Miami Hurricane, March 31, 2000

              LU
Û
55
z
1

South Beach music fest rocks
ACCENT page 11
Michigan St. aims for Final Four crown
page 5
THE Mil III Eli
Coral Gables, Florida
Since 1927
Volume 77, Number 43_____________WWW.HURRICANE.MIAMI.EDU _______________Friday, March 31,2000
Student starts real estate website
Service helps students find off-campus housing
By Becky Clero
Hurricane Staff Wnter
Now students who want to move off-campus can start their home hunting online.
Charles Silver and Peter Smurfit, both local college students, own www.collegerealestate.com, a website that helps students find off campus housing online.
The site itself is easy to use. A user has to click on search, select their university's name, the amount of rent they would be willing to pay per month, and how many bedrooms they would like. From there, the site looks up all the listings that match and gives the student an address, contact number, price, minutes from campus and, if it’s available, a picture of the location.
Silver the i-rewwr «4	and a .
Lmversity of Miami communications student, said ”(f] was in a training course for real estate, and then I realized college kids would find homes through the Internet." Silver said he and his partner, Smurfit, then found investors willing to spend under $50,000 to start it up
Presently, he and his partner have been offered up to a million dollars to sell the website, said Silver.
Since the informational service is free, he and Smurfit make money off of the site by giving students an online store that sells airline tickets, books, flowers, cars and even loans, said Silver Companies like United Van Line, and On Loan.com provide these services, he said.
By the fall of 2000, Silver and his partner plan to increase the current 63 listings to at least 100 college listings that include all major universities in the U.S., said Silver. They also plan to release a TV commercial to increase awareness of the website by this fall, he said.
“The plan is to become the number-one website for college kids to come to and find real estate near campus," said Silver. “I know what college kids want, because I’m a college kid myself. We’re the only website that targets the real estate market near colleges, other websites have the option (on their menus), but they don’t exclusively target the market."
Religious Diversity Week kicks off
By Isabel Paez
Light rain quickly gave way to clear skies at the Rock, where Rabbi Solomon Schiff, Father Frank Corbishley and a handful of spectators came together to celebrate opening ceremonies for Religious Diversity Week on Monday.
This was the first event of what Dr. !>onn Tilson, an associate professor at the University of Miami, calls a weeklong "celebration of faith "
Religious Diversity Week began as a class project in Dr. Tilson’s public relations campaign class in spring 1999. He said he got his inspiration from a friend who works at Barry University, where similar events hav# been organized.
Tilson said the purpose of the event is to achieve “A deeper appreci-
ation of all faiths on campus.” He hopes the event will “bring down barriers and clear up misconceptions about faiths.
“We judge our religious tradition based on what is best and others' religious traditions based on what is worst," Father Corbishley said at the brief ceremony
Tilson said they are not out to convert anvbody but rather to grow stronger in their own faiths by celebrating other's,
“Diversity is not the philosophy of live and let live, but live and help live," said Schiff
Schiff added that ludaism does not say that it is the only way to God
“Any religion based on compassion is the true way to God," Schiff said.
The celebration of religious diver-
sity continued Monday evening with a candlelight vigil “for peace.” Wearing “Religious Diversity Week”T-shirts and representing various faiths, a group of people gathered at the Rock where they received white candles wrapped in foil.
Ioanna Wahl said she attended the candlelight vigil because she“wanted to share with all other religions and represent Catholics."
From the Rock, the group walked around Lake Osceola, struggling to keep the wind from blowing out the candles The group then headed for the Wesley Foundation on Stanford Drive for refreshments.
|im Howe, executive director of the National Conference for Christians and lews, spoke at the Wesley
See DIVERSITY • Page 2
EMILY NEAL / Hurricane Staff
RELIGIOUS UNITY: Father Frank Corbishley. Rabbi Solomon Schiff and Rabbi Jeffrey Faltck enjoying conversation. .
Ready for a fight
JORGE GALVEZ / Hurricane Staff
PROTESTING: Chris Zappos and Bjorn Boquest let their sentiments be known at the swim and dive team rally on the Rock.
Jean named speaker pro
tempore
By Jessica McNeill
Assistant News Editor
junior Rubin lean was elected the next speaker pro tempore at the Student Government Senate meet ing on Wednesday.
