1994-04-13, The Samford Crimson

New weight training curriculum offered News, 2 Couples encounter weekend to be held News, 2 Catch up on what's going on in Samford sports Sports, 4 The Samford Crimson 78th YEAR, 21 St ISSUE WEDNESDAY. APRIL 13. 1994 SAMFORD UNIVERSITY, BIRMINGHAM. AL Speaker Series concludes with genetic researcher Guo Mal*z/Photo Emtm Eric Motley presents Dr. J. Craig Venter with a gift during Friday's convocation. He is president and director of the largest facility for sequencing DNA. search and the “use and misuse” of By Milam Saxon Associate News Editor With a huge projection screen displaying slides of multi-colored genes and the "secret code” of ge¬ netics as a backdrop, Dr. J. Craig Venter spoke last Friday in the Wright Center, concluding the spring Samford Speaker Series. Venter is the founding president and director of The Institute for Genomic Research, which is the world’s largest facility for se¬ quencing DNA He is also a member of the Hu¬ man Genome Organization, which is waking toward a complete se¬ quencing of the estimated 75,000 human genes. He reports that as of April 1, 45,000 genes had been se¬ quenced. He listed several benefits of cracking this “secret code” of the sequence ofbases making up DNA. This data will enable research¬ ers to identify particular genes as¬ sociated with cancerous conditions and use that information for screen¬ ing. Studying the changes in genes over a cancerous cell’s lifetime is also possible with this sequencing technology, he said, and could be used to develop early detection tests. The sequencing technology can also show the similarities between genes from different species. For example, he showed a slide com¬ paring a gene from Brewer’s yeast and one from the human brain which have mainly identical sequences. “Maybe that’ s why we (humans) like beer and bread so much,” he joked, “because we’re genetically related to it,” he said. TIGR is churning out such mas¬ sive amounts of genetic informa¬ tion daily with its computer se¬ quencing programming, that if all the sequences that have been found were printed out, the stack would be 3 times as high as the Washington Monument, Venter said. Venter also met with students and faculty before his lecture on Friday for discussion groups. He donated his honorarium for speak¬ ing back to the Samford Speaker Series. TIGR also concerns itself with the ethical questions of genetic re- biological technology, Venter said. He mentioned recent debates over whether butter made with the use of pig enzymes is kosher for certain religious groups or if parents should be allowed to genetically design their children. Heemphasizedthatitis not solely science’s fault if technology is put to questionable use, as in the abor¬ tion of female babies in some coun¬ tries after an ultrasound has deter¬ mined the child’s sex. “It’s not a decision dictated by scientists such as myself or the gov¬ ernment, but by decisions each of you (as individuals) make.” Brook Dili wins SGA pres, race Neal Hutchens Editor Junior Brooke Dill de¬ feated three other candidates to win Monday's SGA presi¬ dential election and sopho¬ mores John Roland and EJ. Smith are in a run-off elec¬ tion today for the office of second vice president. Dill took 61 percent of the votes with 799 ballots cast in her favor. Sophomore Lisa Good won 18 percent of the vote with 236 votes, Jason Holleman had 169 votes for 13 percent of the ballots and David Driskili received 8 percent of the vacs with 105 ballots. No candidate received a Please see Results, page 2. Computers now sold on campus Students discover relics By Danielle Plummer Staff Reporter If you are interested in purchas¬ ing a computer, you may not need to leave campus to do so. The Sam¬ ford bookstore launched a plan dur¬ ing the week of March 20 to make computers more affordable for students. In conjunction with Apple Computer’s Higher Education Pur¬ chase Plan, students can buy com¬ plete computer packages at dis¬ counted rates, said bookstore Manager Harry Holcomb. A basic package including key¬ board, monitor, printer and cables costs around $2,000. Several mod¬ els, makes and packages are avail¬ able, and prices vary accordingly, he said. “The plan’s prices are the best that can be found anywhere,” Holcomb said. The same computer systems at any other retail com¬ puter store would be much more expensive, he said. He estimates a maximum savings of $1,000 from regular retail rates. The bookstore has several com¬ puters on display to the right of the entrance near the post office and can order students any product car- Please see Apple, page 2. Gob Мдик/Рното Енгов Uppsy-daisy Construction crews continue working on new girl’s dormitory in Beeson Woods. ih archaeological survey By Amanda Dunn Staff Reporter A group of students recently got the chance to peer into the past as they participated in an archaeologi¬ cal survey of a portion of the Cahaba River. Sociology Professor Linda S tine and biology Professor Mike Howell headed the study of the area, which is scheduled to be home of a future apartment complex. Stine is using the survey to give her archaeology students the op¬ portunity to participate in actual field work. The team, consisting of the two professors and seven students, sur¬ veyed the site from 10ajn.to2p.m. March 12. Stine said preliminary results of the survey suggest Native Ameri¬ cans camped in the area. The team found large stone flakes, showing that tods were made in the region, and smaller flakes called debitage, which indicate the sharpening of tools and spear and dart points. The findings suggest the site could date back to the Ar¬ chaic Period, approximately 6000 B.C., Stine said The survey includes researching background information, spending time in the field, organizing records, labeling artifacts, locating specific grid coordinates, cataloguing finds and writing survey results, she said The students are currently washing and cataloguing the arti¬ facts. Stine said she finds this sur¬ vey fascinating because it can рто vide one piece of a much larger puzzle. Freshman theatre major Bradley Jones, who participated in the sur¬ vey, said it was an interesting way to spend a Saturday. Jones said he thinks it is strange the site will soon become an apart¬ ment complex. He said archeology should be taken more seriously and that society should think about what it is destroying before it begins building. Students clean up B'ham By Milam Saxon Associate News Editor This Friday at 2 pjn. is the dead¬ line for signing up for the Birming¬ ham Clean-Up, this Saturday. The booth near Howard will have sign-up sheets and information on the various service projects avail¬ able from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thurs¬ day and Friday. Students can also sign up at the SUSTAINS office in the university center. Approximately 350 students, faculty and staff signed up as of last Friday and coordinators hope to break last year’s number of 400 participants, said Melody Harper, co-chair of the Service Council. Partcipants should meet at Ben E. Brown Plaza at 8: 15 ajn . and will work at their sites from 9 ajn. to 12 p.m. Free T-shirts will be given to the first 400 students who arrive. Samford University Library