Brown and White Vol. 110 No. 22

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 110 no 22 friday november 22 2002 all the lehigh news first president responds to protestors by ally pereg news writer on monday president farrington addressed the planned westboro baptist church's protest in a campus wide letter farrington stated i want to make it absolutely clear that lehigh in no way endorses the appearance of this group or their messages in fact we condemn their approach which promotes hate as a tactic their messages stand in stark contrast to the values of lehigh university in past instances the group has been notorious for using hateful and graphic language in order to provoke confrontation towards liberal attitudes in both churches and on other college campuses the westboro baptist church is well known for a graphic demonstration that disrupted matthew shepard's funeral shepard a gay university of wyoming student was beaten to death in 1998 because of his sexual orientation originally the group was said to be protesting on dec 6 at lehigh's university center and on dec 7 at zoellner arts center because of measures that have already been taken pickets will no longer take place on-campus but rather in public spaces the westboro baptist church is now scheduled to demonstrate on dec (> at the corner of morton and webster streets the dec 7 demonstration will now be held on the corner of packer avenue and fillmore the newly planned locations for the december demonstra tions although part of the lehigh community are public areas therefore their presence cannot be avoided after investigating this groups previous activity dean of students sharon basso said much of the time they make plans for a picket in order to rile up a campus and never actually show up lehigh students and faculty have joined forces in efforts to counteract the westboro baptist church plans to visit this december the anti-gay group promises to arrive at lehigh and condemn the university's liberal attitudes towards homosexuality and diversity many faculty and students have planned upcoming events to discuss their feelings and reactions to the proposed pickets in addition they have arrived at organized methods of response to the demonstrations which can be viewed at http://www.lehigh.edu/~indost dos/wbc.html president farrington encour ages attendance at an information al meeting on thursday nov 21 at 4:30 p.m in the asa packer dining room the meeting will give background information on the westboro baptist church group and on effective measures that have been taken to curb their presence some have also suggested a fund-raiser in which for each moment the westboro baptist church speaks money is donated to strengthen lehigh's safe space and diversity initiatives julia schulman 05 will be in attendance at thursday's meeting i think it's important to be there and find out about this group if they really are planning on coming to our school she said game marks 138th meeting by kate mcloughlin news writer the lehigh lafayette football game which alternates home advantage each year will be played for the 138 th time saturday afternoon at lafayette's fisher field the atmosphere and pride around campus shifts as the game grows closer the lehigh pep band marches through campus even interrupting classes to spread the lehigh fight song around president farrington said the campus displays added pride in the days before the game the band marches through my office that's a real change farrington said lehigh students have to alter their celebration plans for this year's football game transportation options will be available to students who need rides to the college stadium in easton said director of transportation christopher christian forty-eight buses holding up to 2,300 students will provide rides from packer aye most of the buses are already reserved by fraternities and sororities but christian said that 10 buses provided by student senate and student life will be allotted for general students i would be shocked if students got down to packer aye and couldn't get a ride to the lafayette campus christian said buses will arrive at packer aye at 10:15 a.m and will depart together promptly at 10:30 a.m the buses have changed their drop-off spot for this away b&w photo by tom steele game in order to be closer to tailgates the buses will pick up stu dents approximately 15 minutes after the game near the football stadium it'll be fun to tailgate at a dif ferent school ben pell 05 said and even more fun to watch lehigh beat lafayette on their own field the lafayette box office jermaine pugh 04 rushes against colgate the team will rely heavily on pugh's rushing when it faces lafayette tomorrow newman center hosts giving tree by alice tyler news writer packer memorial church and the newman center are hosting a giving tree this holiday season in association with the greater catholic lehigh community as well as the diocese of allentown catholic social agency a giving tree is essentially a christmas tree adorned with ornaments each of which con tains information about a gift that will be given to a needy individual in the church's com munity in lehigh's case those individuals receiving gifts will either be needy students in local catholic elementary schools or needy mothers with a young child or children according to ronal koach assistant director at the newman center any individuals who feel so compelled are welcome to pur chase a gift if the spirit of the season moves you to do so please pick an ornament off of the tree pur chase a gift based on the quali ties listed on the label attach the tag from the tree to the wrapped gift and return it to the newman center koach said men's soccer pre pares for ncaa tourney after loss to holy cross in patriot league finals see page 24 sports 21-24 b-ball feature 21 not for the weak 22 association of student alumni gives students a chance to show school pride see page 4 news 1-7 world news briefs 2 police reports 3 calling all volunteers takes a look at how students are finding ways to help out see page 7 lifestyle 7-14 he said/she said 9 crossword 12 facets 14 quick the giant tortoise has the longest life span of any animal in captivity source www.amusingfacts.com