THURSDAY ITHACA, N.Y. A PRIL 3, 2003 36 PAGES, f REE VOLUME 70, NUMBER 24 The Newspaper for the Ithaca College Community WWW. ITHACA.EDU/ITHACAN CirCles residents claim harassntent BY ANN HARENDA workers take breaks. AND KATIE MOORE Tim Colbart, vice president of Staff Writers Integrated Acquisition and Devel­ opment Corp., the company in College Circle Apartment resi­ charge of the construction, said dents don 't mind if the construction Wednesday that he was complete­ workers whistle while they work, ly unaware of the problem but that as long as it is not at them. measures will be taken to prevent Several female Circles resi­ further incidents. dents told The Ithacan they have "We will certainly bring this to received offensive stares and re- the attention of the general con­ marks from tractor," he said. workers build- '' They are always "We'll be sure ing additional that . they un­ apartments at staring at me when derstand that this is the complex. just totally unac­ Alexandra they have their lunch ceptable and that Levinson, a this behavior will sophomore Cir- breaks ... I have to not be tolerated." des resident, Levinson said said she has had close the blinds, even that one day dur­ several encoun­ ing the week after ters with some of on nice days. '' spring break, she the construction decided to read workers near -ALEXANDRA LEVINSON outside on her her apartment. Sophom ore balcony. "They are al- "I was wearing a ways staring at me when they have tank top and a pair of shorts," she their lunch breaks," she said. "It's said. "I got up to go inside, and kind of annoying because it's got­ when I was walking away one guy ten to the point so that in order for . basically made a comment them to not see into my room, I about my [butt]." have to close the blinds, even on Although Levinson said she nice days." did not respond to the comments, Levinson's room is located she did leave the balcony. ROBIN ROEMER/THE ITHACAN adj acent to several benches A second encounter took place STUDENTS WALK PAST the construction site of the new College Circle Apartments Wednesday. Some where she ays the construction See ADMINISTRATORS, Page 4 female residents of the Circles have complained about sexual comments from workers at the aite. College visitors Group joins D.C. affirmative 3.ctio_n rally to Singapore BY DAN GREENMAN Senior Writer face SARS scare As the U.S. Supreme Court heard argu­ ments in important affirmative action cas­ BY MICHELLE THEIS es Tuesday, thousands of people marched in Staff Writer front of the courthouse - including 19 Itha­ ca College students. SINGAPORE - Members of the Ithaca The students took a bus sponsored by the College community spending the semester in African-Latino Society to Washington to Singapore are taking precautions to avoid con­ support affirmative action during Supreme tracting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Court hearings about whether to uphold a a deadly virus that is sweeping across Asia. decision that legally makes race a part of ad­ As the college's only exchange student in missions policy at public institutions. Singapore, I am one of almost 200 foreign ex­ The group included representatives change students at Nanyang Technological Uni­ from Student Government Association versity who are dealing with the worldwide out­ and ALS ; Traevena Potter-Hall, director of break of the disease, commonly called SARS. affirmative action and equal opportunity; The disease carries pneumonia-like Cynthia Baldessare, assistant professor of symptoms and is transmitted through close theater arts; and Zillah Eisenstein, profes­ contact with an infected person. As of Tues­ sor of politics. During the past week, SGA day, 95 people had contracted SARS in Sin­ and ALS sponsored several events on af­ gapore alone. firmative action, including a forum The World Health Organization said March 22, a sit in last Thursday and a de­ LAURA BAUMAN!THE ITHACAN Tuesday the cumulative total of cases bate Wednesday. AFRICAN-LATINO SOCIETY members hold up signs during the group's sit-in for reached 1,804 worldwide, with 62 deaths. Six­ The rally began Tuesday morning in front affirmati.ve action in the Campus Center last Thursday. They are, from left to right, ty-nine of those cases are in the United States, of the Supreme Court, then turned into a junior Janitza Lopez and seniors Teaira Hardimon and Sarina Heyward. 