Obama I THE PRESIDENT IN PORTLAND Flood in speaks on Olin quickly health care addressed By SARAH LYON By LINDSAY PUTNAM NEWS STAFF LOCAL NEWS EDITOR Water damage in Olin dis- President Barack Obama placed two professors from their made his first visit to the state offices and damaged four com- of Maine since the 2008 elec- puter labs, two classrooms, the tion campaign last Thursday, science library, over 400 books, April 1 at the Exposition Center lab equipment and parts of the in Portland. Coming only a ceiling. The trouble began when week after signing the health a 2'x3* heating unit coil suddenly care reform bill into law, his failed and began to flood por- visit aimed to promote how the tions of the building from March new bill will benefit small busi- 19 to 21. ness owners in Maine. Security reported the flooding *'I want everybody to remem- to the Physical Plant Department ber, when I came here during (PPD), who immediately called in the campaign, I made a prom- custodians and a plumber to turn ise," Obama said. "And it was- off the water, PPD Director Patri- n 't a promise about any cia Murphy said. PPD also hired Advance One, a cleaning service particular issue. It was a prom- CHRIS KASPftAK/THE COtBV ECHO ise that our government would President Barack Obama visited Portland on Thursday, April 1 to discuss the new health care reform bill and its effects on Mainers. company that brought in moisture once again be responsive to the meters and infrared equipment to needs and aspirations of work- detect damage in the ceiling. ing families, of America's mid- "[Some] of the fears some peo- dle class. It was a promise that ple may have [are] mold and Washington would concern it- Drug use increasing on the Hill mildew, which is why we tried to self not just with the next elec- work very quickly,'* Murphy said. tion, but with the next Interviews indicate drug culture centers on alcohol, marijuana, cocaine "The first 72 hours are critical to generation of Americans." get wet materials out. That was a In keeping with his promise to By ELISABETH PONSOT use— is on the rise at the College. are used on campus. The majority came to college "because when I real priority of ours right away." "lift one of the biggest burdens EDITOR IN CHIEF John Bass '13, a first-year from of drug use takes place on an un- came to visit I saw very few Construction crews worked to facing middle-class families and the greater Boston area, says that derground level so that students stereotypical weed smokers replace the ceiling and lighting in small business owners." the Editor's note: Though using his experience with drugs on cam- can avoid both social stigma and around campus," he explains. Olin, fixed the scaffolding and health care reform bill was passed f ictitious names is not common pus began almost immediately. disciplinary sanctions. "But eventually you make con- cleaned the carpet, among other on March 23 in order to provide practice at the Echo, thefollowing "I saw drugs on campus within Students willing to come forward nections and you learn who deals, projects, Murphy said. all Americans with affordable article uses pseudonyms (John, my first week at Colby," he says. and talk to the Echo agree that (bugs and then you have great access." College officials estimate re- health insurance. Lily and Conner) for students who "I smoked [weed] for the first time are more prevalent on the Hill man The marijuana that Smith and pair costs at several hundreds of Amidst the cheers and ap- agreed to talk with the newspaper with a friend by Johnson Pond, an outsider might think—that is, if others smoke has, over the year, thousands of dollars, according to plause, Obama said that "be- for this article. The students and that was pretty cool. I defi- one has the right connections. become "more expensive and an e-mail Associate Dean Michael cause of people like you, it wished to remain anonymous be- nitely think it's one way to free Conner Smith *12, a self-de- more potent, so it takes less to get Donihue sent to students, faculty happened. It happened because cause of the stigma and illegality your mind or just to relax." scribed "regular marijuana user" high," Medical Director Paul D. and staff. Contingency funds will people had the courage to stand surrounding their actions. Lily Brown '10 says that while throughout high school, says that Berkner says. cover the cost of the damage, up at town hall meetings and she noticed cocaine use during her he originally anticipated that he David Eaton, director of commu- talk about how insurance com- Weekends for some students on first year on campus, she believes would