1996-02-09

              Alarm malfunction, frozen pipes
cause flooding in science center
Fallen ceiling tiles lie on lab tables in the science center following Friday's flood-ing,
while a clean-up crew turns their attention to the floor. Scott RobowskilThe Argus
By Krystina Lane
Staff Writer
Classrooms, labs and offices in the
Center for Natural Science Center and
Research were found soaked last
week, as a result of problems with the
heating, ventilating and air condition-ing
system.
Michael Vinson, a custodian in the
science center, said he ran upstairs
when a chemistry professor found
water covering the floor of one of the
labs last Friday.
"There were two to three inches in
some places," Vinson said.
By the time the water was shut off it
had already leaked into the lower-level
rooms. It took six hours and
about 20 people to mop up the mess
from the three floors, Vinson said.
Selena Stubbs, a sophomore physics
major, arrived around 8 a.m. and saw
professors running back and forth
between rooms.
"Nobody really knew what hap-pened,
they were just concentrating
on getting things cleaned up," she
said.
When Stubbs looked into a physics
lab she saw and heard water coming
from the ceiling.
"It looked like a rainstorm," she
said.
According to David Bailey, head of
the natural science division, cold air
somehow reached a sensor, activating
an alarm that turned off the blower
that pulls outside air inside.
Because air was still being vented
out, but no new air was coming in, the
resulting drop in air pressure inside
the building pulled open the outside
door to the unfinished greenhouse on
the third floor.
"If you would have tried to enter the
building at the time, you would have
experienced problems getting the
doors open," said Ken Browning, vice
president of business and finance.
see FLOOD p. 2
IWU senate
seat changes
voted down
By Kristine Nielsen
Staff Writer
A proposed revision to the Student Senate
constitution regarding the distribution of
senate seats was the subject of intense
debate at Sunday night's senate meeting.
Poor attendance at senate meetings by
representatives from student organizations
prompted the Constitutional Revision
Committee to recommend that the automat-ic
senate seats guaranteed to the Black
Student Union, Council for Latin American
Student Enrichment, Gays and Lesbians of
Wesleyan and the International Society be
eliminated.
The revision would have instead made
five senate seats available to any group on
campus, with at-large student elections
determining which groups would be repre-sented.
Currently, any senator who misses more
than three senate meetings loses their posi-tion
for the year. Of the four groups with
guaranteed seats, BSU is the only group
that has not lost their senate position due to
"This will be a trial year to
see if things improve. "
-Tricia Dailey, Student
Senate President
excessive absences.
"I don't think that [BSU representation]
should be jeopardized because some other
groups may not have been attending the
meetings," said Antwane Cowen, president
of BSU, who objected to the committee's
recommendation.
According to BSU member Carla
Nicholas, the committee "does not under-stand
the capacity in which our senators
serve us," because other senate members do
not attend minority group meetings.
According to off-campus senator Derek
Roach, the revision was not intended to be
a punishment to any group, but as way of
bringing "new blood and vitality" into the
senate by opening up seats to other groups
who have expressed interest in having a
representative. Last fall, members of
Habitat for Humanity approached Senate
with an interest in obtaining a position.
"This is simply a reflection of the fact
that some organizations grow and some die
off," Roach said.
see SENATE p. 2
Spike Lee talks
movie-making,
not controversy
Filmmaker Spike Lee gives an interview while signing an autograph for sophomore
Wellesley Scott III. Lee's appearance drew a crowd of more than 3,000. Jeff Millies/The Argus
By David Brown
Editor-in-Chief
In the few minutes before
Spike Lee took the stage,
audience members buzzed
with excitement as they
looked forward to kicking off
Black History Month with an
earful of controversy.
But Lee, who has built a
reputation as a moody,
tough-talking champion of
black issues through his
films, avoided the expected
controversy last Thursday
night at the Shirk Center.
In fact, when Lee ended his
speech and began the ques-tion/
answer session with the
audience, he asked them to
refrain from asking questions
about how to solve problems
like homelessness or racism.
"I don't have the answers
to those dilemmas," he said.
