Sen. Biden to Give Commencement Address

An Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Award Winner THE Civil Rights Movement Men's basketball loses at art on display, the buzzer in double OT, Bl BS 250 University Center University of Delaware Newark, DE 19716 Thesday & Friday • • FREE Volume I :10. Issue :IJ H'H'H.i'el·reH rulel.edu February 27. 2004 Sen. Biden to give Commencement address BY K.W. EAST mencement speech at the university. tion to speak. are not permitted to accept stipends Editor In Chief He spoke at previous commence Dorr said there were approxi for such appearances. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., ments in 1978 and 1987. mately 45 nominations this year, Margaret Aitken, Biden's press will speak at the university's Spring Dorr said suggestions for com which were added to suggestions secretary, said it was too soon to com Commencement ceremony May 29, mencement speakers made by stu from the past several years. ment on what the senator plans to talk university officials announced dents, faculty, staff and the communi Roselle stated in an e-mail mes about. Monday. ty are collected throughout the year sage that some of the factors involved Provost Dan Rich expressed his Biden, who is the ranking and many of these are added to a pool in choosing a speaker include confidence that the graduating class Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign of recommendations from previous whether they were suggested and will appreciate Bid en's speech. Relations Committee, was the univer years. available. " I think what people wi ll be most sity's first choice for commencement In her capacity as director, she "Also, there is preference for and interested in is that he's a man of ...._ ~ speaker, said Sharon Dorr, director of said, her responsibilities include the it is a happy outcome when, again as immense stature and recognition; Alumni and University Relations. facilitation of collecting suggested is the case with Sen. Biden, the per great experience," he said. "The stu "Given the current state of world names. Factors of selection include son recommended to me is a demon dents will be very interested particu affairs and national security, Sen. availability and the topical and time strated friend of the institution," he larly given the times in which we Biden's appearance could not be ly interest of the suggested speaker. said. live, to hear from someone who's a more timely or appropriate," she stat The final selection is made by Biden will not be receiving pay participant and an observer and a per ed in an e-mail message. university President David P. Roselle, ment for delivering the speech, son with a keen insight into that." The occasion will mark the third she said, who also extends the invita- Roselle said, because elected officials time Biden has delivered a com- Bush wants anti-gay marriage amendment BY BENJAMIN ANDERSEN allow gay marriage, Ammons said. This would be News Features Editor impossible for state judges to do if a constitutional President George W. Bush urged Congress on amendment were passed. Tuesday to pass a constitutional amendment ban She said she believed Bush's opposition to ning gay marriages. gay marriage will give him the upper hand in the Citing recent events in Massachusetts, 2004 election. California and New Mexico, he said a constitution "This is going to be the issue in the presiden al amendment would curb illegal marriages. tial campaign," Ammons said. "Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom religious and natural roots without weakening the to Marry, a nationwide group that works for gay good influence of society," President Bush said. and lesbian marriage rights, said it is not unusual For an amendment to be ratified, a proposal for this issue to become politicized. must pass two thirds of the U.S. Senate and House "The right wing has always tried to use anti of Representatives, and then be approved by three gay attacks and other social issues to divert peo quarters of the states. ple," he said. Jeremy Learning, spokesman for Americans Wolfson said what worries him about this United for the Separation of Church and State, said attack is the insistence to make it part of federal a constitutional amendment is unnecessary and law. unfair to other religious beliefs. "They're recklessly assaulting the "We don't think it's a good idea to enshrine in Constitution," he said. •• ill THE REVIEW/Erin Biles the Constitution one religion's view on marriage," Criminal justice professor Eric Rise, an expert . hils ~stponed voting to decide whether a bus hub can be he said. in constitutional history, said although amend :z§iinsltaUled !i~iw~en~East Main Street and East Delaware Avenue. One of several Learning said Bush is using the amendment to ments that restrict citizens' rights are rare, they are ob iiecltior.S· ,to;the plan is from the proprieter of No Name Pizza and Gyro Eatery, gain support among the Christian Right before the often proposed. election in November. The 18th Amendment, which prohibited alco have, to relocate. The Constitution should not be amended to hol, was one notable exception that was successful take rights away from citizens, he said. in 1919 before being repealed more than a decade "Our constitution has never been amended to later. deny people's rights," Learning said. "This is "Most amendments to the constitution are America. Whatever happened to live and let live?" structural," he said. '~U~ ,decision delayed Michele Ammons, vice president of commu Rise said amendments to the constitution are 0-~ . nications for the Christian Coalition of America, uncommon, and this proposal will be harder to pass said the organization feels an amendment is need than others. · BY KELLY MCHUGH said he agreed and attempted to rate construction of a bicycle ed to protect traditional Americap values. "It's going to be particularly difficult to pass , StaffJleporter assuage fears that the council was path could be enforced in the "I believe the word 'marriage' should be The vote on a resolution ignoring the concerns of those future. this in an election year," he said, "because it's such "These verbal promises are between a man and a woman," she said. authorizing the construction of a lobbying for a bicycle tunnel. a divisive issue." Dart bus hub between East Main "I don't understand this plan going to be lost on another coun Judges should not interpret existing laws to Street and East Deiaware Avenue precluding a bike path being built cil 10 years from now," he said, was postponed at a city council in the future," he said. "and we're not going to be meeting Monday, amid a deluge Another objection to the there." of objections. hub's location came from Councilman David J. Athey, Dart Executive Director Richard Dudek, owner of Main 4th District, said he agreed a Raymoud Miller said the purpose Street Court Apartments, located decision on the construction of a Senior gift voting online of the hub is to allow smaller, near the proposed site. bicycle path was a prescient con more local bus routes and more He said he was concerned sideration and preferably should, frequent pickup times in Newark. the carbon dioxide from the be made part of the plan. He said these changes buses' exhaust would contami "We don't know what's BY CHRISTINA HERNANDEZ 'would help to eliminate unneces nate the units used to supply going to happen," he said. "There Student Affairs Editor sary bus traffic from Wilmington. fresh air to his building's ventila could be an oil embargo or a bike Seniors this year have the opportunity to vote online for the senior class gift, a process that "The large buses from tion system. or moped craze." until now had been reserved for administrators and a small committee of students. Wilmington would terminate "We have [students] living Councilman Jerry Clifton, Voting began on Monday and will continue until March 5. ·here," Miller said, "and there there," Dudek said. "I've been to 2nd District, said he was con Senior Amy Bouza, co-chair of the Senior Class Gift Committee, said the committee came up would be buses that made small two other meetings, and this gets cerned about the carbon dioxide with the idea for online voting. er loops through Newark." kicked under the carpet." emissions and the lack of a "We knew in the past people weren't happy that (the committee] had gotten to pick," she said. Although there was general State Rep. Stephanie response from Delaware "We wanted to give them a choice." agreement that the idea of a hub Ulbrich, R-25th District, said she • Department of Transportation. Senior Ali Garwood, co-chair of the Senior Class Gift Committee, said approximately 30 stu was practical, ,the logistics of its was troubled by the lack of dis "There are just too many dent members of the committee generated an initial list of about 20 gift ideas, construction had critics con- cussion of Dudek's objection. unanswered questions," he said The Office of Annual Giving then reviewed the list along with university President David P. cerned. · "Nothing about the air qual Ralph Reed, DelDOT's Roselle, she said, who narrowed the list down to the four options seniors have to vote on. Willett Kempton, chairman ity concern bas yet been director of planning, said he esti The first selection is a scholarship fund for future classes, Garwood said, that will have more of the Newark Bicycle addressed," she said. mated that it would take at least specifications if it is voted on as the senior's selection.

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