Head of Biology Department Publishes Results of Five Year Study of Viruses

Venigalla B. Rao, head of the University's Department of Biology, is part of a research team that includes professors at Purdue University. On March 23, they published an article in the journal "Molecular Cell" about their research.

The article, entitled "The Structure of the ATPase that Powers DNA Packaging into Bacteriophage T4 Procapsids" details the results of the five-year collaboration researching this structure. Rao himself has spent 27 years working on this project.

In order to infect new host cells, a virus must package its entire genome and inject it into a host cell. The entire package must be extremely small and the packaging process must be completed very rapidly. In order to achieve this, a protein vertex helps to package the DNA into an empty viral procapsid. This process is partly mediated by the protein studied by the group.

Headed by Professor of Biological Sciences, Dr. Michael Rossmann, the team also includes former Purdue doctoral student Petra Gentz, postdoctoral research associates Siyang Sun of Purdue University, Kiran Kondabagil of Catholic and Rao. Rao is a graduate of Indian Institute of Science and conducted his postdoctoral research at the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine, concentrating in Molecular Virology and has worked at the University for seventeen years.

RIAA Proposes Settlement Offers to Offending Students

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sent an additional 405 pre-litigation letters to 23 colleges and universities as part of their new deterrence campaign to stop illegal file sharing last Wednesday. The number of letters now total 805 throughout 40 colleges and universities.

On Feb. 28, the RIAA, whose member companies include approximately 90 percent of all legitimate record labels, broadened their fight against file sharing by targeting universities students, sending universities reports of file sharing within that school, tracked though IP addresses. The RIAA essentially enlists those universities with the task of tracking the students whose IP address denotes file sharing. Rather than formally filing a lawsuit for the illegal uploading of copyrighted music, the letters detail a settlement agreement in which the student pays a fine proportional to the amount of illegal file sharing committed, which has averaged anywhere between $3,000 and $4,000. The RIAA thus alleviates them of a lawsuit and averts legal action and fees. The schools that have been hit with the letters include Boston University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Purdue University and Vanderbilt University.

"We are pursuing the same kinds of initiatives with universities as before - education, enforcement, promotion of legal alternatives and technical measures to inhibit illegal file-trafficking. But we're focusing more on the enforcement arm of the program in terms of lawsuits on college campuses. Frankly, we've found that students [know] that downloading from unauthorized [peer-to-peer] systems is illegal, but the chance of getting caught isn't great enough to discourage them from doing it," said Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, in a web chat with university students. He added that by hitting various universities with lawsuits, the perceived risk of getting caught will be greater. The RIAA plans to send out 400 pre-lawsuit letters per month, according to Sherman, with liberal leeway as to how many shared files merits a letter.

"We go on P2P services just like any other user to find those students who are uploading and downloading files. While our lawsuits three years ago initially focused on egregious infringers, those with hundreds of files available, today we do not have any minimum amount of files in order to move forward with a lawsuit. Students should understand that they are not anonymous when they use P2P services," said Steven Marks, the RIAA's General Counsel.

Dr. William Lantry, Director of Academic Technology Services from the Center for Planning and Information Technology (CPIT) at the University has followed the RIAA's actions closely.

"I am looking at it several times a day," said Lantry. "These students are paying like $4,000, on average for their settlements. But that's about what the RIAA was getting when they were suing. The RIAA [.] is getting what it wants and not even having to pay the legal fees." The University has not been hit with the RIAA's new campaign, but has complied with the RIAA's take-down policy internally.

Though the University complies with illegal file sharing policies, it has not blocked any program or network that may facilitate it. "We absolutely do not block [Limewire]. There are legitimate usages of peer-to-peer [networks]. We are not in the business of policing that stuff," said Lantry." However, he added that the network favors legitimate research traffic that is in line with the "pedagogical and research aspects of the University."

Last year, the University was in negotiations with Ruckus Network, Inc., a college-only multimedia source aimed at replacing Limewire or Gnutella as a popular source for music, though through streaming. However, after lukewarm reaction from students who have used it, citing its poor multimedia selection, the Academic Technology Services never finalized a deal.

