Ithaca College Digital Commons @ IC The thI acan, 2000-01 The thI acan: 2000/01 to 2009/2010 2-1-2001 The thI acan, 2001-02-01 Ithaca College Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2000-01 Recommended Citation Ithaca College, "The thI acan, 2001-02-01" (2001). The Ithacan, 2000-01. 17. http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2000-01/17 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, 2000-01 by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ IC. Sports Accent ~ 1111snde First in the nation Volunteering in paradise :\cct:nt I I ( ·1.1~,i11t:d ,~ Senior leads gymna~tJcs team Students help out m ( ·o,at Rica mer (',>lllll\ I(, to dominance. Page 19 Winter Break Page 11 ( )pllll(ll] \ Spm1, i ') _,_;_,·I ------- -- ----·-·--------------- Vol. 68, No. 16 The Ithaca, N. Y. 24 Pages, Free Thursday February 1, 2001 9, www.ithaca.edu/ithacan Named Best College Weekly · in the Nation for 1999· The Newspaper for the Ithaca College Community QUAKE RAT'f:LES STUDENTS Richardson death stuns India faces uphill battle community BY SCOTT R. HEPBURN in aftermath Staff Writer _______ BY AARON J. MASON Rashad Richardson, 12, son of Roger News Editor Richardson, director of the Office of Multi­ cultural Affairs, died Monday morning at Senior Sumona Banerjee can Boynton Middle School in Ithaca after being only wait patiently in her l:sogart trapped between a motorized divider and a Hall room for word from wall in the school gymnasium. halfway around the world - The Ithaca City School District and the word that one of her closest Tompkins County Sheriff's Department are in­ friends is still alive in the aftennath vestigating the incident that caused his death. of the biggest earthquake to hit her UndersheriffRandy Haus said Richardson native India in half a century. tried to pass between the motorized sliding Banerjee is one of thousands door and the wall at the time of the mc1dent. of people worldwide waiting to A staff member activated the shdmg door. but hear about the well-being of then left the area while the door was m mo­ loved ones following Friday's • tion, Haus said. The name of the ~chool staff magnitude 7.9 earthquake that rat­ member was not released. tled India's Gujarat state, para­ No criminal charges were filed, Haus said. lyzing western parts of the nation. Students discovered Rashad a short time Indian government officials after he was trapped and notified school of­ peg the rising death toll at more ficials, Sheriff's Department Se111or Investi­ than 12,000, with at least ALEX MORRISON/THE ITHACAN gator Mark Dresser said. 29,000 people injured. India's SOPHOMORE MEERA PATEL continuously uses the Internet to check the updated status of The Sheriff's Department, Bangs Ambulance defense minister estimated India after a devastating earthquake struck her native country a week and a half ago. and the Ithaca Fire Department responded to the Tuesday that as many as Although her family lives in them yet ... I'm sure they're all intended!) ... Gujarat 1s in a report at 9:35 a.m. Richardson was treated at 100,000 people may have died, Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, on the right, I'm hoping they're all mess, and we 're bloody lucky to the scene and flown by Guthnc Medical heir­ with twice as many injured eastern side of India, four of her right." have come out of it unscathed. copter to Robert Packer hospital in Sayre. Pa .. once everyone is accounted for. friends attend school in Ahmed- Wednesday Banerjee re- Thanks once again for your mes­ where he died at ! l :08 a.m. Banerjee continues to monitor abad, a large city near Bhuj, the ceived word from her mother sage ... 1t feels good to hear from Rashad Richardson was descnbed by tho~e developments intently from her epicenter of the quake. that another one of her friends people all over at times like who knew him as a warm, caring child. For more residence hall room. She is "I e-mailed my friends the day was all right. this." than seven years, Rashad had been a regular vis­ among about 25 Indian students it happened," Banerjee said. "I e- The e-mail Banerjee re- Hearing from Shahana was a itor to the Greater Ithaca Activities Center. Di­ at the college who have been mailed four of them. One of them ceived Sunday was from her great relief, yet still waits for rector Marcia Fort said Rashad wa~ a boy with closely following the news from wrote back [on Sunday] saying childhood friend Shahana. word from her other friend, a passion for learning, "a bright and shming star." India since hearing about the dev­ that another one of them was fine "I'm okay ... I guess!" the e- and a friend to many children at GIAC. where astating quake. ... but I haven't heard from two of mail read. "Just shaken up (no pun See ITHACA, page 4 he wrote poetry and read it aloud. He was also a member of the Boynton Middle School Cho­ rus and was mterested in drama and sports. Superintendent Judith Pastel said the slid­ A's ON THE RISE Grade committee ing door, which was mstalled more than 20 A comparison of A, Band C grades in the college's five schools years ago, had passed recent mspections. for the fall 1998 semester. Pastel also said the door was not required to conform to new safety guidelines created in 1992 60 after a child was killed by a similar door in a .A fau Its evaluations Long Island school, since the door met safety 50 requirements for doors installed prior to 1992 . • B Counselors were available throughout the BY ROBERT B. BLUEY Lee Bailey, philosophy/reli­ 40 school district this week for students and staff. a, Senior Writer gion. tJ) GIAC also hosted a session Monday af­ !!l .c That dialogue will com­ C 30 ternoon for students to share their memones In a broad, far-reaching report, mence on Feb. 13 at 8:15 p.m. w~ and talk about their fears. 0. a Faculty Council committee when the Student Government 20 Rashad Richardson is survived by his par­ has concluded that abuses of stu­ Association hears the commit­ ents Roger and Arlene Richardson, and by an dent evaluations and the tee's findings. older sister, Ayana Richardson. 10 pass/fail system are two of the "It's a complex problem and Calling hours will be Sunday, Feb. 4 from primary factors leading to many changes have to be I p.m. to 3 p.m. at Bangs Funeral Home on 0 "grade inflation." made," said Bailey, chairman of H&S HS&HP Comm MUSIC Business W. Green St. A celebration of life will follow The Grading Policies Com­ the committee. "An A in too at 4 p.m. at the Beverly J. Martm Elementary mittee was commissioned last many cases has come to mean School gymnasium. spring after an analysis of stu­ competence, not excellence." COMMITTEE'S PROPOSED SOLUTIONS Tompkins County Area Transit (TC AT) bus­ dents' grades showed a dispro­ C!> will provide transportation to and from the • Stop misusing student evaluations: With financial and portionate number of high A committee's solution memorial service. Buses will leave the parking ~romolion implications on the line, untenured faculty feel marks. According to statistics, 43 At the SGA meeting, students lots of Ithaca High School and Wegman~ at 3. I 5 pressured to give high grades in order to get good evaluations. percent of Ithaca College stu­ will, for the first time, have the p.m. and 3:45 p.m. Return tnps will start at 6:30 dents received an A, compared to ability to comment publicly on a • Drop the A+: Quantified as 4.3, it raises GPAs unrealishcally. p.m. and run continuously. 12 percent of students who had recommendation that suggests se­ Awarding students honors could represent a compromise. The family asks that gifts and remem­ C's in fall 1998 classes. verely altering how student • Change the pass/fall system: Eliminating or drastically brances be made to the scholarship fund be­ Highlighting four areas of evaluations are perceived. The re­ changing it, as well as allowing faculty to drop students in favor ing established 111 Rashad Richardson's concern - student evaluations, port contends that evaluations, of those who are taking a class for a grade are options. name. Contact Cassandra George, Office of De­ pass/fail courses, the A+ and tran­ when used to determine financial • Index transcripts: Along with the grade, the number of velopment. Alumni Hall for more mfonnation. scripts - the report is the first and promotion status, make fac­ students in the class and median grade of all students would be Dave Maley, director of public infonnat1on. step in broaching dialogue on a ulty more inclined to reward stu- highlighted. said the college will reschedule the Martin topic unfamiliar to many on the Source Grading Pol1caes Committee Luther King, Jr. Day celebrat10n that was post­ campus, said Associate Professor See SUGGESTIONS, page 4 poned Monday because of the tragedy. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2001 2 THE ITH·\CAN Nation~I and International News cuers picked up 23 people spotted on two rafts by pass­ ing ships. '<e The survivors, suffering from hypothermia and skin in­ flammation from exposure to saltwater, were brought to the port of Sevastopol, about 560 miles south of the Ukrainian Ii capital, Kiev.