Law School Professor Michael Stein — who is also a visiting professor at Harvard — played a crucial role in developing a new Human Rights Treaty, which was recently adopted by the United Nations.

p. A little over five years ago, an international ad hoc committee was formed to consider drafting new human rights protections for disabled persons. Stein has been active in this committee since its conception and continues to work with other members to increase public awareness on the issue.

p. The Treaty, titled “The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” was adopted Dec. 13, 2006, by consensus vote in the UN General Assembly. It will take effect once it has been ratified by at least 20 countries.

p. “The Bush Administration’s position, as stated at the second ad hoc session, is that the United States will not ratify the treaty because we already have comprehensive laws on disability rights in the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Stein said.

p. The convention opens for state signatures March 30, 2007. The newly adopted Human Rights Treaty took a stand in strengthening the rights of women and children, a group that normally encounters multiple discriminations, by expressly addressing their needs in individual articles.

p. It also calls for fair accommodations during court procedures and more productive training for police, administration of justice and prison staff in communicating and interacting with people with all sorts of disabilities. Stein says implementation is the main goal. To ensure action, each country will need to form a domestic monitoring panel that will report back to the newly established UN Treaty Monitoring Body, within the first two years, and every four years following.

p. They will be required to get rid of any existing discriminatory legislation and regularly monitor implementation of the treaty, working towards eradicating these problems with the help of the state.

p. “For the first time ever, there will be space within the UN system for genuine human rights expertise to grow in the field of disability,” one of Professor Stein’s peers, Professor Gerard Quinn of the National University of Ireland, Galway, wrote in his presentation to the Irish Parliament. “As this expertise grows in authority and credibility, the other – more mainstream – human rights treaty monitoring bodies can be expected to pay much more attention to the issue.”

p. Stein specializes in American and international disability law, bioethics, employment discrimination, and legal history.

p. “Disability rights necessarily invoke civil and political rights, as well as economic, social, and cultural rights,” Stein wrote in the California Law Review, Vol. 95, 2007. “Disability framework presents a strong exemplar for viewing established human rights protections as being similarly indivisible.”

Preliminary admissions statistics have been collected for the incoming freshman class of 2011. As of now, the College is heading for another record number of applicants.

p. Feb. 9, the operations staff of the Admissions Office had processed 10,789 freshman applications; there were 10,727 total freshman applicants last year.

p. “Naturally, the most important measures of an admissions office’s success pertain to the quality of the incoming class, not the quantity of submitted applications,” Dean of Admissions Henry Broaddus said.

p. “Nonetheless, a larger pool aids us in our efforts to enroll the brightest, most accomplished and most diverse class possible.”

p. More definite statistics regarding the Class of 2011 applicant pool will be available in the coming weeks, as statistical data is still being processed.

All five bills voted on at Tuesday night’s Student Assembly meeting passed. The Student Activities Fee Distribution Act, sponsored by Sens.

p. Scott Morris and Andrew Blasi, both freshmen, says that the secretary of finance must publish a budget on the SA website that includes the amount of money allocated to student clubs.
The budget will give the dollar amount and the percentage of the student activity fees that each organization receives. The bill stipulates that the SA president e-mail a link to the budget to the student body.

p. It passed unanimously. The Financial Responsibility Act, sponsored by Sen. Matt Skibiak, a junior, says that student organizations that request funds from the SA must detail how much money is left in the Student Consolidated Reserves fund and what percent the requested amount will take from the fund.

p. Sponsors of the bills requesting funds for organizations must also detail how much money the SA has already given the organization. The bill passed unanimously. The Pedestrian Safety Act, sponsored by Sen. Brett Phillips, a junior, requests that the City of Williamsburg works with the College to put a crosswalk on Richmond Road between the entrance of the Blow Hall parking lot and Wawa.

p. This bill passed unanimously. The Parking Augmentation Act, sponsored by Skibiak, requests that the Parking Regulation Handbook be amended to allow students and faculty members to park anywhere on campus during fall and spring breaks.
It passed 18-0-1. The Campus Wetlands Act, sponsored by Sens. Walter McClean and Zach Pilchen, both sophomores, allocates $651 to the Student Environmental Action Coalition to purchase paludal Virginian wildflowers to be planted in the swamp behind the Student Health Center.

p. The bill passed 13-6. A previous version of the bill passed at an SA meeting earlier this year, but it was vetoed by SA President Ryan Scofield.

