60 FSU students vie for chance to be photographed by Playboy By Kathleen Laufenberg Knight-Ridder Newspapers TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - On Wednesday, engineering student Tonia Snyder attended her Numerical Modeling class, then Vector Statics, before zipping over to Tallahassee's Courtyard by Marriott hotel for a quick Playboy shoot. "I wasn't even nervous," the blue eyed 20-year-old said after the photo session of her in a brief bikini. "I don't see it as exploitation at all," she added, relaxing in a denim mini skirt, striped shirt and beaming smile that said "I own the world!" "The way I look at it, it's not ex ploitation if it's my choice," she con tinued, as Playboy photographer David Mecey nodded heartily in agreement. "I see it as a woman say ing: 'l'm beautiful, I'm strong, I can do this."' Snyder is one of 60 Florida State University students vying to be in cluded in Playboy's October "Women of the Atlantic Coast Conference" is- Only four to eight FSU students will he chosen, Mecey said. Judges will base their selections on Mecey and his assistants' recommendations, as well as on the photos of the women in bikinis taken Wednesday and Thursday. Photos for the October is sue will be taken later this month. "I need to know if there is an ad venturous spirit there," said the laid back photographer who has been tak ing shots of women for Playboy for nearly 20 years. "And I need to know if they can deal with being partially nude or nude" in front of a small cam era crew Most of the college women who apply to be in Playboy's college-based issues, Mecey said, have never mod eled. Very few - maybe one out of 100 - have had any surgical enhancements. "Maybe that's why these issues are so popular," the 46-year-old photog rapher quipped. Snyder said one of her biggest con cerns was not whether her Playboy shots would come back to haunt her one day but whether she would be eliminated as a Playboy candidate because of her three small scars from skin cancer surgery a year ago. Mecey said that wouldn't be a problem. "We don't airbrush," he said, "but we would take that out." Snyder, who grew up on the beaches of Destin, said she had al ready told her mom and stepdad of her Playboy plans - and gotten their blessings. Black student attacked incident on Penn State campus By Mister Mann Frisby Knight-Ridder Newspapers Two days before the 30th anniver sary of Dr. Martin Luther King's as sassination, a black Penn State se nior was the victim of a racially mo tivated attack yesterday by a group of white men, campus police said. While walking to get a snack at around 2 a.m. last weekend on the school's main campus in University Park, Blakeley Cooper, 21, a Will iam Penn High School graduate, says he was suddenly attacked by five white men. Two men in the group began to shout racial slurs at him while he walked alone. After a heated argument, two of the men began to fight Cooper. "When we were fighting one of them said, 'Come on n— I'll lynch you,':" Cooper said. After the initial confrontation, Cooper says he ran and was pursued by his attackers. A student who hap- Stupid behavior can land you in prison abroad By Alfred Borcover Knight-Ridder Newspapers Here's a warning for college stu dents and other young American trav elers: If you're planning a trip abroad, misdeeds can mess up your life, your health and hit your parents in the pocketbook. You need only look at the case of Jennifer Davis, 20, a would-be model from Danville, 111., and Krista Barnes, 19, of Los Angeles. Last month both were sentenced to 6 years in a Lima, Peru, prison. Davis, who was living in Los Angeles, and Barnes, her roommate, were arrested at Lima's airport in September 1996 with more than 7 pounds of cocaine in each of their suitcases as they checked in to return to L.A. They had agreed to carry drugs in return for a free three day vacation and $5,000. Since their arrest, both women have been held in Lima's Santa Monica de Chorrillos women's prison awaiting disposition of their case. They could be trans ferred back to a U.S. prison to serve their sentence. Interviewed by a Chicago Tribune reporter last year, Davis, who has de veloped health problems, said she was assured she would not be caught. "Boy, was I stupid." Every year the State Department hopes that students as well as Ameri can travelers will avoid doing some thing stupid. Each year more than 2,500 U.S. citizens are arrested abroad, more than one-third on drug related charges, and many more for "My mom was like, 'You've got the body, you might as well go for it, be cause your body doesn't get any bet ter when you get older."' Her stepdad's reaction: "Whatever makes you happy, just do it." She hadn't told her biological fa ther, though, because she said they aren't close and she wasn't sure what his