While the RIAA has reported that 116 students have submitted to the settlement, some 284 students have resisted. Many students have called the RIAA's attempts extortion and legally baseless. While some state universities are legally obligated to distribute the RIAA's letters, private universities and colleges have no obligation to do so. Two noted universities who have refused to track the students as requested by the letters are the University of Wisconsin the University of Nebraska, for lack of legal obligation and inability to track down students due to changing IP addresses, respectively. The University of Maine has stated that it will not pass on the letters to its students, but rather will leave it up to them if they wish to collect them. Other universities are demanding compensation from the RIAA for the time and resources needed to track and match IP addresses and the student it corresponds to.

Though the University has no reason to suspect it is being monitored by the RIAA, it does warn of the risks and ramifications of illegal file sharing. As the University improves its Internet speed through bandwidth changes, it also warns students of abusing the speed. "As network speed increases, [the level] of monitoring also increases," said Lantry. "Students need to be careful."

CPIT Speeds Up Internet

The Center for Planning and Information Technology (CPIT) has improved Inter speed by increasing bandwidth in the University's network.

The Academic Technology Services of CPIT has planned a two-phase approach to increase Internet speed.

CPIT detected problems as early as last semester, but noticed a significant decrease in speed early this semester.

"We saw a substantial decrease in ResNet performance after Christmas, and some of that we think is due to [.] a substantial increase in the number of game consoles being registered after [the holidays]," said Betsy Ramsey, Director of Information Technology of CPIT. ResNet is a part of the campus network that provides high-speed Internet access to residence halls.

"We do monitor the performance of the residence halls and we've seen a substantial improvement," said Ramsey. CPIT stated that since February, the speed has doubled.

"Because we had been monitoring [connection speed], we already had some plans in progress for upgrading the network. But to do that in the major way that we wanted to do requires a lot of work in the infrastructure; we have to upgrade the hardware [and] bring in new circuits and so we knew that could not happen in as timely fashion as we wanted," said Ramsey. However, in order to speed up the process, CPIT implemented a more immediate phase to the upgrade, aimed at a partial increase of speed, which was instated two weeks ago.

CPIT responded to student criticisms claiming inaction or insufficient action by stating that they do monitor the network and is currently running on T3 connection, which has been true since 1998. CPIT expects to finish their last phase by May.

Pollster Zogby Says College Students are First Global Citizens

University scholars discussed the status of the American Dream and its future in American society, Wednesday.

These scholars discussed how race and gender shape the American Dream and advocated active enforcement of existing laws affecting equality.

The discussion was titled "The American Dream in the 21st Century: A Pre-Election Year Discussion" and was presented by two panels. University sociology professor Sandra Hanson and politics professor John Kenneth White served as the chairs of each panel.

Hanson presented a paper entitled "Whose American Dream? Gender and the American Dream." Commenting on the presidential election of 2008, Hanson said that "we might make history with our two Democratic frontrunners," referring to Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. She also discussed the inequality of the American Dream stating, "The American Dream has gender bias in both definition and the ability to achieve it." She talked about the social connotations associated with the American Dream saying, "to deny the way that the dream works to the advantage of some and the disadvantage of others is immoral."

The keynote speaker John Zogby said that the big issues would be Iraq, health care and terrorism. He said that this election will not be like that of 2004 because the candidates in 2008 are more likely to "hug the middle." In this election, Zogby said, "the American people are looking for someone to get the job done." Zogby is a renowned pollster and senior fellow of the Life Cycle Institute, where the speech was held.

The focus of Zogby's address was the changes that will be made to the American Dream in the near future. "We are in the midst of a redefinition of the American character," he said. He said that this change will be a shift from the current "desire to acquire" mentality to a more spiritual and retrospective outlook. He attributes this shift to the growth of four major groups.

The first two groups are "spiritualists" and "investors next door." Spiritualists seek a more meaningful life while investors want financial security. The third group Zogby classified was the "frequent Wal-Mart, dollar store and Costco shoppers." He states that these people "not only shop for value but for values," saying they are willing to trade down to generic brands in hope of later trading up.

The final group that Zogby describes is the "first group of global citizens," who are generally 18-25 year-olds. This group, he says, "may not know where Darfur is on a map, but they know that there is a Darfur," referring to the new global awareness that college-aged students are acquiring.

"We need a new dream; we are on the cusp of a new dream," he said. He cited Michael Jordan, Colin Powell and Barack Obama as possible keys to changing the American Dream.

CORRECTIONS

The article "Southside Damages Reach Nearly Ten Thousand in February Alone" (03/23/2007) incorrectly stated that damages totaled $9,400 for solely the month of February. That number was the total for the entire academic year, from August through February. An e-mail from Brian Papajcik, area coordinator of South Neighborhood, was misinterpretted. The Tower apologizes for the mistake.

In "Lottery Leaves 182 Students Scrambling," (03/23/2007) Odyssey Day is incorrectly stated to take place on April 14. The actual date of Odyssey Day is Friday, April 13. The O'Connellville protest begins on Thursday, April 12 at 9 p.m. and continues through Friday, April 13 at 6 p.m.

The photograph of freshman Stephanie Clemente with the story "Softball Takes Down Ville Julie and Mary Wash in Double Headers" (03/23/2007) was incorrectly credited to Amy Smith. The photograph was actually taken by Chase McAlpine.

In the article titled "Men's Lacrosse Beats Mary Wash and Hood," (03/23/07) the lacrosse team beat Hood 11 - 8, not 6-3 as reported.

Notes and Asides

Since Hoover had newspaper "blankets," The Tower would like to offer its services as an O'Connell blanket for the upcoming protest. Go ahead and try it on for size!

Does everything have to be named Opus? Can't we opus a little harder?

When Wolf Blitzer was at the hotel, was it technically considered the Situation Room?

We had a lot of corrections this week, but if you find one this week we're off the hook - April Fools!

Jim Ellis spoke to the University, promoting the movie based on his extraordinary coaching skills; Remember the Titans 2: All Wet.

DPS CRIME LOG

THEFT
Thurs. March 22, 8:30 p.m.
Mullen Library
Complainant one reports person(s) unknown took her property. DPS was unsuccessful in locating any witnesses.

FIRE ALARM
Sun. March 25, 11:00 a.m.
The Edward Pryzbyla Center
The DPS was notified of an activated fire alarm. Once on the scene, DPS learned food was cooking on the grill and burned. The fumes, from which, activated a kitchen smoke detector. Maintenance will reset the alarm, and D.C. Fire Department was not needed.

THEFT FROM AUTO
Tues. March 27, 7:50 p.m.
The DuFour Center (Parking Lot)
Complainant one reports, he parked his vehicle on Tues. March 27 at 2:00 p.m. When complainant one returned at 7:45 p.m., he discovered his driver's side door lock punched and his property gone.

THEFT FROM AUTO
Tues. March 27, 10:00 p.m.
Harewood Road (Public Space)
Complainant one reports she parked her vehicle on Tues. March 27 at 3:30 p.m. When she returned at 8:10 p.m. she discovered her vehicle's passenger side window smashed and her property taken.

THEFT FROM AUTO
Tues. March 27, 10:30 p.m.
Harewood Road (Public Space)
Complainant one reports she parked her vehicle on Tues. March 27 at 1:00 p.m. When she returned at 10:00 p.m. she noticed her vehicle's passenger side window smashed and her property taken.

THEFT FROM AUTO
Tues. March 27, 10:30 p.m.
Harewood Road (Public Space)
Complainant one reports she parked her vehicle on Tues. March 27 at 7:00 p.m. When she returned at 9:00 p.m. she noticed her vehicle's passenger side door open and her property gone.

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY
Wed. March 28, 11:41 a.m.
Theological College (Parking Area)
Respondent one reports person(s) unknown smashed complainant one driver's side window. It is unclear whether anything was taken.

- Compiled by Ryan J. Reilly

Fifth Column

It's great that we can all look forward to the following weekend; Easter is here! Unfortunately, it is difficult for many to enjoy the entirety of the weekend, something I did not discover until my freshman year of college.

Me: Happy Good Friday!

Catholic Student: Dude, you don't wish people a Happy Good Friday you idiot. It's a solemn day.

Me: .then why is it called Good Friday?

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays, up there with Earth Day, Halloween, and March 14th. I think almost everyone knows what's on March 14th. Pi Day of course! Yeah. Pi Day. That's all.

Anyway, I remember when I was growing up, every Easter after coming back from Hebrew school we'd search wildly for the plastic eggs in our backyard. My neighbors used to help me find the eggs so I could get more of them than my competitive brother. Their help wasn't needed however, because for some reason, as a kid, my brother lacked the ability to look up. So anything placed higher than his head was pretty much up for grabs. This also worked wonders when hiding the TV remote.

I think our children could learn a lot through our Easter traditions. For instance, the plastic eggs were filled with candy, chocolate, money, and the occasional lottery card. This is to represent how our hollow existence can be filled with money, food, and gambling.

Another great tradition is the Cadbury Bunny. All you nut-jobs out there against genetic engineering and animal testing should be locked away, because if the progress of science brings us more results like the Cadbury Bunny, then I will gleefully accept whatever abominations are unleashed. It's a bunny, it clucks like a chicken, and it LAYS CHOCOLATE EGGS FILLED WITH CREAM! Bok bok bok bok bok!

Then there's the chocolate bunny. I don't get how this is a tradition, it's just a sick, twisted joke. You look in your Easter basket, and there it is; the obligatory chocolate bunny, staring at you with their frozen, soulless, marzipan eyes. "Go ahead," it seems to say. "Go ahead and take a bite out of a defenseless bunny you sick freak." You know you want to take a bite, but let's face it; it doesn't matter if you start from the ears or the legs; you're still a monster.

When I was younger, I avoided this completely, because instead of a bunny, my mother would get me a large chocolate Garfield. I didn't feel as bad about eating Garfield because I knew he would be back each and every day in my newspaper, harassing Odie and eating lasagna. Every. Damn. Day. And you know what Garfield? One day, Odie's going to fight back and force your head into your own food dish, you fat orange repetitive clown. Anyway, I was very sad when I discovered that my large chocolate Garfield was hollow. So, in my young state of mind, I figured I'd make a completely solid chocolate treat if I filled it with Hershey's Chocolate Syrup and freeze it in the freezer. Three weeks later, I discovered that Hershey's Syrup does not in fact freeze, as did my parents, who were very unhappy to find the mess I made sitting in the back of the freezer.

I still ate it.

In conclusion, Easter is a time that we should teach the joys of materialism, scientific progress, and cruelty to animals. Enjoy it, everyone!

Area News Brief

Amid controversy over the quality of resident care, the Armed Forces Retirement Home adjacent to the University has announced plans to develop a 77-acre parcel of land on their campus.
In recent weeks, employees of the retirement home have spoken out about "a rising number of deaths, resident rooms spattered with blood, urine and feces, and veterans suffering from bed sores and in one case, maggots in a wound. The chief operating officer for the retirement home said the allegations are "without merit."
The Pentagon launched an investigation into these claims last week; it included an unscheduled visit of four doctors to the facility. Those who raised concerns say that they have suffered retaliation from the company that manages the home.
Some residents have filed a class-actions suit against the home, while other say they are happy with the care they are receiving.
In an effort to raise money for the refurbishment and expansion of facilities, the home will build 300 affordable housing units, market-rate and condominium units, medical office space, a small hotel and other retail facilities. Parks advocates say they envision this project as the beginning of a greater D.C. "Central Park."

Jim Ellis, Inspiration for the Movie "Pride," Speaks to Students at University

Jim Ellis, the coach who inspired the movie "Pride," spoke to over 90 students, administrators and guests in a speech hosted by the Office of the Dean of Students.

Michael Andrews, assistant dean of students, organized the event and introduced Ellis. Andrews said when speaking to people who knew Ellis, he noticed a consistent theme: his humility.

Ellis spoke about the stereotype that says African-Americans cannot swim, saying that he has confronted racism many times in his life. When he was 16 years old, Ellis went to the local YMCA and asked the coach of the swim team for a tryout. The coach, thinking he was there for a basketball tryout, said the gym was down the hall. After Ellis explained he wanted to try out for the swim team, the coach put him up against a group of girls. "Remember, Afro-Americans can't swim," said Ellis.

He went on to swim all through high school and swam for two years at Cheney State College before the team was phased out. Ellis found a job in civil service in Philadelphia after graduation. He decided to create the swim team because he saw a void in the community.

"A lot of young men did not have a father image and a lot were afraid to travel to other parts of Philadelphia because of the gangs," said Ellis.

Oscar nominee Terrence Howard portrayed Ellis, who approved the actor after watching Howard's performance in "Hustle and Flow." The movie was released in theatres last Friday.

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