destruction of the rain forests. (Preston hypothesized that Ebola originated in the rain forest and infected the human population when humans destroyed its habitat.) “This book wasn’t meant to stop the devastation of the rain forests. It was not written for political purposes,” said Preston. Preston also explained his theory that viruses lethal to the human popu- lation are nature’s way of thinning out an expanding species nearing capacity. “AIDS is not a natural accident. Rather it’s a part of a continuous pro- cess of disease emergence. lt’s nature’s way of controlling the human popula- tion,” said Preston. Preston spoke on “biopolitics’ as well. When Ebola broke in Reston, the Center for Disease Control and the U.S. military argued overwhich agency would be responsible for managing the crisis. Both believed they had jurisdic- tion. Eventually, a compromise was reached: the C.D.C. would deal with the human component of Ebola, and the military would handle the monkey house. In addition to government agencies, individuals can battle with biopolitics. By MICHAEL HEWLEFI‘ Phi Staff Writer A dating seminar next week could impact the Washington and Lee hook—up scene. sum Photo by Betsy Green, The Ring-tum Phi Richard Preston shows off the gas mask he wore for pro- tection from the deadly Ebola virus. This was the case with the discovery of the HIV virus. Both French research- ers of the Louis Pasteur Institute and Dr. Robert Gallo of the National Insti- tute of Health claimed discovery of the virus. After intense negotiations, they agreed to share the discovery. Preston added his belief that biopolitics is in the best interest of the American people. ‘‘It’s better to have two govemment agencies fighting over a crisis than for them not to care at all,” said Preston. Preston also said he believes an AIDS vaccine will not come soon be- cause of the hyper mutation the virus undergoes while in the body. “A person may die of an HIV strain completely different from the strain she caught,” said Preston. When asked about a hypothetical widespread outbreak of Ebola, Preston does not anticipate a rosy scenario. “The U.S. would revert to 18th cen- tury medicine of quarantine and flight. Those infected would be shut off from the healthy world, while the healthy would flee the cities for less populated areas of the country,’ said Preston. Richard Preston was graduated from Pomona College in 1977 and received his Ph.D. in 1983 from Princeton Uni- versity. He contributes regularly to The New Yorker. He has also wrote a book about the cosmos and one about the steel industry. poly? . . . at 37%: of donated blood. comes gas‘, . .. theeviiabit throughout their life,” Bytearly-'afternoon Hal} estimated A’ fstuderits who start donating in I V r.. for the day * "I't‘¢-A15.-‘<9’-‘v‘.‘-1 ' The Creative Dating Workshop will be held in Dupont Auditorium on Wednesday, March 15 at 7:00 p.m. The workshop is sponsored by Student Activi- ties Coordinator Michelle Richardson, Cable 9 Dat- ing Game, Women’s Forum and Panhellenic Council. The Creative Dating Workshop was started in 1985 by Xavier University Student Activities Direc- tor David Coleman, said Christine Ivanov, the pro- moting and booking agent for the program. Coleman developed the program after students asked him for inexpensive and fun activities that didn’t involve alcohol. I Richardson said she thought the workshop would help students socialize and meet people with- out alcohol. “I thought it would be interesting because Wash- ington and Lee has a reputation for not dating.” Senior and Channel 2 Dating Game host Chris Albert said the workshop sounded like a fun activity. “Creative Dating might give a new perspective on dating on a small campus in a small town.” lvanov said the program’s main goal is to give students realistic options on how to improve their relationships, whether romantic or platonic. Students, particularly freshmen, are afraid to get involved in school activities. “Students often get stuck in a rut,” she said. “They get fixed on one social idea. We try to get them while they’re young.” - lvanov said the program is tailored for each cam- pus. Creative Dating tries to get presenters who have a feel for a particular school’s social scene, she said. Issues such as AIDS and alcohol abuse might be more emphasized at one campus than others, she said. She said new ideas are always generated from campus visits. Creative Dating does a 100 colleges, she said. She estimated that they’ve visited 50,000 students in approximately 48 states since 1985. She said they’re working on visiting Hawaii and Alaska. lvanov said the program is interactive and lasts an hour and a half. Students participate in various activi- ties and see slides. She said the program is sensitive to the political climate of a school while at the same time helping students improve their relationships. “We respect each campus’s philosophy, but we still get the message across.” Do you want an exciting life chasing the.hot 5 .ooiiti:o¥)ile had collected amums 35 _ g blood Tit:rrsday.' he saiciffpi had tried once before M co earn iiarrgty for sbme'one.”