Law Professor Truly a 'Renaissance Man'

Professor of Medieval History Ken Pennington has a deep love for Italy, where he studied for two years, making him a true Renaissance man. After completing his doctorate at Cornell University and traveling throughout Europe, including (cumulatively) five years in Germany, Pennington taught for thirty years at Syracuse University before coming to Catholic University in September 2001. Upon arriving at Catholic University, Pennington was named the Kelly-Quinn Professor of Ecclesiastical and Legal History.

Pennington has lived up to this prestigious position teaching not only in the Columbus School of Law, but also the School of Canon Law and the School of Religious Studies. There he shares his knowledge as “a specialist in Catholic Church History, Medieval History, Papal History, Canon Law History, history of Law and medieval manuscript paleography,” with a diverse group of “graduate and law students, in addition to priests and students in religious studies.”

Part of Pennington’s success with such a broad range of students is his use of a “paperless classroom” through which he “posts course syllabi on the internet and all lectures on a web page that is accessible 24 hours a day to students outside the classroom,” said Pennington. In addition, he said he posts “pictures of medieval manuscripts and various images used in lectures,” and allows students “to submit all course assignments and papers through e-mail.” Pennington said he finds this use of the Internet and technological resources “to be the future of teaching.” His use of the Internet and the paperless classroom has created “an extraordinary new life in teaching” from which he has “enjoyed teaching more.”

In addition to teaching several graduate level courses in the Schools of Law, Religious Studies and Canon Law, Pennington will begin teaching an undergraduate course in Church history this fall. The course, entitled “From Paul to Luther,” will be “a 200 level course that will count toward a religion requirement for undergraduates,” said Pennington. He will also begin teaching “The History of Catholic Jurisprudence” in the Law School, a course that is a requirement for all first year law students.

Pennington said he came to Catholic because he was offered “a wonderful position in a wonderful city,” in which he could “teach what I know.” His academic success is under girded by a “love for the city, Catholic University and its students.” An avid traveler, Pennington promotes the study abroad experience as an essential tool in understanding the world “culturally and intellectually.”

In addition to all this , he is also the author or editor of 12 books and over 70 articles.

Volunteer 'Watch Captains' Provided Extra Set of Eyes and Ears for DPS

The University’s Watch Captains are the extra eyes and ears of the Department of Public Safety according to Lt. Linda Vann, crime prevention officer and campus watch coordinator.

Watch Captains are primarily volunteer members of the campus community comprised of faculty, staff and students who work with the Department of Public Safety’s campus watch program. “The Watch Captains and Public Safety work together to prevent crime on campus,” said Vann.

Watch captains are located in every building on campus according to Vann, and there can be several watch captains in one building with designated areas of responsibility. There are also mobile watch captains consisting of personnel from the maintenance, grounds, electrical and custodial services departments.

“Having a Watch Captain stationed in each building provides us with Public Safety Resource Centers all over campus, whereby any member of our community can have immediate access to measures of safety and remedy should some mishap or any form of confusion occur,” said Adrienne Black, watch captain of Maloney Hall and assistant to chair of chemistry.

Watch Captains’ responsibilities consist of distributing crime alert information and reporting suspicious activity, such as unlocked doors and unsecured property.

“Participating watch captains often notify DPS when there are suspicious persons in their area or when something does not seem quite right,” said Vann.

Maryanne Eley, the watch captain for the Life Cycle Institute has had to notify DPS of suspicious activities in the past. “DPS has a very quick response. When I’ve called in the past, they’ve responded in two to three minutes,” said Eley, who is the receptionist of the LCI.

Watch captains also play an important part in CUA’s emergency response plan, according to Vann. In an emergency situation they will be notified of what has occurred and how to assist building occupants, provide received information to those in their assembly areas, report confirmed and potentially missing individuals, and work with the persons in their area to create a sense of calmness.

The Watch Captains have been in existence since the early 1990s, but since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11 these safety volunteers have found more tasks added to their duties. Some additional duties include reporting unidentified vehicles and to provide information about emergency situations. If a terrorist situation similar to Sept. 11 were to happen the Watch Captains have been trained and informed of what to do in conjunction with DPS.

“Nine of 10 times if a terrorist event were to happen, DPS would not evacuate the campus, but have everyone stay. DPS has everything planned from where people will sleep to how much food and water should be apportioned,” said Eley.

The campus watch captains play a vital role in the community’s safety. “[The Watch Captains] aren’t paid anything extra but commit themselves to the overall safety of the campus community,” said Vann.

“[The Watch Captain program] is a mechanism, which although mostly invisible, has provided a great deal of safety to the entire campus community. To know that someone in each building is constantly vigil, even if their activity, from time-to-time, is no more than securing unlocked doors, establishing a lost and found department, or posting crime alerts, such behavior can indeed secure the overall safety and sense of well being of us all,” said Black.

Mullen Library Not Open 24 Hours During Finals Due to Security Issues

The library is open until 12 a.m. instead of its usual 2 a.m. during finals because of construction, according to Adele Chwalek, director of libraries. Normally open until 2 a.m. during finals, Chwalek said, “The library is under very heavy construction, I don’t know where students would study. There is construction on the first floor and the second floor is partially blocked off. The only available space is the third floor.”
“We have statistics from former exam periods, and they don’t give me evidence that people really need the space. We have exit counts and the number of people in the library on an hourly basis of last semester, and I felt very comfortable [adjusting the hours] because there wasn’t that kind of use in the library,” said Chwalek.
Although the library was open for 24 hours a day during finals from 1980-1984, Chwalek does not see that as a possibility in the near future. “In the past, we’ve only had five students there who are sleeping and six staff members trying to stay awake.”
Chwalek cited her main concern as safety, because Mullen Library “is not a building that lends itself to easy surveillance of any kind.” As head of circulation in the early 1980s, Chwalek had initiated the 24-hour study time previously, but ceased it because “there was not enough use of the library to warrant the expense and risk.”
She continued, “In the stacks, there are 18 sections, each with doors that close. Being the only person on the floor doesn’t give me a sense of security.” According to Chwalek, the stacks have been re-lit and they will be repainted during the summer, as well as have security telephones installed at each end of the stacks. “The telephones should give people a better sense of security,” Chwalek said.
The renovations for the library are scheduled to finish Aug. 11. According to Chwalek, the results will be “amazing.” Although not sure yet, Chwalek said that they talk about having the library open until 2 am during finals next year.

$5000 in Merchandise Stolen from Sophomores' Off-Campus Apartment

A group of four University students moving to the Cloisters were robbed the week before Easter break.
Sophomore politics major Jarad Kent, one of the students robbed, said, “The apartment was pretty messy; they left books all over the floor, clothes all over the floor. It was obvious they just went through everything, looking for anything they could find of value.” Kent and his roommates called the police, who then wrote a report. Two crime scene officers came out to take fingerprints and photographs.
The police said it was a possible inside job because there was no forced entry. The apartment is on the first floor.
Kent and his roommates decided to stay in the apartment as opposed to paying $3600 to break their lease. Kent said if he did not have to suffer a lease penalty, he would move back on campus for the summer. Among items lost were a computer, TV and playstation. The estimated cost of items lost is over $5,000. Kent said, “The Cloisters are still going to be fun, but you have to realize that you’re out there on your own; you don’t have the shelter of the campus.”

Phil Essington contributed to this article.

No University Decision on Soldier's Home Land

There has not been a decision regarding the purchase of the land belonging to the U.S. Soldier and Airmen’s Home, said University Spokesman Victor Nakas. There is also no foreseeable date to when a decision will be made, according to Nakas.
In January, the U.S. Court of Claims gave CUA an indefinite amount of time to make a decision in regards to matching an offer to buy the nearby land. The first decision by the Court gave the University a 60-day deadline.
At that time Nakas was unable to say how long the final decision would take. Nakas said the final decision to match the bid was pending on additional discussion between the University and the Home, as well as further review by the Board of Trustees.

