Brown and White Vol. 110 No. 37

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 110 no 37 friday march 21 2003 ah the lehigh news first kuwaiti students discuss iraq war by nur-e rahman editorial pages editor two of the three native kuwaiti students on campus spoke about their personal understandings of the war with iraq during a global union brown bag lunch wednesday afternoon roughly 10 students faculty members and various news agencies were present as channel 69 news rolled the cameras graduate students khaled alfadhel and bader albusairi offered their personal experi ences to help fellow students see the conflict from yet another angle that of kuwaiti gulf war survivors alfadhel lived in kuwait dur ing the first gulf war and shared his experiences which he called seven months of hell his family currently lives in kuwait and alfadhel presented his conflict ing emotions to the audience he explained that he fears his family does not know the extent of the war the way he is able to by living in america and having free access to news sources both students answered ques tions about kuwaiti and iraqi history and explained some of the events that led to the current conflict in iraq the most inter esting part of the event perhaps was the personal reactions they offered alfadhel spoke of the day the first gulf war started he and family members were on a cruise celebrating his accept ance to university looking at how beautiful kuwait city was and then in a few hours the city was gone he said both graduate students shared their concern for the aftermath of a war they say they hope will be quick and as painless as possible albusairi said he is wary of the reaction from the iraqi people to a new government that will replace the current regime unless it is a government that will satisfy the needs of the three populations the kurds the sunnis and the shiites it will not work albusairi said both students shared their hope for peace despite the war with iraq which has had and probably will have an effect on their lives director of global union bill hunter who organized the event has been at the fore front of introducing different perspectives to students at lehigh global union has been active in engaging student discussion about current affairs since the onset of the conflict with iraq new club formed for gays lesbians by dani brodi news writer the first gay lesbian and bisexual organization at lehigh in 10 years was officially approved by student senate tuesday the new student organiza tion spectrum was introduced by senator sarah friedman 04 friedman said no other organization like this exists on campus the purpose and aim of spectrum shall be to provide a social and educational student run club for all students regardless of their sexual ori entation or gender identity according to the official pro posal seeking approval for the club friedman said spectrum organizers have been working with the office of multicultural affairs to create a constitution for a club that could be active on campus the senate is responsible for funding student clubs and recog nizing new ones senator marley mcdermott a member of the club affairs committee said the idea to form the club was developed only recently three people came to us last week wanting to start a club where gay and lesbians could promote events and just b&w photo by tom steele a new art exhibit on display at maginnes hall shows war from children's perspectives see story on page 5 details of al-douri meeting shared by nur-e rahman twelve students met with iraqi ambassador to united nations march 3 editorial paces editor the diplomat and have the opportunity to question the intentions of his government firsthand war has broke out since the brown and white last reported on the meeting during the meeting al douri denied accusations that iraq used chemical weapons against its own people in 1988 but admitted that iraq has weapons of mass destruction while claiming that they have never denied the possession of the weapons this is contrary to an inter view with pbs news hour anchor ray suarez on aug 13 2002 when al-douri denied any possession of weapons in iraq he said that iraq declared offi cially by the president of iraq and by others responsible that iraq is clear of any kind of mass destruction weapons as war with iraq is under way knowledge and perspective regarding international affairs become precious commodities twelve lehigh students trav eled to new york city march 3 on a trip organized by the global union to meet with iraqi ambassador mohammed al douri and walked away with an unparalleled sense of perspec tive the students became the first university group to meet with news civil rights laws to attempt to convince them that iraq sim ply needs diplomatic help to change and sanctions and mil itary threats are not encourag ing positive reactions iraq is not a paradise of human rights but if you have hunger and war and if there is a lack of everything i can't imagine this is the best atmos phere for human rights al douri said there is no human rights when there is a lack of food students said the ambassa dor a distinguished law pro fessor for 30 years drew upon his knowledge of human and see senate page 3 see iraq page 3 basketball teams lose in first round of patriot league tour naments see story on page 24 sports 20-24 crew team 22 not for the weak 23 baseball 24 students friends mourn loss of chi psi fraternity cook see story on page 6 news 1-6 world news briefs 2 clothing drive 4 war art exhibit 4 student bands at lehigh profiled see story on page 7 lifestyle 7-14 dear morgan 9 look who's talking 11 matter of opinion 13 quick xfact in turkey the color of mourning is violet in most muslim coun tries and in china it is white source www.amusingfacts.com