The men’s cross country team is expecting a successful 2003 campaign as they bring back four of the Hurricanes’ top five runners from last year’s squad.
Head Coach Mike Ward has seen improvement from his team each year that he has been at UM and has set the bar high for this season.
“I would like to win all of the invitationals in the state of Florida,” Ward said. “I’d also like us to be in the top six in the Big East and in the top five in the NCAA Regionals.”
One reason for Ward’s high expectations is the impressive preseason that the incoming freshmen have had.
“The first thing to notice is that we are extremely deep with six freshmen, two sophomores, a junior, and a senior,” team captain Matt Mulvaney said. “We’re extremely young but the freshmen are very solid.”
Mulvaney will be leading the charge for the ‘Canes as the only senior left on the team. In 2002, Mulvaney was the top finisher for the ‘Canes in five of the six events and then had the Hurricanes all time best finish at the Big East Cross Country Championships.
Although Mulvaney has even higher goals for this season, he has been hampered by a knee injury recently that could affect his early performance.
“We’ve been working on getting things better,” Mulvaney said. “I’ve had right knee and hamstring problems, so we’re hoping to resolve those as quickly as we can.”
Also coming back to the team this year are sophomores Alex Brutvan and James Mullaly, and junior William Bludgus. The three lettermen bring experience to a young team that has much depth.
Brutvan had a very impressive freshman campaign last year by scoring in every meet. He’s worked hard in the off-season to improve.
“One guy that has caught my eye in the preseason is Alex, as he’s been leading everybody,” Mulvaney said.
Two of the freshmen that Miami has brought in to contribute immediately are Thomas Berry and Seth Kampf. Berry had an impressive 10th place finish at last year’s Connecticut State Cross Country Championships. Kampf had a 14th place finish at last year’s Maryland State championships.
The other freshmen Hurricanes include Zachery Castiglione, Michael Fleischer, and Jonathan Scheiner. Ward is going to need a lot out of the freshmen this year if they expect to go far in the NCAAs.
Miami opened their season in impressive fashion on August 30th with the first sweep of an invitational in school history. The team took the top seven spots at the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish Invitational on Saturday morning at Okeeheelee Park in West Palm Beach.
Leading Miami was Brutvan, who completed the five-kilometer course in a time of 16:30. Brutvan edged out Berry for his first collegiate victory.
Mullaly finished third individually with a time of 16:32 while Bludgus placed fourth in a time of 16:33. Castiglione finished fifth to complete the sweep.
Miami’s next meet is September 13th at the FIU Invitational.

A concept that makes our federal and state constitutions so remarkable, as well as provides the foundation of stable government, is that of checks and balances. In addition to those provided for each branch to “check the ambitions” of the other two, there exist checks on elected officials that are utilized directly by the people. These were codified in the form of frequent and fair elections as called for in the Constitution. This was the means by which the people were to hold responsible those they elect to office. Every time citizens don’t vote they absolve themselves of this responsibility. The California gubernatorial recall epitomizes this.
California governor Gray Davis’ administration has been an abject failure. Under his stewardship the state budget deficit has ballooned to over $30 billion, more than the other 49 states combined. Certainly fairness demands that the person in office when conditions erode should bear the responsibility. Gray Davis, having been governor since January of 1999, bears full responsibility for economic conditions there, as does the Democrat-dominated state assembly. Before my Democrat readership burst a collective blood vessel at the mention of this, I would remind them that they have no problem at all blaming President Bush for causing any current economic downturns despite the fact that the economy had already tanked during the last year of Clinton’s presidency.
In California, bad conditions as well as an enormous budget deficit existed last year when Gray Davis ran for re-election. Despite knowing this, the majority of the people re-elected him. Now, as polls and signatures show, many are having buyer’s remorse and have decided to hold a vote to remove him from office this October, a mere eleven months after they gave him a second term. While I would love to see Gray Davis go, I think the only recall that should occur is one aimed at the people of California for not repealing the recall law in the first place.
The entire idea of having checks on the system is to insulate the apparatus of government from being thrown into turmoil every time the people wake up on the wrong side of bed. In the words of Bill Maher, “the answer to that is not a Viennese weightlifter.” A responsible citizenry is.

Scott Wacholtz is a senior majoring in political science. He can be recalled at aramis1642@hotmail.com.

I went on a yearlong exchange program to Edinburgh, Scotland. It was everything the people at IEEP told me it was going to be, and more. I drank my weight in Guinness; I partied like it’s 1999. And I am happy that I made great friends, saw much more of the world than I planned on, and am now wildly enriched as a person. There was just one massive downside I was not prepared for: coming back.
After living on my own for a year, I had to move back in with my parents. I had a curfew once again. I had to answer questions about how, when and where I was going, and with whom. I have chores again-I can deal with that.
After having a great job that paid well and afforded me chances to see Italy with my boyfriend; to stay in a 16th century palazzo in Florence and to see Michelangelo’s David, I have to return to an internship that pays minimum wage and takes up all my time. I can deal with that.
After spending 10 months with the greatest man I’ve ever met, being with him morning, noon and night, waking up to his smile and falling asleep to his breathing, I have to sleep alone again. I can deal with that.
I’m not dealing with being back. I could live without all those things, gladly, if I were still in Edinburgh.
In Scotland, I had no car. I only went as far as my legs could carry me-always far enough. Within a 1/2-hour walk, I could get to as many pubs as I could stomach, the Firth of Forth, Princes Street, the shopping hub, and more museums than I can count. A train to Glasgow was six pounds, ($10), and a flight to Italy was 99 pounds ($160), round trip.
To get to a decent museum exhibition, excepting the Lowe, I’d have to drive over an hour to Ft Lauderdale. To see a foreign or independent film that hasn’t already been embraced by the masses, I still have no clue where to go outside of campus.
It’s sad to say, but Miami has no culture, no palpable substance. All that matters is what car I drive, the name on my clothes, and how much I dropped on a pair of sunglasses. Few care about the books, films, places, or things I know about and talk about. Most care about how much I drank, how hard I partied, how good my tan is, and how much I spent.
Maybe Europeans are more conscious of other cultures, and make more of an effort to get to know someone. It was common for someone on campus to speak three or four languages. Maybe because Scotland as not as big and powerful as the US is, it is forced to shine in other ways. However, I have the sneaking suspicion that it has a lot more to do with our (lack of) culture than theirs.
I recall the commercial where the guy says how great his life is, how big his house is, how new his car is, and how much debt he is in (up to his eyeballs, if memory serves). Do those things really matter, in the grander scheme?
When I’m dead, will it matter if my car was new or used, or if I went to the right clubs? I’m pretty sure it’ll matter more if I had good friends and good memories; I’m pretty sure who I am will matter more than what I owned.

Rebeca Oliveira is studying English and Creative Writing. She can be contacted at r.oliveira@umiami.edu.

Here’s something that you should know about me: I’m cheap. And I am so glad to be cheap. I encourage you all to be frugal. And here is how you and the University of Miami can start saving!
First, why are we here at some university that has had alumni with more cocaine busts (Michael Irvin) than Nobel Prizes (Fill in Your Name)? I would be at FIU if my upper middle class parents did not want me attending a “Private School.” It’s not that I dislike UM, they just could save a lot of money. Besides, if the school is so private, why do they receive federal funds? And for all the money we pay for UM, don’t you think that maybe you could get better living arrangements? After all, you came from a nice house to live in some hole that has been declared a Level 5 safety hazard by the Centers for Disease Control.
Second, is it possible that we could get rid of some departments? For example, why are we building a nursing school? It makes no sense whatsoever. No one is going to pay thirty thousand a year to end up cleaning feces off of some old guy’s bum for a career. It’s a waste of money and which other expensive private school did this for little incentive?
Third, that Convocation Center is a bad idea. You don’t have enough room to build new classrooms. So instead, you splurge to build an arena for a last place basketball team. What a waste! I know the arena makes money. But if no one can find a decent parking space, what the hell’s the point of even going?
Fourth, why is there a fountain at the center of the UM lake? Water doesn’t grow on trees. You might save by reducing your monthly water payments by several thousand dollars a year.
Finally, to save lawsuits, can’t you put a rail around Lake Disgusting so no one could drown like that kid did two years ago? What’s the use of having a lake? Nobody can swim on the marsh and the crew team is yet another waste of money operation. You could also put nets on the fire exits of the freshman towers so no one will commit suicide off your building.

Seth Bleicher can be contacted at sethbleicher@yahoo.com.

It is happening again: the current administration is acting against everything we have been taught, and treats the subject as a minor change in the status quo. Following the notorious Clean Air Act exemption for industry, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this past week rejected a petition that carbon dioxide be categorized and regulated as an air pollutant.
This recent EPA decision on the deregulation, yes, that is NO regulation, of carbon dioxide, a proven greenhouse gas, goes against what our environmental and earth scientists have taught us in class for years: increasing amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap sunlight and heat and therefore cause gradual escalations in the atmospheric temperature and damage entire ecosystems. We’re talking tenths of a degree in temperature change over many years, yes, but it doesn’t take much heat to melt an ice cap, and flood the world.
“Why would you regulate a pollutant that is an inert gas that is vital to plant photosynthesis and that people exhale when they breath?” said Eron Schosteck, spokesman for, guess who, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. It is simple, Eron: true, natural cycles of CO2 and other greenhouse gases penetrate many aspects of the environment, and even penetrate our lungs. But anthropogenic sources of CO2-our man-made cars and power plants, mostly-contribute far more concentrated amounts of pollutants into our one and only atmosphere. The rejection is a big win for automakers and utilities that operate coal-burning power plants. Vehicles emit 20 percent of industrial emissions in the United States, power plants 40 percent. This anthropogenic degradation of the environment, for our descendents’ sake, cannot and must not be ignored or doubted.
What’s the problem? “Congress has not granted EPA authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate CO2 and other greenhouse gases for climate change purposes,” said Jeff Holmstead, an EPA assistant administrator. Under the Clinton administration, the EPA argued that it had the necessary authority to regulate CO2 as a global warming pollutant. But the EPA is whining that it needs “clear legal authority,” granted by Congress, to address something as fundamental as climate change. If you need your precious Congressional authority to prevent eventual destruction of the global ecosystem, then get it, but do it before CO2 levels rise to irreparable levels.
There had better be a clearing up of this matter soon, as environmentalists should sue the EPA any day now. Several states plan on bringing the Bush administration to court over this violation of the Clean Air Act. Senators Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and John McCain, R-Ariz., are trying to pass legislation to regulate CO2, but haven’t gotten enough support from colleagues. David Doniger, the policy director of the Natural Resources Defense Center’s climate center, labeled the CO2 decision “another huge favor for the Bush administration’s big polluter contributors.” “It is indeed a pollutant,” said European Commission spokeswoman Ewa Hedlund, adding that EU legislation states that “it contributes to climate change.”
Shortly after taking office, President Bush withdrew a campaign promise to impose limits on carbon dioxide from power plants. During the campaign he also had said CO2 was a pollutant. The president later withdrew the United States from the U.N. treaty that aims to reduce emissions, saying he worried that mandatory reductions would hobble the U.S. economy.
Let’s not turn over control of our atmosphere without a fight.