Thursday, April 23, 1998
Community Briefs
Protesters scale clock tower at Berkeley
Equipped with a large duffel bag and climbing gear, an animal
rights activist made his way up the south side of UC Berkeley’s
Campanile tower, coming to rest on a green platform above the
minute and hour hands of the clock Tuesday morning. Five protesters
from the Animal Rights Direct Action Coalition and In Defense of
Animals entered the Campanile early yesterday morning and stood in
the tower’s observation deck to protest animal abuse.
After reaching the top of the tower, the activists blocked the
doorway at the top of a flight of stairs. Protester Michael Kennedy
began his climb up the clock tower at 10:45 a.m. with several thick
ropes that the five protesters had tossed down from inside the
observation deck. Kennedy ended his climb at the top of the clock’s
face in the path of the end of the minute hand, and set up a green
platform on which to rest.
"(Kennedy) is specifically targeting UC Berkeley because they’re
raising $15 million for a new Center for Neuroscience that could
bring a lot more animal researchers from (New York University) and
new animal researching," Trenter said.
Libertarians try to get ballot amendments
If the Bruin Libertarians have their way, three constitutional
amendments affecting USAC elections will be on the USAC ballot on
May 6 and 7.
The first amendment would allow a "none of the above" choice in
each of the USAC races. "If they dislike all the candidates, then
students don’t have to vote for them."
The second amendment would ban USAC from overriding decisions of
the Judicial Board. In January of 1997, USAC overrode a decision of
the judicial board that Students First! logo could not be printed
on USAC materials, under then-current laws. That decision led to
much controversy, although since then there have been no similar
disagreements between USAC and J-board.
The third amendment would limit USAC’s spending power by
allowing voters to choose whether their money should go to USAC or
not.
"We disagree with all students’ money going to certain students’
specific political agenda," said Sobodash, a former USAC
presidential candidate.
The Libertarians have to gather 3,000 signatures by noon today
if the amendments are to be placed on the ballot. They will be
tabling on Bruin Walk today.
Astronomers discover new solar systems
Astronomers with the Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC) at UCLA and in
Hawaii recently discovered there may be planetary systems in
formation in our galaxy.
To be published in the April 23rd issue of the journal of
Nature, the team of astronomers base their findings on the
observation of three stars in the Milky Way system, Vega, Formahaut
and Beta Pictoria. The discovery of massive disk shaped structures
of dust surrounding these stars may indicate possible planet
formation and suggest that planets like those in our galaxy may be
more common than previously thought.
"It is generally believed that our own solar system formed out
of such a disk," said Benjamin Zuckerman, UCLA professor of physics
and astronomy.
"But whether the newly discovered disks contain majestic planets
like Jupiter and Saturn, or just comets and asteroids, remains to
be seen."
"Even is planets are more common that was previously believed,
these findings do not make intelligent life more likely," he
added.
The new images were obtained by radio wave transmission produced
using the 15 meter James Clerk Maxwell Telescope at the Mauna Kea
Observatory in Hawaii.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports.