A UM student was hit by a tan C230 Mercedes-Benz while watching an intramural semi-final baseball game Monday night. The victim, Elizabeth Ashley Moore, was watching the game from San Amaro Drive while holding what witnesses said was her roommate’s pug on a leash. The dog died at the scene.
Witnesses say that Moore was hit when she ran across the street, chasing a baseball that was overthrown. The next thing they heard were tires screeching and a thump.
“I heard yelling that someone had been hit by a car and immediately sent an employee to call 911,” Jason Carroll, assistant director for intramural activities and special events, said.
Moore was struck in the eastbound lane of San Amaro and Alhambra and thrown 15-20 feet in front of the Mercedes-Benz driven by a UM student. Moore landed on the windshield, causing the entire windshield to bend and splinter.
Officials at the scene were unclear if the dog was struck by the car or thrown from the impact. The dog landed in the westbound lane of San Amaro. According to UM officials, the dog is believed to have died at the scene.
The male driver refused to identify himself to The Miami Hurricane at the scene.
Dan Staloch, Moore’s boyfriend, was nearby on the baseball field when he heard his girlfriend had been hit by a car. At the scene, Staloch confirmed that Moore was conscious while she was in the Coral Gables Fire and Rescue vehicle that transported her to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Moore was released on Tuesday morning with a concussion and bruising. She could not be reached for comment.
Officer Barros of the Coral Gables Police Department confirmed Tuesday that the driver had not been charged yet since the accident was still under investigation. Whether any charges will be filed has yet to be determined. The driver was released from the scene and his car was impounded for further investigation.
As of press time officials working on the case say alcohol was not a factor in the accident, although speeding has not been completely ruled out.
Drivers frequently speed down San Amaro Drive, a one lane road that extends from Ponce De Leon Boulevard around the south side of the University. The Department of Public Safety ensures that it takes all the necessary precautions to protect the safety of students.
“San Amaro is a public street in Coral Gables,” Lt. William Gerlach, a spokesperson for Public Safety, said. “Our officers have the ability and can take action as necessary if they observe traffic violations.”
Currently, frequent radar operations are conducted by the Coral Gables Police Department on a frequent basis throughout the San Amaro and Ponce De Leon areas.
A complete copy of the official police report for this incident can be picked up at the Coral Gables Police Department, 2801 Salzedo Street, Case # 03-3722.

Cassandra Palanza can be contacted at c.palanza@umiami.edu.

Sean Penny acknowledges that having sex with a minor during the summer of 2001 was a mistake.
However, he contends the act of consensual sex, over which he was arrested then, did not warrant his expulsion last June from the University of Miami.
A recent appeals court ruling, which found the Florida Sexual Predators Act unconstitutional, breathes life into Penny’s argument that he should not be subjected to a decade of alienation and scrutiny over an offense for which he was never convicted.
“This was a case of a high school senior having sex with a freshman,” said Penny, 20, during a recent interview. “It happens every day.”
However, University officials rejected that notion.
They expelled Penny, a former music theory and composition major and half-scholarship recipient, arguing that, as a registered sexual offender in the state of Florida, he posed a threat to the University community.
The ordeal began on the internet in June 2001. Bored in his parents’ house in Ocala, Florida, Penny, then 18, said he logged on to a gay website and struck up a conversation with the only other person in the Ocala chat room, a 14-year-old boy.
After swapping messages for a few hours, the two decided to meet at 3 a.m. Penny snuck out in his parents’ brown Pontiac Bonneville and drove a couple of miles to an address where he had agreed to meet the minor.
The boy, from Illinois, was a high school freshman in Florida for the summer visiting his aunt.
They drove around for about 20 minutes, looking for a deserted place to park. Penny pulled over and turned off the engine. They kissed and then engaged in sex, until the red and blue lights of an approaching police car interrupted them.
Hastily, they reached for their clothes as a trooper approached the Pontiac, pointing a flashlight toward their half-naked bodies.
Todd Spicher, Marion County Sheriff, tapped on one of the rear windows of the vehicle and asked Penny and the minor to get out of the car. He interviewed them separately, taking the juvenile’s statement first.
Then he took Penny aside and asked him for his side of the story.
Penny told the sheriff that he had had oral and anal sex with the juvenile. The sheriff then confiscated four unopened condoms and an open bottle of Astro Glide lubricant, read Penny his Miranda rights and drove him to county jail.
Penny was arrested on two counts of sexual battery on a child. Under Florida law, it is illegal for an 18-year-old and a 14-year-old to have sex, regardless of whether it is consensual.
Penny started classes at UM in August 2001, trying to put behind him the pain and embarrassment the ordeal had caused him and his parents. His first few months in school were rocky.
He often felt depressed, which hurt his academic performance. In November 2001, his roommate, Chad Meredith, drowned in Lake Osceola. By the end of the semester, Penny’s scholarship was in jeopardy due to his poor grades.
The next semester, he sought counseling at the University. His grades improved; so did his mood. His scholarship remained safe and his day in court was approaching.
In April 2002, Penny accepted a plea bargain from the state attorney’s office in Marion County and pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a minor. As part of the plea bargain, the judge withheld adjudication. That meant he was never technically convicted of a crime. However, under the Florida Sexual Predators Act, a guilty plea is sufficient to put an individual on the sexual predators’ online registry.
His mug-shot and charges will remain on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement online database until April 2012, when Penny can legally ask a judge to consider removing him from the registry.
As a sexual offender, Penny must also submit monthly reports to his probation officer in Miami. By law, probation officers are required to notify university officials that one of their students is a sexual offender.
It is unclear whether that is how University officials learned that Penny was a registered sex offender last spring.
Initially, they asked him to move off campus.
“Because of your past actions,” Robert Redick, director of Residence Halls, wrote to Penny in a letter dated June 10, 2002, “I have concluded your continued residence in University of Miami student housing would not be in the best interests of other students at the University.”
He gave Penny four days to move out.
Penny appealed the decision and submitted to UM officials a letter from one of his court-appointed counselors. In the letter, dated June 19, 2002, Dr. Edward Sczechowicz, a clinical psychologist at the Alliance for Psychological Services in Miami, stated that Penny did not pose a threat to the “health or safety of anyone at the University of Miami campus.”
The following week Penny was expelled.
“This decision was made after reviewing the clear scope and intent of the [Florida’s Sexual Predators Act] and with due regards to the best interests of the University community,” William Sandler, dean of students, wrote in a letter dated June 24, 2002.
Sczechowicz’s findings, as expressed in his letter to UM officials, “[run] contrary to legislative findings and purpose of the Florida Sexual Predator’s Act,” Sandler wrote.
Sandler also informed Penny that University officials had deemed it necessary to issue him a trespass warning.
Sandler declined to be interviewed for this story, replying via e-mail: “I’m sorry but I cannot comment on action taken against a current or former student.”
Penny moved into a Coral Gables apartment soon after his expulsion from UM. Coral Gables notifies neighbors when a registered sexual offender moves to the city, and a few weeks into his new lease, his landlord evicted him.
In July 2002, Penny made a written appeal to UM’s Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs seeking readmission. Eric Isicoff, an attorney at Isicoff, Ragatz & Koenigsberg, responded to his appeal on July 26, 2002, on behalf of the University.
Isicoff informed him that the University would not consider his appeal for readmission. Quoting from the state’s Sexual Predators Act, Iscoff wrote, “The Legislature finds that sexual offenders, especially those who have committed their offenses against minors, often pose a high risk of engaging in sexual offenses even after being released from incarceration or commitment.”
Penny applied to Florida International University [FIU]. He submitted a two-page dossier explaining the intricacies of his case. FIU officials rejected his application for admission in August of 2002.
Currently, Penny is enrolled in Miami-Dade Community College [MDCC] and lives in an apartment outside of Coral Gables.
Penny said that recent efforts to explain the intricacies of his situation to the University have been futile. He added that he hopes that by going public about his case – while exposing what he perceives to be a flawed law that that fails to distinguish between dangerous and non-dangerous sexual offenders – University officials might consider readmitting him.
“Sean is not a high risk,” Sczechowicz said. “I would challenge anyone in the field to evaluate Sean.”
Last January, a Florida appeals court ruled that the state’s Sexual Predators Act is unconstitutional because it fails to provide minimal procedural process. It allows for people like Penny to be branded as sexual predators even though their guilt and the level of threat they pose on their community was never established by a judge or jury.
Sczechowicz, who describes himself as “very conservative” when it comes to sentencing sexual predators, reserves his harshest criticism for the manner in which UM officials handled Penny’s case.
“Rather than have a knee-jerk reaction, as professionals it is inherent upon us to look upon the unique characteristics of each case. . . to consult with the experts and do more than pay lip service to the concept of rehabilitation,” said Sczechowicz, who earned his masters degree and doctorate in clinical psychology from UM.
“The University trains individuals to heal people who have problems. It is hypocritical to train their students to do this and not acknowledge that it should be done,” Sczechowicz said.
Penny and Sczechowicz said they believe University officials chose to expel Penny not because they deemed him dangerous to the University community, but because having a sexual offender on campus would have made them liable.
“If you had wanted to throw me out because you worried about the image and integrity of the University being tarnished or of the University being sued, which is in reality the case, you should have just done so on those grounds,” Penny wrote in a recent letter to UM President Donna E. Shalala. “You needed a reason, however, so you tarnished my reputation and my integrity by quoting an unjust law and pushing me out the door. . . I wish you could understand the impact such an arbitrary decision has had on my life.”

