Jen Noel
Staff Reporter

Epic movies inspire the hero in all of us. Most of us leave our dreams of becoming a superhero like Batman to a blockbuster Halloween costume.

However, one student does not need an excuse like a silly costume to express his heroic desires. The villains on campus better beware ?Spiderman has arrived.

On October 13, at 11:20 p.m., Campus Safety identified a student scaling an exterior wall of McDaniel Hall. When confronted by the officer demanding the student to come down, the culprit moved quickly into a second floor window. After officers found the student, he admitted to climbing the wall saying, “I am an experienced boulder climber.” Well in that case, by all means scale all the buildings you want.

Once again, Rouzer made the largest impression on the blotter. Apparently, the first year gentlemen lost the love of holidays when they arrived at college. Perhaps memories of an elephant costume gone awry or a bad Milkdud in their Halloween bucket spurred two male students to go on a decoration destruction rampage.

On October 24, at 1:45 a.m. the culprits were caught red-handed demolishing festive decorations in their building. However, since then all skeletons have been returned to their rightful places.

There was no disguising, however, the mail van’s encounter with the Westminster police. On October 20, at 1:45 p.m., the McDaniel College mail van must have had a rush delivery as they couldn’t take the time to miss side swiping a WPD cruiser. I think most of us try to avoid getting up close and personal with the police, but no matter what-rain, sleet, citation-the mail must be delivered.

Most readers skim over the editor’s note introducing this column; however, some blotter incidents are simply what the note states?inane. This is the only word to explain the events of October 16. Two students set off a hand-made Gatorade bomb in the Rouzer parking lot. There is never a time when this use of brain power is a good idea; luckily no one was hurt by this illogical scenario.

All of you posing as armored knights this Halloween need to keep the costume handy because the boulder bandit has struck again. On October 7, reports were filed that rocks were, for the second time, flying from the windows of Rouzer. Maybe Campus Safety needs call on our very own Spiderman to help them smoke out the culprit.

My words of advice for all of you this week: be careful, this time of year usually brings more tricks than treats?you never know who is about to cause some trouble.

Casey Crough
Staff Reporter

“War Freed Slaves, Saved Jews”, “Imagine War”, “Imagine Peace”, “God Bless the Military and Their Just Mission”, “Peace is Patriotic”, “Give War a Chance”, “Vote for Peace” and “If You’re Not Standing Behind Them, You’re Standing In Front of Them.”These slogans and signs are just a few that are held by peace and war supporters, who are divided by Main Street in front of the public library. Both groups line opposite sides of the street the second to last Saturday of each month; each group wants the war to end, but each has very different views on how to get there.

The protesting first began with the peace supporters. The leader of the group for peace, Margaret Jones, began protesting in 2004. She stands in front of the library with fellow peace supporters. Why does she stand in protest?

“Because Bush was elected and because of the invasion of Iraq,” said Jones.
When the peace supporters showed up, Yvonne, another local of Westminster, wanted to do something, since her son, Joshua, is currently fighting overseas; Yvonne started protesting for the war in 2007. She asked for her last name to be anonymous.

“We support the troops because war is sometimes necessary,” said Yvonne. “My son feels disappointed in the people across the street.”

Both peace and war supporters are involved with other organizations to help their cause. The war supporters work with “Free Republic” and “Gathering of the Eagles.”

The peace supporters are involved in a group called “Women in Black and Friends,” which began with a network of women in Israel.

When questioned if students should become involved, Yvonne feels that it is the student’s choice, and that the troops would appreciate any support.

“Students should only participate if their heart is into it,” said Yvonne.

On the other hand, the peace supporters would love to see the passion of the youth get involved. “I would get involved because I’m a very big advocator for peace, and we’ve hit a big time in America,” said Annie O’Grady ‘11.

“They are the future, and I’m doing this for them,” said Jones.

Both groups want to reach everyone.

“If I can get the citizens of Westminster– just one person to think about peace for half of a second, all of my Saturdays out here are worthwhile,” said Jones.

When Yvonne’s son was enlisted, she wanted to make an impression and reach out to the public.

It appears that most students in the McDaniel community are unaware of these protests.

“I think it would be fun to go observe,” said Zander Roell, ‘11. “I don’t really know anyone involved in the war. Both groups have valid points and a right to display them.”

“The supporters have the right to do whatever they want. I joined the Army to fight so that people can have their rights,” said Arturo Abreu, ‘10, a member of ROTC.

Both groups want the war to end, but cannot seem to work together to make their message heard. “Not once have they ever asked why we are here,” said Jones.

“Peace is a wonderful thing,” said Yvonne, “but it’s not a reality all of the time. It hurts to see them over there.”

For more information about both groups and their peaceful protests visit: www.freerepublic.com, http://gatheringofeagles.org , www.womeninblack.org . Both groups welcome participants to join them on Main Street every second to last Saturday of each month, in front of the public library.

Jen Noel
Staff Reporter

In the past three weeks, two separate, unrelated incidents of sexual assault have been reported on campus.

On October 5, a student filed a report with Campus Safety that they had been the victim of a sexual assault in Whiteford Hall. The student declined to pursue any further judicial action with Campus Safety or the Westminster Police Department.

Two weeks later, a second instance of sexual assault was reported, this time occurring on Pennsylvania Avenue. The student also declined any judicial action. In both cases, there is speculation that alcohol was involved.

After a sexual assault victim has filed a case with Campus Safety, he or she is offered the option to be escorted to the hospital as well as given the number for Rape Crisis. Counseling services are also made available to the student.

Many times when sexual assaults are reported on campus, almost all victims refuse their right to press further charges.

