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-THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MERCYHURST COLLEGE SINCE 1929

V61176 No* 19

NewsEasy o understand definitions providedforwar with Iraq.

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Spring break alternative grou p to presentexperience for Academic Celebration.

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FeaturesThe Hum an Ecology Department has finalprojects on display. They are locatedinthe Human Ecology building on Briggs Ave.

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OpinionAs war coverage goesprime-time,JostWest's "Quotation Marks" brings the warbackto basics.

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Arts and EntertainmentJust the tip ofthe iceberg: SigurRo sreinvents the face of modern music

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SportsMen 's Hockey falls 9-2 in Minnesota inNCAA West RegionalSemifinals.I Page 11

Men' s lacrosse rankedNo. 4, defeats WestChester14-9. I I \. :h

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IndexNews,National RoundupNews

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3^ ^ ^ 4

Opinion 6

A & E. 1 8Sports.

Features

10

Bulletin BoardGet your free safe-return bracelets sewn onat3928 LewisAve., apartment6 on Monday,Wednesday,and Friday from 2-3 p.m., andTuesday and Thursday from 5-6 p.m.

April6 - Dancing Through Time: AcademicCelebration in WalkerRecital Hall at 4 p.m.

April7 - Breast Cancer Awareness: T-shirts,pink carnations, baked goods forsale in theUnion from 10 a.m. to2 p.m.

April 7 - "AIDS:Young Adults and anEpidemic"Joe Betz and the Social Work ClubinZurn214at6p.m.

April 8 - "Writing Out Loud: A Reading ofCreative Works by Mercyhurst F aculty" inJMercy Heritage Hall at 7:30 p.m.

April9 - 'Trials of Henry Kissinger' film n thePAC at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. K [~

April9 - Lecture: FatherRoy in MercyHeritage Room at 7:30 p.m.

April 9 - Christina Rugh:"CSI MeetsTyrannosaurus: W hat Anthropology Can Dofor F orensic Science"in Hirt200 at 8 p.m.

Meixjjrhfcrst College 501 E. 38th Si Erie Pa. 16546 Aprilp,003

Prepare for the unexpectedBy Kelly Rose DuttineNews Editor

The U.S. government feels that aterrorist attack with biological,chemical, nuclear, or radiologicalweapons couldbe imm inent. Theirwebsite,Ready.gov though the of-fice of homeland security,offerssupport and ideas for Americans toprotect themselves againsta terroristattack. The site offers practicaladvice forall citizens even collegestudents.

While there is no way to predict ifthe U.S. will be attacked again, manyofficials feel that we should protecteach other through preparation inIcase that would happen. By offer-ing advice like assemblinga supplykit and developinga family commu-nications plan,are the same for botha natural or man-made emergency,the U.S. government is educatingits citizens about potential terroristthreats.With planningand commonsense, all people, including collegestudents, can be prepared for the

unexpected. f.The first step to preparing your-self for a terrorist attack is to makea kit of emergency supplies. Thedepartment feels that you shouldconsider water, food and clean airwhen making a kit. Clothing, de-pending on the weather, is neces-sary.

Also consider other emergencysupplies, like flashlights, batterypowered radios, firstaid kit, andprescription medicines. Masksorother materials to cover your noseand mouth may also be necessary.The department also suggests thatyou use a heavy plastic sheet orgarbage bag and duct tape to createa barrier between yourself and po-tential contamination outside.

Roommates or friends on cam-pus may w ant to have a plan tocall

KRT phot o

In case of a biological or chemical terrorist attack, the U.S. government has tips for preparation forall Americans. College students should also think about the preparation suggestions/

each other in the eventof an attack.Developing a communication planwith the people you live with is im-portant, but don't forgetto call yourfamily also. It maybe difficult to

get through on telephone lines butbe patient.

In the eventof an attack, you willhave to decide if you should staywhere you are or get away from

the emergency.Ifyou stayput, pickan inside room with few windows.

Please see Preparationson Page 3.

Embracing OuriPast Celebrating Our FutureAcademic Celebration focuses on Mercyhurst's past and futureBy Kelly Rose DuttineNews Editor

Four days set aside for learningand higher education may not seemout of the ordinary, or get studentson campus excited. But, the 2003Academic Celebration is a unique

j ^

event at Mercyhurst in which allstudents should participate.

Each year, a group of Mercyhursthonors students undertake the hugetask of organizing Academic Cele-bration, a four day long event todraw the Mercyhurst communityand the community of Erie tolee-tures, presentations, movies, art-work and more, all focusing on asingle them e.

This year, the theme looks at thepast and future of Mercyhurst Col-lege. "We always want to makesure our offerings appeal to all ofthe Mercyhurst community -not

Rev. Roy Bourgeois File photo

just the students and those on cam-pus, but also those at the Mother-house and Mercyhurst Prep," ex-plained Dr. Karen Christensen W ill-iams, assistant professor of Span-ish and faculty adviser for the event."After considering the topic ofwhere we have been, and where weare going, the students developedthis year'stheme."

Many Mercyhurst students andfaculty are presenting a variety ofsessions on many different topics.These include dance presentations,a discussion on AIDS and youngadults, a presentation on forensicscience, a panel discussion aboutstudy abroad, and several presen-tations from students about theirexperiences while doing service onspring break. Other presentationswill reflect the ongoing tensions inthe world with discussions aboutthe war with Iraq. Additionally,Ambassadors will be giving nighttours of the Mercyhurst campus toMercyhurst students, faculty andErie community members. ?

The presentations and lectures arenot limited to Mercyhurst studentsand faculty, however. Several out-side speakers will provide interest-ing insight to problems and topicsabout the world outside the frontgates, .*}

The opening speaker, Sister Mar-

ia Elena Gonzalez,RSM, will give alecture at3 p.m. Sunday, April 6, inthe Mercy Heritage Room. Gonza-lez is the president ofthe MexicanAmerican Cultural Center, and haspresented the topic of culture andits impact on power and communi-cation throughout the United Statesand the world.

Also on Wednesday evening at7:30 p.m, the Rev. Roy Bourgeoiswill speak in the Mercy HeritageRoom about hisefforts - includinghunger strikes, peaceful vigils, anddemonstrations on the steps of theUnited States Capitol - to educatethe public about the rippling impli-cations of U.S. military policy inLatin America.His lecture will sharethe tale of his life, many battles fora more peaceful world.

All students are encouraged tocheck out the college's website fora schedule ofAcademic Celebrationevents and attend sessions to em-brace the pastand future.

Despite unem ploym ent rates, alumni succeedIt was a year of caution, concernand competition for the MercyhurstClass of 2002, butmost grads faredvery well, according tothe college'sannual placement report.|The report shows 67 percent ofrespondents are employed in theirmajoi field, 16 percent are in grad-uate/professional school,12percentare employed outside of their majorfield, and five percent are unem-ployed.

As of February2003, the unem-ployment rate was at 5.8 percent.Over the year, employment de-creased in 29 states, with the larg-est employment decreases in Mis-souri, Ohio, Massachusetts, and

New York. Only the Northeast hadan increasein its unemploymentrate;(+0.3 percentage point).A concentratedeffort spanning mail,e-mail and telephonei hannels en-abled the Mercyhurst College Of-fice ofCareer Services to generateresponses from 613 of 678 mem-bers of the 2001-2002 graduatingclass while completing its annualplacement report.

That representsa 90.4 percent re-sponse rate, according to CareerServices Director Robert Hvezda,who recently released the college'splacement report.

"We believe this report to be thebest and most complete inthe last

five years," Hvezda said.Among the more sought-aftergrads, the report showed, werethose majoring in education, theResearch/Intelligence Analyst Pro-gram, andHotel Restaurant and1 n-stitutional Management. Also bigwere criminal justice, computersystems, accounting, financeandhuman services.

Certainly these statistics demon-strate that alumni are continuing tofollow the college's motto: CarpeDiem; with an unemployment ratelower thanthe national unemploy-ment rate,college graduates fromMercyhurst are pursuing their ca-reer objectives and employment.

Specifically, 26 of the 30HRIMgraduates contactedhad jobs in theirfields evenwith the unparalleled jo ltto the hospitality industry that fol-lowed the 9-11 terrorist attacks."This kind of data speaks highlyabout how well our faculty is train-ing students to be competitiveandmarketable," Hvezda said.Mercyhurstis ranked amongthe toptier of liberal arts colleges in theNorth seven consecutive years byU.S. News and WorldReport BestColleges Guide.

Please see Graduates

on Page 3.

http://ready.gov/http://ready.gov/

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PAGE 2 THE MERCIAD APRIL3,2003

NEWSINTERNATIONAL To contact: newsmerciad@mercyhurst.edu

M o r e t r o o p s a n d c i v i l i a n c a s u a l t i e s a s W a r i

The situationas of presstime Wednes-day morning.

*Above: Richard Jenkins Jr., 5, of Ten-nille, Georgia, cheers on the Braveswhile showing support for the troopsin Iraq by displaying the U.S. flag. TheBraves encouraged fans to wear red,white and blue in support of U.S. troops

at their opening day game against thExpos on Monday, April 31,2003.

Below: A Palestinian woman holds aposter in support of Iraqi PresidentSaddam Houssein at the funeral forThayir Naif Osman, 29 in the Borj AlBarajneh Palestinian refugee camp inBeirut, Lebanon, April 1,2003. Osmanis among the first Palestinians killed inIraq. He never made it tobattle but waskilled on a bus enroute to Baghdad lastweek reportedly by a U.S. coalitionApache helicopter.

With the Iraq war onone side and disputes

with Turkey, Israel onth e other, Syria feelssqueezed by in terna-tional conflicts. Syriarejects U.S. allegationsof supporting Iraq andter ror ism.

Right: An S-3B Viking assignedto the Red Tails of Sea ControlSquadron Twenty One (VS-21)prepares to land on the flight deckaboard the aircraft carrier USSKitty Hawk (CV 63) March 28,2003,in theArabian Gulf.

