Racist slurs found scrawled in SOAR office was scrawled in large letters on a dry erase message board in the Department of Security or to speak with a dean. Cotter BY AMY MONTEMERLO AND RENE E the room. described this act as "hurtful and oppressive... [it] is clearly an LAJEUNESSE A member of SOAR discovered the epithet on Sunday. The act against SOAR and particularly those African-American N£ws Editors Dean on Call last weekend, Associate Dean of Students and Direc- and Latino members of that organization." tor of Intercultural Affairs Jeri Roseboro was contacted and met Potter feels that the incident is not a personal attack A racial epithet was discovered in the Pugh Center last with SOAR members Sunday afternoon. Safety and Security was against SOAR, because the organization is "a coalition of weekend. According to Dean of Students Janice Kassman and promptly alerted and began an investigation of the incident. every color... always open to everyone." He explained that he Colby President William Cotter, a perpetrator or group of Monday morning, October 27, ten members of SOAR, was not shocked at all when he saw the epithet and deface- perpetrators entered the Students Organized Against Racism Professor Sandy Grande, Assistant Director of Security Peter ment because Colby really is not a bubble and you can expect (SOAR) organization room in the Pugh Center sometime Chenevert, and four deans, met in the Dean of Students office such things from society. Rather, he and other members of the between 10 p.m. on Saturday, October 25, and noon on to discuss the incident and to recommend further action. group felt more violated than anything. Sunday, October 26. The SOAR office , like most of the Pugh According to Kyle Potter '99, president of SOAR, they dis- It was agreed that this matter would be discussed at the center club rooms, was not locked at the time of the break-in. cussed how to address the issue and present it to the Colby Campus Community Committee meeting, which met yes- The perpetrator(s) defaced a student-constructed collage community. terday morning, Wednesday, October 29. This meeting was which depicted different cultures and racial backgrounds. In President Cotter has urged any student who might have intended to focus on the possibilities of creating harsher addition, a racial epithet, which read "fuck niggers and spies" information pertaining to this issue to contact Chenevert in See RACISM on page 3 Indian ambassador speaks at Spotlight mains prevalent throughput In- BY JILL MORNEAU dia. This attitude existed as early Staff Writer as the Maryan Empire, when Ashoka the Great gave up war On Sunday night, October and decided to become a Bud- 26th, Ambassador Shyamala dhist. Yet, this empire did not last Cowsik, deputy chief of mission without going to war, and 200 in the Embassy of India in Wash- years later it saw its collapse. ington D.C, spoke to a full house, Cowsik wanted to remind the as well as some of her biggest audience that India was not cel- fans, some of which came from as ebrating its 50th anniversary of far as Lewiston, Maine. Cowsik being a democracy. She gave the even joked about the weather in definition of a democracy as "a Maine and how Colby had pro- government with the consent of vided her with • jw j« the governed." sunsnme espe- Cowsik ex- ¦¦ ¦ ¦ cially for her plained that In- .. ¦ ¦ ' . Echo photo by Mclanie Guryansky visit. What has India dia has been a SHOC skits address alcohol related issues Cowsik's accomplished in its strong democ- speech cen- 50 years of racy for the last tered around 2,300 years. In Alcohol Awareness Week a success independence? India's accom- fact, in the Jaws of Life demonstration was plishments - Shyamala Cowsik Mahabhrata , be- BY BETSY LOYD perfo rmed. Officials removed during its 50 fore the narra- Staff Writer Patrick Upatham '99 from a car years of inde- 55 tive begins , As a whole, I believe after lifting off the roof. Also, a pendence. She there is a pro- Colby recently celebrated Al- that Alcohol local police officer gave a sobriety began by giving a brief overview logue about a mythological king cohol Awareness Week on cam- demonstration , discussing drink- of India . She explained tha t as a tha t chooses an outsider as his pus. Over 200 Colby students suc- Awareness Week ing and driving, and explaining country India is extremel y large; successor. Therefore , democracy cessfully completed the C-SNAP [was] successful. " field procedures , such as the it is one third of the size of the has been in operation since an- Challenge last week, pledging to 'John Sauter *98 brea thalyzer