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2 I Wednesday, March 5, 2003 | The Red & Black
NEWS
QuickTake
glance at the morning’s news and the day ahead
Best Bet
► Check out “Blue Velvet” at the Tate Student
Center Theater. The movie is showing today at 3, 5:15,
7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Information: 542-6396.
National & World Headlines
Annan says war must be last resort
UNITED NATIONS — With the United States moving
toward a vote next week to approve military action against
Iraq, Secretary-General Kofi Annan declared Tuesday that
war must be a last resort and called Baghdad’s missile
destruction “a positive development.”
Russia’s Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, hardening
Moscow’s opposition to quick military action, indicated
Russia may use its veto against the U.S.-backed
resolution.
Speaking at a news conference in London, Ivanov said “it
is unlikely” that Russia or any permanent Security Council
member with veto power would abstain.
“There are certain issues where it is desirable there
should be no abstentions among the Security Council mem
bers because these are serious issues,” Ivanov said.
The United States still doesn’t have the nine “yes” votes
needed to win approval of the resolution, according to sup
porters and opponents, and many undecided council mem
bers are looking for a compromise. Even if it gets nine votes,
it needs to avoid a veto by Russia, France or China who all
favor continuing inspections at least into July.
Mass, court reviews
gay marriage case
BOSTON — The state’s
highest court debated a
case Tuesday that could
make Massachusetts the
first state to legalize gay
marriages.
The Supreme Judicial
Court is considering an
appeal of a ruling that said
the legislature, not the
courts, should decide
whether same-sex couples
should be allowed to marry.
Justices questioned
attorneys about whether the
state’s prohibition of gay
marriage was comparable to
past bans on interracial
unions and how the laws
could be changed without
sanctioning other unions,
such as polygamy.
“Why should we do some
thing that virtually no other
state has done?” Justice
Judith Cowin asked attor
ney Mary Bonauto of Gay
and Lesbian Advocates and
Defenders.
“Because it’s the right
thing to do,” Bonauto
responded.
The Massachusetts case
has attracted nationwide
attention, with briefs filed
by the states of Utah,
Nebraska and South
Dakota, Catholic organiza
tions, constitutional law
professors and civil rights
groups.
Lawmakers leave as
Muslim leader prays
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Two
lawmakers left the floor of
the Washington House of
Representatives during a
prayer by a Muslim religious
leader this week, citing patri
otism and a lack of interest.
Republicans Lois
McMahan of Gig Harbor and
Cary Condotta of East
Wenatchee walked to the
back of the chamber during
Monday’s invocation by
Mohamad Joban, imam of
the Islamic Center of
Olympia.
McMahan said she did not
oppose having a Muslim
deliver the prayer but left
because “the religion is the
focal point of the hate-
America sentiment in the
world.”
“It’s an issue of patriot
ism,” she said. “Even though
the mainstream Islamic reli
gion doesn’t profess to hate
America, nonetheless it
spawns the groups that hate
America.”
Condotta said he was
talking to another lawmaker
and “wasn’t particularly
interested” in the prayer. He
would not elaborate.
In his prayer, Joban asked
for God or Allah to bless the
state of Washington and
guide the House in making
good decisions.
Today Sponge gets
back on the racks
ALLENDALE, N.J. — The
Today Sponge contraceptive
is back on the market, eight
years after it disappeared
from U.S. drug store shelves
in an alarming turn famously
depicted on a “Seinfeld”
episode.
The return of the sponge
is expected to lead to bulk
buying — and perhaps more
spontaneous romance —
among its fiercely loyal users.
Allendale
Pharmaceuticals, a start-up
business in New Jersey,
bought rights to the Today
Sponge from the drug com
pany that discontinued it.
Allendale began selling it this
month through two
Canadian Internet sites.
More sponges, priced at
the U.S. equivalent of about
$2.90 each, will hit the shelves
at 4,000 pharmacies, Wal-
Marts and other stores
across Canada, according to
Allendale. The manufacturer
is hoping for Food and Drug
Administration approval to
sell them in U.S. stores within
a year.
“I think there’s just thou
sands of people out there
waiting for it,” said Marisa
Dawson, a nurse in Ocoee,
Fla., who is awaiting a dozen
sponges she paid for in
advance last spring.
Dems offer dueling
plan for Medicare
WASHINGTON —
President Bush said
Tuesday that introducing
free-market competition to
the Medicare system would
give seniors more choices
and better treatment, and
he pledged sweetened bene
fits such as prescription
drug subsidies for those who
switch to private health
plans and HMOs.
“When insurance
providers compete for a
patient’s business, they offer
new treatments and services
quickly,” Bush told a friend
ly audience of doctors and
others at
an American Medical
Association convention. “If
they don’t, the patient, the
customer, will look for better
services elsewhere.”
Bush and Democrats
moved separately Tuesday
to deliver on long-standing
promises to add a prescrip
tion drug benefit to
Medicare, which currently
offers virtually none. The
administration also wants to
control expenses of
Medicare at a time when,
according to Bush, health
care costs are rising at the
fastest pace in a decade.
“We can and we must pro
tect our seniors from run
away health care costs,”
Bush said.
—Associated Press
UGA Today
Announcements
>- Phi Kappa Literary
Society, will hold an open
debate to discuss whether the
impending war with Iraq is justi
fied. It will be held Thursday at 7
p.m. at Phi Kappa Hall.
Information: (www.phikappa.org)
> NAACP — University of
Georgia chapter, is holding a
forum on affirmative action enti
tled, “Is It Still Needed?” tonight
at South PJ at 7. For more infor
mation, call Christina Guitlen at
357-0998.
>- Art Beat!, sponsored by
the Georgia Museum of Art, is
screening a film based on Eudora
Welty’s novel, “The Ponder Heart”
tonight at 7:40 in the M. Smith
Griffin Auditorium following an
exhibition of her photographs.
Information: 542-2846.
— Items for UGA Today
must be submitted in writ
ing two days before the date
to run.
Items may run only one
day and are published on a
first-come, first-served basis
according to space avail
able.
Saddlei; Barton take SGA oath
By BLAINE NEY
For The Red & Black
Although new Student
Government Association
President Latham Saddler
and Vice President Ginny
Barton took the oath of office
Tuesday, they did not wait for
the ceremony to set their plat
form in action.
“I feel very good because
we have already gotten on the
ball,” Saddler said.
Interviews for executive
board positions began only a
few short days after winning
the election on Feb. 13. Out of
all of the senators that won in
the election, about 20 have
interviewed for positions on
the board, Barton said.
“All the people that won are
top-notch,” she said. “You
would be happy to have any of
them.”
After the board is estab
lished, each item on their plat
form will fall under a
committee. The committees
are organized to work on mul
tiple issues simultaneously.
“Prioritizing isn’t really
going to be an issue,” Saddler
said. “We are going to start
tackling them as soon as
possible.”
A major issue on their plat
form is to work with minority
recruitment and retention.
“This past year there were
only 40 African-American men
in the incoming freshmen
class who weren’t athletes,”
Barton said. “That’s
ridiculous.”
To help increase minority
numbers, Saddler and Barton
plan to alter an existing SGA-
sponsored scholarship that is
available only to Athens-
Clarke County students. They
want to make it available to
minority students statewide.
Saddler and Barton also
want to begin an organization
that connects administrators
and student leaders to
African-American freshmen.
The purpose of the organi
zation is to improve the aca
demic and social experience
by allowing the students to
meet with role models already
familiar with the University,
Barton said.
“At the end of their first
year, hopefully we will have
retained more African-
American first year students,”
she said.
Another item on their plat
form is to establish a pass/fail
introduction to the University
elective available for all fresh
men, UGA 1101. It will be
offered to students to help
prepare for life at the
University for one hour of
credit.
One campaign issue, how
ever, cannot go into effect
during Saddler’s term.
They said they wanted to
begin a roommate matching
program for incoming fresh
men, but housing plans for the
fall semester already are in
place. They plan to continue
work on the project so that
^ W if
mi'm
SADDLER
students
can benefit
from it
after their
term ends
next year.
Other
issues
Saddler
and
Barton
plan to
work on
include
extending library and OASIS
hours and establishing a non
alcoholic tailgate with the
football team.
Previous SGA President
Sachin Varghese worked with
both Saddler and Barton on
the SGA Freshmen Board.
“They have got all they
need to hit the ground run
ning,” Varghese said.
“Everything is falling into
place perfectly,” Saddler said.
“Now we just got to get it
done. To be honest, I’m really
excited.”
Diversidad sponsors cultural fashion show
By AMY LEIGH WOMACK
awomack@randb.com
Styles ranging from classy chic and
hip-hop to international and native cul
tural will be on display tonight at the
Sanchia Patrick Diversidad Fashion show.
The show, sponsored by the Student
Government Association, will be held at
7 p.m. in Georgia Hall in the Tate Center.
Tickets are available at the Tate
Student Center Cashier’s Window.
Rinds raised through the $3 student
and $5 non-student tickets will help sup
port the SGA scholarship program bene
fiting local high school seniors who plan to
attend the University, said Conrhonda
Baker, a sophomore from Elberton.
Baker said 20 models from many
fraternities, sororities and cultural organi
zations will model more than 100 outfits.
“We have a veiy diverse group of people
this year,” she said.
Clothing from Vietnam, the Philipines,
Ghana, India and the United States will
be represented, Baker said.
Vintage clothing from Dynamite
Clothing and Lotus Eaters will be fea
tured in the show in addition to other
American styles, she said.
“Come out and support the
school,’’Baker said. “The scholarship
helps get kids in here.”
She said students also should
attend to “celebrate diversity through
clothing.”
“It’s an opportunity to learn about dif
ferent cultures,” Baker said.
SGA President Latham Saddler, a
sophomore from Charlotte, N.C. said he
predicts the show will be both entertain
ing and educational.
SPECIAL | The Red & Black
▲ Destiny Johnson, left, and
Conrhonda Baker, right, discuss
the script for the 2003
Diversidad fashion show.
First stages of online syllabi begin
By AMY LEIGH WOMACK
awomack@randb.com
After months of wrangling,
the Curriculum Committee of
the University Council has set
April 1 as the deadline for
completion of the first
stage of placing class syllabi
online.
“I’m really encouraged to
see (the process) moving
along and on schedule,” said
Sachin Varghese, a senior
from Norcross and former
Student Government
Association president.
In the end, students will be
able to visit an online home-
page with links to depart
ment homepages, said Scott
Shaw, a professor of astrono
my and member of the
Curriculum Committee.
He said students will be
able to click on links from the
department homepages to
access syllabi for individual
courses.
“It shouldn’t be too many
clicks,” Shaw said.
William Vencil, chair of the
curriculum committee and
associate professor in the
department of Crop and Soil
Sciences, said putting syllabi
online is designed to help
students decide which classes
are best suited for them.
“It will reduce the number
of people doing add/drop and
hopefully will reduce the
number of students who
drop before the midpoint,” he
said.
Vencil said the online syl
labi also will aid professors.
“They’ll be able to get
going faster instead of waiting
for students to drop during
the first week,” he said.
Vencil said many depart
ments already have course
syllabi on the Web.
Shaw said syllabi for his
classes already are posted
online.
Although the current plan
for putting the syllabi online
is predicted to help students
immensely, he said it’s only a
temporary fix.
“It’s designed to be a tem
porary fix until there’s time to
put together a database that
would be searchable,” Vencil
said.
He said the database is
expected to be compiled
within one to two years.
“Anytime we’re helping
students, it’s a good thing,”
Vencil said.
SGA senators seated on
the University Council pro
posed putting syllabi online
in fall of 2002.
After hearing SGA’s argu
ment for the proposal, the
Council changed its mind and
passed the proposal.
“We basically asked if pro
fessors would want students
to choose classes based solely
on what they see on the key,”
said SGA President Latham
Saddler, a sophomore from
Charlotte, N.C.
“This is something that
was one of SGA’s biggest
accomplishments in the fall,”
he said. “And it will benefit a
lot of students.”
— Contributing: staff
reports
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