The Reporter

thurs mar-o6 .S T E..T S G ,N .... U.JM..L-V-_E>JL..SLJL_t^ http://stetson.edu/ issue 1*3 volume IjlS L.j_^y_a_ai!_-^_i Online giving hopes to increase amount of donations Schneider Online Gift Challenge presents a unique goal to alumni and parents Patsick King news writer Recently, the university received a unique donation from James and Deborah Schneider, parents of senior marketing major, Jamie Schneider. Schneider, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Dell Computers, wanted to establish a fund that was based in the world of computers. While Schneider recognizes the ease of online giving, he and his wife have already donated $25,000 as an effort to support the fund. The Schneider Online Gift Challenge is trying to promote large donations, preferably $25,000 or more. "[Online giving] is simply easier to click, input and confirm," said Schneider. The fund is meant to be a challenge for people. The Schneider's $25,000 to the school is only available '[Online giving] is simply easier to click, input and confirm...[it could] also prompt people to view the entire university website.' JAMES SCHNEIDER chief financial officer of Dell to the school once the money has been matched by other donations. This means that someone can go online and donate twenty dollars to the fund, and that money will go into a pool with the rest of the money that has been given. Once the total is $25,000, the money becomes accessible to the school. Nathaniel Lemmon, Associate Director of Annual Giving, claims $17,000 have been received in the fund already. However, the amount received can be greater than the original $25,000. The school can also spend the money in any particular way. Because this allows for flexibility, some of the money can be used for dorm improvements and another portion can be used to set up scholarships.' Lemmon said that the majority of the money raised by this fund is going to be used for student scholarships. Lemmon claims that by the end of the year, the school will "come out about double what we had last year." Lemmon was very positive about the way the fund works, as he said it "saves us a lot of money in processing" and it is an "easy way for people to give." Schneider decided to have this fund online because it also promotes the University. "[It could] prompt people to view the entire University web site," said Schneider. For more' information please visit www.stetson.edu/challenge/. Contact Patrick King at pking@stetson. edu. HCTAXCOLLECTOR.COM Above, the university's current specialty license plate features the school's emblem. chase the university's specialty license plate by June 30th of this year, the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will discontinue production. "If you don't own one yet, now is the time to order," Colleen Cooper, director of Alumni Relations said. "If it's only 1,000 people they need to keep the Stetson plate around then Cody Stapleton news writer The university's specialty license plate which features the school's logo may be in jeopardy due to the low numbers of registered tags. Unless 1,000 Florida residents renew or pur- it shouldn't be a problem. I would hope at least 1,000 people want to support Stetson," Dawn Thompson, senior sociology major said. Various specialty tags are available throughout Florida but must meet a minimum sales requirement. The plates are available through the'Florida DMV for $25 per year. A person interested in purchasing a plate does not need to return to his official county of residence as the plates are available in any county. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' website, the university currently ranks number 70 out of 91 specialty plates, dropping nine places since 2003 when sales first began. The university has sold 956 plates through the end of 2005. Currently there are 902 Stetson specialty plates registered for the state of Florida. In order to meet the requirement, 98 more people must purchase a tag. The sale of the Stetson plate benefits the ASSI$T program. A portion of the $25 dollar fee is donated to the ASSI$T program to provide scholarships for relatives of Stetson alums. . Since the program's inception, $38,400 has been raised for scholarship monies. "Your Stetson tag will not only jazz up your car, but benefit the entire Stetson community by ensuring Hatter families a continually affordable Stetson education," Colleen Cooper, director of Alumni Relations said. Other benefits include Stetson pride and vehicle identification. "As an alumnus I take pride in my alma mater and it would be nice to be able to keep. Stetson on license plates," Michael Novak, alumnus '05 said. "If your car has a high theft rate the Stetson tag will allow for easier identification in the occurrence of theft," Officer John Cooper, Public Safety said. To boost sales of the Stetson tag the Alumni Office is sponsoring three contests. The first being the family with the most relatives with a Stetson license plate. The second is the Greek organization with the most current and alumni members with a plate, and the third is the "Class Year" with the most representatives with a plate. The contest deadline is June 30th and the winner will be engraved on a brick at the Meadows Alumni House. For information about entering the contest, please contact the Office of Alumni Relations at [email protected]. Contact Cody Stapleton at [email protected] eeks resolution o /"& Samantha Lange news writer On February 18th, the university's chapter of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND) held a summit with the official objective of "bringing Florida's student leaders together to work towards the resolution of the Darfur crisis." Since February of 2003, a government-sponsored militia in Sudan, Janjaweed, has been engaged in a campaign to decimate the African ethnic communities of the Fur, Zaghawa, and Massaleit. Using tactics of mass killings, strategical rape of women and children, bombings, burning of villages, and contamination of water wells, the Sudanese regime has succeeded in destroying approximately 90% of black African