On to the ACCENT Reliving the '80s Playoffs Page 15 OPINION In defense of gay marriage Page 11 ay, February 26, 2004 School to elifilinate Park Chair positi~ns Committee recommends new institute BY ANNE K. WALTERS said: "It wasn't a matter of evaluating at News Editor all. There was no evaluation involved whatsoever. It was a matter of looking at The Roy H. Park School of Communi­ future potential." cations plans to eliminate the Park Distin­ Committee member John Hochheimer, guished Chair Program and discuss alter­ associate professor of television and radio, nate uses of the program's funding. said he believed the current chair program The chairs were created in the mid-1990s didn't work out as he had hoped. with funds from the Park Foundation, which Hochheimer had expressed reservations ha also supported capital improvements, about the program in statements to The Itha­ scholarships and other programs. can as early as 1999. The first Park Distinguished Chair, cre­ The new proposal is part of a broader ef­ ated in 1997, was filled by veteran journalist fort to raise the profile of the college. LARRY WESTLERffHE ITHACAN and former ABC producer Christopher "The college as a whole is embarking on STUDENTS WORK ON COMPUTERS in the Friends 110 Lab. Many students work in Harper. A second position was years of looking at what it wants labs to avoid slow Internet connection speeds on ResNet in residence halls. filled by independent producer to be," Brodhead said. "This all Jo Ann Caplin in 2000. fits in the context of that. What Harper declined to com­ can the Park School of Commu­ ment on the decision to elimi­ nications become in the next five nate the positions, and Caplin years to increase its national vis­ ResN et charges -­ was unavailable for comment. ibility, its recognition of excel­ A faculty committee was lence? What is it that people from formed in the fall, charged by the outside can bring to enhanc­ • the administration with finding ing and advancing, all to protect new ways to spend the Park your degree?" e1n uture funds, as well as money left to BRODHEAD The idea of a communications the college in a bequest from center is not a new one, said San­ HANIE BERGERON guaranteed 56K service but would have to the late James B. Pendleton. dra Herndon, chairwoman of the graduate pay for anything fa ter than it. The ommittee's proposal to spend the program and professor of organizational Ed Fuller, director of ITS, said that right money to establish a communications insti­ communication, learning and design. Students may have to pay for faster In­ now, there is no service-level guarantee for tute will be presented to the faculty for dis­ When the gifts originally became ternet service if a new idea from Information a student connected to the network. He cussion today. available, the idea was discussed, but now and Technology Services is approved. could not say what the average speed of When asked how the current program is the right time to discuss it more fully, she Under the proposed model, the college ResNet is. was evaluated before the decision to elim­ said. network would charge different fees for dif­ inate it, Garry Brodhead, associate ferent levels of service. Students would be See HIGH-SPEED, Page 4 provost and interim dean of the Park School, See CENTER, Page 4 Credit card solicitors concern studen BY SARAH HOFIUS Social Security numbers and other When informed about the ven­ North Foyer of the Campus Center, Staff Writer personal information. dors' alleged conduct on campus, and therefore the solicitors were tres­ The solicitors told students Mendler said it did not sound like passing when they set up in the Ter­ When freshman Ren Walczak they would receive some informa­ something that would be appropri- · races, Metz said. gave out personal information for tion, but not a credit card, ate for Citibank. Metz-thinks it's very important a free T-shirt, she didn't expect to Danziger said. "We have practices and policies to have these kinds of policies on receive a Citibank credit card in the "No one ever said I was signing they must follow, and clearly we campus to ensure the college's abil­ mail. up for a card," she added. want our potential customers to un­ ity to track down the company if Freshman Crescent Danziger To entice students into filling out derstand what it is they may be ap­ a student has a problem. M e t z had the same experience. the form, the vendors offered a T­ plying for," Mendler said. also said some people just don't "They told us we'd just get in­ shirt similar to the one John Citibank offers three types of want to be asked whether they want formation," Walczak said. Belushi wears in the movie "Ani­ cards aimed at college