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1 he Chronicle 1 /
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2005
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THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
Anti-gay
ONE HUNDREDTH YEAR, ISSUE 131
SUED FOR SHARING
protesters to picket near Duke Emily Almas THE CHRONICLE
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Protesters made famous for picketing the funeral of Matthew Shepard with their “God Hates Fags” campaign are slated to make an appearance near the University May 6. A group from Pastor Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., said they will picket near the Main Street entrance to East Campus. “There is a God, a standard, a day of judgment, a Hell and it’s not okay to be gay,” said Shirley Phelps-Roper, Phelps’ 47-year-old daughter, who is in charge of planning and executing the group’s demonstrations across the country. “If you live that life, and die in an unrepentant state, you’re going to Hell.” Phelps-Roper said the group decided to protest at Duke in part because of material on the University’s website. “Duke University receives tax dollars, and they’re using those tax dollars in part to fund the religion of the Sodomites,” said. Phelps-Roper “They’ve got all kinds of homosexual stuff going on at Duke University, it’s all over the website.” The group plans to picket on Main Street near East Campus during the afternoon May 6 before protesting two SEE PROTEST ON PAGE 8
JESSICA SCHREIBER/THE CHRONICLE
Junior Jordan Greene plans to plead guilty to illegal file-sharing and see if the recording industry follows through with its multimillion-dollarlawsuit.
Recording industry targets junior in S3M lawsuit by
Victoria Weston THE CHRONICLE
After a typical Friday night, junior Jordan Greene awoke to find himself groggy, hung over and facing a $3 million lawsuit from the Recording Industry Association ofAmerica. “I got an e-mail on Saturday from [Vice President for Student Affairs] Larry Moneta—very vague, very short—saying that he needed to talk to me about a letter he received from the recording industry,” Greene said. Moneta explained that the RIAA is
suing Greene for illegal file-sharing. Although the RIAA had already obtained his computer’s IP address, they had yet to identify Greene as the owner. The organization notified Duke of an impending subpoena, which Moneta said the University has not yet received. “If a subpoena arrives, we will question our obligations, we’ll get good legal advice and we’ll figure out what we’ll reveal and not reveal,” Moneta said. Greene is not alone. The RIAA is planning to sue more than 400 college students across the country in its latest effort
curb illegal file-sharing. “We cannot let this high-speed network become a zone of lawlessness where the normal rules don’t apply,” Cary Sherman, RIAA president, said in a statement. “By taking this initial action, we are putting students and administrators everywhere on notice that there are consequences for unlawful uses of this network.” Greene said the news initially caused him to have a panic attack, although he is now working to confront his situation. to
SEE RIAA ON PAGE 8
Joy Luck Club author recounts childhood tales throughout the author’s talk.
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Meg Bourdillon THE CHRONICLE
Few speakers carry a duffel bag full of dogs onto stage with them—but then, Amy Tan is far from ordinary. Bestselling author Tan let out her two tiny canine companions following her Tuesday night speech about her writing and life. Peals of laughter rang out in Page Auditorium, as they had several times
Celebrated works such as The Joy Luck Club, a fictionalized account of her own life focusing on mother-daughter relationships and being Asian-American, have brought Tan unusual experiences as well as fame. The first time she saw the “Cliff s Notes” of her writing, Tan said, waving a copy, “I looked at this, and I said out loud, ‘But I’m not dead yet!”’ Being a contemporary author, she added, often involves being “skewered” by critics and “dissected” by readers and students. She noted that scholars tend to see depth in even meaningless patterns of her writing. Readers often hail Tan for becoming a role model for Asian Americans and breaking down barriers for writers of color. She said, however, that her reasons
for writing are less “noble,” citing her love of a challenge and a desire to work through her own confusion about how the world works. “This basic question—how things happen —is really the genesis of many a story,” Tan said Becoming a fiction writer, she explained, was a lifelong journey. After beginning college as a pre-med, she became an English major and began a career as a business writer. She credited her childhood, especially her mother’s belief in fate and ghosts, with developing her creative powers. “She imbued in me an imagination that was based in disease and disaster and death... which is terrifying when you’re a child but is great when you’re a writer,” SEE TAN ON PAGE 9
Bestselling author Amy Tan speaks Tuesday night about her work and Asian-American heritage.