Sources: Knight Ridder Newspaperswwwusatoday.com I

Nairn Badri, who wastaken prisoner by British forces11 days ago atnoon while out getting water for his fam-ily, is greeted by his mother, Aziza (at right behind him)and other relatives after being released from a holdingfacility near Umm Qasr in southern Iraq Monday, March31,2003|Afew men were released today once authori-ties decided therewas no reason tocontinue holdingthem; others, sus-pected to be sol-diers or Baath Partymembers will betransferred to alarg-er, more permanentfacility. Badri deJscribed himself as asimple farmer.

Iran stays on the side line. Gover n-ment in Teheran says i t doesn' t

Basra want to choose sides in the war on[but prefers to have the United

Natibns involved, Iran rejects U.S.allegations of supporting Iraq andinternational!

Right: Soldiers from Alpha Bat-tery 2-319th AFAR of the 82nd

Airborne cover their ears as theyshoot a round from their Howit-zer into the city Samawa, Iraq,April 1, 2003. The city containspro-Saddam paramilitary forcesthat have been attacking coali-tion supply lines.

Recent al l ieda t t a c k sAl l ied fo rcesmovement

Glossary of war-related termsA sampling of terms that may

appear in wartime stories:Amphibian:A small craft that

moves via propellers andwheels or air cushions on bothland and water.

Barrage: Firedmunitions thatare designedto destroy an arearather than be aimed at a giventarget.| *

BDU: Battle dress uniform:the camouflage u tility uniformworn with combat boots.

Blue on blue:Anotherterm for"friendly fire," an inadvertentattack on a comrade.

On U.S. military computerdisplays showing the array offorces, the icons that representAmerican forcesare blue,so anattack on an ally is "blue onblue."

Command and control: Theexercise of authority and d irec-tion by a properly designatedcommander over forces in theaccomplishment ofa mission.

Decapitation sr i ke: The U.S.attemptto kill Saddam Hu sseinin thebombing of Baghdad thatbegan the war. This was origi-nally a Cold War term,according to David Wilton, a former

arms control negotiator andcreator of the www.word-

origins.orgWebsite.A militarystrategy7:during the Cold Warsuggested you could win a nu-clear war with a limited num-ber of bombs if you managedto kill a country's leadership,deprivingthe nation of decision-makers with the authority tolaunch a counterattack.

Detachment: Part of a unitseparated from its main orga-nization for duty elsewhere.Also, a temporary u nit formedfrom other units.

Ground fire: Small armsground-to-aii fire directedagainst aircraft.

Jump speed: The airspeed atwhich paratroopers can jumpfrom an aircraft with compar-ative safety.

MR: Meal ready to eat in thefield. |

Ordnance: Military supplies,including weapons, ammunitionand combat vehicles. Also canrefer to a service of the Armycharged with procuring, dis-tributing and safekeeping suchsupplies.

Point of no return: The pointalong an aircraft route beyondwhich it won't be able to re-

turn to base without refueling.Q-message: A classifiedcom -

munication regarding naviga-tional dangers, such as minedareas.

Residual forces: U.S. troopsthat are ready to go into com-bat but have been held inre-serve.

Rules ofengagement: The cir-cumstances under whichtroops will initiate and/or con-tinue combat.

Squad: The smallest Armyunit, with as many as 12 sol-diers; led by a sergeant.

Supporting fire:Fire deliveredby supporting un its to assist orprotect another unit in combat.

Zulu time: During a militaryoperation, all units operate ac-cording to the sameime zone.The world is divided into 24time zones, each designated bya letter of thealphabet* The"clock" at Greenwich, England,is used as the standard formany activities that eross timezones andis designatedZ. Mil-itary time usually is stated in a24-hour format. Thus1830Z ispronounced, according to thephoneticalphabet, as 1830 Zulu.

U.S., Iraq influence views of conflictBy Jon SteinmanKnight Ridder Newspapers

Source: Knight RidderNewspapers

The scared faces and bat-tered bodies of captured anddead American soldiers tilledIraq TV's schedule last week.

The imagerydid not play wellon the American home front,however, and soon after thePentagon orderedup a changein the Iraqi government-runstation's lineup with a volleyof cruise missiles aimed at thestation's Baghdad facility.

On thebattlefield of modernwar thestrikes made clearthata television station can bemore powerful than a Scudmissile,with far greater range.

To a growing number of ob-servers, it demonstrated theconcern among American warplanners aboutoutmaneuver-ing Saddam Hussein on thewider front of this war: thepropaganda front/'; M

This is the flip side of thelive-firebattle in which the fogof war is pierced by carefullybuilt imagery and spin. Thefight is joined no ton the sand-whipped Iraqi desertbut inliv-

ing rooms, bars, coffee shopsand bazaars the world over.

With Saddam parading dis-turbing image after disturbingimage of American-led strike s,he won cheers across the Mid-dle East and beyond for stand-ing up to an overwhelminglyfavored foe, say media expertsand war historians.

The United Statesis tailing towin over world opinion, andwith the war growing newscycle by news cycle.PresidentBush risks losing support athomeas well, Millersaid

"Saddam;.Hussein is aiminghis propaganda primarily at theArab world, but alsoworld-wide, and he's winning" Mill-er said. "People aren't feelingsympathy for him so much asadmiration. T hey're admiringhis ability to fighta much larg-er opponent, one that manythink has no business inthe re-gion to begin with.All of hispropaganda confirmshis imageas a defiant leader."

Propaganda is both obviousand sublime, conjuredby gov-ernments and carried on by

if

media ou tlets,wittingly and oth-erwise.

Iraq TV, knocked off the air

only temporarily;by the, U.S.attack, aired gruesome footage

of the aftermath of what Iraqileaders calleda cruise-missilestrike on aresidential Baghdadneighborhood that killed 14people last week.

The footage, carried by al-Jazeera television as w ell, en-raged people in the MiddleEast who viewed itas Ameri-can military might brought tobear on defenseless civilians.U.S. Defense Department of-ficials countered,however,that the explosions may havebeen misfiredIraqi antiaircraftmunitions.r Gh Friday, Iraq's informa-tion minister said 58civilianswere killed by American andBritish bombs dropped on acrowded Baghdad market.More carnage oscillatedacross Middle Eastairwave Jas anger about the UnitedStates'war effort continued togrow, U.S. Defense Depart-ment officials said they wereinvestigating the incident.

On the flip side, Americanwar planners announced lastweek that residents of Basra,in southern Iraq; were stagingan uprising against Saddam's

regime news carried far andwide by the U.S media.~^~

mailto:newsmerciad@mercyhurst.eduhttp://wwwusatoday.com/http://wwwusatoday.com/http://www.word/http://origins.org/http://origins.org/http://www.word/http://wwwusatoday.com/mailto:newsmerciad@mercyhurst.edu

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APRIL3,2003THE MERCIAD PAGE 3

Springlbreaktrip offers insights To contact newsmerciad@mercyhurst.edu NEWSS t u d e n t s t o p r e s e n t e x p e r i e n c e s f o r A c a d e m i c C e l e b r a t i o nJ ^ C P C V J I X ] L F S t F C S l C

C o u n s e l i n g C e n t e r offers tips f o rc o p i n g k v i t hw a r

Brandon Boylan/Contnbuting photographer

The group of student volunteers from Mercyhurst are pictured at the Romero C enter in

Camden, N.J. They wili present an overview of their trip for Academic Celebration.

S t u d e n t sparticipat-ed in a va-riety ofser-vice activi-t i e s , likeworking atthe SouthJ e r s e yFood Banko f f e r e deye-open-

ing experi-e n c e sabout pov-erty andsoc ia l in -justices.

Brandon Boylan/Contributing photographer.

Students who spent theirspring break vacations doingservice to others willshare theirexperiences in an AcademicCelebration presentation this

Wednesday, April9. The pre-sentationin MercyHeritage Hallat 5:15 p.m. will followa pre-sentation about another springbreak alternativetrip about bor-der awarenessat the U.S. andMexico border.

The group,who traveled toCamden, N.J., the secondpoorest cityin America in thewealthiest state,has new in-sight on poverty and issuesofsocial injustices. They willpresent a comparison of thecity of Erie to Camden, con-cerning the issues of unemploy-ment, populations, land area,housing units,homeownershipand education. Those attend-

ing the lecture will see that thetwo areasare drastically differ-ent.

The presentation will alsofo-cus on thetrip itself. Organizedby Sister Michele Schrock,Service Learning Coordinatorfor MercyhurstCollege^theexcursion to Camden was cho-sen as an alternative springbreak fora few reasons.Thoseinvolved withthe experiencetruly had an innegrated culturalexperiencewhile visiting Cam-den. Another considerationforthe site was the low cost toparticipate.

Each day, the group traveledinto the city of Camdenor Phil-adelphia to experience povertyand serving others firsthand.From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., they

workedat sites like food bank s,soup kitchens/homeless shel-

(6 I f ?This was a great

learning experience.The people we metand lessons welearned were trulyeye-opening. * *

-Katy Gehringer,sophomore

ters and housing rebuilding de-velopments.

After the workday they par-ticipatedin peace rallies againstthe war with Iraq and went toafter school programsfor un-derprivilegedkids.

But the' learning experiencedid not endthere. The eveningswere full of speakers to edu-cate the participants aboutin-justice. A varietyof speakerstold the students about povertyand hungeron local, nationaland international levels.

These inequalities affectedsenior Mindy Gates. "Whatimpactedme themost about thetrip was the worldwide justice

education we received. Today,children five years old arework-ing 12 hoursa day, chainedtolooms to make rugs in Paki-stan,*' said Gates.

Lessons were taught, evenwith daily activities like dailymeals. The students participat-ing in thetrip lived simply whilein Camden.

A11 participantsagree that thetrip was valuable and encour-age studentsand faculty to at-tend their presentationto learnmore about spring break alter-natives and consider one in thefuture.

Sophomore Katy Gehringerthoughtthe trip was important."This was a great learningex-perience. The people we metand lessonswe learned weretruly eye-opening," Gehringersaid.

The work in Camden couldbe describedas life changing tosome. Senior Jessica1 Namsaid that"the Urban Challengereally made me reevaluatetheway I live my life and howmuch I takefor granted." Theexperience influencedher toapply for the Peace Corps.