Ernesto Londono can be contacted at londonoernesto@yahoo.com.

During reading days and final exams, the Richter Library will remain open 24 hours a day. The library will open on Saturday, April 26 at 9 a.m. and remain continuously open until Thursday, May 8. The library will close at 11 p.m. on May 8. For a detailed library schedule, visit the library website at www.library.miami.edu/general/hours.html.

Lost your cell phone? Can’t find your keys? Then be sure to stop by the Information Desk at the UC to see if they have your missing possessions in lost and found. Lost and found is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

As the semester comes to end, voice your opinion about your professors, whether you love them or hate them, at www.myprofessorsucks.com. This is your chance to give THEM a grade.

Combined graduation ceremonies for UM undergraduates and graduates will take place during four ceremonies on Friday, May 9; the School of Medicine will hold its graduation on Saturday, May 10; and the School of Law will hold graduation on Sunday, May 18.
All together, more than 3,000 students will graduate at the Convocation Center,
The schedule is as follows for combined ceremonies on Friday, May 9:
School of Business Administration commencement takes place at 8:30 a.m. Arthur Levitt, the longest-serving chair of the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission and former chair of the American Stock Exchange, will receive the Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree.
The combined ceremony for the School of Architecture, Continuing Studies, Education, Music and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science will take place at 12:30 p.m. Susan Solomon, atmospheric scientist and leading researcher on ozone depletion in Antarctica, will receive the Doctor of Science honorary degree.
At 4 p.m., the School of Communication, College of Engineering, School of Medicine (graduate degrees) and School of Nursing commencement will take place. Jeffrey Immelt, CEO and Chair of General Electric, will receive the Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree.
The College of Arts and Sciences completes the day at 7:30 p.m. with their commencement ceremony. Wynn Handman, Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the American Place Theatre in New York, will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, and Cundo Berm

TODAY
Need a break from finals? Then don’t miss the Finals Fiesta from 4 to 6 p.m. on the bridge between Stanford and Hecht Residential Colleges. Join MSA, Eaton, Hecht and Hurricane Productions in celebrating the last day of class. Come by for some great food, music by DJ Sage and prize giveaways.

The recent recipient of the Provost’s Award for Scholarly Activity, Dr. David Ellison, professor of French and chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, will present a lecture titled “Proust and the Art of Lying.” This event will take place at 5 p.m. in Room 331 of the James W. McLamore Executive Education Center in the School of Business. A reception in the Executive Education Center Dining Room will follow.

Come hear how you can put your degree to work in making a difference in someone’s life. Do not miss the Peace Corps Information Session and Video Presentation from noon to 1 p.m. in University Center Room 233. For more information, contact Erin Seiler, Peace Corps Campus Recruiter at e.seiler@umiami.edu.

SATURDAY APRIL 26
The Hammond-Butler Inspirational Concert Choir are having their annual Spring Concert at 7 p.m. in Gusman Concert Hall. There will be singing, dancing, sign language and a steel drum band. Come and be uplifted! If you have never been to one of their concerts, you don’t want to miss this one. Tickets are $5 for students and are available in the breezeway.

