Brown and White Vol. 108 No. 39

              the brown and white lehigh uni vol 108 no 39 all the lehigh news first tuesday april 3 2001 army officials inspire by greg meyer female army officers speak to students in rotc assistant news writer three female army officers from the army war college spoke about their experiences in a presentation friday entitled female army officers the changing face of leadership in perella auditorium lieutenant colonels roberta woods dorothea cypher-erickson and carol rogers spoke about their roles in the military and how their sex has not stopped them from succeeding capt ray dunning introduced the colonels by talking about the increasing role women have played in the army in the last 25 years women can take anything men can in the army dunning said woods a quartermaster officer dis cussed the history of women's involve ment in the armed forces woods said that as early as the civil war women served as nurses suppliers spies and some even dressed as men in order to be able to fight the united states military academy at west point began accept ing women in 1976 two years later women could enlist in the army today 15 percent of officers are female following the history lesson woods related her personal experiences after graduating from college with a degree in home economics woods real ized she could not find a job on a joke and a dare i called the army recruiting officer she said woods decided to spend a few years in the army and to see what kinds of opportunities it would open up for her i never knew i would serve 20 years woods said i never knew i served 20 years until i passed it woods said that she continuously thought she was going to leave and move on to bigger and better things but there was always another promo tion job or opportunity being dangled in front of her that she just couldn't turn down after a while she realized b&wphoto by ryan ucwinko the clothesline project is taking place in the university center food court all week t-shirts are being designed to discourage violence against women prssa conference focuses on violence by austin bump news writer incidences of violence in schools and crises in the workplace are pressing prob lems in today's society in direct response the public relations student society of america prssa sponsored its third annual spring conference saturday in rauch business center the session principally focused on the steps taken toward conquering crisis situations the keynote speaker was rosemary pryor the executive director of communi cation for the office of intergovernmental relations in springfield ore pryor was the public relations spe cialist during the 1998 thurston high school shooting wherein 25 students were injured and two killed the shooter also killed both his parents kip kinkel the student who opened fire in the cafeteria shot 51 rounds from both a 22 caliber rifle and a pistol he was arrested after several boys tackled and held him to the ground pryor advised the public relations students on the successful management of a traumatic situation and general crisis communication melissa vacuum phillips 01 who helped organize the event said the con ference is a great way for students who are interested or involved in the public relations field to learn from public rela tions professionals about what it is like to work in the real world pryor shared personal accounts of her involvement with the school district and the community and her attempts to get a grasp on the confusion and concern she said that in this particular situation she learned many valuable lessons you're in charge until someone tells you that you aren't pryor said she said that although the school focused on the needs of the school com munity after the thurston tragedy she decided to focus on the families of the injured and protecting them from the media invasion she said this was one of the most crucial jobs it seems to never quite end we will always be the town of the school shoot ing pryor said art forster the senior managing director of crisis communications at hill and knowlton a large public rela tions firm spoke about his role in han dling corporate crisis he specializes in crisis communication and providing clients with strategic counsel and advice on sudden events and develop ing issues forster said that if handled correcdy companies have the potential to prosper from a crisis he continued to give pro fessional advice in crisis planning as well as emphasized the benefits of reaching out to someone for help he included hill and knowlton's motto from the japanese crisis = danger + opportunity through common sense doing the right thing remembering that it is always better to include rather than exclude information and that knowing information is power tragic situations can knowingly be organized effective ly he said during crisis situations time is one of the most critical elements forster said according to forster it is also vital that when speaking to the public from a corporate standpoint one must express care and concern be open and coopera tive never say no-comment and always think the worst case so that it is possible to handle anything less it is always better to be proactive rather than reactive forster said students involved in the conference were also given the opportunity to perfect career portfolios learn about press kit building tactics and network ing strategies danielle simone 03 a public rela tions major attended the conference and enjoyed its offerings the portfolio and press building kit workshops were really informative simone said prssa is a professional organiza tion that strives to help college students develop their professional public rela tion skills through educational pro gramming see army page 5 wfm^~~t rw*esßj*m women's lacrosse lose imm &* to colgate a**g <** see page 18 sports 15-20 men's lacrosse 17 baseball 20 j women's tennis 20 multi-cultural prospective students visit lehigh see page 3 news 1-6 college news briefs 2 campus dog 4 lehigh briefs 6 common misconceptions about marijuana exposed see page 9 science 9-11 internet 2 9 science briefs 9 your health 11 a toothpick is the object most often choked on by americans source:http://www,uselessfacts net