The Academic Celebrationpresentationson alternativespring breaks willbe held onWednesday, April9 startingat4:30 p.m. in Mercy HeritageHall. U

Article compiled byCamdenSpring Break group.

Prepare for th e unexpectedContinued from Page 1.

Lock all doors and close w in-dows and turn off fans and airconditionerunits.

I f you decide to get away,check for contamination or de-bris in theair Think of severallocationsin different directionsfor travel. Listento the radiofor instructions. Talk to neigh-bors and friends on campusabout how you can work to-gether.

There are several differenttypes of terrorist attacks thatcould happen.

A biological attack is the de-liberate release ofgerms or oth-er substances thatcan makeyou sick. Many agents must beinhaled, enter througha cut inthe skin or eaten to make yousick J;

A chemical attackis the de-liberate releaseof a toxic gas,liquid or solid that can poisonpeople and the environment.

A nuclear blastis an explo-sion with intense lightand heat,a damaging pressure wave and

widespread radioactive materi-

a I that can contaminate theair,water and ground surfacesformiiesaround.

A radiation threator isthe useof common explosivestospread radioactive materialsover a targeted area.

With knowledgeand prepara-tion, all Mercyhurst students

'should be prepared for theevent of a terrorist attack. V is-it www.Ready.govformore in-formation.

Special to The M erclad

In timesof war it is not un-usual for people to have feel-ings of uncertainty.No oneknows howlong a warwill lastor how it will affect our lives.We may feel uncertain aboutthe future and anxious aboutevents that areout of our con-trol. Some willtalk openlyabout the world situationandtheir fears. However, somemay not talk directly about thewar, but may exhibit increasedconcern about other areasoftheir lifeand generally seem on-edge.

You may react differentlytoa war today because of theim-pact of the 9/11 terrorist at-tacks. Terrorism creates fearand uncertainty aboutthe fu-ture.Because terrorist actsarerandom and unpredictable, wartoday poses a new kind ofthreat, one with which mostAmericans have little experi-ence.

We do not all respond thesame wayto war. Unlike9/11,when manyof us were of thesame mind and heartand worldsupport for the United Stateswas nearly unanimous, thereare differing viewsof the mo-rality and po litics ofhe presentconflict with Iraq. For someit

may seem that the war has noth-ing to dowithyou. On the oth-er hand, the news can seemoverwhelming. Thoseof uswho have family and friends nthe reserves or military mayworry over their well-being.

War affects eachof us dif-ferently.And weall havean in-dividual andunique way of deal-ing with stressful situationsinatime of war. Building resilience the abilityto adapt well tounexpected changes and events can help us manage stressand feelings of anxiety andun-certainty relatedto war. How-ever, being resilient doesnotmean that youwill not experi-

ence difficulty or distress.Emo-tional pain and sadness are com-mon when we have sufferedmajor traumaor personal lossin a timeof war or even whenwe hear of someone else's lossor trauma.

The good newsis we all candevelop resilience.It involvesbehaviors, thoughts and actionsthat can be learned over time.

Followingare steps to build-ing resilience that canhelp youadapt to unexpectedevents and

stressful situations ina

time ofwar.

Steps for Resilience in aTime of W ar

/. Make connections|Keep in touch with family,

friends andothers.Connectingwith people provides socialsup-port and strengthensresiI ience.Do not be afraid to express

your opinion, even if your par-ent or friend takesthe oppositeview. Ask questions and listento answers. Be tolerantof dif-ferences. Some may find com-fort in praying, connectingwith God, whether throughor-

ganized religionor privately.You mayalso express your feel-ings in a journal or through cre-ative art. I

2. Help somebodyNothing gets your mindoff

your own problems like solv-ing someone else's.It gives usanother perspectivebesides ourown.J Try volunteeringin ourcommunity through ServiceLearning (Ext.2471) or here atschool,cleaning-up around thehouseor apartment,or helpinga friend withhis or her home-work.-

3. Maintain a daily routineKeeping up with your daily

routineof

classes, activities,work, interests,and friendsprovides you witha feelingofstabilitywhen the world aroundyou seems chaotic. Stickingwith a familiar routinecan becomforting.

4. Take care ofyourselfIBe sure to take care of your-

self- physically, m entally, andspiritually. And get sleep. Ifyou do not you may be more Jirritableand nervousat a timewhen you have to stay sharp.Caring for yourself and evenhaving fun will helpyou staybalancedand enable you tobet-ter deal with stressful times.

5.-Give yourself a "news"

breakBe sure to controlthe amount

of time you and your friendsspend watchingand readingwar-related news coverage.Although itis important to seekout the news to keep informed,too much newscan make youmore anxious. Try to limit theamount of news you take in,whether it is from television,

newspapers or magazines,orthe Internet. Watching a newsreport once informsyou;watchingit overand overagain

just adds to the stress and con-tributesno new knowledge.6. Keep things in perspective

| War may beall anyoneis talk-ing about now. But eventually,ware end. Try to keep a longterm perspective./Avoid theslippery slopeof black andwhite, good and evil thinking.Try not to catastropnize aboutthe future.

7 Maintain a hopeful out-look %

An optimisticand positiveoutlook enables youto see thegood things in yourlife and cankeep you going even in thehardest times. Thereare posi-tive things in everyone's life.Takingthe time to identify andappreciate them will enhanceyour outlook andhelp you per-severe. 1

8. You are not aloneRemember that many people

at Mercyhurst Collegeand inthe United Statesare investedin your safety, such as campusand local police, medical per-sonnel atthe studenthealth cen-ter and local clinics/hospitals,fire and emergencysquads,andschool personnel suchas pro-fessors, counselors, chaplains,resident assistants, and hall di-rectors.

You can learn resilience. But

just becauseyou learn resil-ience doesnot mean you willnot feel stressedor anxious.Anapproach to bu ilding resiliencethat works for you mightnotwork for someone else. If youare feeling.stuck or over-whelmed and unable to use thesteps listed above,you maywant to consider talkingtosomeone who can help. Re-sources,on campus include:

The CounselingCenter; Ext.2468 or Ext. 2561

Campus Ministry:Ext 2301or 1 xt. 2467or Ext. 2430

A trusted professorAnRATurningto someonefor guid-

ance may help you strengthenresilience and persevere in atime of war.

(Adapted from the AmericanPsychological Association 2003brochures:"Res i 1ience in a timeof war" and "Resilience in atime of war: Adaptingto war-time stress.")

Despi te unem ploym ent ra te s , a lumn i succeedAccording to this report,

Mercyhurst was ranked12 un-der thecategory of comprehen-sive colleges in the North.US News.comcited 82 percentof Mercyhurst graduates withan average debtof $9,200.The reportis a useful toolforthe alumni relations officeinmaintaining contact withagrowing alumni base,the ad-missions departmentin show-ing themarketability of Mercy-hurst grads,and in athleticre-cruiting; plus,it gives careerservicesa varied source of em-ploymentand internship oppor-tunities for the students iIserves. f

The comprehensive lookca-reer serviceswas able to gain

from tracking last year's grad-uates is the direct result of acommitted staff, Hve da add-ed, with thanksto assistant d i-rector Frank Rizzone, counse-lor Kyle Foust '89, administra-tive assistantDolores Oriswold

File photo

Hevevda and Career Services staff offer Insights aboutrecent Mercyhurst graduates based on tracking theiremployment.'71, secretary Cynthia Waidley,student assistant Jessica Kelly,graduate intern CatinaOdomand careerinternship and place-ment counselor Dave DeSante

Information comp iled fromthe M ercyhurst websiteandfrom the U.S.Department ofLabor website by Kristin Purdy

r-

in North East.

Kauf mann's Beauty Salon

30 % off unlimited tanning20% off all re ta il products

all highlightingor permanent

mailto:newsmerciad@mercyhurst.eduhttp://www.ready.gov/http://news//News.comhttp://news//News.comhttp://www.ready.gov/mailto:newsmerciad@mercyhurst.edu

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PAGE 4 THE MERCIAD APRIL 3,2003

Jody Mello/Mercld photographer

One of the projects the Human Ecology students have finished for their classes.

A new outlook for Human EcologyBy Jen RuffeUContributing writer

Students of the Interior De-sign program are currentlyshowcasing their final p rojectsfrom this year's winter term.The showcase is located in theHuman Ecology Center,situat-ed onBriggs Avenue.

Director Denise LaBrash saidthe projects were from variouscourses, including Interior De-sign Graphics and Interior De-sign Studio I,II, and III. Thedisplay showcases student-pro-duced boards with specificcourse requirements.

Students from nterior DesignStudioII were givena program,which included designinga

suite for a hotel.Each student was giventhreethemes. He or she was respon-sible for designing the logo forthe hotel, and then developinga suite plan. This suite plan in-

cluded criteria such as imple-menting a kitchenette and liv-ing areainto their design.

Students were also responsi-ble for choosingcolors and fab-ric patterns.

Before the students couldstart designing their hotel suite,there were many aspects thathad to be considered.

The specific conditions weregiven to the students. Theseconditions came from whataprospective client could like ordislike, or if the client had spe-cial needs, for example need-ing the suite to be handicap ac-cessible.

These types of criteria wereessential so the students couldbegin designing the floor planof their hotel suite.

The projects in Interior De-sign Graphics strengthenedtheir skills of drawing tech-niques, color perspectives, el-evation, and experimentationwith different types of papers,

which ar e demonstratedthroughout their projects.

LaBrashsaid that the studentsdevelop their own skills inde-pendently.* "All students are uniqueintheir own way," said LaBrash."No two students are alike;each has their own interestingstrength."

Future Events in the HumanEcology Department: The se-nior interiordesign students willbe presenting an exhibittoshowcase their projects begin-ning May 23 in the HerrmannStudent Union. Seniors haveselected theirown project ideas.