10 of them in New York. There have been no march that stretched along Constitution Av­ shows that this is important. If there was no­ "I think the justices heard us," SARS deaths in the United States. enue before ending at the steps of the Lin­ body there - not a single sign - that would Dawkins said. "I hope they pay attention. Although the Singapore government is coln Memorial. Official estimates ranged have sent a message, too, that people don't It doesn 't help that the president has stat­ currently quarantining about 1,000 people and from 5,000 to 7,000 demonstrators, while care about affirmative action." ed how he feels." has closed all public schools, it has thus far organizers put the number at 50,000. The Supreme Court heard arguments The Bush administration has expressed kept the universities open. The majority of the crowd was in favor Tuesday in the cases of Gratz v. Bollinger, opposition to the University of Michigan's According to an article in Singapore's of affirmative action. Senior • Candice involving admissions at the University of style of affirmative action, a fact which Straits Times last Thursday, Education Min­ Dawkins, educational affairs officer for ALS, Michigan's undergraduate college, and Dawkins said makes protesters think that a ister Teo Chee Hean said that university-aged said she did not see any people protesting Grutter v. Bollinger, involving Michigan's decision won 't be made in their favor. students "are better able to understand the sit­ against affirmative action, while Potter-Hall law school. Though the justices will only de­ The majority of the demonstrators were uation and take the necessary precautions." said that at one point she saw two people cide whether race can be used as a factor students, although some teachers and Stewart Auyash, associate professor and holding signs denouncing it. in admissions to publicly funded institutions, union workers also attended. Most visibly chairman of the Department of Health Poli­ "The rally and march was an attempt to the decision, which is expected to be made absent were corporate leaders, who depend cy Studies, who is on leave in Singapore, has send one fi nal message," Potter-Hall said. by late June, could affect the future of af­ on diverse college enrollments for the fu­ been following the SARS epidemic closely. "The fact that there were so many people firmative action. ture of their companies, Potter-Hall said. See FACULTY, Page 4 INSIDE ACCENT •• • 19 CLASSIFIED ••• 25 COMICS ••• 26 OPINION ••• 16 SPORTS ••• .36 2 THE ITHACAN NEWS . THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2003 National and ·I nternational News dreds of thousands more refugees from Iraq. READY, AIM, FIRE Blunkett said Britain supported efforts to establish refugee camps and protective zones in Jordan and other countries bor­ dering Iraq "to ensure that when people f Ome out of Iraq they can be placed and looked after rather than ... immediately picked up by traffickers ,;llld organi~d across the world." Kurdish guerrillas assist U.S. forces Riding atop their rarely seen armored vehicles, Kurdish guerrillas rolled onto a U.S. army base in northern Iraq Sun­ day, a sign of increasing military cooperation between the guerrillas and American soldiers. · There were four Kurdish armored personnel carriers in the convoy, each flying the yellow flag of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. But for Kurdish righters more used to getting around in battered cars, the armored vehicles crawling past U_. S. soldiers digging foxholes said the guer­ rillas have truly arrived. U.S. and Kurdish officials refuse. to discuss details of their military ties, except to say that the guerrillas have agreed not to make any offensive moves outside U.S. mil:­ itary command~The United Sfates has not objected pub­ licly to the guerrillas' territorial gains iQ recent days. Oil prices reflect progression of war . RICK LOOMIS/LOS ANGELES TIMES . MEMBERS OF THE 1st Battalion, 11th Marines, Alpha Battery, hold their ears upon the release of an The rebound in crude oil prices last week, triggered by artillery round from a 155mm howitzer headed toward-a destination -in southern Iraq. Iraq's resistance to U.S.-led forces, has slowed the flow of oil imports to U.S. refineries and the production of gasoline, leaving motor fuel stockpiles at historically low levels as the · Pow_ell says nations support terrorists dress to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. summer driving season approaches, energy analysfs warn . The war's uncertain course and the accompanying gy­ In strong and accusatory language, Secretary of State Col­ Britain hopes to curb flood of refugees rations in oil prices are making U.S. energy companies wary in Powell called on Syria and Iran on Sunday night to stop The Cabinet secretary in charge of Britain's domestic about rebuilding depleted fuel inventories with high-priced supporting terrorists. He warned that Syria's leadership "faces security said Sunday that he wanted to streamline proce­ crude oil. The coinpanies also worry that a sudden favor­ a critical choice" and will be held responsiQle for help it gives dures for extraditing accused terrorists to the United States able tum ·in the war could cause oil prices to plummet. to the govem~ent of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.