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SAN FRANCISCO FOGHORN 2130 FULTON STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118 NEWSROOM 415.422.6122. ADVERTISING 415.422.2657
OPINION
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SPORTS
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NEWS
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Columnist Mimi Honeycuttdishes on the “healthy” foodsthat are anything but.A Delta Zeta member ridesa teeter-totter in spite of the rain to raise funds forblind children. �e Foghorn interviews thedirector of “�e LaramieProject” about the play andrehearsal process.Steven Garboden sprints tothe nish line at the UC Davis Woody Wilson Invite wherethe Dons Track and Field per-formed exceptionally well thisEaster weekend.
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FOGHORN
ONLINE
Andrew Jimenez/Foghorn
USF held a Seder to observe Passover last Sunday where Rabbi Lee Bycel spoke about the importance of human rights in relationto the Jewish holiday.
Babysitting A Popular Part-Time Job
USF students are busy juggling classschedules, textbooks and apparently ba-bies. It is not that they are having morechildren, but many students babysit afterclass as a way of earning extra money. �e USF Career Services Center (CSC)maintains a list of available student baby-sitters that they send out to interested par-ents. �e list is popular with both studentsand parents. �ere are currently 107 stu-dents who have listed themselves as avail-able to babysit with CSC. Christina Gon-zalez-Lopes, a student assistant at CSC,said that the center receives about 10 new inquiries from parents every week and es-timates that there are hundreds of parents who hire USF students to look after theirchildren. When they sign up for the babysittinglists students are asked to give their ma- jor and say whether they are CPR-certi-ed or if they drive. Nursing students whoput themselves on the list are particularly popular with parents who want to know their children will be in good hands in caseof an emergency.Erica Alvarado, a nurse who graduatedfrom USF last spring, said she receivedfrequent inquires from parents who wereseeking a nursing student to nanny theirchildren. “I think they just felt more com-fortable knowing that if anything went wrong, as unlikely as that is, their children would be with someone who knew how toact in an emergency,” she said. Alvarado worked with several families while she wasin school and continues to babysit for onefamily because she has grown attached tothe children, even though she has a full-time job as a nurse at a hospital in SanFrancisco.Many students prefer babysitting toother jobs because the hours are exible- responsibilities can range from Tuesday morning museum visits to late Saturday nights. �e pay is also good; USF student-babysitters said they were paid in the $12to $25 range and some parents tip or givemoney for cab fare.Senior Ashton Bothman said lately shehas been working 24-40 hours a week asa nanny, mostly on nights and weekends,and is thankful to have the job becauseschool and an unpaid internship in mediaconsume most of her daytime hours. Shehas also learned a lot about children. “Ithink it’s the best form of birth control. I’llgo eight hours and then I’ll be so happy tohand the child back to their parents,” shesaid.LAURA PLANTHOLT
Staff Writer
Check out footage from theFoghorn’s Harney Plaza eventfeaturing electro-grime duo, Women Of �e Tenderloin.HAYDEN BOYDKATE GREENSPANDANIELA RICCITAM
Staff Writers
TheFoghornOnline.com
VOL. 105 ISSUE 20
APRIL 16, 2009
FREEDOM AND FAIRNESS
Courtesy of Florentina Dublin
The USF Mens Rugby Team poses in I (heart) Consent t-shirts in support of the movement oncampus to promote awareness about sexual assault.
