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Wednesday, March 16, 2005

You cannot stay here 

Matt says, "Perhaps I could stay in the US?"
US says, "Nope, sorry mate."

Brown University - Application not recommended for admission
Penn State University - Application not recommended for admission
University of Maryland at College Park - Application not recommended for admission
Columbia University - Nothing yet, judging from the other decisions, application was probably used to mop up spilled coffee on some office desk.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Admission w/o funding yet

Ouch... it doesn't make much of a difference, but it still stings.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Consequences 

Fraud possible charge in hoax rally investigation

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By Wendy Weinhold
Independent-Mail
March 14, 2005

CLEMSON UNIVERSITY

CLEMSON — Clemson University officials are investigating a student for possible violations of the student code of conduct after an anti-war rally held Saturday on Bowman Field turned out to be a hoax.

Clemson sophomore Andrew R. Davis, 20, of Surfside Beach denied Monday that he was in the wrong when he used the alias "John Smith" to organize the rally by a group called Clemson Liberals Against War, or C.L.A.W.

"I stand by everything I did, and people are going to see this as a good thing or a bad thing," Mr. Davis said. "I took everything I did out of the so-called liberal play book. ? I always see it as the ends justify the means."

Mr. Davis said the event was properly registered and he revealed his use of an alias when questioned by university officials before the rally. But Clemson spokeswoman Robin Denny said the registration documents offered no indication that "John Smith" was not an actual person.

Ms. Denny said the university would revise its event policies to ensure verification of event sponsors.

According to Clemson judicial services office associate director Bill Price, Mr. Davis could face fraud charges based on student code of conduct policies. No university charges had been filed Monday against Mr. Davis, Mr. Price said. Because the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act guards a student’s rights, any charges or sanctions would be handled privately.

Mr. Davis could face "the entire spectrum" of university sanctions, from a warning to expulsion, if charged and found guilty, Mr. Price said.

Witnesses said Mr. Davis wore a black mask during the rally but removed it once someone shouted his name. State statutes prohibit anyone older than 16 from wearing a mask to conceal his or her identity in public.

Mr. Price said that should Mr. Davis be found to have committed a crime by wearing the mask, the investigation and charges would be handled by the university police and would be public information.

Mr. Davis is editor-in-chief of The Tiger Town Observer, a self-described conservative monthly campus journal. He said he had not intended to remove his mask at the rally but planned to give a reporter from a competing campus newspaper "the scoop" to reveal the truth.

Monday, March 14, 2005

It's time for someone to step down 

For those that I haven't mentioned this to yet:

Hoax rally riles activists on both side of political fence

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By WENDY WEINHOLD
Anderson Independent-Mail
March 12, 2005

CLEMSON — An event billed as an anti-war rally on Clemson University’s Bowman Field Saturday turned out to be a hoax that left activists on both sides of the political fence shaken.

The 2 p.m. rally was organized by Clemson student Andrew R. Davis, who is the editor-in-chief of The Tiger Town Observer, a monthly student publication that advertises itself as "Clemson’s conservative journal of news and opinion," according to Mr. Davis.

But fliers bearing an American flag with a swastika emblem that Mr. Davis said he posted several weeks ago on Clemson’s campus, along with a news release he distributed to Upstate media outlets, including the Anderson Independent-Mail, said the rally’s sponsor was Clemson Liberals Against War, or "C.L.A.W." Mr. Davis said he chose the alias, "Dr. Claw," as a reference to the Inspector Gadget cartoon character villain and terrorist leader.

A small group of supporters, who did not know the rally was a ruse orchestrated by the self-described political journalist gathered on the field for the rally. Among them was 59-year-old Pendleton resident Joan Shier.

"I thought it was a real peace rally," Mrs. Shier said. "We went out in support of world peace. We weren’t saying we don’t support the troops, we were saying we want to bring them home."

She said she was put on guard when Mr. Davis arrived carrying a hand-made poster inscribed with the words, "abortion isn’t murder, war is." Mr. Davis wore a black mask over his face until the end of the rally when a crowd member called out his name, at which point Mrs. Shier said he pulled off the mask and began to grin.

Also on hand for the rally were more than a dozen members of Clemson’s College Republicans, including the group’s chair, Robert "Bob" Frisina, 22, of Columbia.

"It made all of us look like fools that took this seriously," Mr. Frisina said. "We don’t condone his actions at all. It hurts our credibility as a group."

Mr. Frisina said the College Republicans had approached the protest as an opportunity to show their support for the war and President George W. Bush. Several local, state and federal elected representatives were invited to attend but had scheduling conflicts, and the group had planned to take donations for a disabled veterans group.

"I wanted to pull him aside and say, ‘What are you doing? This is not what I call respectable journalism or respectable politicking,’" Mr. Frisina said. "Apathy is a problem for our generation, and for this to be a giant practical joke offended me."

When contacted last week by an Independent-Mail reporter to verify the accuracy of the group, Mr. Davis said he used the alias, "John Smith."

When reached for comment Saturday night, Mr. Davis said his publication had paid $100 to secure Bowman Field for the rally and had been approved to use the alias when contacted by university police.

Efforts to reach Clemson University officials for comment were unsuccessful Saturday.

At first Mr. Davis denied that his tactics had been deceptive but later conceded that he "could see where it might be misleading."

He said he had no regrets for organizing the rally that was meant to "mock the liberal position" against war and rouse the campus from apathy.

"The main goal was to get the campus active again," Mr. Davis said. "When you have apathy on campus, it’s boring, it’s not fun. There’s no discourse. There’s nothing, people don’t care."

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After writing an e-mail to the lady in charge of student media concerning all of this, I was contacted by WSBF. They want me to write an editorial with one of their own who went to the rally and submit it to The Tiger. I plan to do so.

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