Ithaca College Digital Commons @ IC The thI acan, 2007-08 The thI acan: 2000/01 to 2009/2010 2-21-2008 The thI acan, 2008-02-21 Ithaca College Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2007-08 Recommended Citation Ithaca College, "The thI acan, 2008-02-21" (2008). The Ithacan, 2007-08. 5. http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2007-08/5 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, 2007-08 by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ IC. ACCENT LIFE ISN’T OVER AFTER GRADUATION, PAGE 13 To: The Editor RESPONDING TO RAPE SPORTS SENIOR CENTER’S CAREER WINDS DOWN, PAGE 23 From: College community off ers opinion on assaults, page 10 THIS I SEE TOWN KILLS THE CHILL WITH FESTIVAL, PAGE 28 Faculty, staff and students Thursday Ithaca, N.Y. February 21, 2008 The Ithacan Volume 75, Issue 19 Deaths at NIU Freshman Nik Taylor sits in his dorm room early Tuesday aff ect campus morning. Taylor suffers from Type II insomnia. and country CONNOR GLEASON/THE ITHACAN BY NATHANIEL WEIXEL SENIOR WRITER One week after a gunman killed fi ve students in a crowded lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, Ithaca College Public Safety offi - cials said they are confi dent in their ability to respond to any threat on campus — though they said there is no way to prevent a shooting before it occurs. “[A quick] response is what ends the threat sooner, but there’s no way to prevent [a shooting],” said Laura Durling, associate director of patrol and security services. Last Th ursday, 27-year-old for- shifting the mer NIU graduate Steven Kazmierc- zak walked onto the auditorium stage in Cole Hall and began fi ring. Five students were killed INSIDE and 16 others The author of were injured. “There is a Kazmierczak Gunman on Cam- pus,” answers cycle killed him- questions about self after fi r- school shoot- ing at least ings, page 5 Insomnia plagues students and leaves lasting health problems 48 times into the room. Six days earlier, on Feb. 8, a female student shot and killed two classmates and then herself in BY ELIZABETH SILE awake thinking,” he said. sustaining sleep each night. Oftentimes, a classroom at Louisiana Technical ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR For more than three years, Taylor has suf- people with this disorder can go days or College’s Baton Rouge campus. Th e morning has not been easy for Nik fered with Type II insomnia. He said he now weeks with little sleep, but they eventually Durling said the work to es- Taylor. Th e freshman is sprawled across his feels no diff erence between energy and alert- crash and catch up on sleep for prolonged tablish a campus-wide notifica- bed with covers neatly tucked up to his ashen ness. He seems just as awake as someone who periods of time. tion system at the college has face. His hair now points wildly in all direc- has gotten a healthy eight hours of sleep the According to the National Sleep Founda- moved in a positive direction since tions on top of his head. As his lean body night before. tion, adolescents require about nine hours of last April’s shooting at Virginia erupts out of sleep, he labors to open his eyes. “I don’t really fi ght anything because there’s sleep each night. Dr. Roseanne Armitage of Polytechnic University. His legs and his arms plead to stay frozen in nothing there to fi ght,” he said. the University of Michigan’s Sleep and Chro- In September, the college imple- this position, but Taylor said his mind is burst- At the end of this sleepless cycle, howev- nophysiology Laboratory said many college mented the Emergency Notifi cation ing with energy. er, his body begins to break down. Suddenly students are getting far less. System, a new program designed He is waking up after 24 hours of com- his usually energetic body turns into a dead “College students on the whole go to bed to improve the college’s ability to pletely pure, uninterrupted sleep, a coma- weight and his mind numbs, forcing him to later than they did 20 to 30 years ago,” she reach all students, faculty and staff like state he is forced into because of fall into a sleepless stupor. said, “Th e complaints about poor sleep in with time-sensitive information chronic insomnia. “I’ll go without getting any real sleep, college students have more than doubled in during unforeseen events. ENS Taylor does not sleep at night. For weeks and after two weeks I fall out for about a the past decade.” alerts are automatically sent to all on end he will put his head to his pillow around day,” he said. “The longest I’ve [slept] is Despite seeing a psychotherapist and college e-mail addresses. Students 5 a.m. night after night, but never fall asleep. 