The Reporter

1ZLZJ f-1 ^^Jl " ___! ?4J ^ :«,- *i •t" ^fl fT^r *£ St \*A \ >& \& T 'f:- Seeking The Truth t Stetson U n i v e r s i t y Vnlume GXIX Issue G Thursday, October 19,2DDB By TORI GiBBS Information Technology (IT) is currently negotiating for an increase in the amount of bandwidth and the size of the pipe used for the university's Internet connection, which will improve the performance speed of both academic and recreational online activities. IT plans to at least double the size ofthe Internet feed, and might, ideally, quintuple it. The university Internet currently runs off of twenty-one megabytes, so they are hoping to raise it up anywhere from 45 to 100 megabytes. Nance Warns First-Years About Greek Life By NICOLE BUCCH1NO For many first-year students, the university's sororities and fraternities are exciting places to meet new friends and open academic and career-related opportunities for their futures. However, Dr. Leonard Nance, Dean of First- Year studies warns students against committing too early. "My hope is that anyone who is genuinely concerned with the overall academic success of students would agree that it is much more prudent for first-year students to both take and be allowed the time to develop a strong academic record...before pursuing such an important affiliation." There were rumors earlier this month that Dr. Nance's office allegedly sent out a letter to all first-year students warning them against going through recruitment this semester. The Office of First-Year Studies stated that it has no knowledge of any letter being sent out. Dr. Nance does hope that first-year students devote a certain amount of thought before joining in their first semester at the university, but doe's not take a critical position toward the Greek community, According to Dr. Nance, there are many benefits in waiting at least one academic year before going through the process of Greek recruitment. He believes that students will be "more attractive candidates" to their respective sororities and fraternities if they build up their academic and social reputations before becoming involved in the Greek community at the university. When asked whether he believed his academic performance would decrease during recruitment and as a first-year fraternity member, first year Discovery major Paul Atkinson said that "recruitment will probably have no effect on my academics." He - See GREEKS on Page A2 Although IT has not signed any contracts as of yet, they are hoping that the request for increase will go in over the winter holiday. "Personally, from student voices and my own, I certainly think that the school should look into increasing it's bandwidth. Students are only becoming more reliant on the internet for information,, and the student population on campus is expected to grow about 15% over the next few years," said chairperson of the Student Government Association Technology Committee Darash Desai, a junior Digital Arts major. This is good news for the university's online gamers and file sharers. As it stands now, and has for several years, priority for the university's Internet speed is given first to those students doing web surfing, theoretically for research and schoolwork; then to those students using e-mail services; and lastly to those running online games, file sharing, and the like. The more students using the university's web, the slower gaming and file sharing runs. "We have a device called a packet tier that can identify what type of traffic is going through the network, and then it gives a priority to the different kinds of traffic," said IT director Bill Penny. "Basically, if nobody is using the allotted space for web surf- See BANDWIDTH on Page A2 ?1F* f'CJ *** ri "*- %4ttt </ f !i> / . ^-r pry is ?\r-.V*-'1.vi -XT"--.', By JULIE ANTOS Last semester, Stetson's Student Government Association (SGA) passed a bill allowing annual exams for women, STI testing for men and women, birth control consultations - and prescriptions, and emergency contraception (EC) prescriptions. Of these legislations, the EC prescriptions proved to be most controversial. A few years ago, Stetson, in partnership with the Volusia County Health department, provided these services to students, but they were later cut due to funding issues. Recently, students have been pressuring the administration to implement the bill. However, the FDA recently approved over-the-counter status for emergency contraception, removing the requirement for obtaining a prescription for women eighteen years or older. Sale of Plan B, a popular form of EC, is planned to take affect in pharmacies across the country beginning in December. This measure has affected some student's opinions of the emergency contraception provision. "' Kathryn Turner, a senior po--; litical science major and author- " of the Improved Student Health Services bill, stateST"" "With the recent FDA de<**=== sion regarding over the^ counter sales of ernef^"" "" gency contraception, I and some other students, feet'—'"—. that taking that particular service out of the bill in order to imple ment the other provisions is an important step for improving health services and making them more equitable. We still feel that access to emergency contraception is crucial for Stetson students." Turner also felt that there is widespread support for expanding health services. "Last year we delivered 386 signed letters in support ofthe bill that we gathered in a two hour period of tabling in front of the Commons. We got the impression that students want the convenience and accessibility that comes with having these services on campus so we took our demands to SGA." Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. created the first progestin- only emergency contraceptive available in the U.S. On Ju^y 28, 1999, the'FDA approved this contraceptive, known as Plan B which consists of two pills taken 12 hours apart and contains the hormone levonorgestrel, a A f*Lftn -177^*"*HL xX*. 'iiBM progestin. The recent decision to approve the drug for over-the-counter sales came on August 24, 2006, when the FDA announced its approval of the sale of Plan B to women 18 and older. Earlier methods of preventing pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse or rape came in the form of emergency lUD's. Also, after the sale of birth control pills in the 1960s, it did not take women long to figure out that increasing dosages of birth control immediately after sex could prevent pregnancy. Current debates about Plan B seem to ignore that women have been using.non-abortive measures to control their fertility for decades. "Emergency contraception has been approved by the FDA for over- the-counter sales to women 18 and older so OSAPE may stop pushing for it to be included in the SGA bill in order to try to achieve our'objective of getting annual exams, birth control, and STI testing on campus," said Turner. "This does not mean that we no longer think it is important, but we want to stress that the bill contains other provisions that are equally, if not more important, for students." According to the FDA, "emergency