"Each student's project willconsist of six to seven boards,**said LaBrash. 'Th is allows ourseniorsto exhibita profession-

al display that canbe put up byinterior design studios. It alsoallows them to get out ontocampus and show the techni-cal ity^of their work beingdone.**

Students travel to the Big AppleBy Amanda OrendorfContributing writer

Iff ( ) i > . ; i

Thirty Mercyhurst studentstraveled to New York fromMarch 20-23. / i

The trip was mainly an edu-

cationaltrip for comm unicationmajors, but others attended.ThereWere 26 students as wellas four students from The Mer-ciad.

The four students who arepart of Th e Merciad staff at-tended a conferencewhile in thecity.

The students arrived in thecity late Thursday night.Thecommunication students weredropped off at their hotel andhad to get up at 5 a.m. on Fri-day morning to start their tour.

Many communication stu-dents that were planning ongoing to New York decided tocancel at the last minute. "Welost 11 students whowere wor-ried about the war within 24

hours of leavingforNew York,*'said Shannon King. *

The Communication's boardset up various sites forthe stu-dents to attend while in NewYork. The board included Sh-annon Myer, President; JodyMello, Treasurer; and Katie

Walker, Secretary.44

Surprisingly thetrip was fun andinteresting. * *

-Jody MelloKing said that early Friday

morning the group of commu-nication students took thesub-way to the NBC studios wherethey had a number of tours.

Alexa Allen,a non-communi-cation major, said"At NBC welearned about how they oper-ate the lighting and sound.**

The students learned howatelevision studio operates andthe process ofmaking and the

many stepsin producinga tele-vision show.

The students received freetickets to the John WalshShow, which will be aired ei-ther this week orthe followingweek.

"Many ofthe students went

to Chinatown, threestudentswere on Total Request Live onMTV, and some went to LittleItaly. We wentto a museum inQueens where we learned abo utfilm and photography history,"said Mello.

Allen reported that "the tripwas a lot of walking.'*She andothers went shopping becausethey were not communicationmajors. Other students choseto visit GroundZero and expe-rienced the war protest.

"Surprisingly enoughthe tripwas interesting and fun. Therewere a lot of interactive exhib-its that the students could takepart in,** said Mello.

Jody Mello/Mmuad photographer

The group of Communication students that traveled to New York from March 20- 23.

Would you like to model?

I f so, then the Fashion Promotion Spring Fashion Showauditions are the place for you to bel

The Human Ecoogy Department \s looking for male andfemale models for the Spring Fasion Show. I f you are interested,

be at the Human Ecology building onThursday, April 3 between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. or

I Saturday, April 5 from 1-3 p.m.

To contact: featuremerciad@mercyhurst.edu FEATURES

Capricornhas touch toconsider thiscomingweekBy Lasha SeniukKnight Ridder Newspapers

April 7-13,2003 |Aries (March21 -April 20).Previously silent friends or

lovers may boldly state theirromantic ideals and social con-cerns.

Intimacy and new passionare necessary for emotionalsuccess. Expect unproductiveor stalled relationshipstosteadily fade.

Physical energy or sleeppatterns are also unpredictablethis week. Get extra rest, ifpos-sible,-and wait for obvious in-dications of renewed vitality.

Taurus (April21-May 20).Minor health concerns or

lagging physical energy will nolonger drain socialor familyconfidence. Early this week,expect bothersome skin, diges-tive or eye ailments to dramat-

ically improve.Some Taureans will also

experience a powerful increasein creative energy or artisticawareness. If so, expect ro-mantic and long-term socialrelations to also be affected.

Gemini (May21 -June 21).

6cm n

rUjM|l

Love affairs and long-termfriendsh ips are particularly re-warding over the next few

days. Watch forloved ones andclose friends to declare theirintentions or commitments.

Many Geminis, especiallythose born between 1968 and1980, will experiencea pro-founddeepening ofkey relation-ships. By early May expect de-layedromance and stalled rela-tionships to be firmly e-estab-lished.

rCancer A S

*** ^> *s^ If

*&$$4L cts rr^N i

H jtwu.jtfiii \ 1

Cancer (June22-July 22).This week,business rela-

tionships may be unusuallyemotional or flirtatious.

Expect key officialsortrusted work mates to expresstheir socialneeds and long-termromantic plans.

After Friday, family financesmay be mildly strained. Thor-

oughly check records,payments or debt schedules.

i/ o

.MrU-bimtt

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22).Late Tuesday, a close

friend or work companion mayask forsensitive and highly per-sonal advice.Areas of concernare power dynamics betweenloved ones or long-termlife-style choices. Encourage cau-tion.

Early Friday,watch also foran unusual financialor businessmessage from the past. Oldjob offers or delayed projectsare featured. Take extra timeto carefully evaluate all ideasand proposals.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22).Business policies, financia l

obI igations and long-term prop-erty matters will require yourimmediate attention. Late Mon-day, watch for importantchanges to key documents,procedures or workplace meth-ods.

After Thursday, minor homefinances may also apply.Watch budgets and spendingneeds for obvious mistakes.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 23).Avoid socia I discussions or

romantic speculationin allworkplace relationships. At

present, work mates and col-leaguesmay be extremely sen-sitive to personal informationor minor social disputes. Don'tbe fooled.

After Friday, family or inti-mate relationships will offerpeaceful resolve. Enjoythecompany of trusted compan-ions.

ScorpioIJJE

C citto H Imflftii I 1

Scorpio (Oct, 24-Nov.21). | j?> t

Before midweek, watch forfriends, distant relatives oryes-terday's loved onesto reappearand demand completion. Al-though minorjealousies are un-avoidable, by the end of thisweek small disagreementswillactuallywork in your fa v or. Re-main diplomatic.

Old ideals, memories orro-mantic expectations will soonfade. By mid-April, new lovewill require your full attention.

Samttariur

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec.21) Beginning late Tuesdayand lasting over the next twoto threedays,expect long-termfriends and romantic partnersto firmly state their needs, in-tentionsand future plans. Muchof this may come as arelief.

Early Saturday, an unusualfinancial mistake may createmistrust between relatives.Overspending or missed pay-ments are accented.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan.20). Early thisweek, rental nan-cial disputes may be briefly an-noyi ng.. Monday throughWednesday, react quicklytounexpected repairs or revisedproperty contracts.

Oddly enough, money delaysor strained work relations willsoon lead to dramatically im-proved business practices. Stayopen. There's much to consid-er.

Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb.19).;,; $ & i i

Friends, lovers and closeworkmates may be moody and

reflective. Watch for unexpect-ed social and workplace delays.Over the next two days,

past business records and yes-terday's romantic history willhave strong effects on daily re-lationships.

Allow others the necessarytime to complete past assign-ments or finalize outgoing rela-tionships, f

Pisces (Feb. 20-March20). ? . ,

Family relationships arestrong concerns this week. Payattentionto the minor criticismsofclose relatives or loved ones.Over the next three days, smallsocial irritations could lead tostalled relationships or brokentrusts.

Mercyhurst CollegeRotaract Club!

1st Annual Polioplus 5k run/walkMay 3, 2003 at Mercyhurst

College CampFor more info write to

Rotaract@mercyhurst.edu or

call Danielle at 824-3715

mailto:featuremerciad@mercyhurst.edumailto:Rotaract@mercyhurst.edumailto:Rotaract@mercyhurst.edumailto:featuremerciad@mercyhurst.edu

8/6/2019 The Merciad, April 3, 2003

5/12

PAGE 5 THE MERCIAD

To contact featuremercjad@mercyhurst.edu EATURESCriminal justice majors attend conferenceAlpha Phi Sigma travels to Boston to participate in meeting

APRIL3,2003

By Jen R u ffa Contributing writer

Over spring break studentsof the Upsilon Chapter ofAl-pha Phi Sigma, the CriminalJustice Honors Society ofMercyhurst College, attendedthe Academy of Criminal Jus-tice Sciences 40th annual meet-ing, March 4-8 in Boston,Mass." 9j

The Upsilon Chapter ofAl-pha Phi Sigma, advised by At-torney Tina Fryling, has beenin operation for 21 years.U p -silon does community serviceprojects withS t Mary's Cen-ter of the Aging and alsoar -ranges annual criminal justicelectures heldo n campus eachterm.

Senior Tim Nave and juniorAshley Dubose presented and

Senior Tim Nave.File photo

Junior Ashley DuBose.Fie photo

distributed their papersto theaudience at the conference.

Nave, who is President ofAl-

pha Phi Sigma, isa double ma-jor in both criminal justice andsociology. On March 5 he pre-

sented hi s paper, Student Per-ceptions of Capitol Punishmentin the Post-Atkins Era. which

was based on data he collectedand analyzed on the opinions ofstudents concerning capitol

punishment. He collected thisinformation on the collegecampus.

Dubose, who is a criminaljustice major witha pre-lawconcentration, presentedh e r

paper, Facilitation of Offend-er Re-Entry: Programs ThatIncrease Successful Adjustment,on Thursday, March6.

Her paper discussed success-ful programs that are designedto help criminal offendersre -enter the communityoncere -leased from prison.D r. PeteBenekos said that many stu-dents have shown interestingoing to next year's confer-ence. It will be held in Nevada.

Other members ofthe club at-tended the conference in Mas-sachusetts as well. These m em-bers include Nicole Becker,Scott Coughenour, Dave Fred-erick; Tim Fox, and Greg Reed -ert. I

Students were ableto attendthe conference with money

raised by fundraising and withfunds from the AcademicE n-richment Grant.

Professor's; curiousity is root of lawsuitsBy Maryanne GeorgeKnight Ridder Nespapers

Something the philosophyprofessor was reading in thesummer of 1995 caught his at-tention.

Black applicants to the na-tion's elite universitieshad a sig-nificantlyhigher rate of accep-

tancethan white applicants,ac-cording to an articlein the Jour-nal of Blacks in Higher Educa-tion, an academic periodical

Carl Cohen, then64, was cu-rious whetherthe phenomenonthe article described was hap-pening at the University ofMichigan, where he taught.Colleagues told him he wouldbe steppinginto a mess.