Lee instead gave an
overview of his experiences
in filmmaking, how he
decided to go into films,
what it was like to work with
different actors and advice to
those interested in making
films.
"I got tricked into thinking
I could be an overnight suc-cess.
That's a myth and a
lie," Lee said. "Ninety-nine
percent of those who succeed
do so through blood, sweat,
tears and starvation."
Many students were disap-pointed
that Lee's speech ran
contrary to its title: "Issues of
Race and Class in America."
"I expected something a
little different, like the topic
they put on the signs," said
senior Lynn Ellerbruch. "I
thought that we paid a lot for
him to come, and that we
didn't get our money's
worth."
Ellerbruch, along with
many other students, reacted
negatively to the ques-tion/
answer session that fol-
Clearing up the controver-sy,
see pg. 5
lowed the speech.
Student Senate originally
posted signs asking that stu-dents
interested in asking
Lee a question should write it
on a notecard, which were to
be collected, sorted and read
to Lee.
But before the speech, a
spokesperson for Lee told
Tim Lindberg, issues and
programming commissioner
for Student Senate, that Lee
wanted to talk to the students
directly.
What followed was a bar-rage
of comments and jokes
on The New York Knicks
(Lee's favorite basketball
team), requests and solicita-tions
from aspiring singers
and actors and some serious
questions about racism in
see LEE p. 2
IWU celebrates Black History Month
By Erin Gallagher
Staff Writer
This February, Illinois Wesleyan is
celebrating the achievements of
African Americans during Black
History Month with both established
events and some new additions.
The month's activities began on
Feb. 1 with Student Senate's guest
speaker, Spike Lee, and
Wednesday's chapel presentation by
Pastor Brad Watkins II, of
Bloomington.
Though the month-long celebration
is having its 70th anniversary, this
year marks the first Student of Color
Weekend at IWU. In an attempt to
increase the number of minorities on
Illinois Wesleyan's campus, the
Black Student Union has planned
events for prospective students this
weekend, Feb. 9 to 11.
"Student of Color Weekend is
something that we just thought up this
year as an opportunity to invite high
school students interested in Illinois
Wesleyan on campus and let them see
Wesleyan from a different perspec-tive,"
said BSU president Antwane
Cowen.
By planning the event for this
weekend, prospective students will be
able to join the IWU community at
the anthology of African American
music and the perennial favorite Soul
Food Dinner. The anthology of
African American music is designed
as a historical outline of African
American music and will be held
from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Main Lounge
this Saturday.
The Soul Food Dinner, planned by
heads of the multi-cultural events
committee Carla Nicholas and
Cowen, will be held at 5 p.m. in the
Main Lounge this Sunday. In addition
see HISTORY p. 2
O.P I N I O N
A case in favor of
school policy
-pg. 5
FEATURES
Pair of plays reveals
delights and fights
of mating game -
-pg. 3
The Oracle solves
the cruddy study '
room mystery
-pg. 4
rMe
reac
en's basketball
ches 20-0 mark
-pg. 8
Lady Titans roll
over CCIW foes
-pg. 8
Committee to distribute revised
sexual assault policy Monday
By Amy Malefyt
Staff Writer
First of a two-part series
The Illinois Wesleyan community will have the
chance to discuss the newly revised sexual assault
policy after it is distributed campus-wide on
Monday.
The university's sexual assault policy was over-hauled
this summer by the president-appointed
Task Force on Sexual Assault. The task force
completed the policy revisions and a series of rec-ommendations
about safety and security.
The policy went to the task force for both "a
general review and to address specific concerns
as a result of several incidents last spring which
marked the first time students brought forth inci-dents
to be adjudicated by the policy," said Darcy
L. Greder, assistant dean of student affairs-resi-dential
life.
Greder now chairs the two-year Committee for
Campus Culture, formed to implement the origi-nal
task force's recommendations and "look at the
campus in an effort to create a community that
serves well the needs of both students and those
who live and work here."
Toward that end, the committee will send the
new policy to students living in residence halls,
sororities, fraternities and off-campus. The policy
will be given to faculty members at their faculty
see POLICY p. 2
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