Exhibits feature a patchwork of stories
Two Delaware exhibitions feature contemporary quilts.
“Quilt Voices,” an exhibition featuring the work of 25 contemporary quilters from throughout the United States, opened Sept. 9 at the University Gallery. The Historical Society of Delaware opens a new exhibition, “Quilt Stories by Teresa Barkley,” featuring the quilts of UD alumna Teresa Barkley, on Friday, Sept. 23, at the Delaware History Museum in Wilmington.
In 1999, recognizing the fragility of the bonds between quilters and their quilts, The Alliance for American Quilts, in partnership with the Center for Material Culture Studies at UD, initiated Quilters’ Save Our Stories (QSOS). The mission of the alliance is to bring together institutions and individuals from creative, scholarly and business backgrounds to advance the recognition of quilts in
American culture using state-of-the-art technology. QSOS’s mission is to record, preserve and share the stories of quiltmakers and their quilts at the Center for the Quilt Online, [www.centerforthequilt.org].
“Quilt Voices” draws on the QSOS project. Excerpts from these interviews will be featured in the text accompanying the 25 quilts on view, and a brochure will be available.
The exhibition will run through Dec. 9, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; from 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Wednesdays; and from 1-4 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays.
Gallery talks, a quilting bee and a symposium will take place in conjunction with the exhibition. For more information, visit [www.museums.udel.edu].
The Historical Society of Delaware exhibition, “Quilt Stories by Teresa Barkley,” will be on display from Sept. 23-Dec. 31. The exhibition spans 30 years of Barkley’s work and features more than 40 quilts she designed and made.
Barkley, CHEP ’78, will present several public programs, including a slide lecture on Thursday, Oct. 6, and Saturday gallery talks on Oct. 8 and Nov. 12.
The exhibition is at the Delaware History Museum, 504 Market St., Wilmington. Hours are noon-4 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Saturdays. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors and students, and $2 for children 2-18. There is no charge for younger children.
For more information visit [www.hsd.org] or call (302) 655-7161.
New center to meet growing demand for online courses
“Because more and more campus students enroll in UD Online courses, we are relocating to this larger space to enhance quality and continuity in fulfillment of student support functions,” Dayle Thorpe, director of academic and professional programs, says.
The new center houses support staff for UD Online courses for both faculty and students and features a computer-based testing facility, where most of the exams for UD Online courses will be administered. The center also will serve as a pick-up and drop-off location for videotapes and CD-ROMs used in such courses.
“By administering proctored computer-based exams, we will be able to accommodate the 30 percent growth we are experiencing each semester,” Thorpe says.
Office hours are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, and testing hours will be 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Mondays; 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesdays and Fridays; and 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Skaters find UD a cool place to spend the summer
With her country preparing to host the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, internationally recognized Italian figure skating coach Franca Bianconi and three Italian skaters spent three weeks this summer at UD’s Ice Skating Science Development Center.
Last summer, Bianconi, who competed in the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., also visited UD with 12 skaters to train under Jeff DiGregorio, coach of national, international and world-class skaters.
The Italian skaters are among some 250 skaters who took part in the 2005 summer training program, which offers coaching in all aspects of the sport, including freestyle, moves in the field, pairs, dance, choreography and stroking. Participants included skaters and coaches from Bulgaria, Switzerland, New Zealand and Germany, as well as nearly all 50 U.S. states.
Returning to UD with Bianconi were Victoria Manni, Jennifer Cucinella and teenage Olympic hopeful Marcella De Trovato. De Trovato, who will turn 14 next year, has three Italian championships and the 2005 Italian Newcomers Championship among her list of skating achievements.
During their three-week stay at UD, the skaters put in three, 40-minute sessions on the ice each day, concentrating on jumps, spins and technical elements. Skating sessions were augmented by ballet practice and physical conditioning sessions.
“We came back here this year because my girls all like working under Coach DiGregorio,” Bianconi says. “For us, being at UD also is a motivation because it’s exciting and the girls get to see some of the best skaters and coaches in the world.”