.. ._ 45 minntesiand an iiourto give ile wines a. year ~ A 11% the E - Agirre. iftiwais 2 good expe_rienee.. 1» Faculty indicates it wants winter Rush u->RUSH, from page I feel more pressure from fraternity men to join a house. She thinks winter Rush would produce smaller pledge classes and would essentially mean an entire term of Rush. Assistant Professor of Politics Mark Rush said he hasn’t heard any good arguments for keeping Fall Rush. He said there is no reason not to go to winter Rush. He said the argument that winter Rush would hurt fratemities is a non-argument. ‘‘I don’t see how fratemities are going to suffer from non-fratemity options,” he said. “Competition is competition.” Other students stressed the need for That's the best prescrip ‘ I/4/////////////fl/////////////A7////////////////////J4I news of W&L? ~ 5V/////////////////////////////////////////////I/4/”’”"7/%Wflfl/Mflflflflfl///WWW/J///W//#////////////////I///fl/1///////#fl/////WWMMM/flflflfl/fiwwfl///W////fl ' t1onfor_ - /////////////////fl////////////////J/W/fl//////%//flflflflfl/flfi/flfi/J/Wflflfl /////////////////////////W .1. 4 - ' ' _.»..-....'4..s.. student autonomy. “I think it’s up to the student body to decide what’s right for them,” said senior Yabiz Sedghi. Senior Goose Garrigus agreed. “I think it’s important to get faculty members’ opinions,”shesaid,“butthe students’opinions should be more important.” Webb said it was important to get faculty mem- bers’ opinions on winter Rush to give the student body a chance to respond. Webb said he wants students and faculty to work together instead of against each other on winter Rush. “Student autonomy is the most important charac- teristic of W&L,” he said. “We shouldn’t take that away from the students.” BROUGHTTOYOU NTWO AND SOME GOLD MEDICINE. To your body. alcohol and medicine can seem very similar. Both can affect your balance. coordination, and ability to see accurately. Skills that are essential to riding. After drinking or taking medication. don't ride. ATION / BEERS vour safety. Moroncvcu snrm rouu /////////// Then come work for The Ring-tum Phi as a staff writer. No experience necessary. A "Meetings are held at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays in University Center Room 208. ///////////////////. : i 1/ W A ’///////////Z////////flfl////flflfiflfiflfi/////fl/ .....g,. -........... .,n. . .....—_q .. ..._. mm...-...iv_: ~' '- OCR::/Vol_094/WLURG39_RTP_19950310/WLURG39_RTP_19950310_003.2.txt J 1/ «K it 4 The Sn awsn an/t Redemption cxplorcs issues with poisc, concern By KIRK SUsoNG~———— Phi Movie Reviewer The Shawshank Redemption — sfritrifir 1/2 The Shawshank Redemption is another movie that sprang stillborn from the studio; it has received very little attention from the pub- lic. However, when it was nominated for sev- eral Oscars, including Best Picture, I decided to give it a try. Although it might be difficult to find in a theater, go see it soon, before it disappears. The prison-break genre has produced some of the best movies ever made, such as Papillon or The Great Escape. The Sha wshank Redemp- tion is in the same tradition and richly deserves a place alongside those earlier films. As usual, the protagonist is a man wrongly convicted, this time for killing his adulterous wife and her lover. But Andrew Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is more than just innocent; he is also a clever and persistent man who was once a bank vice—president. When he arrives at Shawshank Prison in Maine, he quickly becomes something of a loner and makes enemies. When he finally gets around to talking to someone, he develops a friendship with Ellis “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman), the man-who-can-get-things. Deal- ing in the currency of Lucky Strikes and Ches- terfields, Freeman is a respected man in prison circles, as far as these things go. When the prison warden (corrupt, naturally) discovers that Robbins is ‘good with numbers,’ he decides to make use of his free labor. First the warden just has Robbins do his taxes, then all the guards’ taxes, and eventually Robbins is doing taxes for most state employees within the region. But then the warden gets grander ideas. He decides to go into business using convict labor — not just Robbins but other prisoners as well. Eventually the warden is getting so many kick- backs and bribes that he develops intricate bank accounts, fake companies, and even phantom partners to launder all the dirty money. Behind the whole house of cards is, of course, Robbins. But the plot simply serves as a framework to explore a number of interesting issues: the walls of prison and the walls of the soul; acqui- escence and anticipation; pity and sorrow; joy and failure; displacement and familiarity; the innocence and guilt of both men and their system; and, most importantly, hope and resig- nation. So what really drives the movie is not the direction (though Frank Darabont does a fine job) nor the story line (adapted from a Stephen King