smoke less often once he See DRUGS, Page 8 nications and marketing at the panies were denying their fami- Mayflower Hill often start as early that the drug's availability and College, said. lies coverage because of a as Wednesday evening and are fu- usage has increased over the four Much of the funding will cover preexisting condition.lt hap- eled by an array of substances and years that she has been on the Hill. the damaged lab equipment, esti- pened because folks wrote letters stimulants, from alcohol to caf- "It's not uncommon to be wait- mated to cost around $100,000 about how premiums have gone feine, to both hard and soft drugs. ing at a party outside the bathroom alone, Murphy said. The water up 50 or 70 or 100 percent, in Some students use uppers, de- for a long period of time and then a damage significantly affected the some cases, and it was forcing pressants, or a combination to bunch of girls come out, and it's plywood benches and new ones them to give up their insurance. It party all night long or to relax pretty obvious that they had been will not arrive for 10 to 12 weeks. happened because countless after a long day of work. clogging up the bathroom and PPD moved Oak Professor of small business owners and fami- While not all students will have snorting coke," Brown says. "I Biological Sciences Russell Cole lies and doctors shared stories the same experiences with drugs don't think that they are even dis- and Clara C. Piper Professor of about a health care system that on campus, interviews with stu- creet about it; I think that they're Environmental Studies David Fir- was working better for the insur- dents and employees of the Health pretty open with what they're mage's offices to two computer ance industry than it did for Center, as well as statistics pro- doing, at least among their friends." labs, which will remain offline for American people." vided to the Echo by the Depart- Brown's experience observing the rest of the semester. Donihue ment of Security confirm that drug students using cocaine in a flagrant use—specifically marijuana and, manner seems to be an exception See OBAMA, Page 6 See OLIN, Page 2 to some limited extent, cocaine to the general ways in which drugs toy and discharged:talk on DADT THIS WEEK'S ECHO! groundwork for the change, that issues with this policy, through a is, not whether the military should mixture of personal anecdotes and repeal DADT, but how to go about objective statistics and facts. implementing the repeal. Hall began with his own experi- In keeping up with these recent ence in the military. Having served developments, The Bridge, the in the Air Force for five years, Hall College's group for gay, lesbian, was honorably discharged after his bisexual, transgender and queer enlistment period ended. He then (GLBTQ) students and allies, joined the Air Force Reserve Offi- hosted U.S. Air Force Staff Ser- cer Training Corps (AFROTC) geant David Hall, of the Service- where he was offered the opportu- members' Legal Defense nity to train to be a pilot. While en- Network, who illuminated the de- rolled in AFROTC, Hall began bate surrounding the bill in his dating another cadet, and their re- lecture "Lift the Ban." Since lationship was discovered after an- DADT's adoption in 1993, over other cadet outed them. Under NICK lOOtCE/TME COtflY ECHO 13,000 servicemembers have been DADT, an investigation began and The Bridge brought David Hall to talk about Don 't Ask, Don t Tell. discharged for their sexual orien- Hall was honorably discharged for tation. Among these 13,000, 800 "homosexual conduct" a year into Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), have been what Hall called "mis- his training. By QAJNAT KHAN the military policy that mandates sion critical troops," or service Before DADT, the paperwork A&E EDITOR that openly gay, lesbian or bisex- members who are not easily re- for enlisting explicitly asked ual servicemembers be dis- placeable and extremely neces- whether one was a homosexual. In his State of the Union ad- charged. Soon afterward, sary for the success of the current After the 1993 law, that explicit dress this past January, President members of the Joint Chiefs of operations, such as Arabic and question was replaced by enforced Barack Obama made known his Staff and Secretary of Defense Farsi linguists and medical per- silence on the gay servicemem- intention to "work with the mili- Robert Gates testified before Con- sonnel. In his lecture, Hall high- tary and Congress" to repeal gress with their intention to lay the lighted the ethical and financial See DADT, Page 3 Health Care's effect on students echo .