72 hours straight.” can also sign up to receive alerts in “My eyes are closed. I’m in my bed. But I’m Type II insomnia inhibits suff erers from See SLEEP page 4 a cell phone text message. Bob Holt, director of Public Safety and a member of the col- lege’s Core Emergency Response Team, said he didn’t know if CERT would be meeting in response to Bill targets fi le sharing DOWNLOADING MORE OFTEN the shooting but said there is not MORE THAN 1700 PEOPLE ANSWERED WHY THEY DOWNLOAD much to learn from what happened the Senate in July and the House TRACKS FROM UNAUTHORIZED FILE-SHARING SITES BY ARCHANA MENON SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA RESEARCH GROUP at NIU. STAFF WRITER Feb. 7, suggests schools should “Each campus, each incident All colleges could soon be re- implement these changes “to the 100 is diff erent,” Holt said. “What can quired to develop a plan to combat extent practicable.” you learn from it? Without a doubt, illegal downloading if a bill now being Rachel Racusen, a spokesper- 2007 you’re at the mercy of the shooter.” debated in Congress becomes law. son for the House Education and Courtney Whitlock, a sopho- Th e bill in question, the Col- Labor Committee, said the bill will 80 2006 more at NIU, was eating lunch with lege Opportunity and Aff ordabil- not require schools to purchase her friends in the building across ity Act, addresses college prices specifi c software or mandate poli- A- It’s free from Cole when someone ran in and campus safety, among other cies that would make schools re- B- Can fi nd everything looking for and said there was a shooting at issues. Section 494, the “Campus port student violations. 60 C- I now have broadband Cole. She said she didn’t believe it Th eft Prevention Act,” would re- David Weil, director of Web, D- Quality of the tracks is improving E- I am very unlikely to be caught until another student came into the quire colleges to inform students systems and departmental ser- F- It’s safe from viruses building with blood on his hands of the policies and procedures vices at the college, said any eff ort 40 G- It’s a cool thing to do and a gunshot wound to his leg. involved in illegal downloading to further develop plans that off er H- Other “None of us moved at fi rst. My and develop a plan giving alterna- alternatives to illegal downloading initial thought was, ‘Th is can’t be tives to downloading. It will also could take away from other needs real,’” she said. “One of my fi rst require colleges to explore tech- of the college. 20 thoughts was, ‘I want to get as far nology-based deterrents to illegal “When you develop a plan it away … as I can.’” activity and submit an annual re- is not usually done in a vacuum,” Whitlock said the building port of their policies to the U.S. he said. “Planning itself takes was locked down, so she watched Department of Education. 0 ABCDEFGH See NIU, page 5 Th e bill, which passed through See DOWNLOADS, page 4 find more. online. www.theithacan.org THURSDAY BRIEFING 2 The Ithacan Thursday, February 21, 2008 THIS Nation&World WEEK Cubans hopeful after Castro resigns 21 THURSDAY After a 19-month tryout by acting president Raul Castro, Cubans seem ready to focus on what Extended deadline for summer his government will bring once Fidel Castro for- orientation leader applications mally steps down as Cuba’s all-powerful leader by 5 p.m. to the Offi ce of New on Sunday. Student Programs Th eir expectations, already raised by Raul Cas- tro’s talk of “structural changes” and “big decisions” Screening of “Unsettled,” to come, couldn’t be higher. Many Cubans hope he sponsored by Hillel, in Textor will let more people open businesses, own homes 101 from 7 to 10 p.m. and even travel abroad. Mesa Española from 6 to 7 But given that Raul is already 76, it could fall to a p.m. in the Terrace Dining Hall new generation of leaders to fulfi ll or frustrate Cu- bans’ dreams of prosperity. 22 FRIDAY As acting president, Raul Castro has only hinted at reforms, a reticence many see as a sign of respect Applications due for “Take an for his more doctrinaire older brother. And while Ithacan to Work Day” by 5 p.m.