The Merciad, Jan. 15, 1987

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    VOli60NQllO MERCYHURST COLLEGE, GLENWOOD HILLS, ERIE. PA 16546 THURSDAY, JANUARYNew Parking ProceduresTo Include "The Boot"

    The newest section of the Sesler parking for.

    Advisory; CommitteeAt Mercyhurst CollegeMatthew J. Clark

    When the Middle states Evaluationvisited Mercyhurst College inone of the proposals it made wasa sUudiug Libuuy Advisory Com !established in accordancethe American Library Assoc iu-1xIn the full of 1983, shortly after thewas made. The Mercy hursta Libraryry Committee, consisting of twofaculty, tw o ad -and the Director of the Li*y as an ex officio member.The members of the current Libraryare* Dr. DavidAllen, Secretary; Joseph Chiurclli,I dwards. CharlesC Kolb. Chair-(Jena I Kost. Si. Fust ace layloi.j

    "We've been a fairly active commit-said Charles Kolb. Chairman ofcon-1'we have no voting power; werecommendcertain proposals*The responsibilities of the LibraryLibra i iannd the academiccommunity; l b con*

    sidcr and recommend meant whichthe library its most effectiveIn the College; To study libraryneeds in view of the academic program;and To advise the Librarian on mattersgeneral library policyKolb indicated two major Issues ofoncern to the Committee at this timeare the three satellite librancs.cCm iriculum Library, St. Mark's Library;and the Corry Center Library) and ac-cess lor the handicapped. s"'Project W at Mere) hurst conecrns a curriculum revision toi the college. NMe'll be offering new courses andwe have to determine what kind of liservices wcwill need for those

    new courses,1! he said.Kolb itated that the Committee islooking toward the future in attemptingto make additions tothe current libraryHIsatellite system."We've purchased another structureacross from the Corry Center. Thatstructure would be converted into officespace and another library,*' he said.The second Issue concerning theCommittee right now is that of accessfor the handicapped. Kolb indicatedthat this issue is important to the com-mittee,"We feel this is.a key issue for thiscampus," he stated. "We've had somemodifications made to the current ac-cess system for the handicapped " headded.But. according to Kolb, there are oth-ei additions the Committee would liketo see made to the access system. ;

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    PAGE 2 3be iflercind THURSDAY, JANUARYPart 1 Of A 2-Part Series:Date RapeThe Unspoken Problem On College Campusesby Jennifer Conmy and LisaGeorginoEDITOR'S NOTE: All the names inthis article have been changed to pro-tect the identities of those involved.

    It was the beginning of spring breakwhen I was a junior. I was in goodspirits and had been out to dinner withan old friend. We returned to his col-lege dorm . There were some seniors onthe ground floor, drinking beer, play-ing bridge. I'm an avid player, so wejoined them, joked around a lot.One of them, John, wasn't playing, buthe was interested in the game. I foundhim attractive. We talked, and it turn-ed out we had a mutual friend andshared experiences. It was getting lateand my friend had gone up to bed, soJohn offered to seeme safely home. Wetook our time, sat outside talking forawhile. Then he said we could get in-side one of the most beautiful campusbuildings which was usually locked atnight. I went with him. Once we wereinside, he kissed me. I didn't resist, Iwas excited. He kissed me again butwhen he tried for m ore I said NO! Hejust grew silent. I couldn't get him totalk to me anymore. He pinned medown and ripped off my pants. Icouldn't believe it was happening tome. . . This is a recount of a Yalegraduate, unfortunately it is one often

    heard among women on col I ege cam-puses. According to Ms. magazine,Campus Project on Sexual Assault, onequarter of w omen in college today havebeen the victim of rape. Almost 90%of them knew their assailants; in otherwords, the victims of date rape. Daterape is rape by someone that is knownto you, they are not a stranger to you.These surprising figures come froma survey given, by Ms., to 7000students at 35 schools across the coun-try. The survey also found many moresurprising but conclusive facts. Amongthose facts were these: 52% of all thewomen surveyed had experienced someform of sexual victimization; one inevery eight women were the victims ofrape according to the prevailing legaldeft' "'ion, that definition being havingsexual intercourse when you didn'twant to because the man threatened orused some degree of physical force; ofthose women who were by legal definition were raped, almost three quartersof them did not identify their ex-perience as rape. M oreover, more thanone third of the women raped did notdiscuss their experience with anyone,more than 90% did not report the in-*cidents to the authorities. The surveyalso found that most of the rapes, morethan 50%, happened on the man'shome ground, his car or home.

    Perhaps the most startling survey re-sult came from the men who completed

    it; one in every 12 men adm itted tofulfilling oi attempting to fulfill theprevailing definition of rape. Of thosewho adm itted to the fact, virtually noneidentified themselves as a rapist. Manyof the men surveyed believed that ag-gression is normal and that womendon't m ean it when they say NO! I n thecomment section under a questionanswered "yes" to obtaining inter-course through force, one male wrote,"I didn't rape the chick. She was enjoy-ing it and responding."The occurrence of date rape is notlimited to "big" college campuses. Ithappens on small campuses too. Evenhere at Mercyhurst.Kelly was a 17 year old freshman in1984 when she was raped by an ac-quaintance date. Kelly and Tom wentto a party togethei with some otherfriends and when it became hot theywent outside for some air. While out-side they looked at his car. They pro-ceeded to go for a ride to get cigarettes.They ended up at his off-campus apart-ment watching television. After awhileTom's roommates returned. Kelly andTom went into his bedroom to finish jwatching the movie they had startedwatching in the living room. While inthe bedroom they began kissing butwhen Kelly indicated she did not wantit to progress any further, he ignoredher wishes. Tom proceeded to rape Kel-ly. Kelly spent the night at the apart-Voice Your Opinion

    Vote Forby Barbara GaydosMascot... (mas'kot) n. A person,animal, or object thoughtto bring goodlpck by its presence. When it was putto student government in early Octoberthat Mercyhurst should have a mascotto cheer our teams to victory, Mike Kel-ly, MSG president, and Tom Bill-ingsley. Director of Administration,began the search for the perfectrepresentative of our Alma Mater. Themascot chosen would be a symbol ofour college, encourage school spirit and

    t Hurst Mascotof course, give our teams thatsomething extra in a pinch.Since a school mascot should not on-ly represent sports, but the school as awhole, the Mercyhurst student bodywas encouraged to participate in theselection. A contest was sponsored byMSG last fall,'with a $75.00 prize to goto the person with the concept whichbest portrays the Mercyhurst spirit.Billingsley gathered "membersrepresentative of the Mercyhurst com-munity to sit on a judging panel. Thepanel includes Sheila Ragus (student),

    Julie Juenemann (captain of th echeerleading squad), Ed Gallagher(Faculty), Mike Heller (alumnus andBoard of Trustees member), Sr. Julian-na, Kelly and Billingsley. "kOf the eight entries received, thepanel has narrowed the selection tothree. However, it is hot to late to sub-mit an entry.

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    *THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 1987 ?r,Qlfae ffltrctad

    'Hurst Athlete SpeaksOut On Drug? TestingDear Editor:

    At present, theathletic department atMercyhurst College is following thelead of Big Brother corporations inthreatening use of indiscriminate drugtesting. However, as a college withChristian heritage, this school shouldstand up to policies which are readilyaccepted by the status quo society butwhich infringe on the personalautonomy so central to the Americandefinition of liberty. We should becomea school with a moral conscience ande leaders, not ollowers,champions of11 berty rather than a mere reflection ofhe paranoid society which engulfs us.If we close our eyes now on drugtesting, we will have them forciblypened at some inopportune time in thefutureperhaps when thedrug testingonsent forms become a requirementfor all students, for all faculty, for ad-inistration and coaches!But we must open ou r eyes and actnow! Drug testing is an ineffectivemethod of solving the drug problem. Itdiscriminates against alternative life-styles. It challenges our Bill of Rights*Our Fourth Amendment guaranteesagainst search and seizure without pro-able cause of without particularity tohat is being sought. This right,olstered by Fourteenth Amendmentuarantees of due process and equalrotection, is openly disregarded by

