AU Volume 98 IssueFiat # 1 The Student Newspaper of AlfredLux University September 16, 2003 WALF recognized among top college stations in nation BY AARON MARGULIS dedication that the student no production studio. There casts. STAFF WRITER leaders of the organization were no programming logs, However, the real gutting exhibit on a daily basis.” and thus no scheduled public of the station happened in the In this year’s edition of the Atlas continued his praise announcements. second year, according to Princeton Review, Alfred by saying “all of the students According to Kelley, the Kelley, who said that he University’s WALF 89.7 FM involved in WALF have freely station’s signal could not be obtained funding from the station was ranked in the top donated their time and energy played on mono radios, and Senate to hire Digital Radio 20 of college radio stations to making this station a valu- much of the available equip- Engineering, a firm from New nationally. able source of entertainment ment was sitting in disrepair. York City. As explained in the and education,” especially The station did not meet FCC Owens came in as a fresh- Princeton Review’s press “the current student leaders regulations, and much of its man and became the engi- release, the rankings were … Colin Kelley, Ben Huff, available funding had been neering director, the position compiled from surveys of Emily Hellman and Jon left unused. he still holds. 106,000 college students from [Owens],” who “have proven Kelley had several years of “The production studio was 351 colleges and universities. to be very forward-thinking, experience in radio coming to designed by committee,” said “We were very excited to find innovative, and creative.” WALF. He helped bring in an Kelley, continuing, “Jon out that WALF was rated so Kelley, the current pro- engineer to do some minor ripped out all the wiring, leav- highly by students,” said gramming director and for- work in the first year, fixing ing a completely bare room. Gordan Atlas, professor of mer station manager, the microphone and the sig- We had no furniture, and psychology. “ I’ve been the described the renovation nal, so that all speakers would some art students came in PHOTO BY AMANDA CRANS faculty advisor for WALF for process as it began four years be able to pick up the station that night and built tables for Colin Kelley, WALF’s programming director led the station’s revival a little over two years and I ago. When he came in as assis- and he initiated the use of us.” into one of the nations best. WALF was ranked among the top 20 have been impressed by the tant music director, there was Winamp for overnight broad- SEE WALF, PAGE 3 college stations in the country by the Princeton Review. Recording Academic Alley under construction companies BY BRANDON THURNER MANAGING EDITOR crack down Faculty and students returned from their summer vacations to on file sharing a flurry of unfinished construc- tion projects at Alfred BY JAMES KRYSIAK University. NEWS EDITOR “The major project this sum- mer was the steam line renova- Last week, the Recording Industry tion from the heating plant Association of America filed its first 261 down to McMahon and also a lawsuits against alleged file sharers of branch to Binns-Merrill as copyrighted MP3s stemming from over well,” said Alfred’s director of 1,500 subpoenas served over the past six capital operations and legal months. affairs, Michael Neiderbach. According to the RIAA, which is enti- The steam line renovation tled to seek rewards of up to $150,000 per involved tearing up old side song, the lawsuits targeted primarily those walks, adding expansion pipes who have shared, on average, 1,000 files and re-installing the actual line over peer-to-peer services such as Kazaa. itself, explained Neiderbach. The RIAA has received some flak for its The steam line, which pro- choice of targets, including a 12-year-old vides the central heating sys- girl, according to Fox News. tem for the University, had George Ball, professor of computer sci- been chosen as the Physical ence, thinks that the RIAA should be more Plant’s major summer job selective in their choice of offenders to sue. ,because it had exceeded its “It doesn’t help their image at all to sue lifespan and was being nursed 12-year-old honors students or retired peo- along as long as its reliability ple downloading hard-to-find recordings,” could be ensured, added said Ball. Neiderbach. According to the Washington Post, some Besides the steam line, the parents have also been confused to find out sidewalks up to Bartlett resi- that they are being sued because their chil- dence hall, as well as the dren were downloading music. Science Center were redone. RIAA President Carey Sherman Bartlett itself has all new responded to such claims with the state- wiring and now runs on a 20- PHOTO BY AMANDA CRANS ment, “We expect to hear, ‘Hey, it wasn’t amp circuit. In the Science Debris scatters as the sidewalks and landscape between Seidlin Hall and Kanakadea Hall is torn up. The Physical Plant me, it was my kid.’ If they prefer the law- SEE CONSTRUCTION, PAGE 7 began repairs on the steam line and campus sidewalks over the summer. suit amended to name the kid, we’ll do that.” Another facet of the process which has confused some suspected file sharers is the subpoena process, which according to the Forest People take advantage of great outdoors Digital Millennium Copyright Act, does not require the RIAA to submit notifica- tion of subpoena filing to the users, catch- BY MIRANDA VAGG ing some by surprise. STAFF WRITER To remedy this, organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation at If you enjoy rock climbing, canoeing www.eff.org have set up search engines to and cross-country skiing, Forest check if an individual username has People may be an organization you appeared on the RIAA hit list. want to look into. Locally, Ball noted that by reading the Forest People is Alfred University’s Policy for the Use of Computing Facilities only outdoor club. The club began as a at AU and activating their e-mail accounts, hiking fraternity but was given the students agree not to share copyrighted name Forest People in the 1970s. music, which in addition to infringing upon “It was started up again as the someone else’s work, “hogs bandwidth … Forest People in the ’70s by a faculty [preventing] users from doing legitimate member and has been growing ever research on the Web.” since,” said Jessica Brooks, Forest AU’s Policies and Regulations online People czar. notes that one of the exceptions to The club took over duties of other FERPA, in which personal information can environmental organizations on cam- and will be disclosed without consent, is “to pus over the past four years, including comply with a judicial order or subpoena.” PETA, EARTH and PAWS. A special document, the Copyright “The other environmental clubs died Infringement Policy, has been posted to out, so now we’re the only official envi- the Web to specifically outline procedure in ronmental club on campus,” said case the university receives notification of Chandra Brackett, a member of the copyright infringement from an organiza- PHOTO BY BYRON BIRD organization. tion such as the RIAA. The Forest People hiked to Foster Lake as part of their first excursion of the new semester. SEE FOREST, PAGE 4 SEE SHARING, PAGE 3 FYE Program isn’t working How to negotiate salaries Offense falters at Fisher Check us out DEX Jim Krysiak looks at several problems with New careerEATURES column gives tips for dis- Fisher comes up big in late defensive stand http://fiatlux.alfred.edu/ theO program.PINION Page 2 Fcussing salaries in job interviews. Page 4 to beatS Saxons.PORTS Page 12 ONLINE IN Fiat Lux Page 2 Opinion September 16, 2003 Fiat Lux Roving Construction work Reporter: appreciated, more What is your could be done impression of Fiat Lux staffers, as well as most students and probably more Alfred, coming in than a few faculty, were surprised by the amount of construction at Alfred University as they returned from their summer breaks. as a freshman? Renovating the central steam line to the University is essential as it provides warmth to the entire campus community during PHOTOS AND QUESTION Alfred’s longer-than-average winter. Nursing along the steam BY BILL KRAMER line could not be done any longer and the well-being of the school depended on a cost-effective upgrade. Numerous sidewalks and steps, including those up to Bartlett residence hall as well as the Science Center, were in decrepit con- dition the last few years. Added to this, many sidewalks are actu- Rivalry still untapped ally paved with asphalt due to past budget considerations. The decision to upgrade a student’s main method of transportation, he players are more pumped up It certainly would not be a big shoe-leather express, is to be applauded. for this game than for any other expense for the schools, outside of hiring No longer do students have to put up with sidewalks that do not Tone of their careers, the stands officials for the game, being that there is even resemble their namesake. No longer do students have to put are packed with a deafening no need for buses or trans- up with steps that serve more as trip hazards than as an entrance crowd and everybody who portation costs. to a building. No longer will prospective students look at the walk- cannot be there wants to be.