Former Olympian Ron Ludington, director of the Ice Skating Science Development Center and member of the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, says athletes and coaches come to UD’s summer program for a variety of reasons.
“Skaters and coaches are attracted to our program because of our facilities, organization and coaching staff,” Ludington says. “We’re primarily a training center, and our intention is to produce quality skaters.”
Food, fun and international friendships
Students from Africa, Japan, Taiwan, Russia, France, Italy, Libya, Syria, Korea—altogether, 40 countries across the globe—munched on watermelon and Chinese noodles while negotiating an international tug-of-war and flinging balls at the dunk tank.
Deborah Detzel, ELI assistant director, calls the midsession event a “we love you a lot” picnic, adding that such communal activities give students a chance to meet those who don’t speak their native language and get to know one another in a relaxed setting.
ELI’s eight-week summer session, its largest of the year, was attended by 400 international students.
“I feel like a citizen of the world now. Everyone here is from other countries,” Dario Saraceni, a student from Italy studying business English at the institute, said at the picnic. “I didn’t even know where Korea was when I arrived at UD, and now my best friend is Korean.”
“It’s good to see the world from a perspective other than the media,” Mohsen Harfoush of Syria says. “It’s all amazing.” Harfoush will be studying at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, for the next two years.
Enrolled in ELI’s legal language program, Madoka Suda of Japan says her time at UD has helped her find herself. “When I first came here, I didn’t know the culture. I didn’t know how to act. But, as time went on, I found I didn’t need to act, just be myself,” she says.
Mark your calendar for fun activities
Developed by UD Student Centers and the Office of Public Relations, the campaign kicked off with Student Activities Night in September. The calendar, designed by Lane McLaughlin, art director in the public relations office, was given to students attending the event. It features photos by Kathy F. Atkinson, Jon Cox, Greg Drew and Duane Perry.
The calendar can be purchased for $9.99 at the University Bookstore.
UD honored for role in higher education planning society
Established in 1965, SCUP is the only association focused on the promotion, advancement and application of effective planning in higher education.
“This Distinguished Service Award is a high compliment to UD,” Roselle says, “coming as it does from an organization dedicated to sound planning to ensure the future of higher education.”
The award recognizes exceptional contributions to the activities and success of SCUP. Recipients are nominated and selected on the basis of their contributions to the society, as well as length of service and commitment to its purposes, goals and activities. Jolene Knapp, executive director of SCUP, says UD earned the award through its “consistent and remarkable” support for the organization.
“During the selection process, I heard people say over and over again that the University of Delaware has always been there for SCUP, through the ups and downs of the economy and the fluctuations of higher education. The most amazing contribution has been the number of people from UD who have assumed leadership positions within SCUP. That is due to the significant support that the University gives its own staff. We could not survive without it,” Knapp says.
SCUP members at UD who have held volunteer leadership positions in the organization are David Hollowell, executive vice president and treasurer; Margaret McDermott, assistant director of facilities planning and construction; Michael Middaugh, assistant vice president for institutional research and planning; and Karen Bauer, formerly with institutional research and planning, now at the University of Georgia.
“The University of Delaware has been most pleased to work with SCUP over the years, lending the leadership and expertise of our staff, and our University has also hosted a Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference and has produced a number of tele-conferences from our campus studios,” Roselle says.
Speaking to more than 1,400 representatives of colleges, universities and corporate supporters from around the world at the conference, Roselle said it was “a particular honor to accept the award on behalf of the University of Delaware because I truly believe our institution to be a model of good planning, with goals that are clearly understood by the entire campus community and an impressive record of meeting those goals.”
UD has “reaped countless gains” by meeting four simple goals set 15 years ago, Roselle said:
“By focusing and not wavering on those goals, the University of Delaware has risen to a loftier place among the premiere institutions of higher education in the country,” Roselle said.
He mentioned a few of those accomplishments, which include:
“I am very grateful for this Distinguished Service Award and accept it on behalf of all my colleagues at the University of Delaware who work every day within UD’s clearly stated plan to continue to achieve our goals,” Roselle said.