villages. The UN estimates that up to four million people in Darfur do not have adequate food supplies and have addressed fears of massive outbreaks of cholera and other epidemics. Recent reports from humanitarian agencies claim that around 400,000 lives have been lost and 2.5 million people are internally displaced due to the genocide in Darfur. Sadly, as if those figures were not horrendous enough, they have been used for nearly a year now, despite estimates that 6,000 people are dying each month from the government-supported atrocities. Accurate assessments of death toll and displacement in Darfur are so difficult to determine because of obstruction on the part of the Sudanese government (such as their documented actions to remove all trace of mass graves of executed African civilians) and the UN's refusal to submit official estimates. This cover up does not mean that the violent crimes against humanity have gone unnoticed. It has been 539 days since the Bush Administration publicly confirmed that genocide is taking place in Darfur. Since then, however, the US has neglected its obligation to act effectively and has even continued to call Sudan an important ally in the war on terror despite hundreds of people perishing every day at the hands of Janjaweed, Sudanese police, and soldiers in Darfur. The international community as a whole has been virtually paralyzed on how to take a stand in Darfur. Last month, the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council was in the hands of U.S. Ambassador John Bolton. This role gave our administration a tremendous opportunity to motivate the UN to aid the stricken Darfur region. that meeting, there is time to assist the people of Darfur, and the time is now. Being thousands of miles away may seem helpless, however it was the relentless curiosity that led to the upstart of the student movement STAND, now present on over two hundred college, university, and high school campuses across the United States, including our own. The STAND Summit held last month consisted of our own STAND members, members from Daytona Beach Community College, Brevard County Middle School teachers, and student members of the University of Florida's Human Rights Awareness Organization. Junior political science major Randall Judt said, "I think that the 'The government of Sudan strongly rejects the proposal of international forces to be deployed to Darfur and rejects the transition of operation in Darfur from AU to UN.' LAM AKOL foreign minister According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, however, Sudan had rejected the proposal to transform the African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Darfur to a United Nations operation as of last Thursday. "The government of Sudan strongly rejects the proposal of international forces to be deployed to Darfur and rejects the transition of operation in Darfur from AU to UN," Foreign Minister, Lam Akol, told a parliamentary session on February 22nd. However, the office went on to report that the AU is expected to make a final decision at tomorrow's ministerial meeting of the Peace and Security Council. No matter what comes of conference was a success. We had a lot of people come and had a nice discussion." Topics of the summit included the Power to Protect Campaign, campus and state divestment, and making Darfur an issue in 2006 political campaigns. The group wants its efforts to remain more humanitarian based rather than political, but they realize that having political backing is of significant importance in this movement. First year music performance major Ashley Frith said, "I think we really made a difference and I was really excited about how well the conference went and how productive it was." Indeed, the summit was fabulously successful as the representatives cre ated a coherent plan to unify the state of Florida against the genocide in Darfur, incorporating all levels of education, middle school and up. They drew up the plans for a Florida Darfur Coalition (FDC), which should be up and running by next week. The FSC will be a website- based alliance welcoming any organization or individual who is interested in getting involved. In accordance with the summit's official aim, the FSC is directed toward "Networking Floridians to work together towards the resolution of the Darfur crisis." The media has largely ignored the Darfur conflict to date. The goal of the Power to Protect Campaign that was discussed at the summit is to reverse that trend by publishing over two hundred student-written articles and mailing one million post cards nationwide. STAND members, along with the Genocide Intervention Network, are planning on sending those million post. cards to the White House, lobbying legislators through letters and phone calls, and are eagerly anticipating a march on Washington for a day of direct lobbying in the offices of their senators and representatives on April 28th. It is important to have faith that our leaders can provide effective protection for the innocent people in Darfur. It is just as important to know that showing them that countless ■Americans want action to end the genocide now will push them to ensure that protection. You can help! Weekly university STAND meetings take place Sunday evenings at nine o'clock. If you would like to help distribute and mail post cards, contact Melissa Pancoast, president of STAND. standstetson@,gmail.com. If you have any interest in attending Power to Protect's D.C. to Darfur Weekend, find all required information at www.PowerToProtect.org. Contact Samantha Lange at slange@stetson. edu. Thursday's Forecast: Sunny High 82 ^ LOW 57 'yP>^4 .#' -flY CALENDAR 3B NEWS 2A CROSSWORD 2B NEWSMAKERS 3A HISTORY 2B OPINIONS 4A HOROSCOPE- 2B RUMINATIONS 2B LIFE IB MOVIE REVIEW 3B METRO REP0BT 2A STUDENT GOVERNMENT3A MOVIE LISTINGS 3B StO¥erss Theatrics Jacob Wagner gives a good review for All My Sons PAGE 1B EV2ovie Rewiav.1 Movie critic Blair Townley writes about Walker's performance in "Eight Below" PAGE 2B Senior Might Jason Becknell writes on the Men's Basketball team's Senior Night. PAGE 1C