USF Celebrates Passover, Sheds Light on Genocide in Darfur
Why was Monday night unlike all othernights at the University of San Francisco?In McLaren Hall, the soft murmur of hesitant, reverent chanting could be heard,punctuated by the serious voice of RabbiLee Bycel. Around a hundred people hadgathered to mark USF’s rst annual Pass-over Seder, which sought to draw atten-tion to the oppression and genocide of theDarfuri people. �is event was sponsored by USF’sSwig Program in Jewish Studies and So-cial Justice, as well as by the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an inter-national development organization that,according to its website, is dedicated topursuing justice and “alleviating poverty,hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race,religion or nationality.” Bycel is the execu-tive director of this organization.“We’re here to experience this Seder inthis moment, sit together in solidarity, andto recognize the danger in saying ‘�at’s what happened way back when,’” Bycelsaid. “Tonight I want you to think aboutthe boys and girls in today’s Egypt enslavedby another pharaoh.” �is “Egypt” is the Darfur region of Su-dan, where, according to the AJWS, over450,000 Darfuri people have died from violence, disease and malnutrition since2003, and 2.47 million have been displaced within Darfur. An additional 185,000 arerefugees in Chad. �e audience was constantly remindedof the plight of the Darfuri people by theprojection of a repeating reel of photo-graphs of refugees: a young girl carryingher little sister on her back, the wide star-ing eyes of three Sudanese boys, and one of the many ramshackle makeshift residencesfound in the IDP (internally displaced per-sons) camps, overcrowded with millions of inhabitants.Also noticeable was the meal set be-fore the attendees, which included matzah(unleavened bread), cottage cheese, carrotsand celery, tuna salad, egg salad and a stick of butter—a meal which seemed meager,but, Bycel said, would be seen as a feast by many of the impoverished people acrossthe world. �e symbolic Seder plate, however, re-mained bare. “Until the people of Darfurare free, the plate of Seder will not be full,”said Bycel.Attendees were provided with the Hag-gadah, a Jewish text that guides PassoverSeders, as well as excerpts and quotationsfrom human rights advocates like Elie Wiesel, Langston Hughes and the Da-lai Lama. Bycel led the Seder by choos-ing audience members to read aloud fromthe Haggadah and encouraging audienceparticipation in group reading and song. �roughout the ceremony, the rabbi askedquestions to stimulate an emotional con-nection with the audience and to incitethem to consider their social responsibili-ties.“Passover is about making the worldbetter, making people freer. What are wegoing to do to make this world better?”Bycel demanded. �e audience came forward with ques-tions of their own.“What is the responsibility of each of us?” one asked.“Why hasn’t the U.S. government donemore?” demanded another.“Why aren’t the aid workers being letback into the region?”“Why have we become so numb?”Martina Knee of the San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition said, “�e reasonDarfur continues to go on is the lack of political will to end it. Not one politician will lose an election because they failed todo something about genocide.” However,
Rugby Supports I (Heart) Consent
SEDER: Continued on Page 2
Senate Candidates Campaign Online
�e ASUSF Senate race is on, and this year three candidates are running for pres-ident, which may lead to a much more in- volved campaigning process than last year when current President Alex Platt, ran un-opposed. �is spring, Platt is running forreelection, along with opposing candidates Jon Coon and Bobby Marquez, who arecurrently off-campus representatives. �e increased competition may havesparked some of the candidates’ decisionsto create websites to campaign for theirpositions. Coon and Platt both have web-sites which they are promoting with out-lets such as Facebook and Twitter. Perhapsinspired by U.S. President Barack Obama’sinnovative web campaign, the new onlinepresence allows USF student voters to getto know and interact with their candidatesmore than a paper campaign ier wouldallow.Platt’s website, PlattForPres.com, fea-tures sections with a biography, campaignpromises for next year, and a blog on cam-paign updates. She uses a brightly coloredlogo and many photos from her various en-deavors at USF, from working with USFtv,shooting a music video for Wyclef Jean, toposing on the set of the College Players’production of the Vagina Monologues.Coon’s website, WhoIsJonCoon.com,uses the campaign slogan “Who is JonCoon?” to dene himself as a student andcandidate. Coon’s site includes a biogra-phy, an extensive description of why he isrunning for ASUSF president, a link tohis personal blog where voters can learnmore about him, and even videos for peo-ple to see him in action. Coon’s websiteand campaign is being run by successfulnightclub promoter and USF junior TomRoche.Marquez took the traditional optionof creating a Facebook group for whichhe lists the many organizations support-ing him and list of his campaign prom-ises, including an offer to spend $2,000of his would-be stipend to host an eventfor USF students. �e president’s total sti-pend is $7,000.All of these online platforms allow USF voters to question and interact with theircandidates. Maybe this spring’s elections,running April 23-27, will actually draw a voter turnout above last year’s ten percent.HUNTER PATTERSON
Staff Writer
Days untilclassesare over
NEWS
San Francisco Foghorn
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Jewish Holiday Evokes Empathy
APRIL 16, 2009Easter Sunday marked the end of Lent, when many Catholics choose to abstainfrom a guilty pleasure for 40 days to pay homage to the sacrice they believe Jesusmade for them. At USF, many choose tofollow this tradition for spiritual reasons orsimply as a personal test of character.Senior Patrick Phillips said he tried togive up chocolate and cigarettes, but cheat-ed on the cigarettes a few times. FreshmanBarbara Evangelista also gave up choco-late, cutting down from a bar-a-day habit.After 40 chocolate-free days, she had a few mini chocolate Easter candies on Easterand said, “It wasn’t that wonderful,” andthat she now has no more cravings.Some students, such as freshman Deir-dre Long, tried more inventive resolutions.Long gave up the dessert crepes from theMarket Café, as well as many of the un-healthy fried foods from the grill section.She said in the 40 days of a Lent, she rarely felt cravings for these foods and her skincleared up from eating more healthfully.Now that Lent is over, she does not feelthe need to indulge so much. “I feel likeonce I’ve given it up for 40 days, I know Idon’t need it anymore,” Long said.Freshman Annie Tull decided to giveup the sweetener high fructose corn syrup.“I was obsessed with this cranberry appleraspberry juice sold at the cafe but I re-alized it had high fructose corn syrup init. I was going to give up just the juice,but then I decided to give up HFCS al-together.” Tull said it wasn’t very difficultto abstain because she generally eats many organic and natural foods, but she checkedon items such as cereal if she didn’t know,and did accidentally slip up a couple of times. After the 40 day cleanse, she triedher favorite juice again, and said that afterdrinking a third of the bottle, she had tostop because it gave her a headache.Catherine Mifsud, director of Univer-sity Ministry retreats, tried a different ap-proach to Lent this year. “A lot of peopleuse Lent as a 40 day diet or a second shot ata new year’s resolution and I think a lot of signicance gets lost.” Instead of giving upone vice for 40 days, she practiced the FastPray Give philosophy posted on a websitefor young adults called BustedHalo.com.On each date of the 40-day period, there isa suggestion for what to fast from, what topray for, and who to give to; for example,one day it advised people to fast from tele- vision and pick up a book instead, pray forthose who do not have access to education,and give used books to local libraries, hos-pitals and after-school programs. While in years past Mifsud made tradi-tional Lenten Resolutions such as abstain-ing from candy or soda, she felt a more sig-nicant experience this year by giving back as well. After all, she said, “How is it goingto help the world if I give up chocolate?”
Students Make Lenten Sacrifices
SEDER:
Continued from page one
LAURA PLANTHOLT
Staff Writer
she said, “If enough people make noise,politicians will listen.” �e event provoked ideas about the im-portance of Judaism to social justice on the world stage. �e Jewish holiday of Passover was used to highlight the need for libera-tion from modern-day enslavement. Aar-on Hahn Tapper, the director of the SwigProgram and professor of Jewish studies,said, “�e goal of the program was to raiseawareness on human rights issues and of-fer ways to deal with and end them.”“Now I see how much Judaism has todo with the global community,” said Paul Jimenez, sophomore business major andone of Hahn Tapper’s students.“I think things like this are really im-portant to have on campus, especially be-cause USF is full of people who nd en- vironmental and social issues importantto address,” said Nora Torres, sophomorepsychology major. Jimenez said that he was deeply impact-
Students Bare Soles For One Day Without Shoes
ed by the Seder. “I came without expecta-tions, and I’m leaving with a motivation togo out and do something about the geno-cide.” He would like to get involved in theSan Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition.Knee too was pleased with the resultsof the Seder and said that students shouldtake action beyond simply discussing so-cial justice. “�e thought of celebratingPassover with the theme of social justiceappealed to me. People are enslaved allover the world, and this Passover was moremeaningful in a real-world context,” shesaid. “Now, lots of advocacy organizationsmake it easy to take action. Phone calls, in-ternet petitions, e-mails – these things takeone minute of your time. Just do them.” To get involved, students may contactthe SF Bay Area Coalition at info@darfursf.org or go the following resources: www.enoughproject.org www.genocideintervention.net
Correction
Take a moment and look down at yourfeet. For most people in the U.S., the view is of a lightly worn shoe and a smoothly paved cement sidewalk. Here, people’sfeet are warm, dry and kept from possiblestubbed toes or tetanus-imposed wounds. �e ability to own one or more pairs of shoes is a luxury that is commonly over-looked and seen mainly as another way to make a latest fashion statement. It is aluxury that people often take for granted.In the developing world owning a pair of shoes is an unusual luxury. �ere, many people’s feet have dirt caked deep intotheir nails, old sores that sting, and jaggedrocks under their feet opening new sores. �is is reality for many people in devel-oping countries where walking is the pri-mary mode of transportation, making theirfeet susceptible to disease and injury. Forthese people, shoes are a distant dream be- yond their reach. However, an organizationcalled TOMS Shoes is working to makethis dream an attainable one. In 2006, aman named Blake Mycoskie traveled toArgentina, where he befriended many lo-cal children with nothing to protect theirfeet. He felt compelled to help them and went on to establish a shoe company thatmatches every pair of shoes sold with apair given to a child in need; over 140,000pairs have been donated so far.Mycoskie’s next endeavor is a move-ment to raise awareness for the plight of these children. He is asking people to gobarefoot on April 16 to bring awarenessto the have-nots of the world. �is is theday to share the pair for pair mission andbring attention to the impact that a pair of shoes can have on one’s life. Mycoskie askspeople to remove their shoes and walk fora cause. �e event extends internationally;from the United States to Canada, Eng-land, France and Italy, people are goingbarefoot, along with several USF students who have pledged to join the campaign.
Law School: LSAT Crucial Key
Although Reese Witherspoon (Elle Woods) makes law school look as easy asgetting a manicure in “Legally Blonde”,the majority of students who hope to at-tend law school must work incredibly hard just to be admitted to a prestigious pro-gram. �e Foghorn sat down with the di-rector of admissions at the University of San Francisco School of Law, Alan Guer-rero, and the co-presidents of the Under-graduate Law Society, seniors Jesse Ruiz and Shadae Holmes, to discuss the mostimportant aspects of a student’s law schoolapplication. �e law school application process issimilar to the undergraduate admissionprocess. Most schools, including USF,require two letters of recommendation,a personal essay, an academic transcript(with a grade point average) and a stan-dardized test score. However, this last re-quirement, the standardized test, is muchmore intense and difficult than the SAT. �e Law School Admissions Test (LSAT)is a standardized test that focuses on logi-cal and verbal reasoning skills. Many law student hopefuls spend months studyingand practicing for the test, which is givenfour times every year, according to the Law School Admissions Council. Guerrero’srst piece of advice to students consideringa degree in law was to perform well in col-lege and to prepare for the LSAT as best aspossible. While some students can study by themselves, Guerrero suggested that otherstudents who need more structure invest ina course to prepare them for the challeng-ing exam. �ere is no required major foradmission to law school; however, Eng-lish, politics and history have been a few of the major feeders into law programs.Guerrero said that students should majorin what they are interested in because they are more likely to perform better. Classesthat provide students with the ability toanalyze information and to think logically are crucial to undergraduate preparation.Ruiz agreed and suggested that studentstake any course that applies logic and rea-soning. He also said, “Learning how to write is essential in law school.” �e LSAT includes ve multiple choicesections of 35 questions each and a writingsample. Scores range from 120 to 180. �e writing sample is not included in the score,but is instead sent to the law schools thatthe students apply to. Ivy League schools,like Harvard University, do not require aminimum LSAT score, but according toHarvard’s web site, the average admittedstudent scored between a 170 and a 176on the LSAT. In addition to being a strictdetermining factor in admissions, LSATscores are also used to determine how much nancial aid a student will receive.Holmes felt that the best way to preparefor law school was to attend a short LSATcourse and take pre-law courses.Preparing for a daunting exam like theLSAT can be made easier by joining agroup like USF’s Undergraduate Law So-ciety, which seeks to make the admissionsprocess more apparent, nd scholarshipsfor students and provide guidance aboutthe LSAT. �e society brings in speak-ers and makes its members aware of freeopportunities regarding diagnostic testsand LSAT strategy classes. Ruiz said,“Start exploring the law profession, talk to pre-law advisors.” He doesn’t recom-mend watching television shows or mov-ies about lawyers. Sometimes students getoverwhelmed when they realize they haveunderestimated the workload.Once students complete their law de-gree, which is officially entitled a juris doc-tor (JD), Guerrero said lawyers can work in a variety of different environments, likebusiness, teaching, politics or manage-ment. Most lawyers work in the privatesector versus the government or publicinterest sectors. Guerrero said that in law school, a student will “learn to be a prob-lem solver. People look at you as someone who can solve problems.”
Delta Zeta Totters For Charity
Melissa Stihl/Foghorn
A Delta Zeta sorority member participates in Delta Zetas annual Teeter-Totter-A-Thon last Tuesday and Wednesday in Harney Plaza. The Teeter-Totter-A-Thon raised money for blind children.
Photo Illustration by Melissa Stihl/Foghorn
A campaign seeks to bring awareness to poverty in the third world by asking people to walkbarefoot for a day.
CHELSEA M. STERLING
News Editor
JANET GLYNN
Staff Writer
In last week’s issue, April 9 issue number 19, the Foghorn incorrectly reported that the USF Umthombo Club helda fundraiser to raise money for a future trip to South Africa. In fact the money raised went to a non-prot Umthomboorganization to support street children.
APRIL 16, 2009
San Francisco Foghorn
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