About 200 University of Massachusetts students Thursday engaged in a shouting match during a rally at the Amherst campus to support an American captured when Sandinista troops shot down a contra supply plane in Nicaragua, the Associated Press reported.
A dozen opposing students countered rally supporters' shouts of "USA, USA" with chants of "Si Si Sandinista, No No CIA."
Brain Darling, president of the campus Republican Club, which organized the rally, called the captive, Eugene Hasenfus, "a good American, who was doing what the United States should have been doing all along--fighting Communism in South America."
Student Senate President Bill Barnett pleaded with the hecklers to allow Darling's group to be heard, but there were no incidents.
The 25,000-student campus was the scene of several demonstrations against U.S. involvement in Central America during the last school year. DARTMOUTH
Where Men Aren't Men Anymore
Just before he announced his resignation, Dartmouth College President David T. McLaughlin endorsed changing the words of the school's Alma Mater, "Men of Dartmouth," to accomodate women.
McLaughlin, who announced his resignation earlier this week, has encouraged the Alumni Council and Student Association to consider the issue, according to the Daily Dartmouth, the student newspaper.
Junior Todd J. Zywicki, a staff member of the Daily, described McLaughlin's endorsement of the change as "attempting to make his last stamp on Dartmouth" before his tenure ends. Zywicki also foresees "a huge battle between the alumni and the faculty" over the wording of the song.
Some alumni have suggested changing the first line from "Men of Dartmouth, give a rouse..." to "Now for Dartmouth...," according to the student publication. BOSTON COLLEGE
Librarian Arrested in Rare Book Heist
A rare books curator at Boston College has been accused by the FBI of trying to sell two 15th century works of Thomas Aquinas and other valuable books stolen from the school, the Associated Press reported.
Ralph Coffman, 46-year-old head of the college's Burns Library, which houses rare books among its 50,000 volumes, was arrested Monday on a complaint alleging he brought 52 stolen books worth an estimated $160,000 to the New York auctioneer Sotheby's this summer.
College officials declined comment Wednesday on the arrest other than to say the school learned of the investigation late last week, but news of Coffin's arrest spread quickly through universities in the area.
The head of Houghton Library, which houses rare books at Harvard, said the arrest has upset the library community.
"Not only the fact but the appearance of being honest is extremely important in the rare book field," said Lawrence Dowler, but "any violation of that is unsettling."
Among the books Coffman allegedly took from the Jesuit college were Aquinas' "Tract on Being and Essence," printed in Cologne in 1480; his "Golden Chains," printed in Cologne in 1482; and Pope Boniface's "Life of Christ by Bonaventure," printed in Paris in 1535.