Students studying overseas drink in more than just culture
By Jason Klabacha
Campus Correspondent -
University of lowa
College Press Exchange
SWANSEA, Wales (CPX) - When
American students head overseas for
a semester, they often find that, among
other things, rules for drinking and
hanging out in bars change.
There’s no need for a fake I.D.
in most of Europe because the legal
age to drink is 18. The freedom to
imbibe and hang out in European bars
is something many American students
have to come to terms with. And while
officials at the University of Wales at
Swansea say Americans don’t stand
out as being lushes, it is clear that
some handle the cultural shift better
than others.
Clint Knox, a senior at Southern
Illinois University in Carbondale, can
attest to that. Soon after arriving in
Swansea, a coastal town of about 2.5
million in southeast Wales, he could
see just how much some students
struggle with the freedoms Europe
provides.
“I woke my second night here
about two in the morning to some girl
screaming in French,” he said. “It
turns out my fiat mate passed out in
front of our building. He was so drunk
Kansas law student
gets down to cases for
Judge Judy
By James A. Fussell
Knight-Riddcr Newspapers
What docs Overland Park, Kan.,
law student Pam Aircy have in
common with television’s crabbiest
justice, the formidable Judge Judy?
As the in-your-facc jurist might put
it in her own snappish vernacular,
“I’m her boss, applesauce!”
It’s true. For the last six months,
Aircy,, a 38-ycar-old second-year
studCSM at the University of Missouri-
Kansas City School of Law, has
worked part time for the moralizing
magistrate, or more precisely for the
company that produces her hit
television show.
Officially Aircy is a legal scout for
the “Judge Judy” show, which
features longtime New York
domestic court judge Judy Sheindlin.
Aircy’s duties? Beat the legal bushes
for lawsuits and litigants that arc,
ahem!, distinctive enough for the
show. Before litigants appear on the
show, they must drop their lawsuits
and enter into binding arbitration
with Judge Judy, whose decisions
cannot be appealed. Judgments are
capped at S5,()()0 and are paid by the
show’s production company.
In the name of good television,
Aircy combs court clerks’ offices
from Junction City, Kan., to
Columbia, Mo., looking for lawsuits
featuring feuding families, former
spouses, unpaid loans or anything
weird or controversial that might
create interest or spark emotion. For
her trouble, Airey, who is married
with two teen-age children and
studying family law, receives $BO per
day plus expenses for each day she
visits a courthouse. On average she
works about two days a week,
sandwiching the work between her
law school schedule.
When she finds a case she thinks
the show’s producers will like, she
writes notes on preprinted forms and
sends them overnight to the show’s
Los Angeles office, which, if
interested, contacts the litigants.
She’s run across some interesting
cases, including at least six that made
the show’s cut. One featured the
owner of an Olathe bed and breakfast
who was accused of ruining a
wedding reception. The other
showcased a Raytown man who sold
a woman four counterfeit Beanie
Babies.
But the most puzzling cases often
involve families. “I can’t believe
what families will do to one another,
Airey said. “They take out loans and
then don’t pay them back; they don’t
support their children after a divorce.
And I was just out in Lawrence
recently, and I found a case where
the father had let his child drive his
National Campus News
a couple of us had to carry him inside
and put him in his bed.” “But he
wasn’t done yet,” Knox continued.
“He proceeded to role out of his bed
and puke all over the place. Then to
top it off, he pissed on the floor. It was
quite a night, and I’ll never forget it.”
Many of the 10,000 students at
the university in Swansea come from
around the world, places like England,
France, Ireland, Scotland and the U.S.
And many from outside America took
their first drinks long before their 18th
birthdays. It’s not unusual for
European parents to spot their kids
small amounts of wine during dinner.
“I didn’t drink a lot when I was
young, but when I did, my parents
made sure I knew alcohol wasn’t
something to play with,” said Nana
Agyeman, a first-year student of
genetics at the University of Wales at
Swansea, from England. The social
scene in Europe is, in many ways, just
as centered around alcohol as the
scene in the U.S., if not more so. What
makes Europe different, many U.S.
students say, is the maturity with
which Europeans drink.
“People go out here and drink
more than I’m used to,” said Kelly
McCracken, a sophomore at lowa
State University. “For the amount they
drink, most people don’t get that
car. Then the child let someone else
drive the car, then that someone else
wrecked the car. Now the parents are
suing their own son to get their
money back! That one’s just been
accepted for the show.”