A lecture delivered Thursday night by Professor Thomas Bender of New York University was the first in a series entitled “America In The World” sponsored by the Reves Center for International Studies and the Tyler department of history.

p. The goal of the lecture series is “to encourage all members of the William and Mary community to engage and learn from perspectives different from their own and to recognize the centrality of global issues to their own lives,” Laurie Koloski, associate professor of history at the College, said.

p. The subject of Thursday’s lecture, “Putting America Into World History,” addressed the consequences of a global outlook given traditional approaches to American and world history.

“Both Americans and others have a difficult time placing the events in American history in relation to world history,” Bender said. He was critical of what he described as American “exceptionalism.”
Bender also said that many Americans assume our national history to be superior and removed from global affairs and that this belief stems from our geographic isolation from most modern industrialized nations. He further discussed the limited perspective of such a view and stressed a more globally aware approach to history.

p. Bender emphasized the importance of seeing history in the context of other nations’ histories. His discussion included commentary on the settling of North America and the colonial period, as well as the Revolutionary, Civil and French and Indian Wars.

p. With each topic in American history, Bender offered evidence to stress how — throughout its history — America has depended on and been effected by the policy of nations, citing immigration, trade and economics as reasons for international contingency.
Bender also said that the overseas transportation of political ideas and technology in conjunction with national industrialization and urbanization are aspects of history that have and that continue to add to the cultivation of a global perspective.

p. “The ocean is not a barrier, but rather a connector between continents,” Bender said. “There are connections between major themes of American history and the rest of the world. We can be unique and still be a part of that.”

In a world troubled by increasing global temperatures and growing energy demands, many scientists have championed biofuels as a partial solution.

p. The most famous green fuel, corn-based ethanol which is sold blended with gasoline, accounted for almost 3 percent of US automotive fuel sales in 2005. That seemingly insignificant 3 percent is actually 16 billion liters. Despite its growing popularity, corn-based ethanol has been widely criticized.

p. Corn is produced through-high intensity agriculture, enormous monocultures that require fertile soil and high inputs of pesticides and fertilizers. Devoting these resources to biofuel production takes away land from food production. Also, while burning the ethanol in an engine produces less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional gasoline, the amount of energy spent to harvest the corn and refine the ethanol requires burning a sizeable amount of fossil fuels.

p. To address these concerns, a research team from the University of Minnesota has been studying alternative sources of the biomass necessary to create the fuel, replacing the need for crop species by using native grassland plants. Their research, published in the Dec. 8 issue of Science magazine, shows that — when processed into synthetic fules — high-diversity grassland vegetation can produce up to 51 percent more usable energy than corn. This dramatic increase in usable energy was accomplished while growing the grassland plants on degraded, infertile soils with low inputs, while the corn was grown on fertile soil with high-intensity agriculture.

p. The research team experimented with plots of different numbers of randomly selected native species, planted and then left alone to grow over a 10-year period. The biomass production increased dramatically with the increase in the number of species present. These fields can be more productive because the combination of native plants allow them to grow like a natural environment. It doesn’t seem to matter what species are grown, just that the diverse environment encourages the plants to grow more than in a monoculture.

p. There are several methods of converting plant biomass to usable fuels, each with their own energy costs and benefits. Combustion with coal in traditional coal-fired power plants can produce 18.1 GJ of electricity from each hectare harvested. More efficiently, another process integrating both electricity and biodiesel production can yield 28.4 GJ from each hectare of high-diversity, low-input grassland vegetation. Comparatively, corn-based ethanol can produce 18.8 GJ per hectare, and soybean based diesel 14.4 GJ.

p. The scientists attribute the higher net energy yields from the LIHD compared to the corn or soy to three factors. First, the grassland species are perennial and native, in contrast to the annual crop species that require far more attention and costly inputs. Second, their research showed dramatic increases in production associated with high species diversity, while corn is produced in a monoculture. Finally, all of the above-ground vegetation was used in fuel production from the grassland plots, while from corn crops, only the seeds (the corn kernels) are used, but the remaining stalks and leaves are basically waste.

p. Besides their ability to make productive use of the existing infertile, degraded lands, these biofuels have an additional environmental benefit. Production of energy from these LIHD sources is carbon negative. While all fossil fuels release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (carbon positive) the growing plants in the LIHD fields take more CO2 out of the atmosphere than is produced when the biomass is processed into fuel and transported. Corn and soy, while much lower in emissions than fossil fuels, still have net-positive emissions from the associated agricultural processes and fuel production. The reductions in CO2 provided by these LIHD plants could be very beneficial to the atmosphere, as it is considered a cause of global warming.

p. This new research has global implications. In the Science article, the authors estimate that there are half a billion hectares of abandoned and infertile fields that are producing enough biomass to generate 13 percent of the petroleum and 19 percent of the electricity consumptions globally. Additionally, the growth of native perennials on non-agricultural land acts as a carbon sink, as the plants take the greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. Using these already degraded land areas productively allows more of the fertile land to be devoted to food production to meet the ever-increasing demands for food, for something as well as energy. Those good-for-nothing fields full of weeds might soon be very good after all.