contraception is not effective if the woman is pregnant." A recent study found that emergency contraceptives reduce the risk of pregnancy by preventing ovulation. If started within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, progestin-only emergency contraception reduces the risk of pregnancy by 89 percent; combination emergency contraception reduces the risk of pregnancy by 75 percent if started with 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. It is important to note that Plan B is most effective in the first 24 hours after unprotected sex or sexual assault. A study of 235 women who used the emergency contraceptive found that 91% were satisfied- and that 97% would recommend it to family and friends. Several major anti-choice organizations such as the American Life League, Human Life International, and Stop Planned Parenthood International oppose emergency contraception. They have taken action by launching national and international misinformation campaigns claiming that it is the same as an abortion. Emergency contraception does not offer protection against sexually transmitted infections. Contact Julie Antos at [email protected] By CA1TUN HUGHES Opening at 7:03 p.m. on Wednesday, October 4th, the weekly Student Government Association meeting began with President Will Stoetzer's encouraging statement, "I've really been impressed by the. good work we've done this year. So keep up the good work." The first order ofthe evening was the introduction of Public Safety Director J.D. Hester. Hester and Public Safety Officer Kerry Davis were present in order to provide an overview ofPublic Safety officers' duties and what the three different work shifts (day shift, afternoon shift, and late night shift) entail. Morning shift officers work 6am- 2pm seven days a week. * After debriefing the late night shift, the morning officers "open up the campus, "more or less," according to Hester. For approximately the first hour on duty, one officer works in the Public Safety building and another works the campus grounds, each preparing the university for the day. Other duties include moving into what is described by Hester as "parking ticket mode" -, and taking care of lock-outs. , From 2pm- 1.0pm, Davis ..and his fellow afternoon officers come on the scene. Aside from locking the campus down toward the end of their shift, one main, responsibility of the' afternoon officers is seeing to strangers on campus.1' One such incident occurred during the morning shift on October 4th. Upon hearing reports of strangers "flipping open a butterfly knife" in-the Carlton Union Building, Public Safety responded immediately. Working closely with the DeLand Police Department, Hester and the officers on duty tracked the intruders until they left campus grounds. The DPD, with six cars arriving at the scene, apprehended the trespassers behind Stover Theatre. The shift that has the most interaction with the DPD is the late night shift, which runs from 10pm through 6am. Handling miscellaneous activities between midnight and 4am in the resident halls and on campus grounds, the late night officers on duty range from three to five persons, as opposed to the standard two for the other shifts. Hester said of the ratio, "This is really good for you all. We do provide a service, so-to-speak, but we are here to protect, and we are here twenty- four hours a day, 365 days a year." In addition to the brief overview, Hester noted that Public Safety enforces what the fathers of Stetson University want done. "We do not make the rules" he said. He also disr cussed other points of interest, informing the student government that the next major renovations taking place on campus involve, the installment of swipe cards, like those present in Residence Hall A, in other residence halls. The next order of business was hearing from committee chairs. Reflecting on the previous night's meet and greet function, Senator Mike Hodges reported a good input from the surveys filled out by students while Senator Jessily Ramirez stated, "There were about sixty senators there, and over 250 people at late night aside from the senators." Students Take Action Now To Help Darfur By RACHEL HOLLEMAN The ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of western Sudan in Africa has claimed approximately 400,000 lives and displaced over 2,500,000 people since it's start in February of 2003. It is fueled primarily by the Janjaweed, a government-supported militia recruited from local Arab tribes, who implement rape, displacement, organized starvation, threats against aid workers, and mass murder. More than one hundred people continue to die each day and five thousand die every month in Darfur and neighboring regions. Students Taking Action Now for Darfur (STAND), is a student movement present in over 200 college, university, and high school campuses across the United States. The mission of each STAND chapter, and the National STAND Coalition, is to educate others on Darfur, raise relief funds, and to be an advocate for political ac- tion. Stetson STAND Coalition's sole objective is to end genocide in Darfur by observing the following general purposes: To actively promote education and awareness of the genocide in Darfur on campus and in our community; to raise funds for relief and development efforts; to urge our local, state, and national legislators to take action for a swift, sustainable, and just solution; and to inform, recruit, and lead campus organizations in a coordinated campaign to end genocide in Darfur. Friday and Saturday, September 29th and 30th was the Florida Darfur Conference, which was held here at the university. Check-in for the conference began at 4:30 Friday evening. Following check-in was a complementary dinner for all those who were registered for the conference. At 7:30 pm the conference's guest speaker John Prendergast spoke before conference attendees, students, and community members about the course of action required to end the injustice. John Prendergast is a Senior Advisor for the International Crisis Group and also worked at the White House and State Department during the Clinton adminis- t r a t i o n Junior, Biochemistry major Darash Desai said, "I thought his speech was really good. I appreciated the fact that he talked about what we could actually do for Darfur rather than just about what's going on." Following John Prendergast's speech in the Stetson room was a concert in the Forest of Arden featuring sophomore, music major Marques Toliver. Accompanying Toliver was sophomore, digital arts and music major Nick Bohl on the drums, sophomore, international studies major Sara Strickhouser as back-up vocals, and See SGA on Page A2 See DARFUR on Page A2 o Thursday's Forecast: } Partly Cloudy ,, , t^ High 90 Low 6S Weekend Forecast: Friday: Scattered T-Storms Saturday: Mostly Sunny Sunday: Mostly Sunny Hi's: Upper 80s Low's: Low 60s life Mike Riggs gives suggestions for sticking around our area. PAGE C1 Opinion: Sean Barth reports from Hong Kong. PAGE B1 Sports Katherine St. Clair spotlights Gabriel Shibly in Hatter Profile. PAGE-D1