Aircy enjoys seeing shows based
on cases she has sent in. “I thought it
was pretty interesting seeing
something from Kansas City,” she
said of the Beanie Baby case. “1
looked at it and said, That’s
something I did.’ “ Airey rejects most
lawsuits because they arc either too
simple, too complex or too boring.
She understands that in television
courtrooms, entertainment is every
bit as important as the law.
“Nobody’s going to watch it if it’s
boring,” she said. So how’s she doing
in her job? Wonderfully, said Rusty
Thorpe, a production administrator
for the “Judge Judy” show, who
supervises about 45 legal scouts
nationwide. “I have no problems with
her, and I commend her for her
excellent work. Even with the snow
you had, she still managed to get out
and send in excellent cases.”
Airey learned of the Judy job from
a casual glance in the employment
notebook in the law school’s career
services office. Some students
thought it was a joke. Airey decided
to send in her resume, then did a short
interview over the phone later the
same day.
A month later she got the job. It
can’t help but assist her in her legal
career, she said.’Tm not getting any
legal education out of this at all, but
I am becoming good friends with the
court clerks, and those contacts will
be invaluable in my future,” she said.
For the moment the job is just a good
ice breaker.
“People just think what I do is
interesting,” she said. “A lot of
people thought the people on the
show were actors. They’re not. I’ve
had people say, T always wondered
where they got the material for the
show.’ “ Now they know.
What they might not know is that
Airey sort of fell into law school the
way she fell into the “Judge Judy”
show. For years she worked as a
merchandiser for Sysco Food
Services in Olathe, Kan. In 1995 she
began taking paralegal classes at
Johnson County Community College
in Kansas. “I was just interested in
testing the waters,” she said. “And
at the suggestion of one of my
professors, I applied to law school
and was accepted.” Airey plans to
work for the show until May of 2000,
when she is scheduled to graduate.
trashed and control themselves better
compared to (the people) back home.
“When people get drunk at home, they
start fights and break things,” she
added. “Here they dance like mad.”
McCracken said she’ll be sad not
to get to order her own drinks when
she returns to the U.S. “But there isn’t
much I can do about it,” she said. And
that doesn’t make sense to some
European students. Henry Lewis, a
19-year old student at Swansea from
England, said if visiting the States, he
would go about getting a drink the
same way many underage American
students do.
“I’d break the law and get a fake
1.D.,” he said. “Here, drinking is
socially acceptable and especially at
university level. You’re starting your
independence.” Many European
students support arguments against
the 21-and-oldcr policies that have
been made in the United States for
years. They don’t understand why the
U.S. allows people under 21 to have
children, use credit cards, buy real
estate, act independently of their
parents and defend the country during
wartime, and yet not allow them to
consume alcohol.
“It doesn’t make any sense to
me,” said Amaud Bertrand, a French
student at Swansea. “I think (21) is
Hidden-camera tapes track naked college wrestlers
By Michael Hirslcy And Rick Hcpp
Knight-Riddcr Newspapers
CHICAGO - When Ken Kraft, senior
associate athletic director at
Northwestern University, got back to
campus after the Wildcats’ exciting
but unsuccessful football odyssey to
the Rose Bowl in January 1996, a
disturbing package awaited him.
Someone had turned in a camera
case to lost-and-found at the
Midlands Wrestling Championships,
a national tournament held at
Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan Arena on
Dec. 29-30,1995. Inside the case was
a camera and videotape. Kraft ran the
tape and was shocked to sec footage
of naked wrestlers in the shower room
it th'c lournafnent. His TirSt instinct
(vas to return the tape to lost-and-
Ball State student survives after being dragged by train
College Press Exchan,
ANDERSON, Ind. (CPX) - As a
freight train dragged her car along the
tracks for miles, 20-year-old Amber
Scott, a student at Ball State
University, retained every single
detail of her brush with death.
Speaking with the Associated Press
one day after the March 29 accident,
Scott recounted her harrowing ride.
Her car, stopped in a dense fog at a
railroad crossing that had no gate, was
pushed into the train’s path by a truck
that rear-ended it.
“1 was just sitting there, waiting for
the train,” Scott told the A.P. “1 looked
in my rearview mirror and I saw it
Emory researchers unlock
secrets of Peeps
College Press Exchange
ATLANTA (CPX) - Haven’t worked
your way through that Easter candy
yet? You
may want to reconsider that post
holiday indulgence. Before eating
another Peep, those marshmallow
birds and bunnies that appear in
stores around Easter, you might want
to consider the findings of two
researchers at Emory University.