He ignored their warning.On Dec. 18, 1995, Cohen, a

card-carrying member of theAmerican Civil Liberties U nion,filed a Freedom of Informationrequest seeking details of theUniversity of Michigan's admis-

sions policies.After first telling him the in-formation did not exist, in thespring of1996, university offi-cials released to Cohen admis-sions grids that appeared toshow that despite lower gradesand test scores, minority stu-dents were having better suc-cessgetting into Michigan thanwhite students.VThe court's decision onwhether Michigan'suse of raceas a factor in undergraduateandlaw school admissions is legalis expected to havea profoundeffect on how universities na-tionwide admit students.

Cohen said it's not his firstadmissions fight.In 1947,as astudent at the University ofMiami, he said, he worked toel iruinate the use of pictures onadmissions applications. The

Carl Cohen requested de tailsfound himself in a lawsuit.

Fie photo

of the University of Michigan's admissions policies and

university, he said, used thephotos to discriminate againstblack applicants.

"You can 't call me a racist,"he said. "I've been for equaltreatment of the racesall my

life/' | ?Cohen decided to go publicwith what he found. Universi-ty officialssaid there was moreto admissions than the grids,but therewas no stopping whatthe philosophy professor hadbegun.

StateRep. Deborah Whymanlistened intentlyas Cohen testi-fied beforethe I louse Judiciaryand Civil Rights Committee inMay 1996.She was among fourRepublicanlawmakers who hadpushed unsuccessfully for sev-eral years to pass state legisla-tion banning racial preferencesin admissions at state universi-

ties and in government hiring.They'd been looking for abreak, and Cohen was it.,

"The grids were the pivotalpiece of evidence," Whymansaid.

Not long after Cohen's presen-tation, Whyman was watchinga Sunday morning news talkshow featuring Michael Greve.Greve was a cofounder of theCenter for Individual Rights, a

conservative publicinterest lawfirm in Washington, D.C. Hewas makinga pitch forthe workhis law firm was doing. Why-man, in bed with pneumonia,liked what she heard andgrabbed a pen and wrote downhis name.

Months later, shecalled him.In the Hopwood case at the

University of Texas, Greve andhis legal team hadmade a break-through. For the firs t time sincethe landmark 1978 Bakke deci-sion upholding the use of raceas an admissions factor, a fed-eral appeals court had ruled thata university could not use race.

Greve's team represented Cher-yl Hopwood, an applicant reject-ed at the University of Texas lawschool.

In May 1997, Whyman and fel-low state Reps. David Jaye,

Greg Kaza, and Michelle Mc-Manus issued a press releaseseeking plaintiffs for a caseagainst the University ofMichigan. Theygot more than200 responses.

"It was like working on afishing boat," said Whyman,who now worksas a law clerkin Mt. Clemens, Mich. "In themorning I would go out fish-ing for plaintiffs and in the af-ternoon my staff would cleanmy catch." fSi Jennifer Gratz saw the pleafor plaintiffs in a local news-paper.

By the fall of 1997, Gratzhad signed on asa plaintiff.

Barbara Grutter thoughtherexperienceas a businesswom-an, as well as her grades andtest score of 161 out of180on the Law School Admis-

sions Test, wouldmake her anexcellentcandidate for the U n i-versity of Michigan LawSchool.

She had receiveda 3.8 GPAat Michigan State University

and graduated with a degree incrop and soil science in 1978.

Minority applicants with sim-ilar grades and test scoresmostly were admitted, whilefewer than10 percent of whitestudents with similar grades gotin, accordingto evidence Grut-ter's lawyers presented.

Married and the mother oftwo teenage sons, Grutter, 49,

has run a health care consult-ing business rom her PlymouthTownship home since 1986.

She appliedto the Universityof Michiganin December1996to earn a dual degree inlaw andhealth management policy. Butafter being placed ona waitinglist, she was rejected in June1997. | | M

Grutter calledWhyman's of-fice after seeing a story aboutCohen's data.

As a woman who had seenher generationmake significantstrides against sex discrimina-tion, Grutter said she wasstunned to face discrimination

basedon race but still hopes toapply to the law school."I have a fundamental ight o

go through an admissions pro-cess that is nondiscriminatory,"she said.

By fall 1997, Gratz, Hamach-er and G rutter hadbeen pickedas plaintiffsbecause of heir ac-ademic credentials, strongviews on Michigan's admis-sions system andwillingness tostay with a case that could lastyears.

By December, cases challeng-ing the school's university andlaw school admissions policieshad been filed. More than five

years later, they're headed fora showdown in Washington,D.C. I l l I

"Millions of people are com-mitted to equal treatment," saidGrutter. "This is their voice."

Formed in May 2002,|Young Erie Professionals oras it is also called YEP!, setout with the mission to pro-vide young professionals in

the Erie area an opportunityto network professionallywith theirpeers while active-ly participatingin their com-munity. Allof this was donewith the goal in mind ofat-tracting, retaining, and sup-portingyoung talentin the lo-cal workforce.

The Erie area is fortunateto have many well-estab-lished universities dedicatedto preparingnew entrants forthe workforce.

More importantly,to bettersuit the local economy andwork environment, it wouldbe bestto retain these gradu-ates in the Erie area. YEP!would like to extend its mis-sion to informing recent andsoon to be graduates of thebenefits and opportunitiesavailable withinthe city theywere educated.

YEP! holds many functionsthroughout the year tonet-work professional individu-als. Events include profes-sionaldevelopment, commu-nity outreach, education/men-toring and social functions.

Membership is open tothose21-35 years ofage whoare interestedin making Eriea better place to work, live,and play.

In the near future, there areplans to host workshops toput on displaythe level of al-ent and range of occupationsto be found in the Erie area.Beside those events specifi-cally focused forcollege stu-dents, all are encouraged toattend and participate in anyof our events.

To find out more informa-tion on who we are and whatwe do, visitwww. echcounc i lnwpa o rg/yep-

Our mission statement, anonline sign up form and aposting of past and upcom-ing events is available.

For specific questions,please emailyep@team.org.

We look forward to yourparticipation in future eventsand we areexcitedto becomedirectly involvedwith the fu-ture of Erie.

Students join rally at Supreme court

The Merc tadwould like newwriters for nextyear. I f you areinterested comeby Hirt 114 andtalk to one ofthe editors.

By Paul H. JohnsonThe Record

When tens of thousandsofhigh school and college studentsconverge on thesteps of theU.S. Supreme Courton Tues-day, Eric Adisa o f SouthO r-ange, N.J., willbe with themto rally in support of affirma-tive action..

"I just think it's stilla neces-sary program," said Adisa,asenior at Rutgers UniversityinNew Brunswick,. N.J. I

As the Supreme Court beginshearing argumentsin two cas-es involving the UniversityofMichigan and its law school, theou tcome o f which couldchange the waycollegesan duniversities aroundth e nationadmit minorities, some studentsare taking to the streets to voicetheir support fo r affirmativeaction.

The march is being organizedby the Coalition to DefendAf-firmative Action& Integrationand Fight for Equality By AnyMeans Necessary.

Although t h e SupremeCourt's ruling expected laterthis spring will addressa com-plaint against a publicuniversi-

t> IThe court ruledin the Bakkedecision that the UniversityofCalifornia admissions system,which set aside a fixed numberof seats fo r minority students,was illegal.

"It's really the law schoolcase that is the key one," saidCharles Sims,a partner at thelaw firm ol Proskauer RoseLLP, which has offices in NewYork and Newark.

He said th e law school'sad -mission criteria, which takesinto account th e candidates'qualifications are similar to theones used by colleges.

Dozens of schools, includingPrinceton, have filed friendofthe court briefs in the Michi-gan case.

But opponents of affirmativeaction argue that any consider-d ation of race is wrong, and theysuggest that Michigan's policiesamount to quotas, whicharebanned by the Supreme Court.

"The motivationfor,such anadmissions policy may be verygood, but its result is discrimi-nation, and that discriminationis wrong," Bush said.

The Texas model,for exam-ple, guarantees admission i o thestate university systemto allstudents who graduateat thetop 10 percent in their schools.

Rahdert said the court couldtake many actions when it ruleson the two Michigan cases butthe key partof the ruling willbe whether it allows race tocontinue being used as a factorin admissions.

Laker inn dinner Specials:Monday

Combination SubLg FF

1 Cookie20 oz Fountain

Drink

WednesdayCaesar Salad2 Breadsticks

20 oz. FountainDrink

FridayFish Sandwich

Lg FF1 Cookie

20 oz. Fountain

DrinkTuesdays

Sweet ItalianSausage Sub

Lg FF I20 oz Fountain

Drink

Saturday!LakerburgerWaffle FF

20 oz. FountainDrink

ThursdayI Pasta w ith Veggies

2 Breadsticks1 Cookie

20 oz. FountainDrink

SundayBagel Sandwich| L9 F F | |

1 Cookie20 oz. Fountain Drink !

Students :f Don't Forg et to GRAB Your "Lunch on the Runl'j

r

mailto:featuremercjad@mercyhurst.edumailto:yep@team.orgmailto:yep@team.orgmailto:featuremercjad@mercyhurst.edu

8/6/2019 The Merciad, April 3, 2003

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PAGE 6 THE MERCIAD APRIL3,2003

OPINIONo contact opinionmenciad@mercyhurst.edu THE G O O D . . .

A petitionhas been circulating in favor of students and faculty getting Martin Luther King,Jr. Day off, and for proper reasons, not"just because."All are encouraged to sign it $

* Nextweek, which is Breast CancerAwareness week, the Human Ecology department willbe promoting awarenessby selling T-shirts, bakedgoods and awareness ribbonsin the Union.Ending the week on Thursday,April 10, a representativefrom the American Cancer Society,Denise Robinson, will be speakingin the Hirt Center.

THE B A D . . . Somemastadonscheering fo r he opposing team atthe Minnesota game overthe weekendthought it was "cool" to heckle and cat-call our goalie. It wasn 'tIt doesn't matterwho wonor lost, or if Laker fans wereoutnumbered, but that kind of behavior was only remotelyfunny to the popularkids back inmiddle school.

