2006 Vol.75, No.20 Xavierite

              TheXavierite
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY
Wednesday, April 5, 2006
Volume 75, Number 20
Features
Some say that the play,
'Wicked' is wicked
good. But they all live
in Boston and don't
matter.
Page 4
Editorials
Editor in Chief Kevin
Shannon was not a
big fan of The Cougars
Papers.
Page 6
Entertainment
Inside Man stars
Denzel, Clive and
Jodie and was directed
by Spike. Is anyone
named Bill anymore?
Page 8
Sports
SXU Softball and
Baseball have begun,
but doesn't everyone
just really care about
the White Sox?
Page 16
Saint Xavier mourns passing of Tyesa Bowens
By Kevin Shannon
Editor in Chief
The campus of Saint Xavier University
is mourning the loss of freshman Tyesa
Bowens. The 18-year-old SXU student
was found murdered, along with her father
and mother, in their Matteson, IL home
on Tuesday, March 28th. The family was
described as quiet but friendly to reporters
after the gruesome discovery was made in
the upscale Chicago suburb.
Tyesa Bowens, despite being a
freshman, was an integral part of the
SXU community as she was a member
of the Student Success Program here
at Saint Xavier. SSP is a program that
targets students who are first generation,
low-income, and/or students with
disabilities.
In a letter written
to SXU Today,
President Judith
Dwyer noted of Ms.
Bowens that she was
"majoring in biology in
her second semester at
Saint Xavier. She was a
quiet, bright, articulate,
conscientious
student who was very
meticulous with her
schoolwork, always
getting it done on time
and correctly."
In addition to her
brief but stellar tenure
at SXU, Tyesa Bowens was Valedictorian
of her high school class
at Fenger High School,
which had a graduating
class of 184 students.
As of Monday, April
3, a bulletin board was
placed outside the SSP
office, which will be
designated as a memory
board for Tyesa Bowens.
All are invited to come
to the SSP office any
time during the week to
write whatever thoughts,
feelings or memories
they would like to share.
The thoughts will be
kept outside the offices of SSP so that
students can read them and reflect upon
the life led by Tyesa Bowens to show all the
lives she touched.
Funeral services for Tyesa Bowens and
her family will be held on Friday, April 7,
at Salem Baptist Church, which his located
at, 11816 S. Indiana. Student Services will
be providing bus transportation to all
members of the Saint Xavier community
who would like to attend the services. A
bus will leave from the Warde Academic
Center at 9:30 a.m. If you would like to
go to the funeral services and would like
to ride the bus, please sign up in Student
Services (L-208) or call ext. 3123. Visitation
will begin at 10 a.m. at the church and
services will begin at 11 a.m.
KlRSTEIN AND HOROWITZ DEBATE WAR, ACADEMIC FREEDOM
By Nick Kerr and Christina Cucci
Deputy News Editor and Copy Editor
Last week, Saint Xavier University held
a controversial debate on "The Iraq War"
in the campus' McGuire Hall. McGuire
Hall would have been over-flowing with
members of the Saint Xavier community
plus many more who were interested in
attending, if it weren't for several Security
Officers standing firmly at their posts. This
now notorious debate featured nationally
known author David Horowitz who wrote
"The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous
Academics in America," and Saint Xavier
University Professor of History, Dr. Peter
N. Kirstein, who is proud to be featured
in Horowitz's book after his contentious
letter to a soldier back in 2002.
Provost Dr. Dominic Hart gave the first
few words of the presentation, explaining
that events like this "rarely change minds,
but are to open the discussion." Saint
Xavier Professor of English, Dr. John
Gutowski, was the moderator for the
event, and began the presentation by
thanking the many sponsors from SXU
and beyond for coordinating such a
controversial debate. The debate's sponsors
included The American Association of
University Professors-SXU Chapter, the
Department of History and Political
Science, Department of Sociology and
Anthropology and Criminal Justice, the
Political Science Forum, Women and
Gender Studies Program, and Young
America's Foundation.
As moderator, Gutowski explained
that the motivation for staging that
evening's event when he said that no
matter what side of the debate you stand
your ground, and even though Horowitz
defends the war and Kirstein opposes it;
these two men, along with those present
Dr. Kirstein and moderator Dr. Gutowski
at the debate, are all "concerned with
the Iraq War." Gutowski asked "that the
audience courteously respect their rights to
free speech" and he notified that a period
for questions and responses would follow
the debate itself. How well the audience,
as well as the speakers themselves, would
attest, was soon to be observed.
Kirstein, followed by Horowitz, kicked
off the debates by offering their opening
statements on the Iraq War. In their
interpretations on whether the war was
just, the two men conflicted the most in
regards to the United States' role in the
global community as well as how they each
viewed International Law.
Professor Kirstein began by attacking
politicians from both parties who supported
the war, though he was the harshest
on Senator John Kerry who was the
Democratic Party nominee for President
in 2004. Kirstein criticized the war by
pointing out the fact that no Weapons of
Mass Destruction were found in Iraq, and
he blasted the Bush Administration for a
lack of planning the war and failure to let
listen intently to Mr. Horowitz's opening remarks.
UN Weapons Inspectors finish their job.
Kirstein also discussed the abuses that
had been committed in Iraq such as the
Abu Ghraib scandal and other violations
of the Geneva Convention. Kirstein tried
to make a point that a pullout from Iraq
would help ease tensions with Iran. He
closed his remarks by contradicting an
argument made by many people who
support the war when they allege that an
immediate pullout would mean that the
many causalities from this war were all
in vain. He quoted John Kerry's remarks
at a 1971 hearing of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, "How do you ask
a man to be the last man to die for a
mistake."
Horowitz started off his case that the
war was just, as it was part of a global war
he called "the threat of our lifetime." He
stated how Saddam violated sixteen UN
resolutions. He used the argument
that if nothing was done against Saddam,
then the United Nations would mean
nothing. Horowitz criticized nations that
did not back the war for the war itself, for
he felt that if those nations would have
joined the United States, Saddam would
have been backed in a corner to comply
with the UN resolution which authorized
the weapon inspections prior to the war.
He also downplayed Kirstein's concern
about events like Abu Ghraib by saying,
"Abu Ghraib was a crisis for the New York
Times, [the paper ran 32 front page stories
on the topic] not for the Iraqi people."
The debate then shifted towards the
issue of academic freedom. Horowitz,
a proponent of regulating professors to
talk about the subject they are experts in,
started off by talking about how students
should not have to deal with professors
who go off the intended subject of the
course. He also stressed that some
professors seek to indoctrinate rather than
to educate their students. In an almost
accusatory tone, aimed toward Kirstein,
Horowitz proclaimed, "Teachers should
stay clear of political activism...we have to
respect the roles that we play in society...
teachers should not be using the classroom
as a political soapbox."
Then, Kirstein gave his argument why
there should not be any kinds of regulation
in the classroom by saying, "Professors
must not be silenced. If professors are
not free [to speak] then neither are the
students. To deny professors their right to
speak is to deny their sense of freedom."
Kirstein further stated, "I want to protect
students' rights; I respect safe and open
forum... each participant contributes
to the search for knowledge and truth."
Kirstein went on to describe a laundry
list of classes when talking about the Iraq
War or other litigious current event type
material would be appropriate subject
matter for the classroom.
"Debate" continued on page 2