On a sugar buzz after downing one
too many of the colorful, spongy
creatures, Gary Falcon and Jim
Zimring set out to explain them. They
dropped Peeps into boiling water and
were astounded that they didn’t
dissolve. In fact, the only liquid
researchers tried that the candy
couldn’t withstand was phenol, a
chemical used to dissolve proteins.
That led Falcon, a computer
administrator, and Zimring, a
medical student, to conclude that
Peeps aren’t mostly sugar after all.
They are made of gelatin, sugar and
com syrup.
After that initial discovery, the pair
decided that Peeps needed to be
too old for people to start drinking.”
In Europe, going out for a single drink
is common among friends. Americans
are quick to point out that consuming
any more than that is cost prohibitive.
Drinks are much more expensive
across Britain. A pint of beer can cost
anywhere from what would be in
America 51.70 to 54.25.
Danielle Soedt, a junior at lowa
State, said she had a tough time
budgeting her money during her first
month in Swansea. “I was going out
practically everyday when I first got
here,” she said. “I wasn’t going out
and getting drunk, but I’d go out for a
pint or two.”
Even though going out for one
drink at a time might be more
common, heavy alcohol consumption
is apparent throughout Europe’s pubs
and clubs. And just like in the U.S.,
Wales has watched students who have
had too much to drink die.
Just last year, about the same time
a Michigan State University student
died after drinking 24 shots while
celebrating his 21st birthday, a student
at Swansea died on his 21st birthday
after mixing hard liquor, “spirits” as
its known in England and Wales, and
drinking games.
After the incident, drinking
policies around Swansea changed.
found with instructions that “if
anybody calls for this, direct them to
me,” he recalled. “I wanted to find out
more.”
No one ever came for the bag and
tape, which were then stored. Kraft,
who was Northwestern’s wrestling
coach from 1957 until 1979,
minimized their discovery as a
troubling but isolated incident until
last spring. Thai’s when he got a
phone call from a former assistant
coach. The man’s son, a wrestler at
the University of Pennsylvania, had
received by mail two “hidden camera”
tapes showing naked wrestlers that
included him.
The tapes, shot in locker rooms,
shower rooms and restricted weigh
in areas, were sent to him by a track
athlete at the University of Memphis.
(the truck) coming. I just gripped the
steering wheel and closed my eyes.”
When she opened them, Scott could
see the driver’s side door of her 1989
Pontiac Grand Am pinned into the
side of die Conrail train and the car’s
front stuck under it. The train’s
engineer, unaware of what had
happened, continued onward,
dragging die car and its frightened
passenger.
Scott’s first instinct was to grab her
cellular phone and call for help. She
called her mother first. “Mom! Mom!
1 need help,” Patricia Scott heard her
daughter scream. “Mom! I’ve been
hit!” Because of the roar of the train,
Amber Scott heard only a faint voice,
tested more rigorously. They
submerged them in liquid nitrogen,
and yes, the Peeps froze. They tested
the candy’s reaction to low-pressure
environments by stuffing them into a
vacuum and watched them shrivel.
They also decided that Peeps, often
found at springtime parties, should be
tested for their reaction to cigarettes
and alcohol. When a Peep was floated
in rubbing alcohol with a lit cigarette
in its mouth, it wound up a ball of
charred goo.
Falcon and Zimring, inspired by
John Glenn’s recent mission, said
they want to eventually study the
effects of space travel on the aging
Peeps population. They’re not sure
how they’ll get the birds into outer
space. The researchers, both 29,
didn’t receive any grant money for
their tests but said they were careful
to use scientific methods. They used
an Emory lab with approval from
school officials’ who said they were
watching the ongoing studies with
amusement.
Thursday April 8,1999 - The Behrend College Beacon - page 5
Bars no longer allow drinking games
mixing spirits, and they no longer
have promotions offering spirits drink
specials. Bar owners in Michigan
have made similar changes because
of the death.
The drinking death in Swansea
shocked Emma Ferguson, the
university’s administrative director
for American studies.
“It was the first time anything
like that had ever happened around
here to my knowledge,” she said. In
the United States, 20 students died
because of excessive alcohol
consumption last year. U.S. figures
also indicate that more students than
ever recognize that excessive
drinking is a problem on their
campus.
American students arc also
finding it a trip to have to dress for a
night on the town in Wales. Clothing
is a big part of the social scheme, and
no one, not even if they’re only
heading to the local pub, would dream
of going out without looking “smart.”
Once pubs close at 11 p.m., students
go to clubs, where dress codes arc
strictly enforced.
