Volume 23, issue 31, June 29, 2001

Metronews

Several classes face fee hike
Sean Weaver
The Metropolitan

Metro’s Student Government Assembly is considering new fees and fee increases for 26 classes.

"We’re looking at how directly students are seeing the money and will they benefit from paying it, or are they giving their money away," said Carin Viet, SGA’s vice president of student fees.

The largest class fee proposal is $75 for two new classes — Beer and Spirits and Advanced Study of Wine. The fee would pay for beer, wine, alcohol, beer kits or would pay for the purchase of wines.

"I can’t say if we’re going to approve it, but that’s the one fee where students actually see their fee in product," Viet said.

A $50 increase has been proposed for the Ski, Cross Country or Snowboarding class. Currently, the fee for the class is $250. The Human Performance, Sport and Leisure Studies Department began a three-year contract with Loveland in Spring 1999. Loveland proposed a $100 increase, which was rejected. The department proposed a $50 increase during the next two years. The fee increase proposal of $25 did not reach Academic Affairs last year so an increase of $50 is being requested this year. The sport and leisure department also proposed a $7 fee for its weight lifting I and II classes, which would cover the costs of replacing weight equipment.

The Criminal Justice and Criminology Department proposed a new $10 fee for its Field Testing and Laboratory Analysis of Drugs class, which would pay for drug identification kits, which are the same as those used by law enforcement agencies.

Metro’s art department proposed new fees and fee increases ranging from $10 to $50 for 18 of its new and current classes. The fees would cover expenses for creating and storing slides, computer labs and live models for figure drawing classes.

Viet said students may e-mail her at viet@mscd.edu with suggestions and concerns about the proposed fees.

If approved, the fees will take effect for the spring 2002 semester.
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Lightning kills former Metro student
Aimee Potter
The Metropolitan

A former Metro alumnus and reporter for The Metropolitan was killed June 2.

Christopher Anderson, 30, was vacationing in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. with friends when he was struck by lightening.

Anderson graduated from Metro in 1998. During his six years at Metro he was a reporter for both The Metropolitan and the Capitol Reporter.

In 1997 Anderson interned at the Boulder Daily Camera, and was hired full-time after graduating with a BA in journalism.

Metro professor, Deb Hurley, remembered Anderson as being outgoing and determined. "Long before he came to Metro, he knew he wanted to be a journalist," she said. "That's what he did, and he was very good at it."

Kate Lutery, assistant to the Vice President for Student Retention, was Director of Student Publications when Anderson was editor at The Metropolitan. "Chris was delightful," she said. "He made the most of opportunities in his experience. He was extremely determined and persistent. He worked hard at honing his skills."

During his career at the Camera, Anderson won several awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Colorado Press Association, most recently for his coverage of the Jon Benet Ramsey grand jury case.

J.P. McLaughlin, an editor at the Denver Post, was editor at the Capitol Reporter when Anderson was there. "[He] was a good young man and a good reporter, as evidenced by his career," he said. "When I heard the news, I was shocked."

Anderson is survived by his mother, Mimi Taylor and younger brother Cameron Taylor, both of Glenwood Springs. Anderson's father, Stephen A. Anderson died in a 1989 truck accident.

The Boulder Daily Camera has established a permanent internship in Anderson's name.

Memorial contributions may be made to: The Scripps Howard Foundation, P.O. Box 5380 Cincinatti, Ohio 4520 or a charity of the donor's choice.
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Metro Briefs

Fullbright applications available

Applications for Fullbright Scholarships for graduating seniors are available in the Rectory Building Room 204.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards approximately 900 grants annually and currently operates in more than 140 countries worldwide.

The U.S. Student Program is designed to give recent B.S./B.A. graduates, master’s and doctoral candidates, young professionals and artists opportunities for personal development and international experience. Projects may include university coursework, independent library or field research, classes in a music conservatory or art school, special projects in the social or life sciences, or a combination. Recent projects have involved cancer research in the United Kingdom, free market development in Mauritius, women's rights in Chile and contemporary artistic expression in India.

Graduating seniors are encouraged to apply to all countries, applications from recent graduates are particularly welcome to the following countries: Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Mali, Peru, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Ukraine, Zimbabwe.

To find out more check the Fulbright site at www.iie.org.

Applications are due in early October.

Campus Recreation seeks student employees

Students interested in working at Campus Recreation may apply at Events Center Room 108. Current positions include kayak instructors, rock and ice climbing guides and student leadership positions.

"We have an ongoing need for all these folks," said Bryan Ferguson from the Campus Recreation Department. "The way we do business is people come in with a certain set of skills we can use, we’ll find a way to do it."

Employment is limited to current Metro, University of Colorado at Denver or Community College of Denver students.
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Study: Students ignore safe sex

(U-WIRE) PITTSBURGH - In the 20 years since AIDS jumped into the national spotlight, more than 450,000 Americans have died and more than one million have been infected with HIV. And the numbers keep going up.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are 40,000 new infections of HIV each year. Statistics are showing that after the initial scares in the 1980s and all the hype about safe sex, college students are growing more lax about protecting themselves.

"Because they hear about medications that are available, young adults don’t fear the disease the way they did when everyone was dying from it," said Nancy Commella, director of the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force.

Commella said that the high profile of the many AIDS drugs, some of which can prolong the lives of patients indefinitely, might have led some young people to believe that the risk of dying from the disease is lower than it actually is.

But according to Commella, the drugs are by no means a cure, and many have potentially crippling physical and psychological side effects, including anemia, liver disease and depression.

The lack of fear of HIV and AIDS might be the reason students are being less cautious in their sexual practices. A study of 290 students conducted revealed 40 percent of University of Pittsburgh students never use condoms.

"Students tend to misperceive their fellow students’ use of protection," said Shirley Haberman, Pitt’s health education administrator. Haberman said in that same study, only 3 percent of students had accurate perceptions of how many people never use a condom.

"Of course this is of great concern to us," Haberman said.

Haberman also said that in the survey 90 percent of students admitted to consuming drugs or alcohol, which are co-risk factors for unsafe sexual behavior. She added that while under the influence, as many as one-third of students surveyed had had sexual contact that they later regretted.

Haberman said students must protect themselves, not only from HIV, but also from other sexually transmitted infections.

"Students need to keep in mind that they can best protect themselves by limiting sex partners and using condoms," she said.
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Journal costs diminish library collections
Sam Kean
Minnesota Daily (U. Minnesota)

(U-Wire) MINNEAPOLIS — One issue of the scientific journal Brain Research costs about $137. Not bad, except Brain Research publishes 124 issues annually, for a total cost of more than $17,000 for one journal subscription. During the past two years, the price increased more than a thousand dollars each year.

A search through just the biomedical library's journal selection revealed 11 journals cost more than $5,000 each, said Biomedical Library manager Marbeth Austin. And prices are only going up.

"We're getting killed by price increases" across all scientific and engineering fields, said University of Minnesota librarian Tom Shaughnessy.

The gap between technical journal price increases of 10 percent each year and inflationary budget increases of only 3 percent leads to cutbacks in the number of journals, he said.

Since 1995-96, University libraries have cut nearly 450 technical journals — nearly one in five — to keep up.

"The serials crisis has been a very widely talked about for the last ten years, because the subscriptions have risen faster than the library budgets," said Robb Waltner, head of periodicals and interlibrary loan for the Auraria Library. "Science and medicine have been the most expensive. It’s really happening everywhere. We’re not unique. This issue is very well known in the university community among faculty. It affects faculty because we can’t get the journals they want to be published in."

Humanities and social sciences are indirectly feeling a pinch too. Because library budgets are fixed, University of Minnesota Faculty Senate Library Committee Chairman Peter Firchow said some non-technical journals — whose prices have not increased at a great rate — have been eliminated as well.

Janice Jaguszewski, University of Minnesota coordinator for collection development in science and engineering, said the library system faced losing more than 200 journals last year alone, but various officials were able to "piece together some funding."

However, journal prices keep increasing and libraries face the same problem this year, especially with the state budget still undecided.

Higher publishing costs are the most cited reason for price jumps. Postage rates have increased, as have the costs of paper and producing the required pictures and diagrams in scientific literature.

Plus, journals expanding online services and archives need to invest in new technology. In some ways, online journals are making the situation worse because prices increase with limited additional benefits, Austin said.

Despite these realities, some faculty remain unaware of the situation.

Overall, the situation seems fraught with inconsistencies. For example, the price increases have accompanied an explosion in scientific literature.

But because new journals are often extremely specialized, competition is weak, said Research Vice Provost Victor Bloomfield.

To the publishers' credit, Bloomfield noted, without commercial publishers some journals might not even exist.

The larger issue is scientific idealism versus realities of commerce. National leaders in the campaign against publishers claim the scientific ideal of sharing knowledge is "under siege."

But commercial publishers say they must secure a profit and answer to shareholders who sponsor them -- facts they admit with increasing frequency.

So far, said Bloomfield, "market forces haven't worked well. But they can, because there are alternatives."

Nonprofit publishers do exist, and some scientists have started independent or online journals. But new journals are not automatically equivalent to well-established ones — a factor researchers must consider when displaying their findings and seeking tenure.

As a last resort, some scientists remove themselves from positions on commercial-journal editorial boards. Bloomfield himself has been on the board of a biopolymer journal for years but said he plans on stepping down by next year.

A concentrated effort like this, Bloomfield said, can "take the power of the press into our own hands."
‘We’re getting killed by price increases.’

- Tom Shaughnessy
University of Minnesota librarian
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Metroeditorial

Media act waste of time and money
Walter Gant

The music industry has been under a lot of heat recently due to the contents of certain artists. Marilyn Manson and Eminem have been the highest profile artists to face ridicule but they aren’t the only one’s being targeted.

Senator Joseph Lieberman has proposed The Media and Marketing Accountability Act and other federal legislation aimed at hip-hop, other forms of music and media. Basically the government believes this bill is needed to protect children form the "evil and underhanded tactics" of the media. If this bill gets passed then the government has the power to force the FTC to issue huge civil fines toward any companies that break the rules. Initial fines could range from $11,000 dollars per day or a cease and desist order on the companies. Senators from both sides of the political spectrum sponsor the bill.

I’m a person who believes some things are just a waste of time and money. This bill fits both of those criteria. Couldn’t these people be doing something better with their time than worrying about music and other forms of entertainment?

Music already has the parental guidance sticker. I think that’s more than ample. What they need to do is make the actual record stores stop selling records without adult contents to children. They should have to check for ID’s from people who look younger than 25. They could implement something in the computers that won’t let them sell the merchandise until an ID number is put in. There are more way’s than just trying to punish people for content.

The artists do have to take a stand on this issue as well as their record labels. The artist’s have a story to tell. We may not like the story but it’s still their right. Should they have to change their language? No they shouldn’t. If this is the language that these people want to use it shouldn’t be a big problem. If it takes profanity for you to reach the audience that you aiming for than do what you got to do. Should they watch their videos? That’s a little more debatable. Video’s could definetly use more artistic people in their medium. People are always shocked by images than by hearing words, especially the children that this act is trying to help. Videos will probably be hit the hardest if this act comes into play.

Parents should be concerned with this bill. It’s basically telling them that they can’t do a good job telling their kids right from wrong. Parents should have more control over their kids and know what their kids are listening to and watching on TV. When I was coming UP my parents knew every cd that I had. They knew that I was smart enough to not try and reenact things that I heard on records. The problem is that parents aren’t doing this. They don’t know and some don’t care what their children are listening to or watching. Televisions have become babysitters. Music has become like older brothers or sisters. Parents need to take as much responsibility as other people. These senators don’t know your kids you do.

Do I see this act becoming a full fledge law. I could easily see this happening. People are so easily fooled and always willing to push the buck on someone else. It’s doesn’t need to be new laws enacted. The old laws just need to be enforced.
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Bush courageous in face of Europe’s criticism
David Hindman

President George W. Bush has been displaying courage in the face of European criticism, along with an intelligent command of the facts regarding global warming and potential adverse economic effects of the Kyoto Global Warming Protocol.

Europe’s reaction reminds me of a competitive little brother, jealous over another one’s possessions and accomplishments, voicing an amplified accusation over something he intends to do himself. Not one single European nation has ratified the Kyoto Treaty either. If it’s such good policy, what in the world are they waiting for?

European leaders aren’t the only ones dishing out a heavy dose of hypocrisy. Massachusetts Democratic Senator, John Kerry, criticized Bush for "…a policy of skepticism, inaction, rhetorical flourishes rather than action." He also mentioned that there is "bipartisan support" for policies that avert further accumulations of greenhouse gases. Bipartisan support? You mean against the Kyoto Treaty, not for it, right? Because that’s the way the Senate voted in 1997, both Democrat and Republican alike, 95 to 0 against the Kyoto Protocol.

So, what’s Senator Kerry, not to mention the majority of the American media, squawking about anyway?

Contrary to the prevailing media myth, Bush has always accepted the fact of global warming, and that everyone needs to cooperate together to do something about it. All you have to do is go to his pre-election website at www.georgewbush.com/issues/environment.html to find that out. But that’s just the problem. Not everybody is cooperating. China isn’t cooperating. India isn’t cooperating. In fact, a large share of the global community isn’t cooperating. And even less of them are actually ratifying. The fact is the U.S. gets left holding the bag economically on the Kyoto Protocol. That’s why Bush is searching for better policy decisions on an issue that we pretty much all agree on already. That’s why the Senate voted 95 to 0, and I guess why 5 out of the total hundred didn’t even bother to vote or show up for the vote.

As for Europe, if it really believes the Kyoto Protocol is so good, it’s free to ratify it all they want, and it might eventually become binding on the United States. You know what though? When G.W.’s father was President, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, he refused to accept "mandatory greenhouse-gas reductions", presumably because of economic consequences or unrealistic expectations. European leaders sharply criticized him and "…vowed prompt, decisive action to impose restrictions on their own. They did nothing"
Europe’s reaction reminds me of a competitive little brother, jealous over one’s possessions...
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Metroactive

Art on the Street
Cu-Denver program encourages youth creativity
Lisa Evansin
The Metropolitan

The third annual Arts Street summer festival kicked off June 18 on the Auraria campus. It is sure to be a summer full of fun, creativity, and job training, according to University of Colorado at Denver Chancellor Georgia Lesh-Laurie.

Arts Street is a youth employment program that teaches and nurtures youth by showing them how to turn their love of the arts into a successful career. The Arts Street summer project is a collaboration of the Mayor’s Office of Art, Culture and Film, the College of Arts & Media at CU-Denver and the director of Arts Street, Stella Yu.

CU-Denver’s Arts Street employs 140 school-aged Denver students to work on various arts based projects. There are nine separate teams — each assigned individual projects. The nine teams are working in the following areas: An outdoor mural, a wildlife sculpture, interior art, jazz band, web design, film and video projects, a publishing house, street theater, and a coloring book.

The students are paid an hourly wage of $6.31 for their labor, and the money comes from both private and public sources. This program not only helps youth learn about a variety of art, but it helps them develop skills necessary to the working world, such as problem solving, reasoning, and decision making. The program runs for seven weeks from June 18 to August 3.

There were many people interested in this year’s Arts Street. More than 500 students inquired about the project and 300 applied; only 140 positions were available. The program can lead to internships and professional jobs.

Arts Street is modeled after a related program in Chicago, which was started in the early 1990s. Now there are programs in major cities throughout the world such as Chicago, Atlanta, Racine, Wis., St. Louis, Tucson, Ariz., Cambridge, Mass., and London. The programs in these cities have proven that youth employment through the arts will successfully prepare youth to be productive, working adults.

On August 2, there will be a showcase featuring the students work.

"This is an annual undertaking that we just love," Lesh-Laurie said. "The projects are unbelievable."

The nine teams will work in various locations throughout the city. The interior art team and the wildlife sculpture team will be working for Denver’s Department of Human Services where the interior art team will redecorate the indoor stairwells, and the wildlife team will work on sculptures at a park.

The street theater team and the jazz band will put on performances on the 16th Street Mall.

The web design team will put together a site, which will direct youth to a number of different youth services in Denver.

The film and video team will be taping short public service announcements.

The publishing house team will make a newspaper and distribute it in La Alma/Lincoln Park.

The coloring book team will create a coloring book for the city and it will be given to the city and county of Denver.

One student spoke at the kick-off about what a positive experience Arts Street is. Iyabo Boyd, 16, worked at Arts Street in the summers of 1999, and 2000. She said it has helped her earn four jobs due to her experience working at Arts Street. Those jobs include an internship for Curious Theater Co., and she is currently office manager of the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. Boyd is a student at the Denver School of the Arts, and said "it’s good to give direction to kids in an artful way." She gave the Arts Street students of this year inspiration by saying, "keep your hearts open, and your minds open."

A new member of this year’s Arts Street is Kristina Valencia. Valencia is 15 years old, and she is going into 10th grade at East High School. She will be working on the interior art team, and is very excited to learn about different types of art.

"I know it will be a great experience," she said. She became interested in Arts Street when her Aunt gave her an information letter about it. She then applied, and was accepted and hired. Valencia said she is excited about earning money this summer while doing something she enjoys.

Daniel Garcia, 15, said, "It’s good because it teaches kids to do stuff they never thought they could do." He will be working on the publishing house team. This is Garcia’s second year working at Arts Street, and he said this year he will be writing and taking pictures for the newspaper that will be distributed in La Alma/Lincoln Park.

Michael Williams will be working on the wildlife sculpture team. Williams is a freshman at the Denver School of the Arts, and is hoping to have good responses from the project. This is his first year working for Arts Street, but he thought this could be a gateway into a career in the arts. "I hope that we have a good summer doing this, and that nothing happens in a negative way," Williams said.

Arts Street is a great program "because it combines fun, creativity, challenge, job training and when it’s all over, something of which they can be proud," Lesh-Laurie said.

"I don’t think I’d work if it weren’t for Arts Street," said Caroline Steed, 15, a student at Denver East High School. She said she didn’t want to work retail or in the food industry, and that at 15 years old it is hard to find a good job. She added it is also an opportunity to make good friends.

This year’s sponsors of Arts Street are CU-Denver and its College of Arts and Media, the city of Denver, Teatro Latino de Colorado, the Women of the West Museum, and Art Reach Inc.

"We’re happy to be a part of Arts Street because everything about it is positive an it leaves the students with great memories and a legacy that can be enjoyed by thousands of people all across the city," Lesh-Laurie said.
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