Megaphone (Georgetown, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 09, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 2000 Page: 3 of 8
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Features
December 7, 2000 3
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Napster forms alliance with record company
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Lacy Klosterman
Megaphone Staff
As many of you know, Napster
ts an Internet service that provides—
users with access to MP3 libraries
and the ability to download songs
for free from other users. Recently,
Napster has been involved in a legal
battle brought on by the RIAA,
the Record Industry Association .
of America, who filed suit against
Napster stating that file sharing of
copyrighted works is illegal.
To reconcile this dispute, Nap-
ster has become partners with Ber-
telsmann, a major media company.
This partnership will enable Napster
to develop a cooperative relation-
ship with major recording compa-
nies as well as artists. Hopefully
the legal battle will be resolved and
Napster can come up with a form
of compensation for artists, such
as the heavy metal band Metallica,
who joined with the RLAA in the
suit. Not to worry though, Nap-
ster’s alliance with Bertelsmann is
a partnership, not a takeover.
Bertelsmann owns BMG (one
of 5 record labels represented by
the RIAA) and by becoming part-
ners with Napster, Bertelsmann
proves that there is common ground
between Napster and major record-
ing labels.
Napster will remain an indepen-
dently owned company regardless
of the fact that Bertelsmann may be
able to buy shares in the company
at a future date.
One possible solution to the
problem of legality is simply requir-
ing users to pay for Napster’s ser-
vice. The service would be the
same plus a monthly membership
fee. A recent poll asking current
users whether or not they would pay
for Napster stated that 55% of users
said they would find another file-
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A first-year student demonstrates how easy it is to navigate around the univeristy s block on Napster, allowing for the banned program to be used anyway
Scott Rck:her/Megaphone Staff
sharing site. 7% said they would
stop downloading completely.
Users will be able to choose
whether or not they want to pay
the fee. The service will remain
free, but the membership fee will
enhance the service as well as build
up revenues to pay clients and
songwriters for music files.
Currently, Napster is asking for
user feedback as to what the new
service should be. Should this ser-
vice be set up, Napster has stated
a commitment to “always make
sure that the community knows
exactly where the money is going.”
(Napster.com) This new model will
not be implemented without previ-
ous announcement.
When asked their opinion on the
new service plus membership fee,
Southwestern students were indif-
ferent. “The program makes sense
because we have been robbing the
artists of money, so the least we
could do is pay the fee,” said First-
year student Adam Winkler. How-
ever, Winkler stated that he would
be one of the 55% not to pay the
fee.
Student Marcail Webb agreed
with Winkler. “I understand why
the musicians are upset. They
deserve to make a profit off of the
music they created.”
As of right now, this solution
seems logical. The bigger prob-
lem is not the law - it is band-
width limitations. Bandwidth is
the amount of data that can be
transmitted during a certain amount
of time. Many educational insti-
tutions around the United States
block the use of Napster through
their Internet networks. Napster-
related usage has been stated at as
much as 75% of all Internet resource
usage. Napster is removed to
improve the abilities of University
networks. Southwestern University
Network & Systems Administrator
Peter Valian stated, “We did ban
Napster in mid-September because
it crippled our network. We’d max
out our connections daily.”
A yearly graph is available that
clearly shows the effect of Napster
related traffic on our network. A
blue line indicates off-campus traf-
fic. This blue line plummeted
to almost zero when Napster was
banned. As students began finding
other ways to download and ways
around the network block, the line
began to increase.
Unfortunately, the ban will prob-
ably not be lifted if Napster imple-
ments the membership payment
plan. Bandwidth limitations will
be effected regardless.
Study shows hating roommate harmful to health
Melissa Benzbl * ■_
Ohio State University
Not getting along with your
roommate can have an adverse
effects on your health, according to
research done by Ohio State Uni-
versity psychology professor Brad
Schmidt.
A study of 143 undergraduate
students showed when a person was
not liked or did not get along with
his or her roommate, that person’s
emotional and physical health suf-
fered.
“If you’re living with someone
who’s sending you signals that
you’re not that great of a person
you may eventually react by buying
into it,” Schmidt said.
The students who participated
in the study showed higher levels
of depression and illness and lower
levels of self esteem when they
were not liked by their roommates.
However, for students who keep
themselves physically fit, adverse
social relations did not have the
same negative emotional effects on
them as they did on less physically
fit people, Schmidt added.
“The general notion is how much
social approval a person gets dic-
tates changes in their emotional
functions,” Schmidt said.
The more social approval a
person receives, the higher their self
esteem. The less social approval
they receive, the lower their self
esteem.
Steve Kroner, Director of Resi-
dence Life, said that his department
has done studies on this topic in
the past and keeps it in mind when
placing roommates together.
“We realize that getting room-
mate requests right is important,”
said Kroner.
Susannah Pell, Hall Director for
Norton-Scott, said a resident’s reac-
tion to not getting along with a
roommate may also depend on his
or her social connection on the
floor.
“I think if an individual does not
have a social network in the hall
the fact they do not get along with
their roommate can be obvious. If a
person has a social network in the
hall it (the effect) is not as clear but
it still has an effect,” said Pell.
At <3>SU, keeping the peace
between roommates, either
requested or assigned, starts with a
roommate agreement. Talking with
resident advisors and hall directors
about problems is also encouraged
but if all else fails, the student
may simply fill out a room change
request form, Kremer said .
