The Reporter

Wednesday, September 10,1997 > FORUM; Get rid of A&S cultural event requirement "Editorial, 4a Volume 110, Issue 3 I -■ [ News - ■ jj ; I Forum *■-£• H Et Cetera [£ { '■ Life : ; J Sports http://the-reporter.home.ml.org Daytona Beach: there's much more than sand at the worlds most famous beach. Life, page 1b Stetson University, DeLand, Florida Crime P?w to the start of school, a few rooms in Emily Hall and a staff member's car were burglarised By HEATHER DANIELL and JEFF HAMRICK Student rooms in Emily Hall and one car were burglarized just prior to the start of the academic year, public safety announced re- • cently. The break-ins occurred on Aug. 23, shortly after residential advisors, head residents, and student athletes arrived on campus. In addition to the rooms, a car belonging to a Student Life employee was burglarized. In a statement, Public Safety Chief Frank Mussoline said that the break-ins were "crime[s] of opportunity." Mussoline suspects that the robberies were indirectly caused by propped open doors. Students in the process of moving in probably propped open the doors with rocks in order to facilitate moving in, Mussoline said. According to Mussoline, Emily Hall residents thus created a breach of security which allowed "somebody to walk into a suite, go through the bathroom, and walk into one of the rooms." The stolen items included $300 in cash, an 18k Italian chain, several gold charms, a wedding band, a signet ring, and an envelope with $100 in cash, i Mussoline said that expensive items were passed over in the rooms. "There were computers and laptops in those rooms. They [the perpetrators] weren't interested in anything except something they could get rid of right now," said Mussoline. He said that some students are under the impression that the crimes occurred at different times. However, Mussoline said that "It all happened at the same time, [they were].. .just reported in a different time frame." Once Emily Hall residents heard of the initial break-in, others discovered that they were also missing personal belongings. Wendy E. Donna, associate director of student life and adviser to The Reporter, was the victim of a car break-in during the same time period. "I was parked in the back of Emily Hall," Donna said. "I ran inside to run a few errands. When I came back out, the [car] window looked like it had condensation on it. The closer I got the more I realized what it was— the window was shattered." Donna believes that somebody may have mistaken her exposed eyeglasses case for a wallet. Michelle Espinosa, director of residential life, said that during the time of the break- ins there was a large flow of new residents in and out of the buildings. "Early arrivals, staff members, head residents, and residential advisers..[were] on campus. In addition ... [there were] ... maintenance staff, custodial staff, and public safety staff in the buildings," Espinosa said. She added that some of the vacant suite rooms were left unlocked since they were being prepared for students arrivals. Those suites have adjoining bathrooms which lead to other rooms. The bathroom doors are always supposed to be locked. Mussoline said that "there weren't enough people in the dorms to see ... [people].. .that didn't belong." Espinosa said, "It's hard to tell who could have done it with all of that action going on." Both Espinosa and Mussoline said that they currently did not have any suspects, but that custodial and maintenance staff were being interviewed. Espinosa recommends that students ".. .never prop the doors to the building. That can lead to crimes...[like]...theft." She also said that students should keep their room doors locked and their suite bathroom doors locked as well. Espinosa noted that some of the items stolen included jewelry, and she said that students should not leave any valuable jewelry lying around. Espinosa also recommended that students not bring jewelry with them to school at all, if possible. Lynn Gentile, the director of judicial affairs, said that students should "make a list of all valuables such as televisions, VCRs, and anything else." She also said that students should try to be perpetually aware of their surroundings. Both Mussoline and Gentile said that students should 1. secure their doors and windows; 2. always walk in groups of two or more on campus; 3. walk where the blue-lighted phones are; and 4. walk in well-lighted areas. Donna indicated that the police were in pursuit of two youths for other similar crimes. She recommends that students utilize the buddy system, refrain from leaving any valuables out in plain sight, and call the Department of Public Safety when they desire a night escort. She said, "If anything were to happen, the best thing to do is to report it immediately." "^S."