Robberies Prompt Information Alert

In response to recent street robberies, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) has circulated an information alert encouraging students to practice safety precautions that will decrease victim vulnerability.
The alert, released on April 28, listed precautions, which should be used when traveling between off-campus residences and establishments and the campus include: being alert and aware of surroundings, arranging transportation, complying with a robber’s demands if confronted and notifying the police of any suspicious behavior.
In addition to safety protocol, the alert also gives details of the recent string of robberies. It reports that these robberies have occurred in the Brookland area, specifically between 7th and 12th Streets and along the Monroe St. and Michigan Ave. corridor. Most of the offenses have occurred after midnight, during the early morning hours. The most common suspect descriptions in each incident report identify two to four young black males as the robbers. The suspects have also been reported to operate several different vehicles during these incidents.
In a previous interview, Interim Director of DPS Thomasine Johnson, safety officers have been requested to stop students traveling alone at night and inform them of the escort and Safewalks programs. Sgt. Maurice Cartledge of DPS confirmed this initiative is continuing. He said officers hand out a safety pamphlet describing the services DPS provides such as Safewalks and the shuttle bus when they see students walking alone at night. He also said that in addition to the pamphlet, officers tell students to take themselves out of vulnerable situations by walking with a group of people and never alone.
In addition to the Safewalks and the shuttle, some of the other services offered by DPS include patrol officers and escort services.
Officers are on duty 24 hours a day working vehicle, foot, and bicycle patrols. In addition, fixed post officers are stationed at key locations on campus to maintain visibility and secure safety.
The escort service and Safewalks is used primarily during late hours of the night. Both are proactive crime prevention services that assist students and faculty in getting safely to their cars and buildings.
The shuttle and bus services start from the early evening hours and run until midnight, under two different routes. They run on a looped-schedule, making scheduled stops at designated points and times throughout the campus.
Students have mixed feelings in regards to these services. The most frequent complaints were that officers are not as vigilant as they should be and that shuttle services do not run according to schedule.
Sophomores Erika Moulton and Erin Drew said they have noticed an increase of officers throughout campus, which they think is a good thing. Their problem, though, comes from what they considered to be a lack of caring. To an extent, they said they feel that some officers are not truly concerned about students or their safety.
For example, Moulton said after a late night study session in Leahy she did not want to walk back to her room in Flather alone. Since the shuttle service had ended for the night, she stopped into DPS to find out about alternative ways of getting back to her dorm. She said the officer on duty told her that if she wanted to get a ride back she would have to fuel up the van herself and then find another student to drive with her. Moulton said the officer never informed her about, let alone offered, the escort or Safewalks services.
Students also said that when the shuttle service is running, they found that the schedule stops of the shuttle services were unpredictable. Sophomore Katie Convey that the only times she has used the service was when the shuttle just happened to be coming by; otherwise she has no idea of when the scheduled stops are. Other students feel they would like to take more advantage of the service, but find it to be inaccessible for the most part.
The DPS website states that schedules of times and locations have been developed and attached to several bus stop posts. Students, including junior Dan O’Neill, though, said they have never seen these postings on campus. Sgt. Cartledge said that he did not think schedules were posted at the stops, but produced a hardcopy of the schedule. He said schedules are available in DPS and the Kiosk station by the Metro.
When asked for suggestions on making campus safer, students recommended having more posted officers, especially by the Metro. One freshman, who wished to remain unnamed, recommended running the shuttle service according to its schedule and having surveillance cameras throughout campus. Currently, DPS uses surveillance cameras in the parking lot areas.
Sophomore Kat Beesher said that although DPS may not be perfect feels that the office has many strong points as well. She said that she finds DPS to be very speedy in letting the campus know about crimes, calling the crime alerts as very useful. O’Neill also said that while he never has used the escort services, he thinks the programs are a good idea.
DPS, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police Department, said they are coordinating their efforts to investigate the most current offenses in the area and are working to prevent future incidents.

Pay Per View Not an Option for University Cable System

Though bi-yearly changes to the campus-wide television channel line-up are possible, room-by-room cable choice is not, according to Director of Housing and Residential Services Katherine Boone.
In order to choose the six flexible channels in the cable system HRS has surveyed on-campus students, Boone said. The survey allowed students to choose six out of 30 possible channels. Jenifer Campbell, assistant director of HRS, said that the survey is “still being tabulated. We anticipate that we will have all of the information in place by the end of next week.”
“Offering cable service like this keeps the costs down,” said Boone. Individual room cable options, if possible, would cost around $50, while the current system keeps costs down to about $12 per student, said Boone. “This system is good for the whole campus.”
In an e-mail to current campus residents, HRS asked students to respond to the cable survey via e-mail. The survey will be part of the decision making process. The results, though having a large role in the decision, are not the final say, as costs will also be considered, according to HRS.
All Home Box Office channels are permanently included in the channel lineup, but stations such as The Learning Channel and Animal Planet will have to be added yearly through the survey. “Fox News Channel will only be added if it is in the top six in the survey. Last year it received the least votes in the survey,” Boone said.
CUA’s current television signal system is provided by Multi-Dwelling Unit Communications, a system operator of DirecTV. According to Assistant Director of Technology at HRS Bill Powell, a changeover to cable is not possible under the current configuration. Powell said that switching to cable “would require a large capital improvement program.”
Switching to individual cable boxes would not be cost effective to the students or University, said Powell. However, under the current system it would not be possible to offer students the opportunity to purchase any pay-per-view programming, such as movies, concerts, boxing events or other expanded sports programming.
According to Powell, the choice of programming is really in the students’ hands through the surveys.