reaction would be. Likewise, Playboy hopeful Kristine Kelly, a 19-year-old FSU business major, said she had phoned home to announce her Playboy plans - but with a slightly different outcome. "When I told my Mom, she was real quiet for a while. Then she told me I would have to be the one to tell my Dad." When she told her father, Kelly said, "He was real quiet for a while Then he said, 'OK."' What prompted Kelly to apply for the shoot? "I really like the way they present them (models)," said Kelly about the magazine her boyfriend reads. "I see a lot of classy pictures in there." Snyder, who wants to be a struc tural engineer with NASA, said she and her younger sisters used to sneak into their parents' bedroom and look under the mattress for the Playboy magazines her father hid there. pened to be walking by shielded Cooper during the second attack. "He flagged down a police car at about 2:20 in the morning and said that two people were chasing him," "My son went up there to get an education and not to be harassed for the color of his skin" Claudia Cooper, victim's mother said Clifford Lutz, supervisor of the university police. "We know that they said racial epithets both from Mr. Cooper's statement and the wit ness' statement." Cooper was scratched and bruised, but did not require hospi talization. Two of the attackers have been identified by campus police but their names are being withheld until the National Campus News Thursday, April 9, 1998 The Behrend College Collegian - Page 5 rowdy behavior. The State Department makes a spe cial effort to alert students about the risks of overseas travel. "We warn students about the hazards of use or possession of illegal drugs, and the risk of arrest for disorderly behavior connected with alcohol abuse," said James P. Rubin, State Department spokesman. As part of its program to reach students, the State Department sends information to more than 1,000 college and university newspapers. (Additional country information is available by an automated fax system, 202-647-3000, and on the Internet at travel.state.gov) "You should be aware that there are increased efforts by many countries to stop the flow of illegal narcotics," the State Department warns. "If you think there is no real danger in buy ing or carrying just a 'small' amount of drugs on your overseas trip, you might be in for a very unpleasant sur prise. Americans have been arrested for possessing as little as a third of an ounce of marijuana." When many Americans travel abroad, they pack an ample supply of arrogance that makes them feel like they're superior - above foreign law. "You might assume that, as an American citizen, you are immune from prosecution under foreign laws and that the U.S. Constitution follows you wherever you go," the State De partment notes. "Unlike the U.S., few countries believe 'you are innocent until proven guilty.' The truth is that Americans suspected of drug viola- "My sisters and I would sniff them out wherever they would hide them," she allowed. "It's funny how they always find them," Mecey reflected. He said he routinely asks college candidates why they want to pose for Playboy, and is often told that it's a fantasy they've had since they were young because their dads had subscriptions. Whatever their motivations, Mecey said the FSU students he had seen Wednesday were a beautiful group of young women - even if screening 30 a day was a lot of work. Wait a minute - work? "OK - I am the envy of every man I meet," Mecey allowed. As for pin-up wannabes Kelly and Snyder, both easily dismissed any possible job repercussions later in life that might arise from posing nude "I really hadn't thought about it," Kelly allowed, "but I think it really shouldn't matter as long as you're doing your job." "If they can't handle it, maybe that isn't the job for me," said Snyder, as she got ready to join her environmen tal engineering class on a field trip to the sewage plant. "But if it became an issue," she added, "I'm sure I could handle it." in racial district attorney decides what charges are to be filed. Cooper's mother was distraught to learn about the attack, particularly because her son is more than three hours away. "My son went up there to get an education and not to be harassed for the color of his skin," said Cooper's mother, Claudia. "He's there for the same purpose that they are and that's to get an edu cation and to better yourself." Penn State's main campus is no stranger to racial tension. More than 2,000 students and faculty rallied on the predominantly white campus in November 1995 after swastikas and racial slurs were found scrawled on walls and doors. Franklin Learning Center grad Sandra Choute, 21, was among the hate-crime victims "After the events that happened in 1995 many groups have worked together to unify on campus," said