TV ad campaign draws fire at black college

TV ad campaign drawsfire at black college
BALTIMORE -- A public relations firm hired to promote historically black Morgan State University is under fire for telling students not to show up for a TV commercial with dreadlocks, head wraps, corn rows or braids.
Sahara Communications outlined the conditions in a letter that arrived Monday at the university's theater department. The request outraged many students, who saw it as a blatant attempt to portray a false image of a school where 90 percent of the 5,700 students are black.
"It's ridiculous that a black college would typecast its students," sophomore Zakiyyah Seitu said. "For a long time, black people have had to change who they are so they can fit in, and a lot of us go to a black college so we don't have to change who we are."
The only two men in the theater department were told they could not be in the ad because of their hairstyles, and a female student was asked to go home and change her hairdo, students said.
While the filming continued, school administrators met with about 20 upset students and assured them that all interested students could participate, college spokesman Clinton R. Coleman said.
The firm, owned by Morgan State graduate Sandy Harley, issued a statement Friday saying it is owned by an black and prides itself on diversity.
New book exposesconvicted spy's sex life
WASHINGTON -- Robert Hanssen had two secret lives, according to a new book that says he not only spied for the Russians on FBI time but dabbled in sexual fantasy while maintaining the image of a churchgoing family man.
Publicly a pious Roman Catholic, Hanssen posted sexually explicit stories about his wife on the Internet, says the book, "The Spy Next Door," and he invited a friend to watch over a secret home video system as Hanssen and his wife had sex.
Hanssen, a 25-year FBI veteran and senior counterintelligence agent, pleaded guilty in July to 15 counts of espionage and will serve life in prison without parole. He was accused of giving U.S. secrets, including information about satellites and early-warning systems, to the Soviet Union and later to Russia in return for payments totaling $1.4 million.
According to the book, Hanssen posted a message on an adult Internet site on March 7, 1999, explaining how he bought minivideo cameras designed for surveillance so that his friend could watch him having sex with his wife, Bernadette "Bonnie" Hanssen.
The book, written by Time magazine correspondent Elaine Shannon and Ann Blackman, a former correspondent for the magazine, also reprints sex stories Hanssen apparently wrote about his wife and e-mailed to an Internet site.
Hanssen's spying and sexual tendencies are symptoms of a psychiatric disorder that should have been used to help defend him, according to Dr. Alen Salerian, a Washington psychiatrist, who initially worked with Hanssen's lawyers but severed ties over disputes about defense strategy.
Teens charged in fire
OSWEGO, N.Y. -- Three teen-agers were arrested Friday and charged with setting a fire that destroyed a Sikh temple.
All three youths, ages 18 and 19, admitted involvement in the blaze Nov. 18 and said they had been drinking, Sheriff Reuel Todd said.
The Gobind Sadan House of Worship was housed in a converted farmhouse in Palermo, about 25 miles north of Syracuse.
Investigators said they were considering the fire a possible hate crime, which could lead to stiffer penalties under a law enacted last year.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Sikhs have been mistaken for Arabs or Muslims because they wear turbans and have beards. Around the country, Sikhs have been harassed and attacked, and at least one was killed.
Avoiding space junk
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA asked space shuttle Endeavour's astronauts Friday to do one last favor for their space station friends before leaving: steer the orbiting complex away from space junk.
A chunk of a 30-year-old Russian rocket looked as though it might come uncomfortably close to the international space station Sunday -- within one-third of a mile. Endeavour's pilots were instructed to fire the shuttle thrusters this morning to move the station out of harm's way.
Mission Control said the extra chore will delay Endeavour's undocking later today, but only by a half-hour. The lift to a slightly higher orbit is expected to create a 100-mile gap between the space station and piece of junk.
The space station has had to dodge orbiting debris several times during its three-year lifetime.
Associated Press