story), but the wonderful acting that fills out the very human characters. For example, Tim Robbins (The Player) is very expressive as Andy Dufresne. However, even better than Robbins is Mor- gan Freeman (Unforgiven,DrivingMissDaisy) as Red. This is Freeman’s third Oscar nomina- tion, and he richly deserves to win. Admittedly his character is sympathetic and likable, but we shouldn’t allow that to lessen the power of his acting. He carries on with a certain monarchal wis- dom and dignity; his character is unflappable. This makes his occasional outbursts all the more powerful. Freeman is so refined and re- served he is able to make his narration at the beginning of the film work, instead of being a shoddy excuse for character development. It’s interesting to look at the Oscar field this year. Both Forrest Gump and The Shawshank Redemption are ‘feel-good’ films, full of senti- mentality and weepy emotion — almost maud- lin. It is amazing to see that the lesser (by far) of these two films received so many more nomi- nations (by far); could the Academy have been swayed by the fact that Gump was a greater commercial success (by far)? The Shawshank Redemption explores a num- ber of issues with poise and carefully-ordered concern, keeping it all together within a coher- ent story populated with superb acting. This is a film you will not want to miss on the big " screen. It is definitely worth a drive to Roanoke 4! 1H} - Okay. so there have been better films. Nevertheless, it is a .-ymsu. 4 least don't waste it on this (There's always MTV.) or Lynchburg or wherever; and it is also worthy of a few Oscars this year. Let’s just hope that the Academy agrees. Rating Scale tifrtkt} - 00 buy this as soon as it comes out on video. It is an instant classic. “You'll laugh; you‘|| cry; and maybe, just maybe. you‘ll learn something about yourself.“ , flirt? - Gosce this film now, while it‘s still on the big screen. It's wonh a few Oscar nominations and the seven bucks you'll pay if you see it outside Lexington. Overall. “Better than Cats!" good example of its genre, and you should probably see it on videotape. Still. probably “Better than Cats!“ it} - It happens to be on HBO, and you're blowing offtomonow‘s reading. Although your time would probably be better served on your education. its free and you're bored. so go ahead and watch II. D - Even if its free and your best friend said he never laughed harder, trust me, this one sucks. Don't waste your time. or at PAGE 3 "‘|’.“» ,_ at . - - = Art by John Frassanito and Associates Soviet space station Mir and Shuttle rendezvous and dock in the first stage of a planned cooperative effort between the United States and Rus- sia — and other international partners — in the creation of an international space station. ngnis EQSIHIE UI5i9ll3 Efl Lint: tr imtginniitn By STEPHEN WILLIARD Phi Staff Writer “On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffer- ing, thousands of confident religions, ide010gieS...every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there —— on a mote of dust sus- pended in a sunbeam.” In Pale Blue Dot, Carl Sagan describes the vision of a human impact on the Cos- mos. The book begins, however, by debunking many ancient and modern predisposition re- garding the Universe. In what Sagan calls “The Great Demotions,” he outlines how we have come from being the center of the Universe and the ultimate reason readers. In the long awaited sequel to Cosmos, Sagan once again does his best to capture the minds and imaginations of his for Creation, to mere passengers on a ship that might not even be the only springboard for life in the Cosmos. With scientific logic, Sagan details the changes that must take place within our civili- zation before we can truly reach out to the stars. Without global cooperation, many of the long term goals for space exploration will be unattainable. In his unique style of making science attain- able to the average reader, Sagan lists the tri- umphs of the Voyager probes (including the pictures from beyond the Solar System of the plan- ets that sparked the be- ginning passage) and other exploratory mis- sions to the stars. Sagan has completed another successful step in educatingthe public about space and science in gen- eral. One of the key ele- ments in the book, al- though sometimes a bit subtle, is Sagan’s opti- mism for the human spe- cres. Despite gloomy pre- dictions from some, he states the possibilities for our clan as we attempt to catch up with the technol- ogy we have created. One example of our possibility lies in the Voy- ager probe itself. For a civilization finding the craft at some time in the future, the ship would repre- sent to them a culture that was curious, explor- atory and open-minded. While now this may not be the case, Sagan . O l Publicity Photo presents the possibility that it may be the case; once we learn how to cope with our abilities, we may attain that level. “There are people who were born before there was such a thing as an airplane, and who in old age saw four ships launched to the stars. For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallabilities, we humans are capable of greatness.” Sagan, a master at bringing science torthe .. attention of the general public, has possibly improved upon his immensely popular Cosmos with Pale Blue Dot. The book also does an excellent job of confronting some of the physics behind mod- em space exploration without either glossing over it or going into esoteric detail. Most would hope that we survive to see some of Sagan’s predictions for our future comet0pass.. .. . .