—Martin Mbugua
UD redesigns its home page
Visitors to UD’s home page now are being greeted with a brand-new look and improved navigability. The redesign offers visitors an enhanced search area and site map, a new “spotlight on UD” area featuring articles about University accomplishments and a cleaner, more contemporary look.
“When people think of a web page getting redesigned, they often think first of the graphics, and the redesign team did spend a lot of time choosing the new photographs that show off the campus,” Joy Lynam, associate director of UD’s Information Technologies—Management Services, says. “But, in redesigning the site, our two biggest goals were increased outreach and improved usability, and we really concentrated on making information accessible.”
The makeover, which began in January, involved extensive market research and careful analysis of other home pages, both commercial and academic. Included among UD’s changes is an area in the upper right-hand corner of the redesigned home page that lets visitors browse and search for specific information via a one-stop portal. A new “highlight” area focuses on regularly updated University happenings and bragging rights.
Another notable addition is the “Events” column, which is intended to serve a broad audience of visitors both within and beyond the University community. One feature remains from the original rollout of the first UD home page in 1998—a feedback window. Using this tool, visitors can submit ideas on ways they think the site could better serve their needs.
More online resources for Delaware school children
As of July 2005, the state increased funding for UDLib/SEARCH to add all public elementary schools in Delaware to the existing program for public middle and high schools.
“I’m pleased that our state agencies are partnering with the University of Delaware on this worthwhile effort to help our students build on the skills they will need to succeed in college and the workplace,” Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner said in announcing the program expansion.
Since 1997, the state has funded the UDLib/SEARCH program, which provides more than a dozen online databases to schools. UDLib/SEARCH is a partnership funded by the state and managed by the University of Delaware Library.
The University of Delaware Library’s management includes negotiating subscriptions and license agreements for the schools. The University of Delaware Library also provides all training and support related to UDLib/SEARCH databases to school librarians, teachers and administrators in all Delaware public schools.
Most UDLib/SEARCH databases also are available from home and in public libraries to all Delaware residents via DelAWARE®, a program from the Delaware Division of Libraries.
To access the databases at home, students, teachers and parents should use their public library card, with a PIN number obtained at their public library, and go to the DelAWARE web site at [www.lib.de.us].
For more information about UDLib/SEARCH, call (302) 831-2231 or visit the UDLib/SEARCH web site at [http://udlibsearch.lib. udel.edu].
African American art exhibition travels to Atlanta
“A Century of African American Art: The Paul R. Jones Collection,” opened at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art on Sept. 8, with a reception and a lecture by Amalia Amaki, curator of the Jones collection and assistant professor in the Black American Studies Program at UD. It will remain on view there through Dec. 10.
The exhibition features 101 significant works by 66 artists, including Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Henry Ossawa Tanner, James Van Der Zee, Carrie Mae Weems and Hale Woodruff. Also included are the works of emerging artists such as Aimee Miller AS ’04M, Cedric Smith, D.H. Caranda-Martin and Michael Ellison.
The exhibition, which was on view at UD for the 2004-05 academic year, is designed to provide an opportunity for careful study of the interaction among works, individual images and the artists who created them, as well as the social and historical contexts that engendered them, Amaki says.
On Sept. 22, visitors to the exhibition will be able to attend a “Conversation with the Collector,” a public discussion between Jones, the Atlanta resident who amassed the collection and donated it to UD, and Andrea D. Barnwell, director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. The conversation begins at 6:30 p.m.; the museum is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and noon-4 p.m. Saturdays.
Two fraternities suspended
The Epsilon Rho chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) fraternity and the UD chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha (PiKA) fraternity have been suspended by the University through spring 2009.
According to Marilyn Prime, director of student centers at the University, the ATO fraternity was found guilty of alcohol and safety violations. The charges included two counts of endangering the lives or safety of others and one count of failing to comply with Delaware alcohol regulations.
A hearing March 15 was the second hearing ATO had on several alleged violations of the Student Code of Conduct that occurred at a Sept. 12, 2004, party at the fraternity house. The University granted a rehearing of the case after it learned that an e-mail sent by fraternity officers requesting a rescheduled hearing was never received. The fraternity had requested a rescheduled hearing because an adviser would not be able to be present on the scheduled date.
