Brown and White Vol. 111 No. 2

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 all the lehigh news first vol 11l no 2 tuesday september 9 2003 lehigh rises in u.s news rankings by anthony brichta news editor lehigh ranks 37th nationally in u.s news and world report's 2004 best colleges moving up three positions from last year lehigh also ranks 38th among engineering programs whose highest degree is a ph.d along with its rankings u.s news publishes data in a variety of areas for each ranked school which the magazine uses to determine ranking in lehigh's case the modest move up in rank corresponds to improve ment in several areas the grad uation rate has increased from 83 percent to 84 percent class sizes are down and the student faculty ratio has also decreased the average freshman retention rate however has decreased from 94 percent in 2003 to 93 percent in addition the 2004 rankings show lehigh as becoming a more selective institution in its admis sions decisions lehigh now ranks 49th in selectivity compared to 51st a year ago this is reflected in a lower acceptance rate 44 per cent and a higher percentage of freshmen who were ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school classes universities are complex insti nations and it is difficult to defini tively say a school is better or provides a better education based on ranking since each stu dent's experience is unique robert j morse an editor of 2004 best colleges encourages students to use the rankings and data only as a starring point and not as the only factor considered in choosing a college many factors other than those we measure will figure into your decision including the feel of cam pus life the school's location its cost and the availability of finan cial aid morse explains on the web site the annual rankings are wide ly publicized and have a strong influence on students decisions a good rank is important because it factors into decision making domenick addesi 05 said had it not been for lehigh's prestigious rank i may have cho sen another institution the emphasis that students put on rankings has created a strong incentive for schools to aggres sively attempt to increase rank many elite schools have real ized they can increase their rank ing by improving their selectivity through a change in admissions practices riaa cracks down on file sharing by greg meyer news writer library and technology services received 148 cease and desist orders from copyright hold ers last semester requiring students to remove copyrighted materials from their computers vice provost bruce taggart said assistant dean of students for judicial affairs chris mulvihill said there have not been any file sharing cases yet this year but that it is still early he said last year sev eral on-campus file-sharing sys tems were shut down the riaa recording industry of america and mpaa morion picture association of america alerted us to these sub systems mulvihill said taggart said no students have ever been referred to mulvihiu's office for this type of case and no student names have been turned over to copyright holders according to the new york times approximately 1,600 people have been targets of copyright subpoenas issued by the riaa which will supposedly file hun dreds of lawsuits as early as this week taggart said if he were to receive a subpoena he would confer with university general counsel frank roth before complying roth said a number of things can be done to challenge a sub poena the first action taken would be to make sure the sub poena is valid if it is determined invalid the process could be slowed roth said this has occurred in several cases involving the riaa roth also cited the family education rights and privacy act which protects students privacy by keeping colleges from revealing educational records the debate is whether a student's name is an educational record according to ferpa however records can be disclosed if a valid subpoena is issued roth said the student must be given reasonable notice to seek out a protective order before information can be released a protective order is necessary if the record being released is sensi tive material that the student does n't want to go on public record if the order is granted the record will still be released but it will be held privately and not made part of the public court record i don't know if anyone could actually get a protective order in this case roth said but we are required under ferpa to give the student notice roth said that he doesn't know what might happen because the intersection of computers and copyright law is still relatively new copyright law is not entirely clear when it comes to new tech nologies roth said it was written at a time that predated file-sharing the times reported talks of a possible amnesty program that would allow people to admit to illegal file-sharing of riaa copyrighted material without incurring any consequences individuals who participate would have to remove any ille gal files from their computers and destroy copies fred von lohmann a lawyer for a san francisco-based firm crit icizing the riaa's use of subpoe nas told the times that those con sidering the amnesty program should be cautious he said the riaa does not represent all copy festival benefits local residents by lauren eisner news writer the great south side sale and community festival offered a wide array of options to the local community including an interna tional foods festival and sale of household items the festival was held saturday from 10 a.m to 4 p.m in a parking lot on fourth street the lehigh move out collection contributed many items to the sale all proceeds ben efited the south bethlehem neighborhood center a united way agency approximately 1,500 people mainly local residents attended the event president gregory farrington and bethlehem mayor james delgrosso were in attendance in tents and booths sale items ranged from rugs and clothing to microwaves and computer screens international food items were also available at the festival and included portuguese dough nuts and puerto rican specialties we in the south side have the community center for children and lehigh's involvement is great said debbe eicahen a bethlehem resi dent lehigh has been in our backyard and a part of the com munity forever i think it's wonder ful what you guys are doing b&wphoto by tha yer hirsch students watch the football team beat holy cross 38-20 saturday afternoon in the season opener many students prepared for the first home game by tailgating before the game see story on page 16 for details see ranking page 4 see festival page 4 see sharing page 4 lehigh defeats holy cross 38-20 in first game of the football season see story page 16 sports 13-16 women's soccer 13 cross country 14 football 16 two lehigh students robbed at gunpoint off campus friday morning see story page 3 news 1-4 college news 2 police reports 3 news online 3 air pollution heat kill thousands of people in france last month see story page 7 science 7-9 science musings 7 forest protection 9 quick it costs approxi mately three cents to make a 1 bill in the united states source www.amusingfacts.com