Pitted Against
Each Other
S tudents of international
relations at the University
of Pittsburgh don't just
read about diplomacy, they
practice it as world leaders
in a game of global conflict.
During the final three weeks
of the fall term, political-sci-
ence professor Richard Cot-
tam-who's been playing war
games with his students for
more than 25 years-divides
the 30 or so upperclassmen into
eight delegations. At a cock-
tail party in his home, Cottam
impersonates the secretary-
general of the United Nations
and distributes a complex geo-
political scenario. The power-
ful "student-nations" are not
limited in their possible ac-
tions: they can launch inva-
sions, plan assassinations,
sign treaties or initiate nuclear
war. At this year's opening
session, a student dressed as a
terrorist burst in with a phony
machine gun.
Would-be Gorbachevs or
Kaddafis begin by spending
dozens of hours researching
their assigned countries-
sometimes letting other class
work suffer. The assignment
can also wreak emotional hav-
oc. A few years ago, according
to Cottam, a Jewish couple
broke off their engagement
when one of them, represent-
ing the PLO, came to sympa-
JIM dLuun --iu'i'ulR IiIUL
Treaty deals to ICBM launches: 'Guerrilla'and 'diplomats'
thize with the Arabs. What Eastern European country
motivates students to become during the Solidarity move-
so involved? "On one level the ment. "Students acquire an
game is a struggle between appetite for power." Machia-
countries. At another it's a velli would have wholeheart-
struggle between personal- edly approved.
ities," says grad student Arie
Sphiez, who represented an
JOHN BURKMAN Jr. in Pittsburgh
Safe or Sexist
at Oregon?
university-funded "es-
cort" service is a wel-
come sight for women
at the University of Oregon,
but some people wonder if it
discriminates against men.
Project Saferide is known as a
rape-prevention shuttle that
offers free rides to, from and
around campus every evening
from 6 to midnight. Since it
was established three years
ago, more than 4,000 women
have used Saferide-and the
number of reported rapes on
campus has declined. "It wasn't
fair that women were plan-
ning their lives around day-
light," says former Saferide
director Shannon Meehan. But
the shuttle, which is funded
from fees paid by all students,
has come under some fire for
its women-riders-and-women-
drivers-only policy. (Men may
work as dispatchers.) Support-
ers insist that the all-female
policy is the only way to ensure
women's "safety and sanity,"
says Meehan. "If a potential
rapist were to ride the van and
get off at a stop with a female
passenger, we'd be leaving her
when he was the association's
academic vice president, "I got
the feeling that people were
taking down the notes but not
actually learning." NU's ad-
ministration cautiously ap-
proved the service, similar to
ones offered at such schools as
Cornell, the University of
Wisconsin and Berkeley. A doz-
en professors agreed to partic-
ipate, but so far the note-takers
labor only in five introductory
science classes, chosen because
of their large size.
Professors say they have
not noticed changes in academ-
ic performance or attendance
since the service began, possi-
bly because only 45 NU stu-
dents gambled on the system.
One freshman anthropology
student cheerfully confides
that she enjoys sleeping late
and says that paying for notes
"makes it so you don't have to
go to class.' But majority senti-
ment appears to be that stu-
dents don't benefit unless they
do go, since it is difficult to
understand what's going on
just by reading someone else's
shorthand. Still, on a frigid
morning when the wind whips
off Lake Michigan, having a
stand-in for your 8 a.m. can
seem awfully tempting.
SARAH OKESON in Evanston
NEWSWEEKONCAMPUS 29
'Trying to make the night more equal': The shuttle is no man 's land
as vulnerable as if she had
walked alone."
Sixty percent of 200 men
surveyed by Meehan last year
support the no-men policy,
she says, and many expressed
gratitude that the transport
was available to girlfriends and
wives. According to current
director Cin Chubb, "We're try-
ing to make the night more
equal for both genders."
DIANNE DANOWSKI in Eugene
Noteworthy at
Northwestern
For $15, payable to the stu-
dent-government associa-
tion, students in five
classes at Northwestern can
hire fellow students or teach-
ing assistants to take notes for
them. Says Gary Rintel, who
suggested the service last year
MARCH 1988