The UD chapter of PiKA also was suspended through spring 2009 after violating the Code of Conduct.
The fraternity was found guilty of three charges in the Student Judicial System, including providing false information to the city of Newark about a party on April 16, serving alcohol to underage students at that party and allowing an intoxicated, underage student to leave the party without providing assistance or a safe ride.
The fraternity was informed of the decision on June 9 and appealed it. On July 27, the Appellate Board reviewed the appeal and upheld the original decision.
Students’ visit to CNN yields on-air interview
Four Arab college students who took part in a summer institute on leadership and American studies at UD appeared on CNN and CNN International during the noon news hour Aug. 2, according to Ralph Begleiter, Rosenberg Professor of Communication and Distinguished Journalist in Residence.
The interview was conducted during a five-hour visit to CNN’s world headquarters in Atlanta that included a two-hour question-and-answer session with CNN’s senior editorial management. All the students in the program participated in the visit, and four were selected to be interviewed on the air. The broadcast interview was about 10 minutes long, Begleiter said.
Coordinated by the University’s Center for International Studies, the institute is supported by a $320,000 grant from the U.S. State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative. The program, which took place from July 5 to Aug. 20, aims to show the students what America is about and what the American people are like. The 21 undergraduates come from Middle Eastern and North African countries.
‘Taste of Newark’ is Gastronomic extravaganza
The second annual Taste of Newark event, set for Sunday, Oct. 2, will serve up menu specialties from UD’s Vita Nova, Blue & Gold Club and Catering Services, as well as 32 downtown Newark restaurants and several area wineries.
Slated for noon-3 p.m. on Old College lawn, the gastronomic extravaganza will benefit UD’s Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management and the Downtown Newark Partnership.
The brainchild of Newark Mayor Vance Funk, the event was launched last year to strengthen bonds between downtown merchants, the University and Newark residents. According to Funk, it proved to be such a success that the number of tickets being made available this year has increased to 660 from last year’s 400.
“We included 26 restaurants in 2004, and this year, based on preliminary numbers, we plan to feature 32,” Funk says, adding that this year’s event also will showcase wines from at least 12 different wineries, as well as additional live entertainment.
Additionally, gift certificates from participating restaurants will be available through a complimentary chance raffle, and all attendees will receive a Taste of Newark commemorative wineglass and the opportunity to view work by local artists.
Sponsors include Comcast, Delaware National Bank and Newark Chrysler Jeep.
Tickets ($30 in advance, $40 at the door) are going quickly, so advance purchase is recommended at Funk’s law office, at 273 East Main St., or participating restaurants.
Illuminating research by Biggs fellow
Teresa Nevins, an art history doctoral candidate completing her thesis on an early ninth-Century illuminated manuscript, has received UD’s first Sewell C. Biggs fellowship.
The grant of $6,000, named after the UD alumnus, benefactor and collector of American art who died in January 2003, was awarded to Nevins for her strong thesis topic and dedicated research on the Valenciennes 99 manuscript—an early ninth-Century document that previously has been overlooked by medievalist scholars.
“Illuminated manuscripts are not that common, and any documents that were made around the year 800 tended to get ignored, because of the influence of Charlemagne,” Nevins says. “But, why this particular manuscript—a really beautiful piece containing 39 full-color illustrations—has never been studied is a point I’m exploring in my thesis.”
Nevins, who explains that another unusual aspect of the manuscript is its dedication to images from the Bible’s book of Revelation, says her thesis also will examine how Valenciennes 99 was used. It was intended for serious theological scholars, not ordinary lay readers, she says.
“This is a very interesting manuscript, because it shows how to interpret the book of Revelation via images,” she says.
Research has already taken Nevins to many lectures, museums and libraries, including the municipal library in Valenciennes, the city in northern France near the Saint Amand Monastery, where the manuscript is believed to have been used.
“A lot of the study of early manuscripts involves following threads, doing sleuth work and actually traveling to the places where these works are kept,” she says. “Because all early manuscripts are on parchment and can’t be moved, travel can get to be expensive, so that’s one reason why this grant is such a privilege.”