- . — Publicity Photo Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Sagan probes the Universe, continuing the scientific voyage begun in Cosmos, which appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for seventy weeks. Farai Chidega GCDLJRRS Culural misinformation By MICHAEL . HEWLETT ' ‘ Phi Staff Writer When fonner Clinton nominee, Lani Guinier, spoke at Lee Chapel a few weeks ago, she noted how much of our political discourse is domi- nated by “drive-by debating.” When discussing social ills, we, as Americans, tend to buy quick ex- planations without realizing the is- sue may be more complicated than we expect. Oftentimes, politicians throw out labels like “welfare queen”, “quota queen”, etc. to stir up controversy and no one questions what these la- bels mean or even if they reflect reality. Farai Chideya, author of Don ’t Believe The Hype: Fighting Cultural Misinformation About African- Americans, debunks many of the popular notions about African- American life with a wealth ofstatis- tics and facts culled from various sources. Chideya paints a media that finds it easier to rely on racial stereotypes instead of attempting to find thetruth. The newspapers tend to focus on the negative aspects of African- American life instead of doing more positive stories. Although stories on welfare invariably show blacks receiving assistance, she points out that in sheer num- bers, whites make up the majority of welfare recipients. Newt Gingrich and company may com- plain about the evils of the “liberal welfare sys- tem”, but Chideya points out that welfare takes up less than one percent of the federal budget. She also criticizes Charles Murray’s The Bell Curve, arguingthat a number of factors af- fect one’s place in soci- ety. “In fact, intelligence is not an absolute quan- tity at birth, but depends on acombination ofge- netics and environ- ment, especially the level of stimulation given babies and tod- dlers while the brain is developing. “ By some estimates, the major- ity of Americans with mental retar- dation are not born that way but suffer permanent neurological dam- age as a result of being understimulated—for example. be- ing left alone in their cribs all day withoutbeingfrequentlytouched and spoken t0...A whole host of factors otherthan genetics de- termine the future in- tellectual capacity of America’s children.” The media further concentratetheiratten- tion on crime and drug usage among blacks when the majority of violent crime and drug usage is committed by whites. Yet, Chideya never point this out. When- ever the newspapers or T.V. station does a story on drug use, it invariably shows blacks—not whites. Stories on welfare depict blacks even when the reporter ad- mits that the vast ma- jority of welfare re- cipients are white. What Chideya points out is a unfor- tunate reality in jour- nalism. Some reporters find it easier to write about urban decay rather than urban renewal. They don‘t see much value in reporting on people who work hard to provide for their families and pre- serve a future for their children and grand-children. Yet, this underreporting of positive things occurring in the black commu- nity creates a climate where racial ste- reotypes flourish. One of the problems is low percent- age ofblack reporters on predominantly white newspapers. Forty-five percent of all newspapers have no non—white empl0yees,and black journalists make up only 5 percent ofall newspaper reporters. Chideya says this partly accounts for the shoddy coverage of the black com- munity. The other reason is the sheer refusal of some newspapers to simply become moresensitiveincoveringminoritycom- munities. Chideya, a former journalist for Newsweek, offers a striking picture of black community that is often ignored by the mainstream media. She gives clear and insightful explanations about affirmative action, crime, welfare, po- litical correctness and multiculturalism. Although the book is full of statis- tics, Chideya never allows herselfto be bogged down with numbers.Like any journalist,she writes sothatthe ordinary reader can understand. This is an informative and important book. As Chideya makes clear, no one can discuss the fractious issue of race relations until one has the facts.This book goes a long way in demystifying the hype. OCR::/Vol_094/WLURG39_RTP_19950310/WLURG39_RTP_19950310_004.2.txt \ s \\\\\\\ § § § § S § § MIXED MEDIA by Jack Ohman %_‘ {-—~f”__‘._‘~ .‘ Z_—:‘;—. — - M.;iNpoI2MAtioN $uPErzi.IIeuwA~/. é. 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