Classic newspaper Volume 27 Issue no. 2

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October 2010 Vol. 27No. 2

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Soft news TV show revised, not censored by Rebecca Seidel Although many factors resulted in the infrequency and revised content of the Election Simulation's soft news television shows, administrators said 路 that censorship was not among them. Speculation about the show had been circulating among Harris students. The second show aired schoolwide departed dramatically in content from the first, leaving viewers wondering whether the show had been censored. "All I said was that it has to be appropriate," said Principal Kenneth Bonamo. "There's no need for me to be this heavy-handed censor. The students ... will monitor themselves." Students working on the softmedia show affirmed that the edits they made were based on group decisions. All of the revisions to the show were by consent of the group and under the supervision of their teacher, Chris Hackney. Though the administration did not explicitly demand the removal of content, both Mr. Bonamo and Assistant Principal of Humanities Susan Getting said that students' rights of expression are limited in a _ classroom setting. continued on Page 3

Townsend Harris High School at Queens路 College

Mock arrest stirs support for prisoner on death row

Senior "police officers" lead Alice in handcuffs to the courtyard for a mock trial.

by Lory Martinez "Alice Kim, you are under arrest." A "police officer" handcuffed Alice, senior, who struggled and repeated, "I didn't do anything wrong!" as she was taken into the courtyard for a student-run "trial." Supporters cheered, "Save, save Alice Kim!" and drew a large crowd ofHarrisites to the courtyard, where the qlitck trial resulted in her death sentence. Aquib Yacoob, president of the Townsend Harris chapter of Amnesty International, organized the mock arrest to raise awareness about the fight to abolish the death penalty and save a man named Troy Davis from an unjust death sentence. Troy Davis was accused of committing murder at a convenience store in Georgia. He was sentenced to death after nine witnesses said that he had committed the murder. Soon after, seven out of the nine witnesses retracted their testimonies. Amnesty International has created a global campaign to abolish the death penalty and save innocent people like him. "I'd been mobilizing since the summer after his trial, and once Alice said she wanted to do something about it in school, I jumped on the opportunity and presented it to Ms. Fee and Mr. Bonamo," Aquib said. continued on Page 3

Special Interest Rally educates voters on party issue~ by Hayley Desmond With parodies, politicians in tutus and talking ballot boxes, seniors comprising the Election Simulation's special interest groups vied for the votes of underclassmen at the Special Interest Rally on October 20. Teacher and organizer Franco Scardino's AP Government classes aimed to entertain, inform and sway the select classes that came to the auditorium to watch the skits. The function of a special interest group is to get the candidates who best support its issues elected. Seniors from Democratic and Republican

groups presented differing viewpoints on topics such as health care, finance and education, drawing mixed reactions. "Both the Democrats and Republicans did a phenomenal job,'' said senior Stephanie Gergoudis of the Democratic group PSC-CUNY Professors. "I think it's going to be a close election; just like in real life." "It was very informative and helped clarify each candidate's objectives. Not only was the information useful, but entertaining as well. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the skits," said sophomore Catherine Moskos. Alexis Martinez, sophomore, continued on Page 5

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INSIDE: Rachel's Challenge SING previews

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pageS

MLIT

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Glee review page7


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Classic newspaper Volume 27 Issue no. 2 by The Classic - Issuu