test. United States. In fact, it is as large cient times. give up alcohol ic beverages for an Not many people att ended as Europe without Russia . Fur- Cowsik also explained the ori- entire week. While the C-SNAP the sobr iety event, which led to thermore , India has 14-16 main gins of Gandh i's tactics of non- Challenge was the main focus of — 33 a trend in lack of att endance a t languages. Cowsik described it as violence, explaining that , as a pro- Alcohol Awareness Week , many Coffee House. The week was cho- many even ts t hroughou t the a multi-ethnic / multi-religious , fessional lawyer , he had read a other chem-free events took place sen to coincide with National Al- week. multi-lingual country . She ex- text called "Duties of Civil Dis- as well. cohol Awareness Week. " It was hard ; a lot of people plained this diversity as a resul t obedience" and had been in- An annual event, Alcohol Approximately 300 students had exams. As the week pro- of the absor ption of every kind of spired. Yet, on January 20, 1948, Awareness , Week is a tool used to signed up for the C-SNAP Chal- gressed , though , we tried to in- foreign influence tha t it has been Gandhi was assassinated. Still, he "br ing alcohol awarene ss to the lenge this year , with at least 240 crease publ icity. Some of the events exposed to. Yet, Cowsik stressed did not die in vain. Martin Luther attention of students and to pro- studen ts completing the challenge . have a much bigger draw , and that all these differences exist in King learne d of his tactics and vide chem-free alternatives to stu- Last year , a smaller number , pf Ithey l were at the end of the week. harmon y. visited India to meet Gandhians \ den ts as well," accord ing to John people signed up and approxi- Others were more interest spe- The first foreign influence In- Back in the United Stat es he Sauter '98, pres ident bf Colby Stu- mately 270 finished , accord ing to cific," said Sau ter abou t the low dia exper ienced was during the shaped the Civil Rights Move- dents for Non-Alcoholic Progr am- Sau ter. attendance. 4th century -B;C.E., when ment around Gandhi 's concep ts ming (C-SNAP), and main orga- "The majori ty of the people On Tuesday , October 21, na- Alexand er from Macedonia ex- of non-violence. nizer of the week/The week was who sign up usually complete it..." tionall y-acclaimed speaker , David plored Ind ia. In fact,Q>wsikstated Then Cowsik returned to her planned by Sauter and Alex Chin , said Sau ter. "It connec ts well with Coleman discussed crea tive and that people in some regions in or iginal question of "What has assistant director of student ac- the chem-free commun ity ." heal thy dating options. , Ind ia still have blonde hair and India accomp lished in its 50 years tivities , with the help of other cam- In addi tion to the C-SNAP " I thought it was really infor- blue eyes because of this. of independence ?" First Cowsik pus groups , including SGA, SPB, Challenge , da ily events were mative and I gained insight into Cowsik also (explained the at- began by explain ing the scenario SHOC , Colby Emergency Re- planned to promote alcohol aware- how other people might think of pag e titude of non-violence that re- See SPOTLIGHT on 2 sponse (CER ) and the Mary Low ness. On Monday, October 20, a See ALCOHOL on page 3 Presidents ' Cou iicil clears campus pub , NCAA committee as recommeded by thg pub task have a designated day and time for BY MEGAN ROURKE force." all Spotlight Lectures to take place. Colby Symph ony Orchestra Contributing Writer The results of a recent unsu- After little debate, the motion was pervised student opinion poll approved by the Council. concert this weekend Presidents' Council approved showed that an overwhelming ma- Levin also continued discus- This Saturday, November 1, the Colby Symphony Orchestra will the campus pub and a NCAA ac- jority of the nearly 500 responses sion on her on-going efforts to re- perform in Lorimer Chapel. This concert willfeature collegiate women's tion committee last Thursday, Oc- were in favor of setting up a pub evaluate the role of January gradu- a capella groups, including the Colbyettes. The concert is open to the tober 23. In response to the current on campus. ates at the College. She discussed public, and free of charge. The concert begins at 8 p.m. (AM) debate over the issue of post sea- Newberry explained that the her forthcoming proposal to give son competition participation by Marchese Lounge was chosen as January graduates priority in the Colby College Craft Fair to NESCAC schools, Graham Nelson the only legitimate space available room draw process.