students, credit cards. The solicitors, who told students mal House," as well as shirts with each of which has no annual fee. "They should be able to walk they only wanted information, set other popular designs. Students should select their cards around campus without having to up on the Terrace Dining Hall bal­ Since Danziger and Walczak based on how much credit they be worried about that," she added. cony last week and on Jan. 20. They gave out their permanent addresses, need. did not have permission from the the cards were sent to their homes. Mendler said Citibank will college to be on campus. Both students canceled their look into the behavior of the so­ After being informed of the so­ credit cards as soon as their parents licitors. licitors' Jan. 20 presence on cam­ informed them of the unwanted de­ Under campus policy, off-campus pus, Sybil Metz, assistant director livery. groups must first find an on-cam­ of the Campus Center, said she con­ When Danziger saw the same pus student organization to tacted Public Safety and the Terrace group in the Terrace Dining Hall sponsor the soliciting. If Dining Hall manager. last week, she said she ap­ the Campus Center Metz said it should not have hap­ proached the table like she had done grants the pened again. before. permit, a "That is maddening," she said. Danziger asked the woman be­ member of Terrace Dining HaJI Manager hind the table what would happen the sponsor­ Phil Annese said he did not know if she signed up for a credit card. ing student or­ that the solicitors were back for a "She's like, 'Oh, you're going to ganization must MEGHAN MAZELLMHE ITHACAN second time. get some information,'" Danziger sit at the table FRESHMAN REN WALCZAK Freshman Joseph Ahouse, who said. "I was like, 'Yeah right-."' with the solicitors at relaxes in her room, wearing a has decided to keep the Citibank Maria Mendler, vice president of all times. free T-shirt she received after card he was sent, said the solicitors · public affairs at Citibank, said the Credit card compa- requesting information about a asked students to fill out an infor­ company works with vendors who nies can only PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY credit card. She was surprised mation form with their addresses, market the cards on campuses. solicit students in the MATT QUINTANILLA when she received the card. ·www.ithaca.edu/ithacan 2 THE ITHACAN NEWS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 Nation & World Bush calls for gay marriage ban THE .LAST BREAKFAST Acting to "prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever," President Bush Tuesday called for a constitutional amendment banning states from recognizing the unions of gay men or women as marriage. The president, responding to a flood of gay marriages in San Francisco and a c;ourt ruling permitting them in Massachusetts, said, "The NEWS .BRIEFS AND LOCAL EVENTS union of a man and woman is the most endur­ The Vote 2004 ing human institution ... honored and encour­ aged in all cultures and by every religious faith Sen. John Kerry tallied three ... Marriage cannot be severed from its cultur­ more primary victories this week. al, religious and natural roots without weaken­ The Democratic presidential hope­ ing the good influence of society." ful won approximately 50 percent Bush did say state legislatures should be free of the vote in Hawaii, 54 percent in to sanction legal arrangements between gays Idaho and 55 percent in Utah. Sen. short of marriage. His spokesman, Scott Mc­ John Edwards came in second in Clellan, said that means Bush ·supports the right Utah and Idaho, with approximate­ of states, such as Vermont to approve civil unions ly 22 percent and 30 percent, between gays. Bush .remains opposed civil respectively. Rep. Dennis Kucinich unions for his own state of Texas. took second place in ·Hawaii, with 25 percent of the votes, his First U.S. military tribunals set strongest showing yet. The .U.S. govei:-nment Tuesday charged two Only 61 delegates were up for alleged bodyguards for Osama bin Laden now . grabs in those three states com- detained at the Guantanamo Bay miiitary bined, so the candidates have prison with conspiracy to commit war· largely focused their recent cam- crimes, launching the first criminal prosecu­ paign efforts on the 10 Super tion of enemy prisoners since the aftermath of Tuesday states - , California, World War II. Connecticut, Georgia, Massachu- The charges would make Ibrahim Ahmed setts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mahmoud al Qosi of Sudan and Ali Hamza York, Ohio, Rhode Island and Ahme'd Sulayman al Bahlul of Yemen the first Vermont - whose total delegates detainees to stand trial before the special mili­ .