Choute, president of the NAACP chapter on campus. tions can face severe penalties, even late by phone, explained a State De the death penalty, in some foreign partment spokeswoman. "Sometimes countries (Brunei, Malaysia, we find out from the victim's family " It is not uncommon to spend months or even years in pretrial detention, only to be sentenced to a lengthy prison stay without parole in a foreign jail." Singapore and Saudi Arabia, among them). It is not uncommon to spend months or even years in pretrial de tention, only to be sentenced to a lengthy prison stay without parole in a foreign jail." Davis and Barnes spent 18 months in the abysmal Lima prison before they were sentenced by a judge in March. The women could have re ceived 8- to 15-year terms, but re ceived lighter sentences because they cooperated with officials who pros ecuted and convicted three members of a Peruvian drug ring. The State Department emphasizes that once you leave U.S. soil, U.S. laws and constitutional rights no longer apply. U.S. consular officers can visit jailed Americans to see they are being treated humanely, but they can't get them out of jail or intervene in a foreign country's legal system. When Americans are arrested abroad, someone in the ministry of interior or security or, in some instances, the ministry of foreign affairs generally notifies the U.S. embassy or consu Canada court rules for Gay fired by Christian college By Randall Palmer Reuters OTTAWA - Canada's Supreme Court, further expanding homosexual rights, ruled unanimously Thursday in favor of a gay man fired by a Chris tian college because of his sexual ori entation. Delwin Vriend, now 31, no longer wants to work for The King's Univer sity College in Edmonton, Alberta, and the court left open possible de fenses for the college and other reli gious institutions that seek to deny employment to homosexuals. But the 8-0 Supreme Court decision could have a big impact in the prov ince of Alberta, often seen as the Texas of Canada with its frontier, con servative traditions. The court ruled that the government of Alberta violated Vriend's federal constitutional rights since it con sciously decided not to include sexual orientation in its human rights legis lation. "The exclusion sends a message to all Albertans that it is permissible, and perhaps even acceptable, to discrimi nate against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation," Justice Peter Cory wrote for the court. "The effect of that message on gays and lesbians is one whose significance cannot be underestimated." The court consequently decided it would, with immediate effect, "read in" the words sexual orientation into Alberta's human rights act effec Two professors are scolded for doing what they thought was community service By Sam Kusic Campus Correspondent (University of Pittsburgh) A Pennsylvania senator is barking about two University of Pittsburgh professors who helped block a tim ber harvest from a national forest. State Sen. Bill Slocum has asked the university to discipline law pro fessors Jules Lobel and Bill Luneburg for helping an environmental group delay a 5,000-acre harvest from the Allegheny National Forest in north western Pennsylvania that was sched uled for this summer and fall. A judge will decide whether the timber can be US State Department because the first thing the person re quests of prison authorities is to no tify family." The consular officer who comes to meet a jailed American brings along a Privacy Act waiver, possibly infor mation on the country's legal system and court procedures and a list of law yers who have voluntarily expressed a willingness to work with U.S. citi zens in trouble, she said. An American who signs the pri vacy form waives his or her rights to privacy and agrees that the facts about the case can be disclosed in a num ber of ways. The waiver can be broad enough to include everyone or so re strictive that it includes only a par ent, she explained. As for the list of lawyers, the State Department's spokeswoman said: "We do not vouch for these lawyers. All we can say is that as of the date the list was compiled, the lawyers were available, were practicing in town and were interested in Ameri can clients. We will make calls to the lawyer on behalf of the jailed Ameri- tively rewriting the law. "Finally the Supreme Court of Canada has sent a message loud and clear that lesbians and gays in Alberta are entitled to equal human rights pro tection as everyone else," John Fisher, executive director of the homosexual rights group Egale, told reporters in ihe Supreme Court lobby. Gerald Chipeur, a lawyer who ar gued against Vriend before the court for a group called the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, said the deci sion was significant in expanding cov erage