INSIDE a) Opinion Singing the praises of an early graduation Page 11 Accent .c A look at the college's presidential mansion Page 13 Sports . r Bombers football looks to advance to semifinals The Newspaper for the Ithaca College Community Page 24 Volume 71, Number 13 Ithaca, N.Y. Thursday, December 4, 2003 College to exrunine advising Foreign programs BY TASHA KATES Staff Writer overcome. Students may have to check in with their adviser before register­ ing next semester because of a se­ obstacles ries of new advising policies that could take effect by this spring. BY MEGAN REYNOLDS The registrar is developing the Staff Writer new policies after hearing faculty and staff concerns about the cur­ A recent national study encour­ rent system. aged schools like Ithaca College to Since the inception of Degree make their campuses more con­ Navigator in January 1999, stu­ ducive to study abroad. dents have been able to take their As the importance of international major into their own hands with­ awareness and education grows, out consulting their advisers before American colleges and universities registering for classes. have made significant strides in fur­ Coordinator of the Office of thering study abroad, wrote the Na­ Academic Achievement and Ad­ tional Strategic Task Force on Edu­ vising David Dresser said Degree cation Abroad in a study published Navigator's interface originally this fall. The task force hopes its new served as a good guide for students recommendations will help to triple about where they were in their ma­ the number of American students jor. However, faculty felt slighted. who study abroad. Under the old, paper-based The college has taken an active system, students had to meet with role in tackling one particular bar­ rier named by the task force: the faculty because they needed to ob­ MEGHAN MAZELLA/THE ITHACAN tain adviser signatures in order to SOPHOMORE ANNIE GRAPPONE, right, a student worker in the Office of the Registrar, examines rigidity of colleges' curricula, and register for classes. Degree Navigator as sophomore Niki Brierre turns in an override form. Using the system, students can how these "There is a feeling among fac­ chart their degree without the assistance of advisers, a policy that has raised concerns. standards af­ ulty that they were left out of the ·fect a decision (to stop requiring advis­ of psychology, said she makes an parents choose IC is for one-on-one serve, they can go to a large state dent's study ing]," Dresser said. "Even the Fac­ extra effort to meet with her ad­ attention from faculty," Lynn said. school." a b r o a d ulty Council wasn't consulted be­ visees because it is beneficial for "That extends beyond the class­ Advising policies will be made opportunities. fore the decision." both parties. room. If people want to go to a for the college, but each school will Rachel Ann Lynn, assistant professor "One of the reasons students and school where all advising is self- See SCHOOLS, page 4 Cullenen, as­ sociate direc­ tor of study . abroad, said several newer Students seek housing flexibility CULLEN EN ". majors facili- tate and en­ Group to propose non-gender specific dorm courage study abroad. She explained that the new BY SARAH HOFIUS would live with someone they're close to, he said. Culture and Communications ma­ Staff Writer If a male and a female are best friends, they jor offered through the division of would be able to live together as well, Connor interdisciplinary studies provides Freshman Michael Miller would feel more said. more study abroad opportunities comfortable living with females than males. "A lot of it is about a comfort thing," she said. than traditional majors. "I'd definitely like to room with a girl if pos­ Non-gender specific housing can raise con­ In addition, recent steps by sible," he said. cerns about what will happen if boyfriends and Dean Steve Siconolfi of Health Sci­ Brian, a Junior who asked that his last name girlfriends Ii ve together. ence and Human Performance are not be used, said he feels the same way. Problems arising from romantic relation­ making study abroad more accessi­ "I really relate better to girls," he said. "Be­ ships would have to be worked out, but prob­ A CO-ED EXPERIMENT ble to the school's students. cause I'm gay, there's no sexual tension." lems with roommates are nothing new, This isn't the first time the college has Siconolfi said that the In an attempt to make all students on cam­ Connor said. tried co-ed rooms. study abroad experience can be pus more comfortable in living situations, Cre­ She said she would also like to see an edu­ In November 1974, st:.idents in the very beneficial and valuable for stu­ ated Equal is in the process of proposing cational or social aspect in the non-gender Landon Hall Swap Program could live dents studying to work in health non-gender specific housing. specific living area. Students could learn with members of their opposite sex for care. Under the proposal, in spe­ about gender roles and breaking down the one week. "There is so much person to per­ cific areas yet to be deter­ gender barriers in society, she said. After a week's time, they received son contact [in health care] that work­ mined, students would have Some colleges have already imple­ another roommate, of the sex they ing and studying abroad gives you the opportunity to live in a mented programs like the one Cre­ requested. that large base for you to be able to The program was halted less than two dorm room with a member of ated Equal is proposing. interact with a variety of cultures and weeks after it started when national the opposite sex. At Wesleyan University, stu­ a variety of situations," he said. media outlets publicized the swapping. Siconolfi said that study Though the project is still dents have the opportunity to The April 1975 issue of Playboy also on the drawing board, Created live in non-gender specific featured the Swap Program. abroad is possible for all students Equal wants to finish the proposal by winter housing. The magazine referred to the program in the school, but is particularly break, said Created Equal member sophomore Wesleyan currently has a as, "A week-long coeducational experi­ hard for physical therapy and oc­ Greer Connor. gender blind floor that houses 10 ence ... to test intersexual compatibility." cupational therapy majors. He While the ultimate goal of Created Equal is students, said Brandon Buehring, an A Quad advisor originally started the said that with careful planning, all to make all housing on campus non-gender spe­ area coordinator in Wesleyan's program to let people meet one another students are able to study abroad. cific, the group now hopes for a residence hall Office of Residential Life. and enhance a sense of community. Other recommendations of the or floor to start the program as a pilot project. When students agree to live Garry Thomas, associate professor of national task force include better "The project is trying to emphasize the ben­ on the floor they sign a contract agreeing to anthropology, taught in Landon Hall in preparing students for their abroad efits for all students," Connor said. make the living area a safe place. In its first 1974. experience and educating students Many transgender students feel uncomfort­ year, the floor is a pilot program, Buehring said. Though he was not part of the plan­ about international issues. able around members of their legal sex, and this After Created Equal finishes writing the pro­ ning of the swap program, Thomas The task force reported that proposal may help alleviate some of those posal, the group members will bring the project recalls it as more of a "brotherly and Americans have more "ignorance of problems, said senior Braeden Sullivan, a mem­ to the Office of Residential Life or to the vice sisterly kind of thing .... It was so people the world" and therefore it is im- ber of Created Equal and BIGAYLA. president of student affairs and could get to know members of the If a gender blind option was given, people campus life. opposite sex." See TASK FORCE, page 4 www.ithaca.edu/ithacan '~':'c, ~, c ~ ~" ,"'...,'..,~,"'-.... '"\', '"\. ~ '....,. \',' ~ ..... ~ ",-..~._._.._ ', ...._', '...._'-,' "' .... ', ", '-.... ", "'"', ,·,, ', ',',-~,-.. "\. ~ ... ~ ' ..... \'.... ~, '", ~ ... ----... -,.--~- ,,' ,, .... ,, .... '\ ..... , .......... ,,,...., ...... ,,,"" ,,, ,, '-'- ................. , ..... , ..... , , ..... ,, '"'"''"''- 2 THE lTHACAN NEWS .THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 20-03 National and I nternational News at them. They club him with their nightsticks. Finally, they A FEW GOOD MEN tackle him, yelling all the while at him to put his hands behind his back. When they flip him over, one officer notices he's not breathing. Nathaniel Jones, 41, died shortly after that confronta­ tion with police outside a Cincim.iati burger restaurant S,un­ day night. Jones was black. Five of the officers at the scene were white; one was black. And those facts alone were enough to stir racial tension Monday in a city that has long been rent by a deep distrust between the police force and African-Americans. As snippets of the video ~ the lunge, the nightstick blows - were played over and over on local television, black activists demanded police reform. And Roger Owensby ached afresh for his son, Roger Jr., who was killed in a scuffle with police three years ago - asphyxiated as officers swarmed him, knocked him to the ground and grabbed him around the head. "As I watch the video, it's almost like I'm seeing and feeling what my son was going through," Owensby said in a telephone interview. Crisis surrounds Venezuelan politics Opposition members _claimed success Monday on the final day of an effort to gather signatures to recall Venezue­ PAUL WATSON/LOS ANGELES TIMES lan President Hugo Chavez, setting the stage for a dra­ MAJ.