September 7, 2007
VOLUME 94, ISSUE 2
UILFORDIAN
The Student-Run Newspaper of Guilford College
WWW
GUILFORDIAN.COM
Maharashtra government in
India bans Sex Education
Deena Zaru I Senior Writer
The government of Maharashtra, which
is India's third largest state, banned the
introduction of sex education in schools
in hope of silencing protesters who fear
that its implementation will corrupt their
youth.
According to BBC News, this step is
seen as an impediment to the central gov
ernment as it tries to make sex education a
country-wide phenomena.
With an estimated five million Indians
who are HIV-positive, India has the highest
number of AIDS patients in the world. As
this statistic is rapidly increasing, a counter
push for the implementation of sex educa
tion is also intensifying.
BBC News reported that generally, par
ents in India hesitate to talk about sex to
their children. Schools are only permitted
to teach basic facts that are generally lim
ited to reproductive and biological changes
in males and females.
"To begin with, India is a very culturally
conservative country and a lot of things
like sex, especially premarital sex, AIDS,
prostitution, and homosexuality are cultur
al taboos," said senior Indian native Rohit
Gandhi. "So the culture in India makes
See "Sex Ed" on page 4
Fox News stokes
anti-Iran fears
Brice Tarleton | Senior Writer
For those of you who watch Fox News
regularly, it comes as no surprise to learn
that they have been drawing uncomfort
able parallels between Iraq and Iran, imply
ing that both nations engaged in terrorism
against the United States. For those of you
who don't watch Fox News regularly, it
probably isn't that surprising, either.
To state that Iraq and Irar> are work
ing together to achieve similar political
interests and that both support Al-Qaeda
wouldn't be a problem if these assertions
were true. But they aren't. Making such
claims is dangerous when there is no truth
underlying them.
"By providing a certain viewpoint over
and over again, it does affect the way that
its viewers think," said Richie Zweigenhaft,
professor of Guilford's mass media course.
"It is a form of propaganda, just as any
news source with a particular viewpoint
is."
A Pipa/Knowledge Networks poll in Oct.
2003 showed that 67 percent of Fox view
ers believed that there were connections
between Iraq and A1 Qaeda, which was
known to be untrue at the time. However,
if you believe something like this, then you
are much more likely to support decisions
to infiltrate Iraq as a "retaliatory action,"
See "Fox News" on page 11
Charlie Clay/Guilfordian
The waterline in Guilford's lake is nearly two feet lower than normal because of the drought.
Landry Haarmann | Staff Writer
Despite a refreshing rainstorm on Aug.
30, which like the other three rainstorms
of August deposited less than half an inch
of rain, Greensboro and most of North
Carolina are still plagued by drought.
Greensboro's summer has been a dry
one, with water levels receding back in early
July and local rainfall well below average.
August had a total rainfall of 1.09 inches, a
total much smaller than the month's normal
3.71 inches of rainfall.
Despite these conditions, it was not until
Aug. 24 that the city was cited as having
"severe drought" conditions.
The effects of severe drought are appar
ent on campus. The lake looks parched and
vegetation seems lifeless.
Vegetation, wildlife and people are all
victims of drought. Wild animals suffer
from loss of habitat, plants do not grow
successfully, the quality of air and water go
down, and the economy is hurt.
Along with harming nature, droughts
destroy nature's beauty as well.
Sophomore Elissa Hachmeister expressed
frustration at the effects the drought will
have on trees when autumn arrives.
"It stinks that there's a drought, because
when autumn comes the leaves will be less
vibrant and they'll fall from the trees ear
lier," Hachmeister said.
Like nature, the city's water resources
are threatened by drought. Greensboro has
taken action to preserve the remaining sup-
ply.
See "Drought" on page 9
Cross Country: the motivation remains a mystery
Lauren Newmyer | Staff Writer
At four in the afternoon, in
the sweltering heat, the last thing
most students want to do is run
eight miles. Yet cross country
runners willingly put them
selves through this seemingly
torturous routine every day.
"Cross country definite
ly brings in a certain type of
person," said Coach Jamie
LaFollette, a junior. "It takes a
certain mentality to go out in 80
or 90 degrees and run. Most run
ners have very strong internal
drives to be able to push them
selves and do it independently."
Though many cross country
runners claim to be unsure as
to why they run cross coun
try, most agree that there is an
addicting factor to it.
"Everyone loves it but they
have no idea why," said first-
year Grace Normann. "I guess
it's just one of the more satisfy
ing sports when it goes well.
When you work really hard and
it pays off, it really feels good
even if you might not be able
to walk up the stairs for a few
weeks."
Guilford's cross country
program, started in 2004, is
fairly new. The captains this
season are Chris Walker and
Brett McDonough on the men's
side, and Emily Frenzel on the
women's side. With 24 runners.
including 14 returning letter
winners, the team has a chance
to be competitive in the Old
Dominion Athletic Conference
(ODAC).
"We're really excited about
this year," said Walker. "We've
been putting out lots of effort
and lots of time."
The ODAC pre-season coach
es' poll placed the Guilford
men's cross country team sixth,
and the women's team seventh
in the conference.
The men's team placed third
out of five teams, while the
women placed fifth out of seven
teams in last weekends' Marlin
Invitational meet in Virginia
Beach. Top rurmers were first-
years Grace Normann, who
placed 14*^, and Jeremy Wang
,who placed 17^. Sophomore
Charissa Duncan placed 15^^.
LaFollette expects the wom
en's team to be quite strong this
year, having lost only one run
ner out of last year's top five.
"We lost our top three run
ners from last year on the
men's side, none of which were
seniors," said LaFollette. "We
were going to be really good,
but now we'll have to wait and
see. We're young so we're going
to improve."
The Guilford team has the
advantage of being able to prac-
See "X-Country" on page 12