Saint Mary’s Alumna makes good SUNNY T u e s d a y Agriana Trigiani, sharing life stories, spoke Monday at ND making her the HIGH 30° first Saint Mary’s graduate to be part of the Sophomore Literary Festival. FEBRUARY 12, LOW 22° News ♦ page 3 2 0 0 2 O b s e r v e r The Independent Newspaper Serving Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s VOL. XXXV NO. 77 H T T P : / / 0 BSE RVER.ND.EDU Moscona, Bishop top primary election By ERIN LaRUFFA Associate News Editor With just 28 out of 3,402 votes separating them from their closet competitor, candidates Brian Moscona and Libby Bishop finished on top of Monday’s primary election for Notre Dame’s student body president. Moscona and running mate Keri Oxley received 1,302 votes, or 38 percent, while Bishop and running mate Trip c Foley received 1,274 votes, or 37 percent. Because no c ticket received more than 50 percent of the vote, there will be a runoff between the two candidates on Thursday. “We expected it to be close,” said Moscona. “I think this just shows that there were four quality candidates.” S ee Also Agreeing that the closeness of the 2002 Student race reflected the caliber of the tick­ ets running, Bishop added that the body election primary results reminded her of break down another recent election. “I t’s like B ush/G ore all over PO-4 again,” she said. The third-place ticket of Nikki McCord and Nick Williams received 411 votes, or 12 per­ cent. Finishing in fourth were Scott Palko and P.J. Mercanti with 395 votes, also approximately 12 percent of the total. For the two tickets left in the race, their victories on Monday mean more campaigning in the days ahead. “We plan to continue meeting people one-on-one and talking to them about our vision for Notre Dame,” said Oxley, who is now serving as president of the Class of 2004. Praising students for “taking an active initiative by vot­ ing,” current student body vice president Moscona echoed the importance of “vision” in their campaign. “The simple fact that we had such overwhelming sup­ port leads us to believe that our vision for an improved ND and student union is within our reach,” he said. To Moscona and Oxley’s campaign manager, Tai Romero, it is important that the candidates emphasize what they have already achieved in their campaign. “We want to bring out that we have a lot of student KYLIE CARTER/The O bserver Libby Bishop, Trip Foley, Brian Moscona, and Kari Oxley learn the results of the primary election. Bishop/foley and Moscona/Oxley won the primary and advance to the final election on Thursday see ELECTION/page 4 BOG addresses ‘Vagina Monologues’ Some O’Neill While the statement referring to events such to the building of the stu­ By SHEILA EGTS advocates academic as the Sexuality Series, dent center. “Even money returned News Writer inquiry, Matha said that “Womyn with Wings” and though we won’t be here BOG encourages this guest lecturer Katie to see the fruits of it, we The Saint Mary’s Board specifically “within the K oestner. are behind this amazing By SHEILA EGTS of Governance drew up a parameters of the student Student body president project on campus,” said News Writer statement released at last h a n d ­ Michelle Nagle said the M atha. night’s meeting voicing book.” statement was prompted ♦ Saint Mary’s College O’Neill rector Father John Herman reported that its support of administra­ S ee Also S t u d e n t by questions from stu­ Affiliation of the a “significant chunk” of the stolen Mardi Gras tive decisions about rights and BOG statem ent dents about their rights American Chemical money was returned anonymously in an envelope issues raised by the a c a d e m ic for academic freedom. Society was granted outside his room Monday. “Vagina Monologues.” page4 f r e e d o m “We noticed a lack of $1,500 for an upcoming However, not all of the more than $4,000 has According to student a r e s u p ­ understanding about conference. been returned and a report has been filed with body vice president p o rte d as what academic freedom ♦ BOG granted a total of Notre Dame Security/Police. Kristen Matha, the state­ lo n g as entails, and it is our duty $5,000 to Midnight Herman originally postponed contacting security ment expresses full back­ they comply with the to educate students,” said Madness with $1,000 and offered a $500 reward for information leading ing of the administration guidelines of the Catholic Nagle. “We respect the contributing to program­ to the money’s return, hoping that the money as well as concern for tradition and mission at position