MONDAY APRIL 28
The University of Miami community is invited to honor history professor Dr. Robert Levine at a memorial service from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Lowe Art Museum. The author of more than two dozen books on Brazil, Cuba and photographic analysis, Dr. Levine died April 1 of complications from brain cancer.
Dr. Levine joined UM in 1981 and has an extensive University service record. Dr. Levine served as chair of the Department of History from 1983 to 1991, director of the Latin American Studies program and, most recently, director of the Center for Latin American Studies. He founded the Institute for Public History in 1982.
In 1999, Dr. Levine was appointed as the first Gabelli Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences.

Finals are approaching, which means high stress. If you are feeling overwhelmed with your studies, the Wellness Center can help! Come and take a load off after a long day of classes with the Wellness Center’s Stress Less Days between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. for two relaxing days of yoga, studio cycling, chair massage, music therapy, table games, information tables, refreshments, etc. For more information or a schedule, contact 305-284-6524. This event is sponsored by the Wellness Center, Dean of Students Office, STRIKE and PHATE.

The Dr. M. Lee Pearce Chair in Middle East Peace Studies invites you to attend the Eleventh Annual Luria Family Foundation Lecture by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Member of the United States House of Representatives and Chairwoman of the House Sub-Committee on the Middle East and Central Asia, on “The United States in the Middle East – A View from the House.”
The event will take place from 8 to 10 p.m. at The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies. The lecture is free and open to the public. Seating is limited. For more information, contact ccjs@miami.edu or call 305-284-6882.

TUESDAY APRIL 2
Stress Less Days continue at the Wellness Center form 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information contact 305-284-6524.

Shalala shows Hurricane what it takes to run UM
Up close and personal with the president

At 8:30 a.m. on a recent Friday, UM President Donna E. Shalala walks into a conference room at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Coconut Grove for a 15-minute appearance.
A group of professors from the College of Arts and Sciences is meeting for a two-day retreat to discuss the future of the college.
After working the room for a few minutes, Shalala sits at a table near the front.
James Wyche, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, walks up to the podium and asks “our noble president” to say “a few words of comfort” to professors in a school that is at an “important juncture.”
Shalala, petite next to Wyche, walks up to the podium, adjusts the microphone to her height and delivers one of her customary punch lines.
“This place,” she says, pausing for a moment. “It’s kind of ritzy.”
Laughter spreads through the room, then subsides.
“I had to say that,” she adds, before getting down to business.
The college’s curriculum needs an overhaul, Shalala says, arguing that programs must become more interdisciplinary in order for the University to remain competitive. Many at UM like the idea; some don’t.
“President Woodrow Wilson once said that trying to revise a college curriculum is like trying to move a graveyard,” she tells the crowd. “We periodically have to step back and see how we’re doing.”
During Shalala’s two-year tenure, the College of Arts and Sciences welcomed a new dean and took on the now-defunct School of International Studies-a controversial move that drew ire from students and professors. Several critics and supporters of the change were stunned by the ease with which Shalala dropped her first bomb at the University.
While receptive to criticism, the president clearly has a mind of her own.
“The world is interdisciplinary,” she says, standing outside the hotel, waiting for her ride. “Students like that idea.”
Minutes later, the president arrives at her office. On Fridays, she usually spends a couple of hours combing through mail, responding to e-mail and returning phone calls. Her agenda for the day is posted on a plastic desktop frame. The schedule has a header with a series of heads-ups for the day.
“FYI: Student reporter from The Miami Hurricane will shadow you today. Wear something bright and makeup for video shoot.”
As Shalala flips through a copy of The Miami Hurricane, Margot Winick, head of the University’s Media Relations office, tells her that the newspaper ran a brief about the newly appointed dean of the School of Nursing, who is Hispanic.
“What about the Spanish media?” Shalala asks.
They haven’t picked it up, Winick replies.
“What the Hurricane needs is a good gossip column,” Shalala says, putting the paper down. “You’re laughing – people read that stuff,” she adds.
Shalala is media savvy. Photogenic, unpredictable, witty and astoundingly articulate, she seems to bask in the publicity she draws to the University.
Behind closed doors, however, the president strips out of the jolly, bouncy persona she shows in the limelight. A University administrator who works close to the president refers to the president’s knack to transform her behavior in a matter of seconds as “her amazing ability to switch on and off.”
As Shalala dashes out of her office to make her second brief appearance at 10 a.m., she asks her personal secretary, Lucy Mascar