Recently, students, faculty and administration have voiced concerns overthe content of thispaper, particularly the fact that recent coveragehas not focused on"good** news or opinions.Forget the ignorance which underlines such concerns,the truth isthat the real worldhas a lotof gray and bad things goingon hi it, thingsthat students even here atMercy hurst are dealingwithand/or will be dealing with at some pointin their lives.We have tried to make this papermore studentoriented, and yet we are met with"damned if you do, damned if you don't*'criticisms. Ifanyone would like toshare what they deem as"good" content forthis paper, byall means, send it tous. |

Recently, a few students were sitting outon their porch with opencontainers...of apple juice.It gotto the point where campus security hadto be called inand threats of disciplinary actionsweremade.So, cal I boxes- bad, but open Motts bottles warrantreal attention.

Have fun, stay single?As a desperate maneuver to

keep myself from doing any-thing slightly productive, I waswatching Cameron Crowe's' Singles' on Saturday night

For those who haven't seenthe movie, 'Singles' is an ear-ly 1990's film about a groupof Seattle twenty-somethings,desperately searching for lovein all the wrong places.

Moreover, the movie at-tempts to answerthis question:Will Mr./Ms "Right Now"everbecomeMr./Ms **Right" and,if so, what happens?

Will we get married?Will we get that nice coun-

try house with a white picketfence, a two-car garage and aYorkshire terrier yappingaround the front yard? Yeesh.

Then I got to thinking: Whendid dating become so terriblycomplicated?

What happened to the daysof dinner, a movie, drop youoff at your doorwith a kiss onthe lips and "Have a nicenight?" | |

Nowadays, it seems morelike beer, tortilla chips, a DVD,some frantic groping on thecouch before the roommatesget?home and "Maybe weshouldn't tell anyone aboutthis." \ , i \?f.'-$m

Is it just me? Am I cynical?

But I Could Be Wrong

JaimeRinne

Has romance today lost itssimplicity? 1

If you everget aroundto see-ing 'Singles' (and you should),you will notice that the charac-ters are totally dependent ontheir friends for relationshipadvice.

Every aspect of the personthey are dating is analyzed andscrutinized by the all-knowing,all-powerful friends.

ShouldI date the weightlifteror the cyclist?

Should I trust him or not?Should I be the mother of his

children?Make a decision on your own!And it's even worse in a col-

lege environment becauseallyou have to do is walk nextdoor and you will find some-one who is willing to give youtheir two cents.

I'm notsaying that one shouldnever go to friends or advice,but it is onlyadvice.

You don'thave to take it. Hey,you don't even have to listen toit.

It'syour re 1 ationship.Now, don't get me wrong- 1

am a die-hard, old-fashionedromantic inmy own way. I lovegetting flowers and poetry asmuch as the next girl.

It's theover-thinking of rela-tionships that gets me allworked-up. Why can't we go with theflow anymore?

Why do relationships alwayshave tobe an all-or-nothing sit-uation?

What happened to dating forfun? | T ?

Whydo we always haveto bethinking about the status oftherelationship? We're in college.We do enough thinking on a dai-ly basis.: I S

I'm not saying that long-termrelationships are bad.

If you're in one, congratula-tions andI wish you all the bestof luck.

However, ifI can hand out onepiece of advice (and remember:You don't have to take it), itwould be to have fun and relaxfor a while.

It's when we get all workedup and tense over the relation-ship that it doesn't seem likesuch a good idea anymore.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:Over the past few weeks, I

have heard many seniors com-plain about the graduation fee.P We are to pay $60 to be ableto walk across a stage and getour diploma.

To me, this fee is rather in-sulting. 1-

By the time one becomes a se-nior, they have paid out the nosefor a little piece ofpaper sayingthat they spent approximatelyfour years of their life at col-lege whilemaybe learning in theprocess^

Why in the world does an ex-tra fee need to be assessed jlistso our family and friends canhave a good photo opportuni-ty? ' - 1 %.

The more I thought about thisadded fee, the more it madesense. X

This is Mercyhurst and lordknows that fees are probably agood part of what keeps theschool up and running.

I actually lookedat one of mybills to see what I was beingcharged for.

The first fee that I found wasthe computer fee. I pay a $95computer fee for computers Inever touch. *]

I am sure that there are manypeople on campus who do relyon the computers, but for thoseof us who don't eventouchthem why are we paying forlit?! ;

The $200 building assessmentfee is somewhat understand-able,between the flooding andfallingceilings that take foreverand a day tobe fixed, butI sup-pose I can let that one go.

The next fee I found was thelab fee I had to pay for a sup-posed "lab" that I had. This feewas $125 and in this class wenever once had a "lab."

And the final fee that really ir-ritated me was the $30 it costsus to register.

So, over the past four years, Ihave paid $360 to stand in lineand have a lady tell me that Ineed togo to the end of the linebecause the letter in the alpha-bet thatmy lastname begins withhasn't been reached yet.

So do future students have topay it register online in the fu-ture? M

I figure the amount of timewasted in line along with thisadditional registration fee hascostme way more than any stu-dent, shouldbe wi I ling to spend.

Mercyhurst is notorious forridiculous fees.

One would think that, on theday that they graduate,one mightbe able to get away with doingsomething for "free."| Thisis obviously notthe case.

Seniors, just one last time,we're going to have to take itup the tail-pipe.

S Kerry Marshall, senior

Editor's Note;Due to the increasein student editorials appearingin these pages,I would liketo reiteratethe fact that any opinionor view expressed viaa letter to the editoris the sole property of its author(s). These lettersdo not reflect thoseof TheMerciad staff, Mercyhurst,et ai. Also,I wouldlike to stress thatany and allopinions expressedon these pages are neitherright nor wrong they are

opinions and should betaken as such. Thankyou and keep the rants coming.

Stars confuseglitzwithwhat sximportan

And Another Thing...

I PhilPirrello

Michael Moore used his todenounce a"fictitious presi-dent" and a"fictitious war."

Streisand used hers to "en"lighten" us by saying howgreat music is in expressing

our freedom - then mispro-nounced "Eminem."And Adrien Brody used his

to disguisea gentleman's winat the podium with that ofanarrogant, self-importantspeech atop a soap box.

All the above used celebrityat a time where Hollywood'sfinest are toshine just brightenough to remind us why wespend ninebucks to see themin the first place, not impressus by speaking on a the ev-eryday person's level.

What average Joe do youknow that has in his$20 mil-lion contract a chefon se t

The Oscars and the celebri-ties they kissed up to twoSunday's agowas, like manyAmerican, all-too-consciousof the war in Iraq, those lastthree words already becom-ing atried phrase in our lexi-con.

The Oscars tamed theirver-sion of a popularity contestdown by cutting out the redcarpet parade, actually believ-ing that that was on par withlowering a flag atha I f mastfor our troops - a moment ofsilence and a running time of30 minuteswoulda done it.

Granted, celebs (most ofthem) areAmericans and havethe right to use (abuse) theircelebrityto express their opin-ions aboutwar, world events,Rodeo Drive, etc.

But most care as much abouttheir political opinions as wecare about hearing them con-gratulate their lawyers andmanagers in their acceptancespeeches.

Photocourtesy of www.krtcampus eon

Celebs like filmmaker Michael Moore confuse Oscar'spodium with a soap box.

Sure,someone wins an award,veers into a "serious" speech,you can flip the channel toCNN's Aaron Brownasking Al-Jazerra's network prez why helet videotape of murdered U.S.soldiers play on his airwaves.(Reason:Because it was News-worthy.")

But it is just sad, to me, thatwhile a war was raging on inprime-time, Joan Rivers wasrasping away about someone'sbroche or hair style.

Should they have cut the Os-cars? No, we need some enter-tainmentand escapistfare some-times.Ir But should they have madesome lame attempt to calmdown the telecast, in responseto tumultuous times?j fHell no. ; W

That's why we watch in thefirs t place, to see the parade ofactors, actresses andface liftssachet down the red carpet. Wewant to see a certain degree ofextravagant poise and blissfulignorance* 1

Whatwe*don't want, or need,is Variety, on the cover of theirOscar week issue, comparingthe "courageous" creative ef-

forts of Oscar's brightest tothe real courage displayed byour finest n fatigues.

Nicole Kidman dawning aprosthetic nose is on par witha Ranger strappingon fatigues?

Only in Hollywood, onlynow.

Freedom of speech is onething, but talking out of one'sass (as often as celebrities doand as witnessed by directorMichael Moore's misguidedrant) to earn popularity pointsor access to all the post-awards sewing circles at theGovernor'sBall is noteven thesame ball park, league orsport.

Shameon Hollywood for try-ing so hard to be discrete tothe point where they seemedto use the show's new som-ber tone as a selling point.

If Oscar really wantedto ac-knowledge the war effort,theyshould have adopted ourtroops'"All go, no quit"man-tra.

That would have been moreapropos than rolling up thecarpet and dimming the "Ap-plause"sign in the Kodak The-atre, t

Retail shell-shocked by warReady-to- Wear

MeganCvitkovic

As war continues to rage inIraq, retailers are beginning tofind out justhow much this warwill affectour economy and in-coming styles.

With fear and anxiety mount-ing;many are beginning to seefashion as unnecessary duringsuch times ofcrisis. 'M

After Sept. 11, there was anobvious concern about con-sumer spending, and fora goodreason.

Analysts report inWomen'sWear Daily (in the March 26 is-sue) that the expected dropinconsumer confidence has ar-rived. $1

The decline is said to havebeen greaterin January and Feb-ruary when it began to be clearthat war was imminent.

Thesesame analysts also warnthat confidencewill sink loweras the war progressesi f a reso-lution is not found quickly.

Obviously, consumer confi-dence may not be a majorwoiry when a war is being foughtin Iraq, but such confidencestudies obviously point to pos-sible economic concerns.

Photo courtesy of www shopbop com

All things Am ericana are becoming trendy again.

With consumer spendingdown, it has been reported thathiring is also down from lastyear. Consumers will not be will-ing to spend money on fashiongoods untilthe job market alsopicks up.

Yet, as current research de-picts, experts don't feel that thebusiness or employment situa-tion will improvein the near fu-ture, as most see only a wors-ening ofour current conditions.

