Brown and White Vol. 106 no. 36

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 106 no.>s 3g friday march 19 1999 all the lehigh news first katie couric will speak at commencement ' 99 by lisa a jones editor in chief what's the best way to get a commencement speak er stand outside her office with signs and scream and shout at least that's how this year's senior class offi cers grabbed katie couric's attention couric co-anchor of nbc news today show since 1991 agreed last week to speak at the may 30 commencement ceremony the journalist was at the top of the officers list which also included bette midler elizabeth dole rosie o'donnell bill cosby david letterman and others since november i couric the i perfect speaker i that she help make commencement unforgettable senior class president maureen johnson 99 said early on we decided we didn't want a political fig ure and we wanted a woman she said securing a commencement speaker was not an easy task johnson explained president gregory c farrington extended an official invitation to couric last semester but she didn't reply with a definite answer the officers wait ed to hear from couric into the beginning of this semester but farrington urged them to consider other options since time was running out johnson said the officers decided not to give up on couric though johnson erik sherman 99 vice president photo courtesy of jen conigliaro the senior class officers visited nbc's today studio in new york city in february to ask katie couric to speak at commencement from left colleen griggs erik sherman jen conigliaro maureen johnson with katie couric center university community work to bridge the gap by noelia cabrera news writer lehigh's relationship with the surrounding community was the topic of the role of the university in community redevelopment a lecture which was delivered march 3 by g reynolds clark chairman of the westinghouse foundation the lecture held in rauch business center was followed by a panel discussion rhonda gross vice president of finance and administration and paul mchale a for mer member of congress were among the panelists who spoke about the lehigh valley working in conjunction with lehigh university to revitalize the community we have the role of a good neighbor gross said the panelists discussed programs and recreation in the community which the lehigh valley and the university have and programs which can be created in the future goodman campus hosts numerous athlet ic events for the public zoellner arts center has had many appearances by famous people including actor james earl jones stabler arena has hosted events with guests such as whitney houston and bill cosby according to barbara caldwell director of community relations and university relations the university continues to play a key role in the lehigh valley's economic and social progress the dual evolution of school and com munity continues today and no doubt will continue in the future caldwell said many students feel that the revitalization will be a positive change i feel that revitalizing the south side will b&.w photo by stephanie remington dina wills faculty development coordinator for journalism and communication helped coordinate the lecture and panel discussion in rauch business center on march 3 see couric page 8 see living page 8 rj ; ■■•;■>■ f j three wrestlers are security awareness the 71st annual i54 competing in the has decreased crime oscar awards will p piy^-^tc ncaa tournament on campus take place sunday there are more p astic 1 w isi see page 24 see page 4 see page 9 flamingos in the u.s ■ 4 3 than there are real ones !» ~*[ sports 20-24 news 1-8 lifestyle 9-16 spring schedule 20-21 world news briefs 2 horoscopes 11 jr v lacrosse 22 technology 3 look who's talking 13 jhi indoor track 24 english department 5 face in the crowd 15 source www.sbt.bhmedia.com