THE DAILY TARGUM
Volume 142, Number 21
S E R V I N G
T H E
R U T G E R S
C O M M U N I T Y
S I N C E
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 2010
1 8 6 9
Today: Rain
GENERATION WHAT?
High: 78 • Low: 62
With all the websites we add ‘-ing’ to and use as verbs, our generation has yet to find its niche in history. In search of an answer, Inside Beat delves into the vital aspects of our viral era.
STUDENT’S
DEATH SHOCKS CAMPUS Two U. students face charges for privacy invasion BY COLLEEN ROACHE ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
nity at Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus. Together they walked toward the Rutgers Student Center chanting, “Civility without safety, over our queer bodies.” Despite the crowd of spectators they attracted at their destination, some viewers were insulted by their actions. A group of students from Davidson Hall on Busch campus, where Clementi lived, rebuked the protest, arguing that the University community should mourn over Clementi’s death. The students refused to comment. The idea for the rally began yesterday during O’Brien’s class, “Sexuality and Eroticism in the Global Perspective.”
Eighteen-year-old University first-year student and musician Tyler Clementi, of Ridgewood, died last week. University President Richard L. McCormick expressed words of condolence in a statement. “Our University community feels the pain of his loss, and I know there is anger and outrage about the earlier incident,” McCormick said. “I ask that all members of the Rutgers community honor his life by committing to the values of civility, dignity, compassion and respect for each other.” Clementi’s death came soon after two firstyear students at the University, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy student Molly Wei and School of Arts of Sciences student Dharun Ravi, allegedly recorded his involvement in sexual acts in his room in Davidson Hall on Busch campus. Wei and Ravi are individually charged with two counts of invasion of privacy after secretly accessing a video camera in the room of Clementi, another Davidson Hall C resident, and using it to record a sexual encounter and transmit it via the Internet, Middlesex County Prosecutor Br uce Kaplan said. “What we’re alleging is that the camera was placed in the room, and the victim was not aware of this,” Middlesex County Public Information Officer Jim O’Neill said. Wei and Ravi allegedly viewed and transmitted the live image on Sept. 19, O’Neill said. Ravi wrote Sept. 19 on his Twitter page “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went to molly’s room and turned on my web-
SEE SPACE ON PAGE 4
SEE CHARGES ON PAGE 4
ANDREW HOWARD / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students participate in a die-in last night, asking for safer living for LGBT students on campus, after learning about a classmate’s death.
LGBT community demands safe space BY KRISTINE ROSETTE ENERIO UNIVERSITY EDITOR
What started as a group of people marching down College Avenue quickly grew to a crowd of more than 20 people lying outside the entrance of the Rutgers Student Center. “We’re here. We’re queer. We want safety in our homes,” they said in unison. The chant reflected their greater purpose of calling attention to the need for gender-neutral, queer friendly spaces on campus, an issue brought to light by the recent death of University first-year student Tyler Clementi. “Two core students have committed suicide now in a year at Rutgers,” said Robert O’Brien, Department of Anthropology assistant instructor. “This tragedy makes it very clear why such a space is necessary.”
School of Arts and Sciences first-year student Dharun Ravi and Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy first-year student Molly Wei were arrested Tuesday for alledgedly placing a camera in Clementi’s room and transmitting a sexual encounter. A number of University students have met with Residence Life this past year requesting safe spaces for queer students, only to be rejected, O’Brien said. “People are afraid to leave their rooms, and if you’re not even safe in your own room, what on earth are you going to do?” said Aaron Lee, a School of Arts and Sciences senior. O’Brien and his students originally convened in the Douglass Campus Center and eventually joined members from Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Rutgers University and the LGBT commu-
Dance studios close due to MRSA outbreak
‘B’ AWARE
INDEX UNIVERSITY Former Devils players tour NJ to strengthen team-community connections.
BY DEVIN SIKORSKI ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
OPINIONS Teacher reveals a past of prostitution and receives tenure.
UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . 3 METRO . . . . . . . . . 8 OPINIONS . . . . . . . 10 DIVERSIONS . . . . . . 12 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . 14 SPORTS . . . . . . BACK PAUL CHUNG
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Singer Joseph Vincent performs Tuesday on Douglass campus at the B HERE tour, which aims to raise awareness of hepatitis B through art. For full story, see PAGE 6.
Two dance studios in the Mason Gross School of the Arts closed yesterday after the center was notified that one of the dancers was infected with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. MRSA is a type of staph infection that can cause such mild symptoms as skin boils or sores but can also be life-threatening. MRSA is also sometimes called the “super-bug” because it is resistant to many antibiotics. Vice President of Facilities and Capital Planning Antonio Calcado said after being notified, his of fice took the necessar y precautions to exterminate any contamination. “Essentially, there were two buildings we disinfected, ever y square inch of them, [which were] the Corwin Lodge and the Nicholas Music Center [on Douglass campus],” he said.
Calcado said his department disinfected the two studios midday yesterday, making sure to disinfect every part that could potentially hold the bacteria. “Basically, ever ything is sprayed down. Furniture, tabletops, floors to walls,” he said. “Ever ything that is in those rooms is saturated with disinfectant.” There is a waiting period for the disinfectant to work in order to make sure the two studios are safe for dancing students to re-enter, Calcado said. Dealing with such contaminations in University buildings is time-tested, Calcado said, adding he was not worried the studios would be ready to go by tomorrow. “There should be no issue,” he said. “Our department is familiar with it so we don’t think it should be a problem.”
SEE OUTBREAK ON PAGE 7