=C^£SSS*KTj2:ESr; s-w^scss^ir^; | Public Safety Chief Frank Mussoline I I and Lynn Gentile, director of judicial j I affairs, suggest j i i \ 1) securing doors and windows : 2) walking in groups of two or more ! 3) walking in areas where emergency I phones are located \ 4) walking in well-lighted areas | month from now? NASA witt send a Saturn- mnd spacecraft fueled bj 723 pounds of deadly plutonium into space. By MANDI PHILLIPS Florida Flambeau, Florida State U. (U-Wire) On Oct. 6,72.3 pounds of what Bruce Gagnon calls "the most deadly substance ever known" will vault into space aboard NASA's Titan IV rocket. The plutonium will power the rocket during its 11-year journey, known as the Cassini mission. NASA will launch the rocket from Cape Canaveral on a mission to Saturn. The Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice hopes to convince NASA to cancel or delay the mission at a non-violent protest rally scheduled two days before the launch. At a press conference Friday, Gagnon, the state coordinator for the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice and a member of the Global Network Against Weapons in Space discussed the risks involved in this space expedition. An accident on the Iaunchpad or TITAN IV: The rocket will carry the Cassini module into space. (Photos courtesy NASA) within Earth's atmosphere could lead to radiation damage, causing severe environmental and economic disruptions, Gagnon said. One pound of this lethal nuclear material is enough to contaminate every human on Earth. Less than one one-millionth of a gram is considered a carcinogenic dose. ' According to Gagnon, the areas subjected to radiation of the kind potentially released by the Cassini mission would be uninhabitable for a period of several hundred years. "Florida will become a wasteland," Gagnon said. Gagnon said that not only would all buildings have to be leveled and destroyed, but all agricultural crops would be useless and no new crops would grow, as the topsoil's contamination extends to two inches beneath the surface. "[Cassini is] the single most dangerous -act ever committed by man." said Alan Kohn, a former NASA emergency preparedness officer, during an interview Monday. NASA officials have said the plutonium generators are foolproof, but Kohn said he doubts this. Kohn worked for NASA from 1962 until his retirement in 1994. His experience with nuclear missions includes his work on accident contingencies for both the Galileo mission in 1989 and Ulysses in 1990. "Nothing that man builds is indestructible," said Kohn, "Eventually we'll have a catastrophic accident. ... There are too many variables. No one really knows." During testing of the radioisotope thermal generators (RTGs) which contain the plutonium, NASA discovered that under certain simulated conditions the generators would blow up, Gagnon said. But according to NASA reports, the conditions that could destroy the generators are not realistic. The tests NASA performed were inadequate, according to Kohn. The Titan design has a one in 20 failure rate, Gagnon said. And, he added, the most dangerous segment of this mission is not the launch, but the rocket's 42,000 mile-per-hour flight within 300 miles of Earth's surface. The rocket will travel this close to the Earth after two orbits around Venus, in the year 1999. This flight will create a slingshot effect, and Titan will use the Earth's gravity to increase velocity and travel to Saturn. If something goes wrong, the rocket will burn up in Earth's atmosphere, which extends as far as 75 miles above the surface, exploding in a radioactive cloud, Gagnon said. The risk of cancer This type of accident has occurred before. Since the first nuclear-powered missions to space, nine out of 63 U.S. and Russian missions have met with accidents. Gagnon said. In 1964, a U.S. mission carrying a SNAP-9A nuclear device tumbled to Earth and disintegrated, releasing 2.1 pounds of plutonium into the air. Dr. John Gofman, a physician who specializes in nuclear medicine and a former member of the Manhattan Project, conducted research on this accident. As a result of the SNAP-9A accident, Gofman hypothesizes that every human on Earth carries traces of plutonium in the body. This incident has led to the increased global rate of lung cancer, he said. According to Gofman's research, 200,000 curies (a unit of measuring gas) of plutonium have been released into the atmosphere throughout the history of above-ground nuclear testing. His calculations suggest that if the Cassini mission meets with misfortune, 400,000 curies of radioactive material will simultaneously be released. Five billion people worldwide would