According to Laura Batista, the outgoing speaker pro tempore, jean had the most experience and dedication of the candidates “I've worked with him closely and he is very responsible," she said.
“He also has a flexible schedule, which is greatly need-
ed	RUBIN JEAN
Although
lean’s schedule is flexible, he said he was involved in many activities this year.
lean was United Black Students senator for two years, on the Rathskeller Advisory Board and was Senate Public Relations Committee chair, among other activities, according to his resume lean said he has also been very
involved in Senate for two years, participating in Hoops for Hunger, AIDS Quilts and was a Senate
Mentor.
jean said he felt as though the reason he was chosen was not only because of his experience, but also because of work ethic “I’m happy to start off a new term on the right foot, helping students with what they need," he said. “I also think that I work quite well with everyone on Senate "
Batista said ' e agreed that jean had a great wo>. ethic and said he always followed through on all Senate projects.
jean also said that for Senate to work next year, people need to work together.
“The Senate is like a human body," he said. “It needs all of its parts to work and function"
By working on several issues, such as improving the committee system, tilling all the open Senate seats and keeping senators interest ed and involved, lean hopes to improve SG.
See SG • Page 2
Women honored at awards ceremony
Scientific theory holds key to creation
Bookstore, Physics Department host noted expert
By Altamash Khan
A man dressed in an olive brown sports coat, wearing blue leans, and standing in the Wilder Auditorium was discussing on a Tuesday afternoon what many physicists have sought for many decades, a unified theory upon which we can describe our world.
Dr. Brian Greene, a professor at Colombia University, is one of the most prominent scientists in his line of work alive today Approaching the fame of Carl Sagan, he has been trav-
eling across the nation visiting universities, such as the University of Miami, spreading his gospel in string theory, extra dimensions, and the quest for the ultimate explana tion 6f our universe.
“There has been an irresistible urge," Greene said, “to understand where we come from."
The string theory is one step more advanced than quantum mechanics. Greene briefly mentioned a fan letter, in which the author, a high school student, was so intrigued by Greene’s book, the Elegant Universe, that it caused him nose bleeds
“When people say this stuff is mind blowing, maybe there is some truth to that," Greene read from the fan letter
String theory states that even the smallest particles called quarks are made of filaments, or strings, of energy that oscillate at a given frequency natural to that particle.
Greene explained in his lecture, hosted by the Department of Physics and the UM Bookstore, that with learning and understanding the world around us, we could quantitatively predict the outcome of future events.
“You could figure out 1,000 years from now when the next solar eclipse would occur," Greene said.
“Newton couldn’t figure out how gravity works," said Greene
Newton came up with a quantitative and qualitative explanation of gravity that were reasonable and logical to a point, according to phvsi-
cist Dr. Chris Boynton.
I’m feeling it on my feet," said Greene, bouncing up and down and describing weight “You feel it elsewhere," he said alluding to the fact that we were sitting on our posteriors.
If the laws of physics break down, then there must be more to it, Greene said. From Newtonian physics to quantum mechanics, and now to string theory, physicists work hard to explain the nature of our existence and perhaps learn about God in the process, in that you learn the fabrication of space-time itself, he said.
Greene is a professor at Columbia University doing research in string theory. He graduated from Harvard University and received his doctorate from Oxford University
By Jessica McNeill
Although in years past, only one student and faculty member have been given awards at the Women’s Commission Rreakfast, Monday Wilhemena Black, director of Affirmative Action, senior Karen Chuang and graduate student Heather Kramm were all recognized.
According to Women’s Commission President Nancy Ryan, Black was awarded the May Brunsen Award, which is given to an administrator, male or female, every year, while Chuang and Kramm were awarded the Louise Mills Award
“This year, those three women were exceptional in the area of women’s studies, so we gave out three awards,” Ryan said.
Chuang said she was very surprised when she received the award
Monday morning, however, she was also very excited.
Chuang has been involved in working for the Programming Board at the Women’s Resource Center for two years and also works with her sorority's philanthropy, eating disorders
“I get involved with things that I enjoy doing and I believe in,” she said. “It’s not like work to me because I am interested in it.”
Chuang said will be graduating in May, and although her career will not involve women's studies, she said if volunteer services are available where she lives, she will get involved.
Kramm. now involved in the Graduate Medical Program at the University Miami, said she went to college at Tulane and participated in several women’s events there.
See AWARDS • Page 2
»
»