While such an analysis mayseem more business-oriented,having only an affect on retailsales and not trends,we may seea slight decline in over-the-topfashion trends as well.

Of course the Gucci'sand Ar-mani's of the world will neverstop designing their glamorousgarb (atleast not now),but evenhigh-end and couture designers

are battling what their pricerange should be.

Celebrities have also discov-ered they must be more care-ful with fashion choices. If theOscars are any indication ofwhat is to come, we can ex-pect toned-down looksacross the board.

Another trend we may alsosee as a result of the war isarmy gear.

While Americans are split onthe war, we may stillsee a re-surgence ofcanlo prints, and,of course, those thousands ofbaby-tees proclaiminglove forthe U .S.A.. |

Fashion is a great way toexpress your views loudlywithout having to say a word.

What the future holds as faras the war's affect on style,

we canonly wait and see.

mailto:opinionmenciad@mercyhurst.eduhttp://www.krtcampus/http://www.krtcampus/mailto:opinionmenciad@mercyhurst.edu

8/6/2019 The Merciad, April 3, 2003

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APRIL3, 2003THEMERCIAD PAGE 7

To contact opinionmerciad@mercyhurst.edu

War bombsus back to basicsAs war co verage goes prime-time, attention must be paid

"I know not with what weap-ons World War III will befought, but World WarIV willbe fought with sticks andstones."

Albert Einstein

War is horrifying,always hasbeen.

Broad historical inaccuraciesaside, youcan get a pretty goodfeel for the terror of warthrough films. From 'Brave-heart' to ' Saving Private Ryan,'Hollywood is always good fortilling in some of the vivid de-tails that don't quite make itinto the history books.

If you're curious about our[current war, you don't evenneed to sit around and wait fora summertime release of thenext military blockbuster, be-cause nowadays we haveCNN,MSNBCand the like.; I

Any hour ofthe day, we cantune in and see live footageandhear commentary from imbed-ded reporters. Tohe 11 with thefull-length feature film, this isthe era of reality TV and wecan see for ourselves what itslike to be over there fighting.

Sort of JSpThe fact is, *Survivor'

doesn't exactly give you themost realistic idea ofwhat it islike to be trapped on an islandand twenty-four hour coverageof The War doesn't tell youwhat it'slike to bea part of theconflict. 1

I know that this isn'tWorldWar III we're talkingabout, butnonetheless, it still seems pret-ty tame from our sofas and

easy chairs.Generations prior to us re-member war at its w orst. They

Quotation Marks

Josh West

can recall casualties by the mil-lions. Think about that.

Right now a war is going onin which we lose more Ameri-cans in accidental helicoptercrashes than Iraqis are able totake out with their best s hot. Isthis a sign that technology hasbrought us a gentler, cleanerstyle of warfare? N ot quite.

The nastiest damage of thiswar comes to us in the form ofa light show. They show usfootage ofair strikes from milesaway.f We are raining fire down onthese people in such a way thatit is difficult for us to even com-prehend.| For the sake ofthe visualiza-tion, imagine looking out overLake Erie and seeing the flash-ing lights of rockets beinglaunched from a newly and in-explicablyhostile Canada.[ Think aboutmissiles crashingthrough Hammermill Library.Picture downtown Erie in a ri-otous panic and Presque Isle inflames.

That is pretty close to home,but we can go beyond that.

Think about strategic^ airstrikes on Washington and"de-capitationtechniques"that leaveour entire country uninformed,no one knowing whether ourleadership still exists.

I m not trying to be om inous.

The point is that we are gettingthe winner's perspective of awar thatdoes not seemso clean

and tidy to the ones gettingburned. |

^Einstein was quoted for morethan dramatic effect. Certainly,an international crossfire of con-flicts likethe one described justmight be enough to blow us allback to theStone Age.

Technology has grown to the

point that we could end life aswe know it with the proper mo-tivation and just the right spinfrom the White House publicrelations department.f^There was a time when thebest weapons on this planetwere sticks and stones, but wasthere ever any sort ofa WorldWar back then?

Of course not.It would take us thousands of

years to advance far enough tobe capable of enacting an atroc-ity as obscene and destructiveas a world war.

Wars, poverty, hate theseproblems are all symptoms ofan overcomplicated world. Nomatter how opposed to theseissues we may be, they are stilllookedat with the view that theyare "the way things are."

That's because nobodyon thisplanet remembers differently.

As a civilization, we spendmost ofour time doing strangethings forstrange reasons, quitedistant from whenalia guy hadto worry about was food andshelter.

Every day we get more andmore out of touch with thatwhich is important, every daywe lose a bit more sight of ne-cessityand buy a I ittle more intothe nonsense.

Maybe Einstein's World WarIII is just what we need to getus back on track.

*MERCIADKristin PurdyAdam OuSholeKellyRose DuttineCourtney NicholasPhil FirrelloMackenzie Dexter

Jody MelloEmily Crofoot

Billy ElliottMeganEble

Editor-in-ChiefManaging EditorNews EditorFeatures EditorOpinion EditorSports Editor

Photo EditorCopy l ditor

Production ManagerAdvertising Manager

editormerciad@mercyhurst.edu entertainmentmerciad@mercyhurst.edu newsmerciad@mercyhurat.edu featuremeroiad@mercyhurst.eduop i nionmerciad@mercyhurst.edu sportsmerciad@mereyhurst.edu

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Th eMerciad is the student-produced newspaper of Mercyhurst College.It is publishedthroughoutthe school year, withlhe exception ofmidterms week and finals week. Ouroffice is in the HirtCenter, room LL114. Ourtelephone numberis 824-2376.

OPINIONLETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

The Merciadwelcomesletters to the editor. All letters must be signed and nameswill beincludedwith the letters. Althoughwe will not edit the letters for content, we reserve therigh t to trim lettersto fit. Letters are due the Thursday before publicationand maynot belonger than300 words.Submit letters tobox PH 485.

"I reflect ona time ofremark-able growth and prosperity andon an institution in which wecan all take enormous pride. Iam even more encouraged as Ilook to the future."

- Dr. Garvey

The 21st century is a time forchange - to prepare for an up-coming world and conform tothe ideas of the upcoming gen-eration:Us.

As each decade passes, eachgeneration adds different con-cepts, ideas, beliefs and/oreventransforms already-existing con-cepts, which then become so-cietal norms.

This year, there have beenmany concerns about the quali-ty and content of thisyear's is -sues ofThe Merciad by variousstudents and faculty members.

Mostrecently,a faculty mem-ber stated that the newspaperwas turning into the newFree-dom Zone,and that it is a dis-grace to a Catholic institution.

First of all, The Merciad isNOT theFreedom Zone.

The newspaper provides stu-dents with up-to-datenews cov-erage, on campus events, sportscoverage, movie and music re-views.

It also lets studentsvoice theiropinion.

As stated as one of the mean-ings of 'Carpe Diem,* the col-lege's motto,"For to seize themoment personally is the es-sence of ivinga full life, the kind

so many desire and so fewknow how to achieve."How are we, as students, sup-

posed to grow and flourish, orachieve this idea ofseizing theopportunity, if we are con-demned for voicing our opin-ions?

Isn't the whole idea ofa lib-eral arts educationand a collegeatmosphere to help us becomewell-rounded individuals, tolearn how to think forourselvesand to make our world a betterplace?

Peopleare thinkingand that isthe point.

They are voicing not neces-sarily what they believe, butthey are proving that theyarenot the stereotyped, brain-washedcollege student that ustsits in class, takes notes andthen regurgitates what their pro-fessor tellsthem.

These people aretaking whatthey learnin the classroom andshowing that they are able totake it to another level and ap-ply it to society and life in gen-eral.

Although1 agree that some of

the subject matter in certain is-sues has been risque, and beingthe copy-editor I should havetoned down the articles a bit,but I believe that students havea right to say whatever theywant, to a certain extent.

Students are going above andbeyond the stereotype and ac-tually using their intellects.

The Mercyhurst mission state-ment says: "We integrate ourstrong foundationin the arts andsciences...challenging our stu-dents to thinkcritically,to com-prehend the richness ofa glo-bal community and to work forpositive change."

Yeah, soMr. Mahoney wantsto eat babies and Mr. Elliott'sview on abortion isn't thenorm, but they are living outMercyhurst's mission:They arethinking and challenging othersto do the same, evenif heir top-ics of choice area bit risque fora catholic institution.

rhe purpose of having a col-lege newspaper is to give thestudentswhat they want to hear.

Just from walking aroundcampus, I see more peoplepicking up and reading a copyof The Merciad more now thanI have in the past three yearsof my enrollment here.

jjj My roommates comment thatthey really enjoy the newspa-per, and we even have debatesamong ourselves about issuesraised by other students, suchas Mr. Mahoneyand Mr. Elliott.

Another issue that has beenraised about The Merciad 'is cen-sorship.There have been a fewcomplaintsabout the cartoon inthe March 27 issue that had ahomosexual theme to i t

So, because we are a catho-lic institution, alternative life-styles are wrong andare not al-

lowed to be addressed now?This is the 21st century,folks.There is a world outside of

Mercyhurst's front gates - it'scalled the"real world."

Some people may take of-fense to certain topics present-ed in the newspaper, which Iunderstand, given that Mercy-hurst is a private, catholic in-stitution.

But it must also be realized thatthe world is changing. We arethe future - the people that willmake the change and set thenew norms.

Try to think outside of thebubble-realmthat we are livingin. Seek the true meaning of'Carpe Diem' - Seize the op-portunity, think for yourselves,make some ruckus and get youropinions outthere! f

Emily Crofoot, junior

I would like to thank you allfor printing my letter(s), whichspoke out against the arbitraryand unjust decision concerningtaking the non-traditional stu-dents out ofthe graduation cer-emony.

I am pleased to let you allknow that there have been somepositiveactions taken by the ad-ministration in correcting thatinjustice. *

Afteran extremely tense, com-bative series of e-mails to theassistant to our PresidentGarvey, they have decided to"allow" us non-traditional stu-dents who take the time to goto the registrar's office to grad-uate with our class at the Warn-er Theater on May 25,2003.

I received permissionto attendgraduation first.