“In the nineteen years I have been here,” said Mike Webster, “only a handful of sexual assault case victims have sought further legal prosecution other than reporting the incident.”

Katelynn McGinley
Staff Reporter

Lately, it seems that everywhere you look; there is evidence of someone or something going green. The 90’s may have been all about excess and extravagance, but now Hollywood is encouraging us to ditch our Hummer’s and $20 bottles of Evian in favor of Honda Fits and a Brita water filter. Environmental issues like clean-coal technology and ‘green’ energy have played a crucial role in the presidential elections. In other words: going green isn’t just a trend ? it’s a new way of life.

The United States is taking steps to move in a more ‘green’ environmentally conscious direction, and colleges are also getting in on the act.

The College Sustainability Report Card (greenreportcard.org) is a website that rates how environmentally friendly or ‘green’ college campuses across the country are. The rating given to each school is based on a variety of categories, including:
? Climate change and energy
? Food and recycling
? Green buildings on campus
? Administrative and student
involvement
? Transportation

Dickinson College, the University of New Hampshire, and Oberlin College all have overall ratings of A-, landing them spots in the top five most environmentally friendly colleges in the country.

While McDaniel College does not currently meet the endowment requirement necessary to be evaluated on the website, that doesn’t mean that the school doesn’t meet some of the criteria that makes a ‘green’ college.

In May 2007 President Coley signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, which pledges to take a leadership role in addressing global warming. Following this move, the Green Terra committee ? which is made up of faculty, staff, and students looking for ways to measure and reduce the college’s carbon footprint ? was formed with the goal of McDaniel being carbon-neutral by 2009. Student led organizations like the Environmental Action Club (EAC) are also prevalent forces around campus.

Recycling is an issue that McDaniel has struggled with over the past few years. Though there are trash cans specifically for recyclable materials, they are placed sporadically around the campus, and even when students do take the time to recycle, trash collectors oftentimes just dump the recyclables in with the regular trash. One suggestion for recycling is to have a separate trash receptacle in your own dorm room for plastics and other recyclables.

“The [cleaning] staff is ordered to throw away any recycling that has trash in it,” explains Ember Fleming ‘09, president of the EAC, “so if there is a bag full of recycling and there is one banana peel tossed in there, the whole bag gets thrown out.”

The issue here is two-fold. On one hand, it is important that students take it upon themselves to pay more attention to where they put their trash, and that they are actually recycling. On the other hand, as Fleming says, “there seems to be something lost in communication,” between the students and the administration on this issue.

Another way that McDaniel could improve its ‘green-ness’ would be to make some changes to Englar Dining Hall. Dickinson College’s dining services buys vegetables from the Dickinson College Organic Farm. Purchasing from the farm enables the college to save on costs for food and transportation. In the past year alone, $6,500 has been reinvested into the college farm instead of being paid to outside suppliers. The dining hall also has a goal of composting 100% of food waste.

The notoriously finicky Glar dish-washer (which, as of print time, was again on the fritz) doesn’t help matters either, because when the dish-washer is broken, like it was for the majority of the 2007 school year, students eat off of non-bio degradable Styrofoam plates, and use plastic silverware?which is typically not recycled.

Something as simple as eating healthier while in Glar is beneficial to the environment; a diet based in whole-grains, fruits, and vegetables, and lean proteins from plant sources (beans and nuts), reduces your carbon footprint while helping you keep off the dreaded freshman 15.

While McDaniel has made noble efforts in its attempt to be an attempt to be a completely environmentally friendly campus, if we really want to live up to our name as the Green Terrors, there is still some work to be done.

Michelle Menner
Staff Reporter

One McDaniel alum turned personal tragedy into triumph through passionate philanthropic efforts that earned her a nomination and a spot as a finalist for Glamour magazine’s Woman of the Year contest.Donna Bartos ‘95 created the Purple Ribbon Council organization and Girls Night Out to Cut Out Domestic Abuse events to benefit domestic abuse survivors after she realized that she was a “silent victim.”

In August 2006, as Bartos sat at a “Cut it Out” event listening to stories of domestic abuse survivors she recalled the moment in which she understood that the painful relationship she endured throughout high school and college had a name: domestic abuse.

After attending that event, Bartos said she “felt obligated” to help women in similar abusive situations “to heal and deal.”

Bartos has worked determinedly for three years with “a lot of support” to form the volunteer-led Purple Ribbon Council and Girls Night Out salon and spa fundraising events to educate and “break the silence” about domestic abuse.

“It’s amazing filling a gap to do something that hasn’t been done before,” Bartos said.

Though the work has been “exhausting” at times, Bartos acknowledges that the organization is “picking up speed.” As of this year, the Girls Night Out event held on October 2 included 15 participating salons and spas across the nation, and next year there are already 30 host salons ready to get involved. Bartos’ hope is to reach the goal of partnering with one host salon or spa in every state.

Of course, Bartos is excited to hear that the girls of her former sorority, Alpha Nu Omega, are planning to organize a Girls Night Out event in Maryland for 2009.

Current Omegas Brenna Morin and Kaitlyn Parkins shared their words of support for Bartos.

“I feel that what Donna is doing and the message she is trying to convey is an amazing one. Domestic abuse is such a silent epidemic that is always looked over or not even thought of,” said Morin

Parkins added, “She embodies the ideals of our organization and is the kind of woman that we all strive to become.”

With a strong mission and voices growing louder each day against domestic abuse, Bartos is proud of her organization that “has inspired people to work together to ‘break the silence.’”

Visit Donna’s website at www.girls-night-out.org for more information.