New York Gov. caught meeting with prostitute

ASHLEY COOK NEWS EDITOR AAC722@CABRINI EDU

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was a repeat client of a prostitution ring. Spitzer was caught by a federal wiretap arranging to meet a New York prostitute in a Washington, D.C. hotel, Feb. 13. The governor held a brief news conference an hour after the New York Times Web site published a story that revealed his involvement. Spitzer apologized, with his wife at his side, but did not mention specifics. “I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself,” Spitzer said.

Early Year Abroad program compelling but unrealistic

ALICIA COOK STAFF WRITER ARC725@CABRINI EDU

While most colleges offer the typical orientation for freshmen, Princeton University plans to send a large group of its freshmen abroad.

“Princeton University is working to create a program to send a tenth or more of its newly admitted [freshman] students to a year of social service work in a foreign country before they set foot on campus as freshman,” according to an article titled “Princeton Plans for an Early Year Abroad,” by New York Times reporter Karen Arenson about a program starting in 2009.

To bring a program like this onto a campus like Cabrini College, college officials said would bring good results as well as major obstacles to overcome.

The director of admissions, Charlie Spencer, said, “I would not favor this plan. Students should have a college success class their first semester. Studying abroad the freshmen year could lead the student to transfer and drop out of college and work full time.”

In addition to taking the success of a student into consideration, colleges must be aware of the legal issues and financial obstacles which play into a program like this as well.

Spencer said, “Legal issues [would be a negative side to the program] since the student would be under 21 years of age. Students would only receive federal and state financial aid. Cabrini funding would not cover study abroad.”

On the other hand, Cabrini’s dean for academic affairs Dr. Charlie McCormick thinks that it is a great idea, but has concerns about offering the program on a smaller campus like Cabrini.

The results could be rewarding, but what if students do not want to take part in the program?

Freshman elementary special education major Erin McCarthy said, “I would like to get away from my own life for a little bit and learn about other people, and what life is like in a foreign country.”

Although some students like McCarthy may want to take part in the program, there still may not be enough students to keep it running. The amount of resources Princeton has available to get this started is one of the main reasons they are able to get this program running and will keep it going strong.

McCormick makes the point that smaller institutions like Cabrini may not be able to achieve the outcome of the program which Princeton has the ability to accomplish.

“Princeton will not have to close its doors if this program is unsuccessful,” McCormick said. “For many other institutions, investing that much time and money in a program that is not successful can be devastating.”

“So while in theory I would be a supporter of the idea, I know that in practice we would spend enormous amounts of resources to implement something like this,” McCormick said. “If we attempted to duplicate their efforts, existing programs would suffer. The question is—as it always is—how do we create our own version of a program like this that is appropriate to Cabrini’s mission and is appropriate for the College’s scale.”

In addition to the great and immediate media attention the program would bring to the school, McCormick said, “For a college—like Cabrini—that is interested in continually internationalizing its campus and finding new ways for students to engage in community-based projects, a program like Princeton’s Early Year Abroad is very compelling.”

If the kinks of this program were worked out or modified for a college like Cabrini, McCormick said “a program like the one at Princeton should help students better understand their role as global citizens who have a unique opportunity to focus their educational experience so that they learn to impact this global world. If that happens (and it would have to be carefully assessed), that is a very powerful outcome that would support the institution’s intention to promote liberal learning.”

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Senate critiques prewar claims by White House

The Senate Intelligence Committee is getting ready to release a critical analysis of claims that were made by The Bush administration officials in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. The document catalogs dozens of prewar assertions by President Bush and other administration officials that proved to be wildly inaccurate about Iraq’s alleged stockpiles of banned weapons and pursuit of nuclear arms. The report, which is one of the last in a series of investigations relating to the Iraq war, promises to bring much importance in its evaluation of whether the White House misused intelligence to make the case for war. This could also become important information for the presidential race, which has focused on the differing positions of the remaining candidates on the decision to invade Iraq.

Bush vetoes bill to ban waterboarding

President Bush blocked an effort by congressional Democrats to ban waterboarding, used as an interrogation measure in the fight against terrorism. Bush vetoed the bill as a bid to maintain the strong presidential authority to wage war on foreign terrorists that he has asserted since the Sept. 11 attacks. Democrats and civil liberties argue that techniques such as waterboarding and other harsh methods are torture and the U.S. should not resort to these tactics.

8 Israeli seminary students slain

In Jerusalem a man concealing an assault rifle and handgun opened fire in a Jewish seminary library, killing eight people in the deadliest attack in nearly two years. The assault lasted more than 10 minutes before the gunman was killed by a seminary student and offduty army officer. The target of the attack was a Zionist symbol, the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, a “spiritual-ideological power station” allied with a Jewish settlement movement. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is holding peace talks with Israel. The negotiations aimed on creating an independent Palestinian state would not be disrupted.

Airline ignores safety violations

FAA officials ignored safety violations overseeing Southwest Airlines and leaked sensitive data to the carrier. They also tried to intimidate two inspectors to head off investigations. The Federal Aviation Administration inspectors are schedule to testify April 3 before the House Transportation Committee. $10.2 million was fined to Southwest Airlines for intentionally flying 46 jets without performing inspections for cracks in the fuselage. Southwest said it did not compromise safety and all actions were taken with FAA permission.