Bracy Bersnak Elected GSA President

Bracy Bersnak, a politics M.A. candidate on Ph.D trajectory, was the presidential winner of the Graduate Student Association Elections. The elections, which took place Thursday and Friday, were for the positions of president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and two seats for Academic Senate.

Bersnak said he aims for the period of his presidency. The first is to “offer more funds for graduate students to attend academic conferences. These conferences help to get them published.” The second is to “lobby the administration to do what they can to improve security on campus,” Bersnak said. Bersnak said that he feels that a big part of improving security is protecting students’ cars.

Teep Schlachter a philosophy student, was elected as executive vice president and history student Steve Rubis was elected treasurer. Politics student Phil Harold was elected as secretary, and the academic senators elected for next year are Dave Endres, who is studying church history, and Mark Lanoue who is studying biblical studies.

Nominations for these seats began in mid-March and were open for three weeks. After the candidates were announced, they went before the GSA Senate on April 9 to discuss their platforms, said Andrew Hill, current GSA president. All of the races were uncontested, except for the position of president, for which there were two people running.

Said Hill, “Graduate students are busy and the positions on GSA are very time consuming. It’s nice to see that all the candidates we had running are mature and competent. I am sure they will all do a wonderful job.”

Hill, who is working on completing his Ph.D., was also president of the GSA in 1999-2000.

Dean of Enrollment Management Dale Herold Resigns

Dale Herold, dean of enrollment management, has resigned from her position for undisclosed reasons. According to Provost John Convey, an interim dean will be announced “at the end of the week.”

Herold has been on vacation and could not be reached for comment. Herold, whose last day is May 9, “increased visibility and has left the University in good shape, as far as admission operations is concerned,” said Convey.

Christine Mica, the acting director of undergraduate admissions said, “Dale Herold has put the University in a wonderful position and certainly met her three-year goals for what she wanted to do. She has a lot of love for Catholic and some wonderful ideas that she was able to implement. Under her reign, the number of high school visits jumped to 1500 from just a few hundred.”

Convey said, “Dean Herold has done a very nice job since being the dean of admissions.” As dean of enrollment management, Herold initiated “The Power of a Name” marketing campaign. She was interviewed by CNN in December regarding the declining population of males at co-ed universities and also appeared in the The Washington Post, discussing enrollment in D.C. schools not being affected by terrorism.

Convey would not comment as Herold’s reasons for leaving, nor would he indicate where Herold has taken a new position. According to Convey, there will be a search for a new dean of enrollment. However, the search is being organized and there are not yet job postings.

Prior to working at the University, Herold was assistant to the executive vice president for strategic initiatives at Fairleigh University, in Teaneck, N.J. Before working at Fairleigh, Herold worked at the Polytechnic University of New York for ten years. She has worked at CUA for nearly three years.

Letter: Anti-War Does Not Mean Anti-American

If you have not yet visited the Francis Delano Roosevelt Memorial, I highly recommend it. The memorial displays several quotes of the late president. Perhaps the most striking is the one that reads, “I hate war.” These are words spoken by the president who led us into, and eventually led us to victory in World War II. Even though FDR believed that war was the best course of action, he did not hide from the public his detest for war itself, for the death and destruction that war causes. The Pax Christi display outside Hannan this week served as a reminder of this fact: War means death. It did not argue about whether or not this was a just war. It did not condemn the president or the nation. It was a simple reminder about the reality of war. And yet, it has caused much controversy and sparked an impressive amount of discussion.

We are no longer living in an ignorant society. Due to globalization, the media and our own history, we cannot help but acknowledge the reality of war. We no longer live in the America of the 1940s when we hated the Germans because a cartoon in a movie theater made us believe they were evil. We can no longer impersonalise the enemy and brand an entire nation of people as malicious criminals. The “romance” of war is gone.

The purpose of this letter is not meant to convince the reader that the war in Iraq is either just or unjust. It is simply meant as a reminder. Even if you support the war, please keep in mind that war means death and destruction, and that, even if someone does not support the war, that does not mean that person cannot consider him or herself a patriotic American. It is possible to be pro-America but anti-war; after all, FDR was.

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