To ensure that the administra-tion was not just throwing thisold dog a "bone," I askeda cou-

ple of trusted friends f theyhad

appliedand received letters stat-ing they also could graduate.

They confirm that they have.This is not a victory.It is the very discreet correct-

ing of an injustice that shouldnever have been perpetrated inthe first place.

I have a couple of suggestionsfor the administration.

First, form a cross-function-al team made up of membersof the administration, the fac-ulty and student council.

Second, any decision that di-rectly affects the students orfaculty should bediscussedwith a representative of the af-fected party, in order forthe ad-ministration to make informeddecisions.

Lastly, any decision that af-fectsa large number of studentsshould be put to some sort ofavote by the parties involved andnot just by the Board of Trust-

ee's.

< V i t r , . . . I I f n - l j

Had the administrationsought the advice of the fac-ulty and the students involved,theywould have been informed

Pa

thatmaking arbitrarydecisionson such a large scale was abad idea.*

I am appreciative ofthe factthat this decisionhas apparent-ly been reversed.

I urge all ofmy fellow stu-dents to please take a minuteto inform all ofour non-tradi-tional students of this reversaland urge al I who wish to grad-uate at the Warner to contactthe registrar's office as soonas possible.

To all of my friends, tradi-tional students, non-tradition-al students, the faculty, theadvisors andstaff, I would liketo say thank you for your sup-port. I

Steven M. Williams, non-

traditional student

The following letter is in re-gards to a previous letter, writ-ten by non-traditional student,Mr. Steven Williams.

To set the record straight inapublic forum,the collegedid notreconsider anything as a resultof Mr. Williams' letters.

We continued doing exactlywhat the President'sCabinetdirected at the time the recom-mendation was made, i.e., tohandle each case adult studentby adult student.

And that isexactly what wedid. V I IMr. Williams' firste-mail was

dated March 12.

It was read on March13,2003. | | ? H

It, therefore, had no bearingon at least four of theseven exceptions made.

As a result of your letter'sat-tempt tototally reverse the de-cision, however, thecollege communicateda secondtime with adult students, givingthem until March 20 to contactus i f they had any problemswith the Saturday date.

We will uphold that deadlineon behalf of the 500+ gradu-ates, asthe college will not putitself in the position of havingdiplomas incorrectly dated; tick-ets incorrectly issued; the stu-

dent lineup incorrectlynumbered; the roster of grad-uates incorrectly read, etc.

[The college also] will nottake the chance of the gradua-tion program listingnames in-accurately, as a result of Mr.Williams' continued letters toThe Merciad and prolongeddebate/

Doing anythingelse,wouldbe unfairto the rest ofMr. Wil-liams* classmates graduatingSaturday orSunday,[students]who do not want their gradu-

ation plans jeopardized.;

Mary Daly, Senior Ass is-tant to the President

C A P T A I N RiBMANnTeie-vi$ions by Sprengelmeyer & Davis

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PAGE 8 THE MERCIAD APRIL 3,2003

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT o contact entertainmentrnerciad@mercyhur8t.edu

United States, Iraq 'T h e C o r e ' o f a l l b a d m o v i e s :both trying to

shape perceptions

Are moreinaturalldiscLsters necessarily better?

Ticket Stub

By Jon SteinmanKnight Ridder Newspapers

The scared faces and batteredbodies of captured and deadAmerican soldiers filled IraqTV's schedule last week.

The imagery did not play wellon the American home front,however, and soon after thePentagon ordered up a changein the Iraqi government-runstation's lineup with avol-ley of cruise missiles aimed atthe station's B aghdad facility.

On the battlefield of modernwar, the strikes made clear thata television station can be morepowerful than a Scud missile,with far greater range.

To a growing number of ob-servers, it demonstrated theconcern among American warplanners about outmaneuveringSaddam Hussein on the widerfront of this war: the propagan-da front.

This is the lip side of the live-fire battle in which the fog ofwar is pierced by carefully builtimagery and spin. The fight isjoined not on the sand-whippedIraqi desertbut in livingrooms,bars,coffee shops and bazaarsthe world over.

With Saddam parading dis-turbing image after disturbingimage of American-led strikes,he won cheers across theMid-dle East and beyond for stand-ing up to an overwhelminglyfavored foe, say media expertsand war historians.

"Thisis a propaganda fiasco,"said Mark CrispinMiller, a NewYork University media profes-sor and author of "Spectacle:Operation Desert Stormand theTriumph ofIllusion."

The United States is failing towin over world opinion, and

with the war growing newscycle by news cycle, PresidentBush risks losing support athome as well, Miller said.

"Saddam Hussein is aiminghis propagandaprimarily at theArab world, but alsoworld-wide, and he's winning,'' Mill-er said. "People aren'tfeelingsympathy for him so much asadmiration. They're admiringhis ability to fighta much larg-er opponent, one that manythink has no business inthe re -gion to begin with.All of hispropaganda confirms his imageas a defiant leader."

Propaganda is both obviousand sublime, conjured by gov-ernments and carried on bymedia outlets, wittinglyand oth-erwise.

Iraq TV, knocked oft the aironly temporarily by the U.S.attack, aired gruesome footageof the aftermath of what Iraqileaders called a cruise-missilestrike on a residential Baghdadneighborhood that killed 14people last week. The footage,carried byal-Jazeera televisionas well, enraged people in theMiddle East who viewed it asAmerican military mightbrought to bear on defenselesscivilians.U.S. Defense Depart-ment officials countered, how-ever, that the explosions may

have been misfired Iraqianti-aircraft munitions.On Friday, Iraq's information

minister said58 civilians werekilledby American and Britishbombs dropped on a crowdedBaghdadmarket. More carnageoscillated across Middle Eastairwaves asanger about theUnited States' wareffort con-tinued to grow. U.S. DefenseDepartment officials said theywere investigating theincident.

On the flip side, Americanwar planners announced lastweek that residentsof Basra,in southern Iraq, were stagingan uprising againstSaddam'sregime news carried farand

wide by the U.S media.The message: Saddam's grip

on his country is fraying, andthe war will end soon becausethe Iraqi people finally are ris-ing up against their leaders.

As ofFridaynight, Basra stillhad not fallen and the uprising whether quelled byIraqimilitia or lack of intereston thepart of residents was notnearly as widespread as origi-nally reported.

In less obviousways,Ameri-Ican television viewers are re-ceiving another type of propa-ganda, said Janine Jackson,program director for Fairness& Accuracy in Reporting, awatchdog group based inNewYork City.

Consider CBS News corre-spondent Jim Axelrod, one ofthe first to cross into Iraq withthe U.S. Marines. "We saw al-most immediately after cross-ing the border an Iraqi militarypost," Axelrod reported, in thefirst hours ofthe land invasion.

While it may notseem like abias to use the pronoun "we,"the word conveys a fellowshipwith American troops that runsagainst the inquiring, critical

role expected of reporters, saidJoseph Bohren, a retired lieu-tenant colonel inthe Air Force,wherehe served22 years,manyas an intelligenceofficer.

"How can they really reportwhen they're buddy-buddywith the troops?" Bohren won-dered. "They get to carryequipment, wear gas masks andlive with the troops. They can-not be objective. If one tried,he'd probablybe un-embeddedimmediately. It's a control sit-uation."

In a moreobvious example,consider the star-spangled warcoverage ofFox News.

On Thursday, when hun-

dreds of antiwar demonstratorsmarched near the cable newschannel's New York studios,Fox producers decidedto tauntthe protesters by runningcheeky messages on their out-door newsticker.

"Who won your right to showup here today?" read one mes-sage posted on the electronicdisplay board. "Protesters orsoldiers?" Anotherread: "Howdo you keep a war protester insuspense? Ignore them."

Simply running pictures ofaflapping American flag duringa news broadcast detracts fromthe objective credibility of anews organization, said JackShaheen, author of the book"Reel BadArabs:How Holly-wood Vilifies a People," a pro-paganda scholar and formerCBS News consultant on Mid-dle East issues. It implies thatthe American cause is unques-tionable, he said, which is away of ignoring deeper truths.

"I think that in any war,truthis the first casualty," he said."That's been true since the be-ginning of time," he said."Thai s a given. We reallywon't know what's takingplace in thisconflict until afterit ends. It was true in Korea,Vietnam and theCivil War." w

Indeed, propaganda has beena useful weaponever since peo-ple took up arms against eachother.

rhe presidentsof Iraq and theUnited States havethemselvesengaged in enoughwordplayfor the experts to deemthemdueling propagandists.

"The distortion only happensat the highest levels," Bohrensaid. "Leaderslie and twist thefacts to get what theywanl Weknow it happens in Iraq; that'sa murderous, evil regime.Buthere? We're supposed to be afreecountry, with a free press.We look hypocritical to theworld whenwe lie."

By Phil PirrelloOpinion editor

'Armageddon 2: Still Drillin','urn..., 'The Core ' has moresustained suspense and dramathan the Bruckheimer-pro-duced, Bruce Willis vehiclemany will compare this latestCG disaster flick to. Where di-rector JonAmiel succeeds overMichael Bay's fun, jump-cutfest is in acknowledging themovie as nothingmore thanescapist popcorn fare, to onlybe taken seriously enoughto selltickets and keep special effectsfans happy.

The Plot: Due to a top-secretgovernment project, titled"Destiny" (but referred to as"Destini" forsome reason),hasstopped the earth's core fromspinning. Pace-makers are frieddue to the electro-magnetic in-terference, microwaves nukethe Golden Gate and birds pull'The Birds'in Trafalgar Square.Cue your odd-numbered groupof scientists andelite navigatorsto take charge of the govern-ment's plan to restart the coreby drilling down to it, detonat-

ing five nukes in a ripple-effectand riding the shock wavehome just in time forthe thememusic to swell.

The Good: 'The Co re' is oneof those movies neck-deep in"movie science," the typewhere man can create newmetals able to withstand mag-ma-hot temps,where a reclu-sive genius spends his exilebuilding such ametal and a su-per-sonic drill machine for nopurpose other than jump-start-ing the core, a common reasonto pursue such end