Brown and White Vol. 100 no. 41

              81w photo by chwstopher war 6 rodney king verdict draws mixed feelings sewer lines that clogged up and sent water up an elevatorsha ft damaged parts of rathbone hall thursday according to david joseph director of residential services joseph said the office of residential ser vices was closed thursday afternoon and friday because water had seeped into the office the dining hall was closed thursday night because the water to the building was off but there was no damage to the dining hall jo seph said joseph said that although the dining hall was re-opened friday morning the office of residential services remained closed friday due to unhealthy sewer and gas odors the office needs to partially replace the carpet that had to be torn up and contend with some other minor damages such as lost pa pers according to joseph the cost of the damage has not been determined yet but joseph said that it prob ably won't reach the insurance deductible amount so the office will have to pay for the damage by kevin kniffin assistant news editor unlike the four innocent verdicts delivered during the state trial last year which provoked mass looting and rioting in los angeles this trial s conclusion was met with calm and a general sease of relief and satisfaction the media coverage police preparations for the verdict and the entire atmosphere surrounding this case was unprecedented the groups most directly influenced by the outcome of the trial are police officers and minorities bethlehem police sgt j.h carpenter accepts the verdict if those officers did what they were charged with then they got what they deserved we treat people fairly and it is necessary to get rid of the few bad apples that exist in any work place carpenter said although there was a sease of satisfaction with the verdict for many minorities it will take a lot more to restore their confidence in the judicial system russell selby 96 a member of lehigh's black students union believes that the convictions are too little too late i think it is ridiculous that it took two trials to do it even when the officers get sentenced it's not like they will be sent to a maximum-security prison they'll get a slap on the wrist for almost killing someone selby said see verdict page 6 by david mederrick assistant news editor alter two years of disturbances racial turmoil and anxi ety a jury returned its verdicts in the federal rodney king civil rights trial and seemingly put ■» t-p t-rrp a rest to the videotaped crime that np w shocked the nation jsjbliimm the jury a racially mixed eight f-l k fl 1 k c-j-kij man and four-woman panel con isggs&fe.a i i&sssaa . stacey koon and offi cer laurence powell of violating rodney king's civil rights during the 1991 arrest while acquitting the two other officers the brown and white vol 100 no 41 rha opens lottery to off-campus students lehigh university see lottery page 4 by kevin kniffin assistant news editor residence hall association passed a proposal wednes day that will allow most off-campus students equal rights to gain entry into next year's lottery keith tessler 95 president of rha said that until now off-campus students could only take leftovers from the lottery procedures wednesday's decision allows all non greek off-campus students to enter the lottery traditionally virtually no off-campus students got back into the system tessler said the near-unanimous decision to pass the proposal was spurred by a big increase of off-campus students who want to get back into the system and shrinking numbers of students who want to stay on-campus according to tessler tessler said it was also a way to encourage more students to live in the residence halls he said they hope to eliminate openings and bring the residence halls to full capacity if there are openings the university loses money since its budget expects full capacity according to tessler the major objection that some have against the new procedure is that it will make the lottery more competitive and give off-campus students the same chances as those on campus according to tessler peter bergen 95 said it is good for off-campus students but that he disagrees with the changes someone off campus can get better housing than you clogged sewer damages offices in rathbone hall open mic night iv stephen dickey 93 mike johanson 96 joe devlvo 93 marc lawson 95 and bear sebastian 96 belt out an a capelfa song to a packed house at the fourth open mfc night at the leiilgh cafe saturday night the event which drew about 150 people was sponsored by the creative arts house please see story on page 5 researchers debate applied vs basic science page 7