    rug tests with their lack of reasonableuspicion and lack of specificity tohich drugs produce positive testesults. It confers to untested coachesnd untested administration the dutiesf law enforcers, duties which easilyto test for the treat-itions, depression,be and have been abusedthe enforcers (i e. coaches) to

    dismiss certain, * perhaps,"troublesome," individuals because ofsupposed positive test results (such asa Nuclear Regulatory Commissionemployee who squealed on unsafe prac-tices and who was then fired for apositive drug test). Could such samplesbe tampered with or tainted byvengefuladministration eager to have off theteam some assertive soul unwilling toblindly obey policy? Would samples berelinquished for independent labtesting? Will a second test for proof bedone (though costing the college up tohundreds of dollars per player)?Up to 31 % of drug tests produce falsenegatives, influenced by such factors asthe ingestion of large amounts of liquid,adding substances (such as vinegar andsalt) to the urine which alter the pH,providing urine from a very full bladder thereby diluting the specimen,drinking a wide variety of fluids, oi themismatching samples with donors. An-other 5-15% are false positives, asmetabolites from Advil, Datril, M otrinand Ruffen are similar to those by-products of marijuana. Ephedrine inNyquil may show up as amphetamines,or the dextromethorphan in cough

    suppressants may appear as heroin.Also, the tests do not distinguish bet-ween users and those "guilty'* only ofpassive inhalation of pot smoke, whichstill produces marijuana metabolites inthe urine.Not only are tests inaccurate to thesensitivity (amount) or specificity(type) of drugs in th e urine, since boththe tests and the subjective input need-ed to judge results are fallible, but testsin no way determine present im-pairment. *By the time of thedrug test, the drugsare no longer psychoactive, so what isthe point of such tests? For coaches togovern the moral decisions and off-court conduct of players? In that case,innocent people are losing their rights

    of privacy and se I fdignity to the whimsof intrusive adm inistration, l b maintaindrug-free scruples on the court andfield? Then visual and coordinationtests should be administered prior togames to judge thephysical states of theathletes at that time. To reduce drugabuse? Drug tests mainly, root ourrecreational users of illegal substances,not those who have dependency prob-lems. The latter category of individualsmost likely will not be on athleticteams; their involvement with drugsprevents motivation or timefor sports.Also, mandatory drug tests, such asthose initiated by the Army, have cor-related with a drop in pot use (whichstays in the urine for several months)but has increased alcohol and cocaineconsumption, substances which exit thebody from 12 hours to three days. Soperhaps drug tests increase drug abuse!Are the tests to ensure good sportsper-sonship and top performance? Thencoaches should be concerned with themore pervasive problems ofalcoholism, m ental illness, and maritaldiscord which affect athletic abilities tothe same or much greater degree thahjdrugs.

    Drug tests only benefit companiesthat produce drug testing equipment -such as Abbott Labs which has made$73 billion so far on this paranoia -,companies that supply clean urinesamples for a fee (though surveillanceof urinationfor ests is pushing this ideaout of business), and those who fear thedrug problem but attempt to cure it withhalf-hearted, intrusive measures.I urge the Mercyhurst administrationto redefine their policy concerning drugtesting. Take a stand againstdrug/alcohol/cigaretteabuse. But don'tallow these goals to be met with fascistmeans of control over .stude nts'autonomy.Sincerely,Tim W inbush

    Editor's Note: Important Changes AnnouncedThe Merciad is sporting a new look1987. This is due largely to the factwe have switched to a new typeset-

    mpson New spapers, we arew being set and printed through Lake

    sible for the printing of The LakeShore Visitor.Rather than continue to use BTN-supplied equipment, we are now usingEpson Equity Is. We hope to eliminateprior hardware/software problems withthis new system.

    T H R I F T D R U G * * * * *