Nevins, who has been an art history graduate student at UD since 1994, received her master’s degree in 1999. Her adviser is Lawrence Nees, professor of art history.
Tuition for 2005-06 announced
In July, the University announced that tuition for the 2005-06 academic year would increase by 4.9 percent.
Effective with the fall semester, annual tuition for full-time undergraduate and graduate students increased by $310 for Delaware residents and by $780 for nonresidents. The new annual rates are $6,614 for Delawareans and $16,770 for nonresident students.
According to a recent informal survey by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, tuition increases across the nation this year averaged 6.8 percent.
“The University of Delaware has become well-known as an institution offering the best in academic quality at a reasonable cost,” University President David P. Roselle says. “The University’s solid management and the overwhelming success of its recent capital campaign have enabled us to hold our tuition to a more modest increase than many other institutions.
“In addition, we have been able to increase our financial aid significantly over the last decade so that we are able to provide substantial assistance to those who can least afford to pay and also to provide scholarships for students of outstanding academic merit.”
Tuition and fee increases for the 2005-06 academic year reflect several factors, including salary increases, increases in employee health insurance fees, water and energy costs and expansion and enlargement of certain programs, Roselle says.
Full-time graduate tuition is the same as that for undergraduates, with the exception of those in-state students pursuing the master of business administration (MBA) degree. The new tuition rate for full-time Delaware resident MBA students will increase by $381 to $8,106.
The University of Delaware is one of the most popular schools in the country. For this fall’s entering class, UD received more than 23,000 applications for 3,450 spaces.
In May, the University’s Board of Trustees approved average increases of 3.9 percent for dining rates and 7 percent for residence hall rates, also effective in the fall.
Planks laid for new pedestrian walkway
Work on a new pedestrian walkway and footbridge linking the Ray Street and Laird complexes continues to progress with the recent installation of six concrete planks on Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 17-18.
Surrounded by stacks of concrete forms and rebar (concrete reinforcing bars), four mammoth cranes hoisted the 12-foot-wide by 60-foot-long concrete sections from flatbed vehicles. The slabs were then placed atop a series of seven supporting concrete archways that stretch 23 feet tall at the highest point of the span.
Besides the concrete planks, other materials that will be used in the walkway construction include brick pavers, metal guardrails, electric lighting fixtures and plumbing for collecting storm water from the bridge. Construction also includes site clearing and the relocation of existing underground utilities.
The structure will replace a set of steep stairs on one side of a ravine and small stream and a long, inclined walkway on the other side. Sidewalks on the east side of North College Avenue adjacent to the Ray Street Complex also have been widened.
A temporary walkway for pedestrian use will be in place until construction on the footbridge is completed.
The University recently received a second federal appropriation of $1 million toward the total walkway cost of $2.7 million. The funding was recommended by U.S. Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., a member of the congressional committee that crafted the 2005 transportation bill. An initial appropriation of $1 million was made in 2004 for the 2004-05 fiscal year.
The 600-foot-long pedestrian thoroughfare is part of the $72 million Laird Campus project. This project includes the recently completed 500-bed George Read Hall, as well as two 250-bed residence halls, scheduled for completion in 2006, at which time the walkway will be opened.
As part of the Laird Campus project, a sand volleyball court, a tennis court and two basketball courts have been installed on the east side of the ring road that encircles the area leading to Christiana Towers, replacing similar facilities displaced by the construction of George Read Hall.
Demolition of Pencader Residence Halls A-H and Commons I and II began June 14. Assuming completion of the Laird Campus project is on schedule, Pencader J-M and Commons III will be demolished beginning in June 2006.
The architect is Ayers/Saint/ Gross, and Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., is managing the construction.
Young sleuths use biotech to solve a whodunit
Eighty youngsters, ages 9-14, spent a week of their summer vacation solving the mystery of who killed Prof. Halftrack and stole his top-secret cloning formula—and learning about biotechnology while they investigated.