of the adminis­ ming and $4,000 to be would be recovered willingly. student rights and acade­ Saint Mary’s. tration and this now is a used for prizes. “After the all-hall meeting on Sunday, we know it mic freedom. Hard “We feel that a strong time for working together was an inside job. The fact that everyone knew it copies of the statement working relationship with with them especially after was missing motivated someone to return at least will be mailed to students the administration is a the “Vagina Monologues’ some of the money,” said Herman who was in on- and off-campus today necessity. It’s clear that issue last year.” Detroit on Sunday and faced the news of the theft to ensure that “students student groups on cam­ upon his return that evening. understand their right to pus realize that from the In other BOG news: reach their academic Contact Sheila Egts at programming that has ♦ BOG donated $12,000 ambitions.” resulted,” said Matha [email protected] see O ’NEILL/page 4 page 2 The Observer ♦ INSIDE Tuesday, February 12, 2002 Inside C olumn Q uotes of the W eek “We wanted to be a little “We’ve been close friends for “It was like the varsity Let it all out more intentional about about20 years. I feel a playing the JV. It was men addressing the issues of tremendous sense of among boys. ” violence on campus. ” obligation to Jim. ” Mike Brey It’s that wonderful day of the year where we men’s basketball head coach can let loose and not have a care in the world as Marilou Eldred Patrick Pierce to what we do. Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Shrove Saint Mary’s president Saint Maiy’s political science chair on the last meeting between Notre Tuesday are among some of the names for this on the College’s first on managing James Caldwell’s Dame and Georgetown famous day, this day before Ash Wednesday, the self-defense classes campaign for St. Joseph first day of Lent. County Commissioner What does one do on Mardi Gras? I’ve never actually been to a Mardi Gras cele­ bration (not even to the one held in O’Neill) so I can’t give any detailed descriptions ... I Compiled from U-Wire reports mean, there’s a typically a lot B eyond C a m p u s of carousing, drinking, eat­ ing, lots of beads and plenty of costumes, glitter and Angela Campos FDA rejects explanation of research death at U. Penn masks. It’s pretty much a day to go all out and let yourself PHILADELPHIA decree barring him from conducting go, not worry about any­ The Food and Drug Administration tests on human beings. thing, because the next day is has rejected University of Pennsylvania “I don’t know that Wilson can come Lent and (at least if you’re Institute for Human Gene Therapy to a resolution for all parties,” said Catholic) you’re supposed to give something up, Director James Wilson’s letter of expla­ Paul Gelsinger, Jesse Gelsinger’s whether it’s a physical thing or a part of who you nation concerning the alleged violation father. “Ultimately, I think he will find are that you’d like to give up by changing it. of safety procedures in the widely pub­ himself barred from ever conducting Why do we go to such lengths to party our licized clinical trial that led to the death research on humans again.” hearts out on Mardi Gras? Do we have this fear of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger. Jesse Gelsinger had a form of a rare that this will be the last time we will be able to Wilson was called on by the FDA to liver condition that is usually fatal to party like this? We gorge ourselves on Fat adequately explain alleged safety prob­ infant boys. In 1999 he enrolled in a Tuesday, not caring how much we eat or what we lems in the 1999 trial. study led by Wilson and his colleagues waste. We permit ourselves to be gluttons for one “This most recent letter is a continu­ at Penn’s Institute for Human Gene day, and then fast and abstain for 40 days. I’m ation of the administrative procedures ing him the various explanations of Therapy, hoping to help find genetic sure that the dining halls will have their fill of fes­ that were begun by the FDA two years alleged safety problems he provided in therapies for the disease. The teen­ tivities for today. Lots of meats and sweets will fill ago,” Wilson said in a statement pro­ his letter were insufficient, and pro­ ager died during the trial after receiv­ the plates of many students today, woefully antici­ vided by a Penn Medicine spokes­ ceedings to bar Wilson from conduct­ ing a high dose of experimental treat­ pating the empty dining halls tomorrow, where woman.