receive 99 percent of the radiation exposure possible. What would be the effects of this type of radioactivity? Lung cancer is first on the list. But exposure to plutonium can also cause liver cancer, as the cancerous cells spread through the bloodstream. Either can be fatal. "NASA underestimated the cancer alone by 2,000 to 4,000 times. The actual death toll may be as high as 30 to 40 million," said Dr. Ernest Sternglass, professor emeritus of radiological physics at the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine and a collaborator on the Cancel Cassini movement. Genetic mutations in future generations are another possible effect of radiation exposure. "I've got children and grandchildren. I'm fighting for them and everybody else," Kohn said. It is not just the Cassini mission which has these individuals concerned, but the cumulative effect of all possible future nuclear launches. Like the Cassini mission, 12 nuclear missions are under consideration for the next decade. "They (NASA) intend to continue to use plutonium at an average rate of one per year for the foreseeable future," Kohn said. "An accident is inevitable." See NASA, page 2a not anion By EMILY RAYNOR Staff Writer Stetson, which tied for third place in the recent U.S. News & World Report ranking of southern universities, did not make the top fifteen in the Sept. 8 U.S. News "best value" ranking of colleges. < Winter Park's Rollins College, which placed second on the regional university list, did, however. The "best value" schools are those that are above average academically and cost considerably less than many other schools after financial aid and need-based grants have been taken into account. The discount price is the amount a student and his family pays after receiving grants based on need, according to U.S. News's frequently-asked question list about their best value rankings. According to the weekly news magazine, the rankings were based on three variables. First, schools were evaluated on the ratio of quality to price. The higher the ratio of quality rank to discounted cost the better the ranking for that school. Second, the percentage of all undergraduates receiving grants to meet financial need during the 1996-97 academic year was considered. Finally, U.S. News incorporated the percentage of a school's total costs covered by the average need-based grant to undergraduates into its assessment. Overall rank was determined by changing the achieved scores for each of the assessment criteria and converting them into percentages. The highest score for each variable was marked as 100 percent and then the rest were graded on that scale. The ratio of quality to price accounted for 60 percent of the overall score; the percentage of undergraduates getting grants counted for 25 percent of the final score; the total discount score was weighted as 15 percent. The school with the highest weighted percentage was ranked number one in their category (national universities, national liberal arts colleges, and regional universities) and all the others fell into place descending from there. According to its home page, Rollins College, with an average total cost of $24,960 per year, awards over $1,500,000 in merit scholarships every year. This means that their average discount is 51 percent of the total cost of education. Stetson, with an average total cost of $20,420 per year), made over $7,000,000 available in assistance from university funds alone for the 1996-97 according to the 1997-1998 Bulletin. With a deficit difference of $4,450 in average cost and an excess difference of $5,500,000 in scholarships funds available, Stetson did not achieve top ranking with other southern universities. Doug Minter, the director of student financial aid and planning, declined to comment on Stetson's value ranking. vain mmmM6®mswmm^m>. Fifteen Most Cost-Effective Schools in the South 1. The Citadel (S.C.) 2. Harding University (Ariz.) 3. Converse College (S.C.) 4. Mercer University (Ga.) 4. Murray State University (Ky.) 4. Wheeling Jesuit College (W.Va.) 7. Centenary College of Louisiana 8. Rollins College (Fla.) 9. Queens College (N.C.) 10. Spring Hill College (Ala.) 10. University of Richmond (Va.) 12. Loyola University New Orleans (La.) 12. Marymount University (Va.) 12. Tuskegee University (Ala.) 15. Samford University (Ala.) For more information concerning U.S. News & World Report's recent rankings for colleges with the best values and most discounted prices, go to their web page at: http://www4.usnews.com/usnews/edu/dollars/dsbvalue.htm inside FORUM: Evolution vs. Creationism: how did we get here?, 5a LIFE: ABC tries again with a mix of new and old shows. 1b SPORTS: Hatters are defeated 2-1 in overtime, 4b