Page 176 - Phoenix1999-2000

Thursday, May 4, 2000 - Page 8 NEWS ~mnesty SGA questions the new grading system International LISA Stuff VAN Writer AUKEN favor of the system and those who are not. Sharkey said that the SGA is pushing to JOANNA KRAfT One unnamed student wrote: "I don't make the new system similar to the old- CQnTribUI;flgWriter Although the faculty has announced its want to be punished for getting an A-minus BLARlnew-BLAR system currently in ef- The story that emerges is one of hope. decision to implement a weighted grades so that someone who gets a C-plus can feel fect. No matter how bleak a situation looks, ac- system in the fall of this year, it seems that better about it." In the SGA's opinion, the new system tion by our club members can make a dif- students are not finished hashing it out with Some seem to consider opposition to the should only affect incoming students so the ference." the administration, the faculty, and each new measure as simply whining, writing transcripts of current students are more uni- In March. a group of about 15 students other. such comments as "Suck it up and stop com- form, and the system should not be on a 4.3 came together to form a new organization And although students seem to be call- plaining." scale. at WMC. The new organization is called ing for change, the WMC faculty is resolute, But whether or not the decision was right "They'll listen to what we have to say," Club WMC Amnesty International according to Joan Devlin-Coley, interim or wrong, one student was discouraged with Sharkey said, after outlining the SGA's fu- (AIWMC). president. the ordeal, wondering "why isn't the fac- ture plansto continue its campaign. The idea of forming a new club at WMC Because of a difference of opinion be- ulty taking our thoughts into consider- Coley, however, sees problems with the stems from the mission of Amnesty Inter- tween the students and faculty, the Student ation?" SGA's proposals since students are classed national. According to Sharon Klinder, one Government Assembly is spearheading a The decision to convert to the weighted by their total credits, not their years in atten- of the founding members of AIWMC, the campaign that hopes to give students a fo- grades system was initiated in 1996 by a dance at WMC. organization's main goal is to raise cam- rum for their opinions. group of students and faculty members. The class of '04 might not be entirely pus awareness of human rights protection. They seek to educate them about intro- The system was not installed prior to composed of freshmen, so implementing the AIWMC's advisor is Professor Leahy from ducing a new grading system in the middle now because of a computer problem in the new system on the incoming class might the political science department. of student's'Wlvlc career. registrar's office. mean that some sophomores would have Although this new organization is not Last week, the SGA sent fetters to the stu- Although the students who helped get weighted grades. a direct affiliate of the greater organization dent body highlighting the negative aspects the ball rolling have long since graduated, Currently, the faculty will begin discuss- of Amnesty International, the organization of weighted grades and encouraged them to it appears that current WMC students will ing the 4.3 scale that the new system would uses the name Club Amnesty International respond. not have the final say in the matter. work on. WMC since it has adapted the same mis- It also invited students via voice mail to "I think perhaps most of the faculty Meanwhile, members of the SGA will sion statements as the original organization. a meeting discussing the measure. agrees that in the end, it should be a faculty continue their efforts to make the faculty re- The original Amnesty International was The SGA also set up a board outside of decision," said Coley. consider' their position, but the future is still formed in 1961 with the idea to interna- the Tnfonnation Desk in Decker Center for Steve Sharkey, SGA sophomore class uncertain. tionally campaign protection of human students to jot down their opinions. president and chair of the academic com- "I think the faculty did [consider student rights. The work of Amnesty International So far, student's views seem to be polar- mittee, is optimistic about the faculty's re- opinion]," said Coley. "And [they] dis- goes beyond national, cultural, religious, ized between those who are completely in sponse to student dissatisfaction. agreed." and ideological boundaries and members of Amnesty International does not work Thefts hinder campus organizations with cases in their own countries. The word amnesty, according to the ics and business Dr. Susan Milstein says be- the time of the theft were questioned by Merriam-Webster Dictionary (1997), News Co-editor fore the theft of their organization's two DoCS in this case as well as in the others. means "to grant pardon to a group of indi- While recent thefts of computer equip- brand new laptops equipped with tax soft- In the Lewis Hall case of March 6, when viduals." Amnesty International works on p1~nt, includi";£ ,a printer ~t:r0~ltSGA, two ware, anyone could have gotten the key to a laptop was reported stolen, DoC~ con- freeing all prisoners of conscience, that i~, laptops from VITA (Volunteer Income Tax th'e'dosef where they were stored. VITA op- ducted an inven~orl of all the' c"orrfifufers people who are being detained because of Assistance), a scanner from the Phoenix, and erated out of Goldroom B, and the closet there and found out through checking serial their beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, color, lan- a laptop from Lewis Hall remain unsolved, there did not have restrictions on who could numbers that one