“People change rooms all the
time. Sometimes we think we’ve
made it too easy,” he said.
Roommates not getting along is
a common occurrence, said Pell.
“It really depends, but I’d say
that it’s pretty common that there’s
at least one person in a quad
that doesn’t get along with another
person,” Pell said.
The study in which students
filled out questionnaires on two sep-
arate occasions showed the adverse
effects worsened with time. Over
a three-week period, symptoms of
low self esteem, depression and
illness increased in students who
were not liked by their roommates.
Schmidt co-authored the study
with Thomas Joiner of Florida State
University and Kathleen Vohs of
Dartmouth College.
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Scott Rocher/ Megaphone Staff
Sometimes dealing with a difficult roommate can be more than we can handle.
Spring Break service trip stands out for one student
Kathryn Pursch
Class of 2000
An English and communication
major from Buffalo, Texas, Kath-
ryn Pursch participated in the Des-
tination: Service, Southwestern’s
alternative Spring Break service
program during each of her four
years at SU. She wrote about her
experiences for a recent issue of
Southwestem@Oeorgetown maga-
zine.
My Destination: Service expe-
riences will stand out among my
favorite college memories. I orig-
inally got involved in South-
So far this week, we have
cleaned out a very trashy backyard,
painted two rooms and a hallway,
varnished cabinets, and scraped all
the paint off and repainted the exte-
rior of a house owned by an elderly
Hispanic man. Everyday when we
get to the work site, he asks all
the women if and/or when they are
going to get married. I’m sorry my
friends didn’t come with me, but
I am meeting many new people;
I even know a couple of juniors
and seniors now. This week I have
worked hard, but I think I have
laughed even harder. There is one
woman whose laugh is So funny,
every time she gets started, I can’t
help but start too. Last night in our
final group session, I had to tell her
I appreciated her laugh. If every
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Southwestern University students help move boxes for a
community service project.
western’s alternative Spring Break . ,,
service program because I thought Spring Break couldIbpHhis fun, I
it would be like the mission trips I would do this for attrour years.
had done in high school. After four
years of Destination: Service (and March 10,1996: Washington,
similar activities), I have learned D.C.
about the breadth and depth of Okay, so being co-leader for a
kinds of service needed in our Destination: Service trip isn’t as
world, If I had written a postcard ' easy as 1 thought it would be. This
home about each trip. Here’s what year’s projects are more scattered
I would have said. ; ’ than I expected, and I feel like
March 6,1997: Brownsville we are spending more time on the
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Metro than we are in service. I am
gaining some perspective though
i I never expected to find myself
sleeping in a homeless shelter for a
week.or working in soup kitchens.
My idea of service has always been,
building something in the hot sun.
Yesterday I had to buy a hat and
gloves because I am freezing in the
cold and snow. 1 am so lucky to
be able to just go buy what I need
though. 1 can’t imagine sleeping
outside in this Weather! This trip
will make me think more fondly
of my bed every night that I have
one. , 1 ,
v ' - . i
March IS, 1999: Gila Wilder-
ness, New Mexico
Eighteen degrees outside, no
heat in the bunk house-bad. Besides
the extreme cold, this is one of the
most beautiful places I have ever
been. The mountains seem endless,
and there is so much rich history
and untamed wilderness here, it is
awesome. We have been clearing
and cleaning trails all week. My
favorite task so far is using the lop-
pers to clear brush away from the
trail. I also felt powerful when we
busted up and moved a huge rock
that was in the middle of a path. I
have learned quite a bit about the
way the Forest Service constructs
trails to maintain natural beauty
and not harm the area. Neat stuff,
but not enough to make me want
to go into forestry; a week or so
helping out the understaffed Forest
Service is enough for me. Today I
dug a drainage ditch all by myself,
cool huh? I have been pleasantly
surprised by the people on this trip.
Our group has melded quite nicely.
That is good, because tonight we
all may have4o sleep in one bed to
keep warm.
March 17,2000: Heifer Raich,
Perry vlUe, Arkansas
I just finished a ropes challenge
course that took my little earth -
bound-self 30 feet off the ground
for an extended period. 1 cried a
few times, but I did it. What a feel-
ing! All this ties into Heifer Proj-
ect’s larger purpose of empowering
the individual to accomplish great
things for the community. I defi-
nitely feel empowered. Not only
have I conquered my fear of heights,
but I have milked a goat, learned a
bit about organic farming, and spent
the night in a simulated barrio. I
also may have found a place to con-
tinue in service after graduation.
We have a great group dynamic
too. I have another laugher in my
group this year, and now I’m the
senior making friends with first-
year students. I’m glad that I .ended
up having such a great last Desti-
nation: Service experience.
Service is where 1 am most con-
tent, and most able to be myself. I
haye developed-service no longer
feels like an obligation, but it is
something that I want to do. It is
where I make the best friends, and
where I leam the most. Perspec-1
five, self-awareness, a feeling that I
am filling my calling, this is what I
gained from “giving up” my Spring
Break to participate in a service
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1 I don t regret never making it to.
the beach over Spring Break; I’ll
have time for the beach when I’m
done with the fun stuff.
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Megaphone (Georgetown, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 09, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 2000, newspaper, December 7, 2000; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth634186/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Southwestern University.