Forensic evidence has linked three Williamsburg-area abductions involving four female victims to a single unknown suspect. The crimes spanned six years, and one of the victims is a former College student.

p. The York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the Williamsburg Police Department, sent out a news release that describes the suspect as a black male with a dark complexion between 24 and 36 years old. He weighs 170 to 180 pounds and is between 5’8’’ and 5’11’’ in height. He has driven a dark green, four door pick-up truck that was described as noticeably clean. Anyone with information should call 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.

p. Police were cautious about releasing information to the public because the investigation is ongoing.

p. “The only persons who know exactly what happened are the victims, us and the criminal,” Deputy Chief David Sloggie of the Williamsburg Police Department said. “He knows right now that we know he’s committed all three [crimes]. There’s no doubt in my mind he knows.”

p. The first crime occurred Sept. 12, 2001. According to the news release, a woman was walking alone on Parkway Drive when the suspect grabbed her. He then dragged her into the woods where he raped, beat and robbed her.

p. Six months later, the suspect attacked a College student. She left a party March 23, 2002, and was walking alone down Jamestown Road across from Lake Matoaka at 3 a.m. He grabbed her and was attempting to push her over the guardrail when a car drove up. The driver beeped the horn and the suspect ran off, leaving behind his coat — which had forensic evidence on it.
The third crime occurred July 29, 2006, when the suspect, driving a truck, approached two females who were walking down Bypass Rd. in front of Hooter’s restaurant at 2 a.m. He offered them a ride, speaking in a slow manner and often repeating himself. They declined.

p. According to the news release, the truck continued to follow the women, and the suspect again offered them a ride. They accepted, got in the vehicle and directed the suspect toward their residence. He deviated from the path and turned onto I-64 West at the Camp Peary exit. The women told him to let them out, but he refused.

p. One of the women escaped from the truck after convincing the suspect to slow down, and the vehicle continued driving down I-64 with the second woman inside. At 3:41 a.m. that night she arrived at a James City County residence seeking help. She suffered from extensive injuries and was flown by helicopter to Norfolk Sentara Hospital.

p. The news release did not specify how she was injured, and both Sloggie and Lieutenant Penny Diggs of the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office refused to comment further on that case, but Sloggie said forensic evidence was found on the victim.

p. Two weeks ago, an analysis of the forensic evidence collected during the investigations linked the crimes to one man.

p. “He has a big span of time between events,” Sloggie said. “I think we will eventually get him, and I think the key to getting him will be info we get from someone he confronts.”

p. He also said that since releasing information about the crimes they have received eight tips, but none of them have lead to anything substantial.

p. Diggs commended the collaborative investigative effort between the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office and the Williamsburg Police Department, and she said that, with the assistance of good tips, she believes the suspect will be caught.

p. Vice President for Student Affairs Sam Sadler sent an e-mail Feb. 13 notifying students of the investigation.

p. “There is no indication of an immediate threat to anyone on our campus, but there is most certainly a need for caution,” he said. “If you see or experience anything suspicious, call the police immediately. Local law enforcement officials have asked for any help we can give in apprehending this suspect.”

President Gene Nichol expressed disapproval of the Sex Worker’s Art Show through a statement released Tuesday afternoon.

p. “I don’t like this kind of show and I do not like having it here,” he said in a statement. “But its not the practice and province of universities to censor or cancel performances because they are controversial.”

p. The Virginia Gazette reported on the story after physics Professor Ken Petzinger informed them of the show through an acquaintance on the newspaper.

p. “I just decided somebody had to know. I decided to try to inform people because I don’t think it is part of a William and Mary education,” Petzinger said.

p. He learned of the show Friday afternoon when he saw a poster in the Campus Center.

p. From talking to other people, he discovered that the show happened last year, though it was only publicized through word-of-mouth.

p. “I was not angry; I was more saddened and somewhat perplexed that the College should sponsor this, use student fees and for some, require students to go for a course,” he said.

p. The Sex Workers Art Show, which cost $1,800, was paid for mostly through student funds. It is a traveling show featuring current and former employees of the sex industry talking about the realities of the industry through performances and other media. It was organized by seniors Sean Barker with Virginia Walters to encourage openness about sex on campus. Sean Barker could not be reached for comment on Nichol’s response.
See page 4 for a picture from the Sex Worker’s Art show.