Student Life Archives

CIA operative killed in Afghan prison riot, first U.S. combat death in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (AP) – CIA officer Johnny “Mike” Spann was killed in a prison riot at Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, the CIA said Wednesday. Spann is the first American known to be killed in action inside the country since U.S. bombing began.
U.S. officials recovered his body Wednesday, several hours after northern slliance rebels backed by U.S. airstrikes and special forces quelled rioting by Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners.
The CIA provided no details on the circumstances of Spann’s death.
CIA Director George J. Tenet addressed agency employees Wednesday morning. He called Spann an American hero and said his fellow officers should “continue the mission that Mike Spann held” sacred.
“And so we will continue our battle against evil with renewed strength and spirit,” Tenet told colleagues, according to a CIA statement.
The flag outside CIA headquarters at McLean, Va., flew at half-staff.
Spann, 32, of Winfield, Ala., joined the CIA in June 1999 and had served in the Marine Corps. He left behind a widow and three children.
The riot at the prison began Sunday when hundreds of Pakistanis, Chechens, Arabs and other non-Afghans, who had fought with the Taliban, were brought to the fortress after the weekend surrender of Kunduz, the Islamic militia’s last stronghold in the north.
Once inside, the men broke loose, stormed the armory and rose up against their alliance captors.
Spann was in the complex where Taliban prisoners were being held and questioned, the CIA said.
Hundreds of inmates held out for days, despite U.S. bombing and assault by thousands of alliance fighters. U.S. special forces and other troops, believed to be British, took part in the battle and coordinated airstrikes.
Five U.S. soldiers were seriously wounded Monday when a U.S. bomb went astray, exploding near the Americans. They were evacuated to a U.S. military hospital in Germany.
The alliance recaptured most of the prison by Tuesday, but a last few fighters were holding out in the deepest recesses of the prison. Hundreds of prisoners and dozens of alliance fighters were believed dead. University of Texas says it’s finished with affirmative action
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – After years of appeals, the University of Texas said Tuesday that it is finished fighting its landmark court battle over affirmative action.
The decision effectively ends the case named for Cheryl Hopwood and three other whites who sued the university’s law school in 1992, saying they were denied admission because of a policy that gave preferential treatment to less-qualified Hispanic and black applicants.
The lawsuit wound up before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which in 1996 rejected the university’s contention that it should be allowed to consider race in admissions.
The so-called Hopwood ruling didn’t block the school from using race as a factor in admissions, but prompted public colleges and universities in Texas to drop affirmative action policies.
The ruling was allowed to stand in 1996 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear another challenge by the university in June.
“We vigorously pursued appeals, arguing the complex issues surrounding affirmative action, to resolve these important issues for the nation at large,” Faulkner said. “The Hopwood case will clearly not be the one that leads to this resolution.”
Attorney Steve W. Smith, who represents two of the Hopwood plaintiffs, said he had hoped the Supreme Court would settle the issue.
“That didn’t happen, so that would be a disappointment,” Smith said. But he said the case “began to raise the question of, if not affirmative action, what?”
The Hopwood plaintiffs had argued that they were denied enrollment because the law school favored less-qualified minority applicants. While parts of their argument were rejected, a federal judge found the university had an unconstitutional admissions policy.
After the Hopwood ruling, public universities in Texas dropped affirmative action programs and later blamed the move for a drop in minority enrollment. Since 1996, Texas has operated under a state attorney general’s opinion saying race cannot be used in admissions, financial aid decisions and scholarships.
However, universities have recently been able to boost minority enrollment through laws that grant automatic admission to the top 10 percent of high school graduates.

