Changes to Snowball Hope to Make Dance Incident-Free

Student Senate, Alcohol Task Force Worked Together to Make Recommendations

By Andrea Smith
News Editor

Tomorrow night’s Snowball will be different from the past.
With the fallout from last year’s dance, Student Senate, sponsors of Snowball, along with Dean of Students Steve Lyons and the Alcohol Task Force, have worked to create a safer and better orchestrated event.
Drinking wasn’t the only problem at Snowball 2007. According to Lyons, the problem was logistics.
“As time went on, planning for the number of people involved to help run the event got smaller.”
Snowball 2007 was plagued by a number of problems. More students attended the dance than ever before. Over 900 students came, when the dance normally

averaged 400 students.
Upon arrival at the dance, most guests had to wait in line for at least 45 minutes. There were two Duluth police officers checking people in: one looking for students committing offenses and one to deal with the line itself.
Not only was this set-up frustrating for students waiting in line, but also for the officers. Lyons also said that there wasn’t enough CSS staff at the dance to help with this procedure.
Another problem with the dance last year was the number of students coming and going in the ballroom, leading to an excessive amount of noise. DECC staff was afraid the crowd would get too wild, and with an insufficient number of CSS staff present for assistance, the DECC called their own staff in for crowd control.

Snowball, previously held at the DECC, will take place in the Reif this year. Because of alcohol and noise problems, CSS is no longer welcome at the DECC. Photo by Matt Erjavec

“It was crazy,” said Lyons.
Because of all of these problems, a change was necessary for Snowball 2008. In years prior,

Polish Auteur Gets Props

CSS Screens Decalogue

By Aaron T. Rose
Editor-in-Chief

St. Scholastica is gearing up to present its second film festival in as many months. Beginning Thursday, Feb. 7, and continuing throughout the weekend, Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski’s opus, The Decalogue, will be screened in the Mitchell Auditorium.
The Decalogue, which originally aired on Polish Television in 1988 and 1989, is a series of 10, one hour films based loosely on the Ten Commandments. Widely considered a masterpiece, each film takes place in a Soviet-era Warsaw apartment complex.
“Several of the films [are] profound in how they address issues of ethics and faith which I know are important to this community,” said Brad Snelling, coordinator of

the series, and assistant professor and Periodicals and Collection Development Librarian at the College.
“Kieslowski is in the pantheon of great film directors. Even though The Decalogue films were made for Polish TV, they are routinely discussed as one of the greatest film cycles ever to be released and have often been shown theatrically,” said Assistant CTA Professor Nathan Carroll, who will be introducing the first screening. “Each film can stand on its own, but one gains from seeing them all in a cumulative sense. They are foremost modern films addressing the problems of reconciling modern life with ethical, political and moral

DFLers Face-Off in Mitchell

By Nathan Sand
Contributing Writer

A packed Mitchell Auditorium roared in applause Wednesday, Jan. 23, as Minnesota’s DFL candidates confidently strolled on stage. Organized by the CSS College Democrats, the forum gave the Duluth community a chance to weigh their voting options in the upcoming Senate race against Republican Incumbent Norm Coleman.
Candidates Mike Ciresi, Jim Cohen, Al Franken, and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer climbed onto stools and awaited instructions from forum mediators, Dr. Brad Gangnon and Duluth attorney Pete Radosovich, before introducing themselves to the multi-aged crowd. The introductions were limited to two minutes apiece for candidates to explain their distinctiveness and

credentials. Pallmeyer expressed concern over the worst administration in U.S. history,” while Ciresi recited his campaign slogan, “It’s time to change the ‘norm’ in Washington.” Each candidate agreed that both Minnesota and America need change.
On the issue of health care, all supported chopping prices to cut back on medical burdens, but they disagreed on how to do this and lacked detailed plans. Franken’s plan to enforce universal health care state by state was criticized as “dumb” by Pallmeyer because the plan would not fundamentally handle everyone justly.
“The heart and soul of America is education,” declared an animated Jim Cohen. Noting his credentials as a teacher, he stated an