Third Dane arrested
The troubles for the SUNY Albany football team continued as another Dane was arrested last Wednesday in connection with the alleged rape of a UAlbany freshman the previous Sunday. Freshman Charles Guadagno joined classmates Lorenzo Ashbourne and Julius Harris in being charged for sexual assault. All three have been suspended from the football team and the university, pending the outcome of the trial.
Thursday brought at least temporary freedom for Ashbourne after he posted $50,000 bail in Guilderland Town Court. Bail has been set at $50,000 for the other two players as well; they still sit in Albany County Jail.
UAlbany football Coach Bob Ford said at a news conference that he had discussed the issue in detail with his other players, and that they—like at many other universities—undergo formal training on how athletes’ conduct represents the school.
Software center opened
In a gift announced Thursday, Sean O’Sullivan ’85 donated $2 million as seed money for the creation of the Rensselaer Center for Open Software. The Center’s purpose is to develop and aid in the development of open software solutions to promote civil societies worldwide.
According to O’Sullivan, the flourishing of open software has created a new opportunity to help humanity, both in the United States and internationally. In particular, open source tools and systems can be helpful in third world countries; their free nature liberates them from the economic and political bars that keep similar commercial products from reaching people in impoverished areas.
O’Sullivan also donated $1 million in 2005 to create the “Change the World Challenge” to encourage entrepreneurial education and to promote ideas and causes for the betterment of humanity. He was a founder, as well as the first president, of MapInfo Corporation, headquartered in the Rensselaer Technology Park. In addition, he founded a number of other organizations, including JumpStart International, an organization that offers rapid engineering response to areas of conflict and disaster.
Sign policy discussed
At last week’s Student Senate meeting, the primary topic was on the significant changes being made to the Institute Sign Policy for on-campus advertisements. Still under discussion this week, these changes include: possible mandatory removal dates and contact information on every poster; clarification on allowable sign placement locations; and a proposal to exclude graphically inappropriate and profane or vulgar language on signs. Opposition to these changes provided heated debate and the Senate looks to resolve these differences of opinion in the coming weeks.
Among other updates, Grand Marshal Carlos Perea ’07 shared with the Senate that Family Weekend seemed to be a success, despite a minor hitch involving low attendance to the GM brunch due to confusion with the President of the Union brunch being held at the same time.
Perea is also starting a “Save Alby” commission for the recently deceased albino squirrel of RPI. After a moment of silence, the Senate decided to start looking into relocating albino squirrels to replace RPI’s former white friend.