Former Harvard Medical School professor convicted of killing estranged wife

(U-WIRE) CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A former Harvard Medical School (HMS) faculty member, whose case has drawn national attention because of his hidden life as a cross-dresser, was found guilty on Tuesday of the July 2000 killing of his estranged wife. The verdict came despite his claim that he was clinically insane at the time of the murder.
Dr. Richard Sharpe, 47, had been a part-time HMS clinical instructor affiliated with Beth Israel Hospital from 1993 to June 2000. He also completed his dermatology residency at Harvard in the late 1980s.
HMS spokesperson John Lacey on Wednesday emphasized that Sharpe was no longer a faculty member at the time of his wife’s death. The school had dropped Sharpe as an instructor after deciding he had not spent enough time on HMS-related duties.
“It would be inappropriate for the school to comment on the verdict,” he said.
During the trial, Sharpe’s attorneys claimed that years of physical and verbal abuse at the hands of his father had led to Sharpe developing six mental illnesses, including depression, borderline personality disorder and intermittent explosive disorder. Defense witnesses, including Sharpe’s siblings, testified to his childhood abuse.
However, prosecutors argued that Sharpe’s murder of his 44-year-old wife Karen was a calculated and planned response to his wife’s refusal to hand over $3 million she had received as part of their divorce settlement. They argued that Sharpe had made efforts to disguise his premeditation and that he later faked symptoms of mental illness to impress psychiatrists and the jury.
When he took the stand in his own defense, Sharpe claimed to have few memories from the night of the killing. “I heard the gun go off,” Sharpe said in his testimony. “I think the noise sort of woke me up a little bit. I heard the noise and I left.”
After three weeks of testimony, the Essex County jury deliberated for 10 hours over two days before delivering its guilty verdict in the trial.

Auburn U. trustees discuss racial incidents at fraternities

(U-WIRE) AUBURN, Ala. – Heated conversations at the Auburn University Board of Trustees’ Nov. 14 meeting focused primarily on incidents of alleged discrimination by two fraternities.
The meeting was the first since Beta Theta Pi and Delta Sigma Phi fraternities were suspended by the university and their national chapters after some of their members dressed in blackface. A Delta Sigma Phi member dressed in Ku Klux Klan regalia. Fraternity members involved in the incidents have been suspended from the university.
“I feel an issue such as this can only be addressed from the heart,” said SGA President Brandon Riddick-Seals, who is an ex-officio member of the board. “I understand this has invoked a lot of emotion. I cannot remove myself from the fact that I am an African-American.”
Despite the controversy surrounding the issue, it is Auburn’s problem and Auburn should be allowed to handle the matter, Riddick-Seals said. He also said the matter should not be taken as an opportunity to grandstand or be used as “a realm for pomp and circumstance.”
Several trustees discussed the issue, commending both Riddick-Seals and trustee Byron Franklin, the only black board member.
During the discussion, Franklin, normally quiet during board meetings, spoke out against the fraternities and said they should not be allowed to return to campus until 2005.
“I have not had any sleep since this took place,” Franklin said. “It has challenged me as a man and challenged my heritage.”
Franklin said he hoped university leaders would work more diligently to create a more diverse environment.

Sunday, December 2
WU’s Acoustic City Concert Series. 8:00 p.m. Ike’s Place. Boston’s Peter Mulvey and Karen Savoca perform. Free for WU students, faculty and staff. Tickets available through METROTIX at 534-1111.

Wednesday, November 14
3:42 P.M., LARCENY-THEFT, MALLINCKRODT CENTER-Unknown person(s) took one of the two double doors (3 feet by 7 feet) on the east side entrance of the Gargoyle, located inside of the Mallinckrodt center. Loss estimated at $1,500.

ACCIDENT AUTO, PARKING LOT #8-Vice chancellor for Arts and Sciences reported that an unknown vehicle had struck his 1992 Toyota Camry while it was parked on lot #8 at one of the spots along the curb on the east side of Brown. The accident occurred between 5:15 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. on this date. The Toyota Camry was damaged around the driver’s side front bumper and the driver’s side front light. No estimate of damage available at this time.
Friday, November 16
7:20 a.m., PROPERTY DAMAGE , PARKING LOT #21-Reporting party stated that between 4:30 p.m. November 15 and 6:30 a.m. November 16, person(s) unknown sprayed a fire extinguisher inside an electrical closet, possibly causing damage to a transformer. The unknown person(s) also stole three hard hats. No witness(es) were located. Estimated loss not known at this time.

4:39 p.m., ACCIDENT AUTO, SNOW WAY GARAGE-The victim’s vehicle, a silver, 2001, Lexus, IS300, Illinois license SHAUN 80, was parked on top of the Snow Way Garage. An unknown vehicle struck the rear of the Lexus and left the scene. The accident occurred between 5:00 p.m., November 15 and 1:00 p.m., November 16.
Sunday, November 18
10:05 a.m., LARCENY-THEFT, MILLBROOK OVERPASS-A student reported that on November 17 at 7:00 p.m., she secured her Blue Outback Mountain Bike on the Millbrook Overpass steps. When she returned on November 18 at 9:50 a.m., some unknown person(s) cut her bike lock off. Loss estimated $450.

4:19 p.m., PROPERTY DAMAGE, WOMEN’S BUILDING-Assistant vice chancellor for students reported unknown person(s) had damaged one of her office windows located on the first floor southeast side of the building. Occurred sometime between 6:00 p.m., November 16 and 3:00 p.m., November 18. Maintenance responded to tape the window until it could be fixed or replaced.
Monday, November 19
8:58 a.m., PROPERTY DAMAGE, LOUDERMAN HALL-Person(s) unknown threw a bike seat through the west side glass window damaging it. Maintenance notified. Amount of damage unknown.
Tuesday, November 20
1:56 a.m., PROPERTY DAMAGE, WOHL CENTER-Several students were engaging in horseplay outside the west door of the Bears Den and one student was shoved into the door, cracking the glass. The involved students fled the area. Maintenance was notified.
Wednesday, November 22
8:45 p.m., ARREST, CHARLES F. KNIGHT EXECUTIVE EDUCATION CENTER-After receiving a call reporting a suspicious female at the Charles Knight Center, the suspect, a non-WU affiliate, was taken into custody. Record check reflected a “Failure to Appear” bench warrant.

Wednesday, November 28

5:30 p.m., DISTURBANCE, PSYCHOLOGY BUILDING-Three students became involved in a disturbance/assault over personal matters. Officers responded. The three subjects were arrested and released. The incident will be referred to the Judicial Administrator.

A panel of four professors and graduate students debated among each other and an energetic audience as part of a discussion on the current U.S. actions against international terrorism.

According to Mike Ewens, president of College Libertarians, who sponsored the event, what made the debate successful was the stark diversity of opinions on the panel.

The panel consisted of four speakers: Professor of Biology Danny Kohl and engineering graduate student Stephen Carson, both against the war, and law student Eric Lobsigner and Northwestern University Professor of Law Adam Mossoff, both in support of the war.

The panelists represented a diversity of political ideologies, from socialist to libertarian to objectivist.

“We succeeded in the goal of showing that there are four, if not more, views on this [war],” said Evans. He said that a main reason for drafting the idea for the panel was because he felt too many students on campus saw only two views on the war: either you were for it, or you were against it.

“What’s really important are the premises,” said Evans. “Two people may come to the same conclusion, but use different reasoning. [There] are important distinctions in-between [being for war or against it].”

“It was a good debate, and it’s surprisingly rare to find a true, lively debate on campus,” said sophomore Aaron Michelson.

The panel discussed one main issue: assuming the U.S. was justified in responding to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, what should the recourse be for the victims of American terrorism, theoretical or otherwise?

Students in attendance disagreed over the extent to which U.S. policies on terrorism by foreigners had to be applied to its own actions, and when normal legal procedures should be superceded by military justice.

Other issues addressed included the probability of fighting a just war, the feasibility of nation building, how the media has handled the crisis, how and if western civilization should build bridges to Islam, and when the right and moral time is to intervene in a conflict.

Evans said that the College Libertarians hope to host more such discussions

Contact Aaron at [email protected]

If the tooth fairy had flown into the dark, musty Washington University storage facility in May along with some administrators on a spring cleaning mission, her reaction would have been similar to someone who had just won the enamel lottery, as 85,000 thousand baby teeth were discovered in an ammunition bunker at WU’s Tyson Research Center.

But had the tooth fairy known what was in store for the teeth, Andrew Johnstone, the biology department business manager, said her response should have been, “Whoa, this is going to cost me.”

For Johnstone, one of the people who discovered the teeth, it was an eerie portal to the past. The teeth are the forgotten remains of the world-famous St. Louis Baby Tooth Survey, which took place from 1958 to 1970.

At the height of the Cold War, the United States set off over 200 atmospheric nuclear tests at their Nevada Test Site. The Baby Tooth Survey was developed in order to determine the effect of nuclear fallout on humans, specifically children.

With the campaigning of the Citizens Committee for Nuclear Information, the scientific analysis of Harold Rosenthal, biochemist for WU’s former School of Dentistry, and the funding of the U.S. Public Health Service and Leukemia Society of Missouri and Illinois, the survey materialized and received an incredible response. By its end, the project had collected almost 300,000 baby teeth mostly from the St. Louis area.

The project’s purpose was to measure the amount of radioactive material absorbed by humans, most specifically investigating Strontium 90. Created by bomb blasts, Strontium 90 is readily absorbed by the growing teeth of fetuses and infants. It is a harmful material itself, but more importantly, it is an indicator of exposure to hazardous substances such as radioactive iodine.

Rosenthal found that the amount of Strontium 90 in the children’s teeth was directly related to the amount of nuclear testing in the year of their birth. This discovery significantly contributed to the public appeal for a moratorium on nuclear tests and led to the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that President Kennedy signed in 1963.

The project came to an abrupt halt in 1970, during the Nixon administration, when its funding grant was cut. The remaining teeth were shipped to the Tyson Center for long term storage, where they remained for over three decades until they were unearthed in May.

The administrators found “piles and piles” of cardboard boxes full of manila envelopes containing the teeth. Johnstone said that the teeth did not smell bad, but he was unable to comment on the presence of cavities: “I didn’t look too closely at them.”

Johnstone rejected the prospect that other body parts could be in the bunker as well, (i.e. fingernails or eyelashes). Instead, the other contents of the bunker were uninteresting, mostly old chairs and broken pieces of equipment. Johnstone described the storage facility as a one-way street, in that most objects that are sent to the bunker never return. The baby teeth, however, are an exception.

Knowing he had stumbled onto something significant, Johnstone contacted Professor of Biology Daniel Kohl on whether or not to throw the teeth away. Kohl urged him not to do this, because he believed that the teeth were “an immensely valuable resource.” Kohl contacted Barry Commoner, the mastermind behind the Baby Tooth Study, and together they decided to donate the teeth to the Radiation and Public Health Project in New York.

The original baby tooth study determined the presence of radioactive materials. What it did not do, however, was link the presence of radioactive material in teeth to health problems.

The Radiation and Public Health Project hopes to rectify that. The project plans to conduct a follow up study on the effect of absorption of radioactive materials in the body. They hope to contact the owners of the teeth to determine whether there is a high correlation between the amount of Strontium 90 in the tooth and the owner’s health.

So far, the project has received 1,500 e-mails from participants of the original study, willing to participate again. Project director Jay Gould said he can’t wait to get started.

“There’s so much we don’t know,” said Gould, referring to the health effects of radioactive substances. He said he believes that increased occurrences of breast cancer in women and earlier appearance of prostate cancer in men are results of the exposure.

Gould admitted that someone currently of college age likely had Strontium 90 present in his or her baby teeth as a result of the nuclear reactors.

Many people are very excited about the possibilities this study holds. “It could turn out to be a monumental study,” said Kohl. However, the investigation is not without its downside. In the process of testing for radioactivity, the teeth will be destroyed. Undoubtedly, the tooth fairy would not approve

Contact Mayya at [email protected].