Ithaca College Digital Commons @ IC The thI acan, 2001-02 The thI acan: 2000/01 to 2009/2010 2-14-2002 The thI acan, 2002-02-14 Ithaca College Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2001-02 Recommended Citation Ithaca College, "The thI acan, 2002-02-14" (2002). The Ithacan, 2001-02. 19. http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2001-02/19 This Newspaper is brought to you for free and open access by the The thI acan: 2000/01 to 2009/2010 at Digital Commons @ IC. It has been accepted for inclusion in The thI acan, 2001-02 by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ IC. VOL. 69, No. 18 THURSDAY ITHACA, N. Y. FEBRUARY 14, 2002 28 PAGES, FREE WWW. ithaca.edu/ithacan The Newspaper for. the Ithaca Col!ege Community College. Joins group's fight Rooting for a medaling sister for fair labor Freshman to see BY NICOLE GEARING Staff Writer sibling's skating Ithaca College is taking a step to ensure clothing bearing the college's name is not in Winter Games manufactured in sweatshops. The college will request membership in BY DAN GREENMAN the Worker Rights Consortium, a group that Staff Writer campaigns for higher working standards in foreign countries. The college has be­ Faculty members don't usually like it longed to a sweatshop watch-dog group, the when their students miss classes m the Fair Labor Association, since 1999. middle of the semester. But when fresh­ For the college to join the WRC, President man Matthew Hughes skips town on Peggy R. Williams must send a letter to the Monday, he will have a good excuse. organization. The WRC must then approve His sister Sarah Hughes is the 16-year­ Ithaca College for membership, and the col­ old figure skater favored to take a medal lege must then pay the annual $1,000 fee. The at the Winter Olympics. Matthew will be college will remam a member of the FLA as traveling to Salt Lake City to watch the well, which costs $100 a year. competition, which will be televised on Formed by the Clinton administration in NBC on Tuesday and Thursday night. 1996, the FLA has been criticized by some "Some people around school for employing inspectors who may be biased .............. by their financial ues to the corporations they --~~ •.:4··· know that she's arc inspecting. The WRC's inspectors are my sister," he from non-government organizations and arc ~¥- said. "When most not related to the corporations they inspect. • people find out, Both b'Toups investigate factories around the SALT LAKE 2002" they go crazy." world where college apparel is produced to en­ QSo) Sarah Hughes sure worker conditions are fair. They then re­ 1s on the cover of port back to member schools on their findings. the current issue of "Time" and was pre­ In November 2001, the Young Democratic dicted to win a bronze medal in women's Socialists co-sponsored a teach-in about figure skating by "Sports Illustrated." She sweatshops, hosting laborers from joins Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen as Bangladesh. YDS co-chair Joey Cronen said the three members of the U.S. team. he is thrilled about the college's efforts to "I have a couple copies of 'Time' mag­ make sure Ithaca College apparel is not be­ azine," he said. "I went to Mac's, and I ing manufactured in unjust conditions. swiped all of them." "This can only be beneficial to have an im­ Hughes, of Great Neck, Long Island, partial organization come and inspect the fac­ said his sister has been skating since she tories to make sure that people's rights are not was 3 years old. being violated," Cronen said. 'The FLA has "My brother and I played hockey, and a conflict of interest because people on their we would skate around, and she used to fol­ board have corporate interests in mind." low us," he said. "She was a real pain in Vice President and Treasurer Carl the neck because we were trying· to play Sgrecci said he felt the· college joining the hockey, and she's out there getting in the WRC was another positive step. He said the JOE PASTERIS/fHE ITHACAN way. We didn't really know what she was college was satisfied with the FLA but be­ FRESHMAN MATTHEW HUGHES sits outside the West Tower with a copy of See FAMILY, Page 4 cause of student and activist concerns, de­ "Time," which has a front-page picture of his sister, Olympian Sarah Hughes. cided to join the WRC as well. "Our final conclusion was that we felt that this was a big enough issue that both orga­ nizations could only help us," Sgrecci said. "We felt two organizations working on it was Students tackle relationship snags better than one." College Stores Director Michael Bov1 said about 85 percent of the college's ap­ BY KELLI B. GRANT said the support group will ad­ parel is made in the United States, where Assistant News Editor dress anything from lack of ro­ stricter labor laws guarantee fair conditions mance, to trust problems, to for workers. Some students will spend to­ physical or emotional abuse, to Bovi also mentioned that Ithaca College day reflecting on the happier side conflicts with roommates or requires every clothing manufacturer to send of relationships. Receiving a friends. their code of conduct guaranteeing fair work­ dozen red roses, a box of choco­ Relationships become ing conditions. lates or just spending time wit4 problems ... when there is There are more than 90 U.S. colleges and that special someone on Valeri" something blocking you from universities that belong to the WRC. tine's Day can be euphoric. being yourself," Weinstein United Students Against Sweatshops calls But romantic relationships said. on colleges and universities to Join groups like are not always a bed of roses. As People of any age face ob­ the WRC. Although there is no USAS divi­ a reminder of this, several cam­ itacles in relationships, Mont­ sion at Ithaca College, Cronen said he has been pus groups are promoting gomery said. College students in contact with Cornell USAS members. awareness of the difficulties that tend to experience difficulties Rob Gray, USAS midwcst regional orga­ can surface in relationships. because they are away from nizer, said his organization supported non-gov­ Psychologist Suki Mont­ their original family support ernmental organizations inspecting factories. gomery and Social Work Intern system and feel the need to be "It is [non-governmental organizations] Evie Weinstein are forming a re­ more independent, she said. that USAS believes offers the most accurate lationship issues support group At most, the support group JOE GERAGHTY/THE ITHAC~ and reliable reports on the factories that pro­ at the Counseling Center. Be­ will have eight members, FRESHMAN LOGAN MOSI.ER, right, sells candy grams 'lf> duce our-university apparel," Gray said. ginning in late February, the Montgomery said. Four people sophomore Amanda Millward,.left, and Antoinette DI Ciaccio, The college's membership in WRC will group will meet Tuesdays from have expressed interest so far. speclal assistant tor·programs In the Roy H. Park School of not change students' purchasing options in 4 to 5:30 p.m. Communications. The Park Scholars will donate the proceeds cainpus stores. Weinstein and Montgomery See ORGANIZATIONS, Page 4 to V-Day, an organization fighting violence against women. INSIDE ACCENT ••• 13 CLASSIFIED ••• 21 COMICS ••• 20 OPINION ••• 10 SPORTS ••• 28 ·,.,,\.,,..I.IP JI I I It t. I. I.I.I.I .I JJ J I I I t I. LU .I .I 1I I I f I i.i.i.l .I l • I • I • I. I .I 1.•... I... 2 THE ITHACAN NEWS National and International News ployees, lost millions of dollars as 'Enron stock plum­ U.S. POWERS OVER COMPETITION meted prior to its December collapse into the nation's largest bankruptcy. The company's downfall has been blamed on up to 3,000 off-the-books partnerships, which enabled the company to hide losses and inflate profits, enriching executives in the process. William C. Powers Jr., who headed an internal in­ vestigation that highlighted the transactions, told committee members Tuesday his inquiry provided only "a cursory" look and suggested that many other irregularities still re­ main to be uncovered. Campaign finance reform on the way Even if the House of Representatives passes the biggest overhaul of campaign finance law since the Watergate era this week, Congress is unlikely to restrict large political donations before November's elections. The Republican and Democratic parties already have raised so much money for those elections that it may be impossible for the legislation to take effect in time, law­ makers and regulation advocates say. House debate on the hig~-profile bill to restrict mon­ ey in politics begins Tuesday. A vote is expected on late Wednesday or Thursday. Typically, legislation gains the force of law within 30 days of the president's signature. But the effective date of this year's campaign finance bill has become one of the side issues to the House debate, with several lawmakers in close races calling for a delay until Jan. l. The bill would ban unregulated money that corporations, unions and wealthy individuals can give to the national po­ litical parties. These funds, known as "soft money," help pay for get-out-the-vote efforts and issue advertising on behalf of candidates. The bill would still allow state parties to raise • MERI SIMON/SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS "soft money" in contributions of no more than $10,000. ROSS POWERS WON the gold medal in snowboarding Monday, helping the United States sweep the event .