reported stolen in April guage, social and/or national origin, eco- Director of Campus Safety Mike Webster gain access to the key at the information desk 1999 had since been replaced without their nomic status, and have not used or advo- says they should not be considered related, until after the theft. knowledge. cated violence. Publicity and letters are im- nor should it be considered a "crime wave." In hindsight Milstein said, "Had I known, Webster said that is one of biggest prob- portant to Amnesty International, but there Webster says the amount of thefts is small I never in a million years would have put lems in reporting these thefts; organizations is never a "claim for fame" after being suc- in comparison to those at other colleges. He that stuff in there." Now access to they keys do not keep good records of their machines' cessful in releasing a prisoner of con- also states, "Some of this stuff is so minor is limited to her and a select few students in serial numbers and other important data. science. I'm not going to spend 60-70 hours in in- the program and are only given out by Cam- Because of this Webster wonders if the miss- The constitution of the club WMC Am- vestigating. lt doesn't make economic sense. pus Safety. ing laptop has been returned by now. "What nesty International, states the following.: Just buy a new one." Of course the organi- Webster wonders if that was actually I think happens is someone borrows it and "The purpose of this organization shall be zations affected do not see the incidents as where the laptops were when they were sto- then returns it [without saying anything or to create support and work impartially for minor, though. len; he said the equipment had been loaded confessing]," said Webster. the release of prisoners of conscience, fair The Student Government Assembly's in the back of a pick-up truck and driven to webster-said it is doubtful these cases are trials for political prisoners, abolition of the printer Was stolen on Jan. 22 when someone the Harlow pool parking load to be unloaded. related or are done by someone who wishes death penalty, and an end to extra-judicial took it from their office located near the laun- ''There were few people who knew they were to sell the equipment. "If someone were go- execution and 'disappearance' ."The mem- dry room of Rouzer Hall. According to Matt being stored there [in the closet]," said Web- ing to 'fence' the computers, they would have bers will actively work on raising aware- Gribbin, SGA president, a report was filed ster. taken all of them," he added, referring to the ness about prisoners of conscious on cam- with Campus Safety immediately, but so far The event really saddened Milstein be- VlTAcase. pus by writing petition letters to be signed they have had no luck in locating it or the cause it was the first year by as many students as possible. These let- perpetrator. VITA had been given ters will be sent off to the country and Gribbin said he has no idea who could computers by Informa- WE PAY FOR YOUR prison in question and will hopefully help have taken it. Webster speculates that some- tion Services and the IRS. COLLEGE EDUCATION in freeing a prisoner. one took it for personal use. "Obviously She estimates their value So far, AlWMC has planned on work- someone was in there for a 'while looking at approximately $2000 a By being a member of the Maryland ing on two cases for the remainder of the around," he said, because only the printer and piece. Army National Guard you can receive a semester. One case concerns a woman. its manual were stolen. Meanwhile there is "It's a shame. Here we FREE college education. When you Khadija Yahya Bukhari, who was arrested other expensive equipment in their office that are doing a good deed for serve part-time in the Guard, you can eight years ago at the Beirut Airport in was not touched. the community ... It's attend school full-time while earning edu- Lebanon. Little about her whereabouts is Gribbin said he is "pretty sure" the of- kinda stealing from a cational benefits. like the State Tuition known, but supposedly she has been in fice was locked at the time, and only five cause that's trying to help Waiver (25% to 50% reduction), the front of a military court, has been tortured, SGA members have keys. However, he said other people [that can not Montgomery GI Bill and an extra pay- and suffers from poor health. that Christian Fellowship shares part of their afford the help]," said The other case concerns a teacher and office and that they had been having prob- Milstein. There have check each month. Some schools even human rights activist from Nepal, Bishnu lems with the door being left unlocked. Since been no leads in that case give academic credit for Guard training Pukar Shrestha. He was kidnapped in 1999 the theft he has spoken with Christian Fel- either. and service, Find out how the Maryland and is currently held at an unofficial place lowship president Jenny Weddle about it and Another unsolved Guard can be your Partner in Education. of detention. He may be at risk of torture asked her to spread the word. There have theft, that of a $95 scan- CalI Today: MARYlAND and possibly death. The club wi!! start rais- been no problems since. ner from the Phoenix of- ing awareness about these cases and let- VITA's theft occurred between the eve- fice, was reported on ters to sign will be posted around on cam- nings of February 10 and 11 and is also sus- March 26. Webster re- 1-800-GO-GUARD ~ pus. pected of being another case of breaking and fused to comment as to -CAN Anyone interested in joining AIWMC, entering, according to VITA student helper whether or not those who cal! Yuri Basnett at x8462. Sergey Fayvusovich. Professor of econom- had signed out the keys at