WebDorm’ helps students partake side of By Christine Tatum College Press Exchange CHICAGO (CPXi - The views in this dorm room are anything hut interesting Just ask the guy who lives here. He II he the lirst to tell you there’s not a whole lot to look at. unless you re really into watching someone sit and type and sit and type some more. Oh, yeah, and maybe strum a guitar every now and then or chat with friends. Welcome to WehDorm.com. an Internet site where the most mundane aspects of student life are entertainment. Brought to the world by a start-up company based in Boston called College Web Inc., the site allows viewers to peek into the rooms of college students scattered across the country. The project launched Feb. 1, featuring eight students who purportedly attend Bentley and Trinity colleges, Brandeis and Cornell universities, the University of Vermont, The State University of New York at Albany and Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute. A "Great Lakes" version is expected to debut Feb. X with students from Albion College and Bradley, Eastern Michigan, Illinois Stale and Oakland Working 9 to 5 i By James A. F'ussell Knight-Ridder Newspapers College is great. You get to hang out with your friends, determine your own schedule and sleep laic if you want. It's different w hen y ou get your first full-time job. You might have to move aw ay from friends. And forget sleeping in. You have to get up and go to work. Making this transition from school to work involves many new experiences. Some (your first real paycheck) are easier to handle than others ta scare new work cm ironment) "A lot of people think it's over when the job offer has been made." said Gloria Campbell, director of career counseling at Johnson County (Kan.) Community College. "But really, it's only starting. It's the beginning of their professional career." And there is a transition to be made Good Samaritans offer help to students stiffed on scholarships College Press Exchange CHICAGO (CPX) - Good Samaritans throughout the United Stales are coming to the rescue ol college students who were duped into believing they had won SIO.OOO scholarships renewable for four years from Houston-based Adams Vision USA. From coast to coast, individuals, corporations, colleges and universities are trying to help 51 students who were gypped out of their scholarships when Adams Vision told them it didn't have the money to pick up their tuition costs. Last year, the company promised scholarships to one student in every state and Washington D.C. The company’s failure to pay up was a hard blow for the winners, many of whom were National Merit Scholars who graduated first in their class and had at least a 3.0 grade-point average and combined SAT score of 1,160 and above. Given the assurance of having the money, many winners chose to attend some of the nation’s most expensive schools, institutions whose tuition their parents cannot afford to pay. Adams Vision owner Val Adams, who has been convicted in the past of writing bad checks, is quick to point out that no application fees were ever required from students or their parents, a claim that has been confirmed. But that hasn t stopped many contest participants from looking for attorneys. A complaint against the company already has been filed with the Texas attorney general’s office. After reading about the scholarship National Campus News college universities. Company reps say they eventually want everyone to see the private lives of students in the South and West as well. "It doesn't interest me in the slightest," said Kerin Black. 21. a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. "My life is too busy to watch what other people do at home." Or don’t do. During the site’s first week online, daytime viewers were hard pressed to tind any ol the students, who have assumed aliases and are generally referred to as "Web Dormers", in their rooms. To give voyeurs something to look at. the students trained their cameras' lenses on piles of clothes, messy desks, anti, in one case, a white wall. Believe it or not, that’s the beauty of it all, said Allison Mahoney, marketing manager for College Web. People who want to know more about what college is really like, particularly high school students, can get a better idea by checking out the new site, where Web Dormers "chat" with viewers on a regular basis and post journal entries about their ups and dowms. ("I got back with my girlfriend. Hopefully it will work out this time," one entry from a Web Dormer calling himself "Dog Boy " states.) Just ask Adrienne Miskell. a newly hired computer programmer with the Center Corp. in Kansas City. Mo. Miskell. 2.L graduated in December from the University of Northern lowa and started at Center a week later. At first she was nervous. Alter she went through orientation her head was so clogged with confusing health plans and benefit options she fell clueless. The switch from school to work was eased by a friend on the inside. She joined Center at the urging of one of her northern lowa friends. Michael D.W. Gabrick. who also works at the company. Still adjusting to full-time work is difficult. "In college you basically goi spoon fed all the information y ou needed," Miskell said. "Here they expect y ou to go find it." But there are a lot of good things about her new job, too. Money, for one. "Now 1 can actually have a budget and buy things." she screw-up. people across the country decided to help. An Alaska woman gave SI.OOO to the winning student from her state. A Hawaii businessman gave 51.300 to another winner who attends the same college the man's daughter graduated from posthumously. A woman who lives near Duke University in North Carolina has offered housing to yet another student winner, and Seattle based Microworkz Computer Corp. has offered personal computers to each of the 51 students. In Texas, Gov. Dolph Briscoe and H-E-B Grocery Co. each have pledged to pay the $40,000 scholarship guaranteed to Justin Burt, a freshman at Notre Dame. Montana recipient Kendra Young is getting help from her school, Grinnell College in lowa, which has contributed a $7,500 grant toward this year’s expenses and hopes to provide additional money over the next few years. And Long Island University’s C.W. Post campus has offered to match the scholarship award for any student w'ho transfers there. Despite the gifts, many students say they’re not sure they can remain at the schools they’ve chosen to attend. Melissa Bowlin of Alaska, who received the $l,OOO anonymous donation toward her $30,000-a-year tuition at Cornell University, said she’s grateful for the help she’s received, but convinced it’s not enough to keep her where she is. "We’re doing everything we can to keep me here,” she told the Associated Press. 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Site is a beautiful bah\ Somchoib eel liei on here l ie' jL't i H‘l 1'! 1 'c; m 111 you ho,ir iik' \i'n \ou call licai iik'. 1 down haai,'L' I heautitui kiln I ic Sa\. llk'icd am I co 11 e ac I licic N mol e ol CollcaC W Ill'll \ on wus cam jil-.l !o ;■ Now I 1 1 a\c i pa\check d car noic ■\notlici 1 ! Ii ' ' i havin'! io a Nil A I kIMW V. lIN responsible li aJ V. IICII -JIC ' Such 1 1: ,A, niv mom w are comm' ■: d i roe lor cueineeiin ! , I pari ne; sli 11 Kansas. I trills In in ' clue w lull suul. "Tlk univeisilv I w i irk is Ct in ‘Orangeburg Massacre’ monument marks struggle for equality Knighl-Kuldcr New ,p tj>er On the campus oi South Cur-'lma State Universiiv in Orumjchuig uix a sturdv. tvvo-stoiv buck building named in honor ol 11iree students w ho lost their lives in the struggle tin equality . The Orangeburg community will never forget me tragic nigh; m Feb. 8, 1968 Incidents leading up to w hat is now know n as the "()rangeburg Massacre" involved college students !rom South Carolina Stale College and the neighboring Claflin College. Recorded siories say the origin was at the local while-owned bowling alley where the owner had not complied w ith the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Several attempts were made to As tensions rose the following day, Police say community college student admits sex with 13-year-old girl College Press Exchange AUBURN, N.Y. (CPX) a 19-year-old Cayuga Communily College ait student has gi\en a statement admitting he had se\ with a 13-year-okl girl in a room on eampus. James ludware arraigned leh. lb on charges o! rape, sodomy and endangering die well are of a child. He did mil i nier a plea in court and is free on 83.000 hail. College officials immediately suspended Judware alter police arrested him at the college around 8:30 p.m on Monda_\ According to police reports. Jiidwaw and the girl tins. U'U beautiful baby?" Dorm Web is roughly the equivalent of looking online at an endless photo album. Images from Web Dormer’s rooms don’t cniiie with sound and are updated every 30 seconds with help from a small camera that can be positioned anew here or turned off anytime. A poster slapped across the door of each Web Dormer's room warns visitors that they will he on camera once they enter. Why would anvone subject themselves or their buddies to such scrutiny? "I really like being known and getting to know other really nice, intelligent people. " said one Web Dormer Irom Blunders who is using the alias ".Smoot." "I didn't think this would negatively impact me or my friends because I have discretionary control over what I’m going to let the camera see. And I’m not going to be getting dressed in front of it or naked in front of it. And there will be no major displays of affection. If don’t want people to see something, I can point the camera at my books or some stationary, picturesque point in my ] IICI C <AM So, w hat does that mean for people v la i are try mg to see what college is really like'.’ "Well, thev don't have to see an education itself iv. 1 1 world they have to he more aeeouniahle lor themselves; they have to he more self-directed. And they don't know how to do that a lot of times. I didn't. It w as baptism by fire.” for students at the University of Kansas, there is a way to ease the transition from school to work. Hawk Talk, a networking program offered by the KU Alumni Association, connects alumni mentors to KU students who belong to the association. The program helps students get advice or shadow a mentor at work. This spring the association also will offer all students Ms "Success Seminar." Topics include how to use your first paycheck, how to pay oil student loans and credit card lulls, as well as interview and resume \i■ 11 m Am\ Sullisan, a benefits and compensation specialist at Children’s Mercs Hospital in Kansas City, had no trouble landing her first job. Still , I 111 desegregate the bowling alley, but to no as ail. A group of students from South Carolina State and Claflin went to the location on Feb. 5 but were refused permission to bowl and were asked to leas e the premises. The group refused to lease so police were called in, but no arrests svere made. The following night, students appeared at the bosvling alley only to be turned away again. This time the building was locked. Students refused to lease and some svere arrested and jailed on trespassing charges. News of this incident quickly spread to the campuses, and led to several hundred protesters congregating in the vicinity of the bowling alley. The local police and members of the Orangeburg National Guard confronted the group. was with her 3-year-old brother. The children had gone to a 6 p.m. church meeting at the college with their mother and stepfather. Police said Police said Judware told them he struck up a conversation with the girl after mistaking her for a college student he knew. After talking for several minutes, Judsvare said he took the girl and her brother for a walk. Judware told police he was misled into believing that the girl was a college student. However, the girl said she told Judware the truth when he asked her age and where she was from, police said. In her statement to police, the girl id she willinely drank a vodka and Thursday, February 25, 1999 - The Behrend College Beacon - page 5 in ‘See-Me’ everything," Smoot said. There is, however, nothing that really stops Web Dormers from sharing their most intimate moments with the world. And partying on camera, even if it includes underage drinking and a little hanky-panky, is permissible, Mahoncv said. “We want this to be realistic," she said. "And we’re actually not a large enough staff to constantly have people watching the images. We have no way of controlling that. "They've all (Web Dormers) signed an agreement that states we don’t want them doing anything illegal," she added. That’s not enough consolation for some university officials, who are still trying to make sense of the new site and address some of the privacy and protocol issues that WebDorm.com’s cameras already have raised. Officials at many of the schools say College Web never sought permission to put cameras in students’ rooms. "The university is breaking new ground with this,” said Dennis Nealon, a spokesman for Brandeis. “This isn’t someone's home, this is a dorm room, and there are obvious issues that come into play when someone opens up a residence hall for all the world to see when the she felt overwhelmed after she started last August "In school when you get thrown a lot of information, you always have a book or your notes to go back to." she said. "(At work) you don’t want to keep asking people 'How do I do this?' So a lot of things you just learn by yourself through trial and error." She eased the transition by talking to her family and to other friends who have similar jobs. "I think the hardest thing (about making the transition front) school to work) is just figuring out what you waht to do,’’ she said. "And you don't know until you try it out." For Wendy Platte, a 23-year-old product analyst who joined Sprint in August, the transition often was confusing, especially when it came to learning the jargon of her new job. "Sprint is famous for all their acronyms for their technology," the negotiations with city administrators and campus presidents were held, and student leaders drew up a list of grievances for city officials. By Feb. 8, a large group of highway patrolmen, police and the National Guard had scaled off the college campuses and streets surrounding the schools. Students became angry about the action and with tensions from both sides mounting, a series of unplanned events occurred during the night which led to gunfire from troops. After the gunfire ceased and the injury of several students, the Orangeburg community learned of the deaths of South Carolina State students Samuel Hammond and Henry Smith along with Delano Middleton, a local high school student. juice drink Judware gave her and accepted his invitation to kiss in a room in the basement of the college's library. According to police reports, the girl’s brother played with a wristwatch outside of the room. Judware told police he and the girl had sex in the room. About 7:30 p.m., after the church meeting, the girl’s mother and stepfather found the 3- year-old boy, who led them to Judware and the girl. It appeared that no force was used and the girl was not threatened during the alleged rape, Auburn Detective Thomas Burger told the Associated Press. university spends a lot of its energy and resources to keep those places as private as possible "This is not a good or bad thing tight now." he continued. "But it is certainly something that's new and needs to be explored very carefully." If universities step in to censor the Webcasts, this site and others like it are doomed, students from around the world who responded to an informal survey said. "I don't think I would be interested in watching ‘appropriate’ dorm life," said Krista Vick. 20. a student at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada. "Now adays people lov e just seeing other real people and knowing their stories. But should we (look)? Well, that's a moral choice." Many students agreed that they would much rather watch than be watched. "I just happen to consider privacy one of the sweetest treasures in life, especially in a dorm where everyone knows everyone’s business," said Amber Watts. 20, a student at the University of Redlands in California. "Besides, I don't want my parents knowing everything I do." Pittsburg State grad said. "In meetings every other word was an acronym. I'd write down everv one I didn't know. . .. I'd probably come out of a meeting with 10 or 15 terms. It fell like I was in a ha/.e for about a week." Luckily Karen Knox, another product analyst who had joined the company three months earlier, took it upon herself to help Platte. "Whenever she was involved in a meeting on a conference call, she would hav e me come along with her,” Platte said. “When she was running reports, she would let me sit by her and watch w hat she was doing and explain as she was going along." It really helped. Her advice to new workers? "I would just keep an open mind and ask a lot of questions." she said. "And don't be afraid of asking those questions." At a memorial scrv ice on February 9, 1969, a 51.4 million dollar health and physical education building at South Carolina State was dedicated to Smith, Hammond and Middleton. The events that unfolded during the ''Orangeburg Massacre” are still controversial to this day, with some saying police fired in self-defense. After the unfortunate incident, the Department of Justice filed suit against the owner of the bowling alley. Today, the bowling alley is owned by the same family and is open to all, with students from both colleges utilizing the facility. Former student in hot water for overdue library books College Press Exchange URBANA-CHAMPAIGN. 111. (CPX) A former student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been sentenced to two years ot court supervision for failing to return about ISO overdue library books. Deputy university librarian Frances O'Brien said Sean Harte ignored repeated letters and phone calls requesting the books' return for more than a year. Police finally seized the books from Harte's home last year, and Harte pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft. Harte. 42, was a political science graduate student when he racked up 514,600 in fines and replacement costs during the 1990-97 school year.
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