Men typically wear sports coats
and ties when they’re club hopping,
but for women, the dress code is a lot
more racy than the one that guides
He had found the tapes in a book bag
left in a dorm. Upon viewing them,
he was able to identify a Penn logo
because he had competed at the Penn
Relays. He decided to contact the
first Penn wrestler he could find on a
team roster.
Once Kraft learned there were
multiple tapes in distribution, he
gathered some tapes and flyers
advertising them and met with
members of the Midlands committee.
They decided that the material should
be turned over to the FBI. Jason
Peterson, a former Michigan State
wrestler, discovered the Midlands
tape in the Northwestern locker
room. He recalled noticing “a little
trag on top of a'cooler with atbwcl
tfverit. ; T
“I guess the glint of trie lens caught
maybe the answering machine, she
thought.
“I was scared,” she said. “But I just
knew I couldn’t sit there and be
scared. I knew I had to help myself.”
Scott called 911 twice, thinking that
police would be able to trace the call
and find her. He pleas were barely
audible over the engine’s noise.
“I’m being dragged by a vain! Oh,
please help!” she cried. Scott briefly
considered rolling out of her car’s
passenger side door but decided
against it. Authorities later
determined the train was traveling at
about 30 mph. “I scooted down in my
seat some, and I just waited,” said
Scott, who was wearing a seat belt.
May the force be with
him:George Lucas
donates $1.5 Million
to USC
College Press Exchange
LOS ANGELES (CPX) - “Star
Wars” director George Lucas passed
along the force in the form of a $1.5
million donation to the University of
Southern California’s School of
Cinema-Television that will be used
to build a new digital studio.
Construction of the 20,000-
square-foot building, which will
house the latest and greatest
technology in digital filmmaking,
will get underway in June. The new
studio will be named after Japanese
filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and will
be an addition to the Robert
Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts,
which is set for completion in 2001.
The studio will be funded in part by
the $5 million gift Zemeckis donated
to the cinema school in October.
Lucas, who is responsible for the
“Star Wars” trilogy and “American
women in the U.S. Agyeman, from
England, said the prevailing
stereotype of American women and
their mode of dress is this: “They
dress like nuns,” she said.
Given some of the outfits
McCracken said she’s seen on the
European club seen, it’s not hard to
agree. She even said she doesn’t think
her mother would approve of the
dressing habits she’s adopted in
England and might have to hide a few
pictures when she gets home. “If I
dressed in a short, tight, black skirt
back home I would be called a
slut, but here it’s the norm,” she said.
“As soon as I get home, the clothes I
wore here are going in the closet for
life.”
Knox said he’s had a hard time
getting used to wearing pants other
than blue jeans when he goes out at
night, but now that he’s more
accustomed to it, he said he may
continue to be a “smart-looking guy”
when he gets back to the states.
“I wasn’t a slob back home, but I
didn ’ t look smart enough to get into a
club (here) one night,” he said. “After
that, 1 started dressing a lot nicer,
wearing dress slacks and a button
shirt. “I’m starting to get used to
dressing up, and I sort of like it.”
my eye,” Peterson said.. “It was a
duffel bag with a camera inside, and
it was pointing into the shower
room.” Peterson and a wrestler from
Eastern Illinois University look the
camera to a tournament desk. He
recalls being watched by a slightly
built man 35 to 40 years old, with
short hair and glasses, dressed like an
athletic trainer “with a water bottle
and everything.”
Peterson said he mentioned his
suspicions about the man to
tournament officials, and he was
aware of his presence throughout the
tournament because “he walked
around the gym like he was affiliated
with a team. But you could tell he
wasn’t.”
“1 prayed the whole time.”
She said she doesn’t remember
what happened after her car hit a
railroad signpost at another crossing,
finally breaking it free from the train.
Scott was shaken up, bruised and
sore, and her car was a wreck. The
driver of the truck that slammed into
her, 25-year-old Ross Schroeder, was
cited for not having insurance.
Scott’s family is happy to have her
home and safe. “It hasn’t really all
sunk in that I’ve made it through a
real life and death experience,” she
said. “I feel like it was a miracle.”
Graffiti,” graduated from USC in
1966. He donated money in the
1980 s to build the George Lucas
Instructional Building for the School
of Cinema-Television. He said he
decided to name the new studio after
Kurosawa because he thought the
director would inspire future
filmmakers. “His ability to transform
a vision into a powerful work of art
is unparalleled,” Lucas said. “So it
seemed appropriate to name the new
digital stage after him.”