of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to the private sector. "This is a watershed decision," he said. The government of Alberta, had argued that it would be inappropriate for judicial activism to override the legislature's will. Justice Frank lacobucci, who co wrote the court's decision, said he rec ognized the Alberta legislature may have acted on justifiable moral grounds in excluding sexual orienta tion from its human rights law. He noted that this could theoreti cally provide a basis for ignoring a provision of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But he said the Alberta government had failed to make its arguments before the court on this basis. The conservative Canada Family Action Coalition said the citizens of Alberta had sound reasons for not wanting to enshrine "sexual orienta sold after the U.S. Forestry Service conducts an environmental impact study due for release in October. Slocum maintains that Lobel and Luneburg - who work for a partially state-funded school - acted in conflict of interest when they took the case. Their work, Slocum has said, pre vented four counties from collecting $2.7 million from the timber sale. As a result, Slocum says those taxpayers may be hit with property tax increases. Lobel and Luneburg, who repre sented the Allegheny Defense Project for free, said they consider their work an act of community service. "Law school professors are encour- can, ask questions and act as an in termediary. The decision to hire and pay for the lawyer is the American's." The Bureau of Consular Affairs' Overseas Citizens Services (202-647- 5225) can arrange the wiring of money to an American in trouble or even arrange for a loan. "Later on, as the detention becomes more lengthy, and certain other needs become ap parent, such as medical help, we will intercede with prison authorities to ensure whatever level of medical care that's available to other prisoners is available to the jailed American," the spokeswoman said. "Once the case goes to trial, a con sular officer, in most cases, will moni tor the proceedings. We cannot ad vocate on the American's behalf or act as a legal representative, but we can ensure the American is not dis criminated against because of his or her citizenship." Although a trip abroad might sig nal party time, Americans can find themselves jailed for being intoxi cated in public areas and for drunk driving. Don't assume that foreign resort areas, for example, are more relaxed than those in the States. And don't be a patsy if someone asks you to carry a package or drive a car across a border, the State De partment warns. "Once that package or anything in the car is in your pos session, you become responsible for it. You will be blamed for it, no mat ter who has put it there. You might unknowingly become a narcotics traf ficker." tion" in the legislation. "We feel that it might lead to such things as homosexual adoption, spe cial status for private transactions, foster care, school curriculum, things like that there might be preference given to homosexuals," the coalition's national affairs director, Peter Stock, told reporters at the court. Alberta Premier Ralph Klein had formed a ministerial task force ahead of the decision to advise on how to react, but he had no immediate com ment. The court recognized that Alberta was free to invoke a rarely used clause allowing a province to maintain laws which violate the charter, an idea the task force was certainly considering even if it could be politically embar rassing. For churches and other religious institutions, such as King's, the court also noted provisions in the Alberta human rights act excusing discrimi nation if it can be demonstrated to be a bona fide requirement for the job or in "reasonable and justifiable circum- stances" It is on that basis that a Christian church could decline to hire a Jewish rabbi as a pastor, for example. Groups which find homosexuality counter to their religious beliefs could make the same argument over sexual orienta tion. However, Thursday's decision means that such groups would have to justify that requirement before hu man rights tribunals. aged by the American Bar Associa tion to do pro bono work," Lobel said. "I think that's all we've done here." Luneburg said Slocum has "beaten this horse until there's nothing left but individual atoms floating around." University officials have not disci plined the professors, and it's still uncertain whether they will, school spokesman Ken Service said. "The university recognizes and un derstands that this is a complex issue," Service said. In light of the controversy, school officials are revising university guide lines stating under what conditions faculty members may perform free services or accept outside work.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers