The Griffin: volume 73, issue 09 - Nov. 15, 2002

              "The internship was so key to what I did in the next few years of my career because when you're in an internship, it puts you in th'.- same situation that you would be during your job," Ryan said. 2's "Barry's Cat's Pajamas" that opened as she graduated. She then moved to channel 7 as a news producer for "Live at 5" with Keith Radford. She then moved on to channel 4 to take on the role of Spring courses selected By Lauren Rozanski News Reporter By Melanie Horton News Reporter See Council page 2 concerned about the racial overtones of the referendum. "The perception is this was a racial issue, even though it's more complicated than that," said Alonzo Thompson, chairman of Grassroots, They would have had to mobilize their base in the black community (about one third of registered voters in the city) and attract votes from Hispanicvoters and white liberal voters. As far as involving the Hispanic and other minority communities, that concept didn't work, due to a general feeling of indifference among those groups. "The downsizing issue never caught fire in the Hispanic community. People were totally disinterested," said Andrews Garcia, president of Western New York Hispanics and Friends, to the Buffalo News. Hispanics were, however, concerned with where the district boundaries are drawn. Although race was frequently brought up, other factors also shaped the outcome of the election. Black voter turnout was relatively low, considering the Democratic candidate for governor; H. Carl McCall was the first Black number of upper-level classes With less than a month of school left, students are busy planning and registering for next semester's classes, and all of their research has led them to express concern about the seemingly lower WWW.CSAC.8UFFALO.EDU/3IMPITTS1 COM James Pitts, Common Council President, does not plan on running for a district seat after the downsizing, but does not rule out a position in public office. With the discontinuation of the hard copy course catalog, students now have to look up classes and register online. When asked about the reasons, if any, behind the lower being offered and their discontent about the discontinuation of the hard copy course catalog. amount of upper-level classes being offered this semester, Blair Foster, Registrar, made it clear that he doesn't have any control over the courses offered each semester, as this decision comes from the department chairs in consultation with the deans and associate deans. "When we go to build a schedule for a semester, the courses are rolled forward from the previous semester," said Foster. "Th'e course offerings go through the deans and associate deans who then come to us to process the changes," he added. Some students believed the lower number of offered upperlevel courses to be a result of increased freshman enrollment and thus the increase in the number of professors needed to teach the lower-level classes. Dr. Jack D'Amico, chair of the English department, said he did not believe the situation comes from enrollment issues, but rather to be an effect of sabbatical, or time Buffalo citizens voted last Tuesday to reduce the size of the Buffalo Common Council from 13 members to nine. Common council downsizing approval came from huge margins in the white neighborhoods and strong opposition from Buffalo's East Side. The predominantly white South District passed the proposition with 94 percent approval, whereas the Masten District, where African- American residents are the majority, voted the proposition down with an 85 percent vote. These results were repeated all over the city. The final citywide vote resulted in the proposition passing by a landslide, 65 percent to 35 percent. The council will now be composed of nine district representatives and they will pick one lawmaker to serve as president. Supporters feel that the plan is common sense, as it would save the city about $1 million a year. The city is currently in its worst fiscal crisis in decades and has recently lain off police officers; temporarily closed two fire companies and made other budget cuts. Opponents feel that the proposition was racially motivated. Black voters especially were the most influential black political organization in the city, to the Buffalo News. The polling revealed that people were more receptive to the downsizing if they knew the money would be used to pay for other city services. Although they had concern, opponents to the proposition failed to change the outcome of the election. See Courses page 2 CIyc 6fiflin '• Canisius College. Buffalo. NY By Lacey Johnson News Editor ■ ■ • • / g CD BUSCAGLIA Honoring Our Veterans Monday marked the national day of recognition for the men and women who have honorably served the country in war and during peacetime. Locally, flags were placed at Forest Lawn Cemetery to commemorate area veterans. —-Jl CJ. BUSCAGLIA Did you know Canisius has a seismograph station in the basement of Old Main? It's one of the few in WNY, and it offers unique opportunities for students. See page 3. Planning Spring Break? See what insight Jim Wahl has to offer on page 7. Gary Bostwick lets his thoughts run on '"Give a penny, take a penny trays' and the American way," also on page 7. Jump, Little Children, Dave Stewey's all wet, Modi's Punch- Drunk again and eating breakfast for dinner, while Lakotas try to heal our defiant incoherence. Confused? See pages 8-12. The men's basketball team opened their 2002-2003 season with an exhibition game against McMaster. For more info about the contest, as well as a season preview, check out page 13. Friday. November 15. 2002 Volume LXXIII. Number 9 Distinguished alumni and Managing Editor of CNN/USA, Mary Lee Ryan, spoke last Friday in Lyons Hall, where she gave a synopsis of her career and answered questions from communication students and staff. Ryan, a 1984 graduate, began by getting to know "what kind of demographic I'm talking to here," because that is what Ryan does, she targets the news towards the most responsive audience. KATIE SCHLIENTZ Mary Lynn Ryan, an Emmy award winning Managing Editor of CNN/USA, arrived last week to talk with communication studies students and receive a Distingued Alilmni Award. Ryan has focused on targeting news toward the 18 to 35 year old age group by displaying news relative to them as well as younger guests. Ryan started by doing an internship with a local news station in Buffalo and taking a class that allowed her to tape a show in an actual newsroom that actually aired on television early on Sunday morning. Ryan is responsible for all the news programming on CNN and daily production. She plays a major role at a network with 42 bureaus, which is double CNN's top competitor and over 1,000 full time writers and admits it is a big responsibility. Not only is Ryan dealing with a large company, she has to deal with live, breaking news that she must adjust into the programming. While scheduling news, Ryan keeps a natural viewpoint so that the audience does not receive one side of the story like other news stations. the 5 p.m. producer. "It took me eighteen years, seven stations, I moved from Buffalo to St Louis, Hartford to Buffalo to Cleveland to Atlanta, to New York City back to Atlanta and now I'm the managing editor at CNN," Ryan said. Alumna addresses students CNN/ USA Managing Editor credits start in Buffalo She hung around the station after the internship and graduated with a bachelors in communication studies. She took advantage of a position as an overnight producer for the news cut-ins during channel See Alumna page 4 Mixed views on Common Council cut