The murder of the mythical professor was part of a brand-new day camp, “Solving Crimes, Curing Disease, Feeding the World and Developing Careers in the New Millennium at 4-H Biotechnology Camp 2005.” Like all 4-H camps, this one stressed hands-on learning, giving the participants a chance to use Global Positioning Systems (GPS), analyze their own DNA and take fingerprint samples, among many other activities.
Campers also observed biotechnology professionals at work, during tours of the Delaware Biotechnolgy Institute and the Allen Laboratory, and heard special guest lectures on various aspects of biotechnology and career possibilities.
Mark Manno, an extension agent with UD Cooperative Extension, developed the camp after learning about a 4-H biotech weekend workshop that was held in Illinois several years ago. He borrowed the murder mystery plot from that event and also adapted some educational material from Iowa State University’s 4-H, but the vast majority of the curriculum was original.
All 80 spaces in the camp filled rapidly, Manno says.
Culinary camp a sizzling success
A culinary day camp held for a week in July and again in August in Vita Nova’s satellite kitchen in the Trabant University Center gave a group of fledgling chefs, ages 9-13, a chance to expand their cooking skills and stretch their taste buds and imaginations in a series of dishes that showcased cooking prowess and creative flair.
Supervised by Debbie Ellingsworth, chef instructor in the Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management (HRIM), the 10-member crew in each camp made items ranging from blueberry milkshakes to quesadillas to eggs Benedict. Campers concluded their five days of culinary adventures with a celebratory lunch of pizza and ice cream (both homemade, of course).
In the week of kitchen duty that began each morning at 9 with meal preparation and ended four hours later with a group clean-up effort, the budding chefs also learned about nutrition, kitchen and food safety and new ways to make formerly hated foods unexpectedly tasty.
“I had one participant who particularly appreciated this. She hated mushrooms but found to her surprise that she loved them when they’d been sautéed and used as filling in a spring roll,” Ellingsworth says.
Ellingsworth says she experienced several happy surprises herself throughout the week. Originally intending to structure each day around recipes she’d chosen and tested ahead of time, she learned after the first day that the participants had ideas of their own.
The youngsters’ requests ran the gamut from cream puffs to eggs Benedict to steak—not things Ellingsworth says she would have expected from students their age.
UD sets new protocols to prevent identity theft
In all, three computers were stolen in the early morning hours of Dec. 3 from the department’s offices.
When it was brought to the attention of the department chairperson, Elizabeth M. Perse, that one of the computers contained students’ personal information, she wrote to all the students involved, notifying them of the theft and urging them to make themselves aware of information on identity theft contained on three governmental web sites.
“As soon as I found out in June there was a potential for identity theft, I contacted the students involved,” Perse says.
“While it is possible that the information may lead to identity theft in the hands of an unauthorized person or persons,” she says, “the office continues to believe that the computers were taken for their hardware value, and not for the data on them.”
Perse says there were two levels of security protecting the data set—one password to log onto the computer and another to open the database.
UD Police continue to investigate the theft, according to Jim Flatley, interim director of public safety, but to date, there are no leads in the case.
Susan Foster, vice president for information technologies, says the department’s delay between the theft in December and the notice to students in June is unfortunate.
“The theft of the computers was reported immediately to University Police,” she says. “However, contrary to UD policy, personal information had been recorded on one of them and that fact did not become known until recently.
“University personnel are better equipped today to deal with identity theft and related issues than they were even a few months ago.”
“The University has recently adopted protocols that will both provide greater security for personal information and ensure rapid notice of any event that may have compromised that security,” she says.
“The world is becoming increasingly sensitive to the issue of identity theft,” she says, “which has become an issue because of the rapid development of information technology and the growing threat from people sophisticated in technology who have learned the value of certain data.”
The Office of Information Technologies launched a campaign last September to help campus departments protect sensitive personal non-public information (PNPI) such as Social Security and credit card numbers. Through an online survey, they collected information about PNPI use and began assisting departments to develop more secure business processes.
A new set of guidelines, [www.udel.edu/ssn/guid.html], was recently released by Information Technologies to help departments secure PNPI and stay in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as well as other laws that govern the use of PNPI.
The guidelines direct departments to ensure the privacy of PNPI by encrypting electronic transmissions, not storing PNPI locally and protecting PNPI when working from home or outside the University.
Information Technologies has also assembled a team of staff members who are available to visit University offices to evaluate the processes for handling PNPI and to discuss measures that will help protect computer systems and sensitive information.
‘No excuses’ for illegal downloads
Cynthia Cummings, associate vice president of campus life, spoke about the “No Excuses” campaign, which will be launched this fall with posters, magnets and T-shirts as part of UD’s Code of the Web educational efforts, and introduced Taylor, who has spoken at schools all over the country about violating copyright laws. Taylor and Jim Spertus, then vice president and director of U.S. anti-piracy operations for MPAA, visited UD in May.
As technology has advanced, so has pirating of movies, Taylor said, and it’s a “huge deal” that the motion picture industry takes very seriously. The music and video gaming industries also are targets and part of the mix, he said.
“If you’ve ever visited a sound stage, you know how many people are involved in shooting a 30-second segment,” Taylor said. “Directors, seamstresses, the scenery crew and firemen (the list is long), and these people are all affected by piracy.
“It’s a matter of economics. The more movies that are pirated, the less that are bought, the less that are made and the fewer people are employed. The types of movies produced also could change due to pirating because producers will tend to invest only in blockbuster movies that are more likely to make lots of money.”
Taylor said that kids understand technology better than older members of their families and when they come to college they are tempted to copy material.
What’s the punishment for pirating at UD? he asked. The response was “net jail”— no computer network access for 30 days, a mandatory computer cleaning costing $70 and being referred to UD’s judicial system.
“Is it worth it?” Taylor asked, adding that consequences outside the University are worse—fines of $30,000 per title and $150,000 for willful pirating.
“That’s an expensive ticket,” he said. “It’s easy to find offenders, and the motion picture industry is increasingly vigilant. While there may have been a free pass in the past, there will not be one in the future.”
Later in his talk, Taylor said that when college students copy material unlawfully, their IP addresses are identified, the campus is notified with a cease-and-desist order and the next step is court.
“There is no hiding place; you are not anonymous,” Taylor said.
Taylor fielded questions from the audience, including one about bootleg DVDs. Bootleg DVDs are part of organized crime, Taylor said, pointing out that when Spiderman II was released in New York, within three weeks, it was in 20 different countries and in several languages. “Pirated films are more profitable than drugs—a kilo of Spielberg,“ he said. The U.S. government and others support efforts to stop the problem, he said.
RA training simulates the real thing
Each of UD’s 183 residential advisers (RAs) and 34 hall directors were handed a TV Guide-like booklet as they checked in for training in mid-August—the first clue that this year’s training was going to be different from previous years.
Diversity training was dubbed The Real World, and the annual retreat at a Maryland camp was dubbed Survivor, but the biggest change was a switch from lectures to “experiential learning.”
Each RA spent one night bunking in singles, doubles and triples in the Rodney Complex, simulating the experience new students would have when they moved into University residence halls on Aug. 27.
“We wanted them to experience this as a student does,” Franklin A. Newton, assistant director of residence life, says. “Instead of us standing up and talking about what it’s like to experience check-in, they actually experienced it.”
There were mock move-ins, make-believe cranky parents, even what to do when a resident inadvertently lifts a desk and knocks the head off a fire sprinkler. And, of course, what to say to the parent who brings an assemble-it-yourself bookcase and wants to know when the facilities staff will assemble it. (They don’t.)
Dan Lenker and Mike Keller, both AS ’07 and both second-year RAs, were assigned a double room together for one night. Lenker says he preferred this year’s approach to the lecture format of last year’s training. “When you do it, you actually take it in,” he says.
“It’s like reliving my freshman year,” Lorimar Pena, AS ’08, a first-time RA, says. “You kind of remember all the good things, but you forget waiting in that line. And, I just found out I got a triple.”
Leigh Fine, a graduate student and hall director who was an RA at Kansas State University last year, says he prefers UD’s hands-on training approach. “A lot of these RAs ran into [simulated] situations they will run into this fall,” Fine says. “This was also a good way to meet the rest of the staff.”
Correction