Association for Alternative Spiritualities to hold Jeanette Foster Memorial on Sunday

Macalester Association for Alternative Spiritualities will lead an open memorial service at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6 for Jeanette Foster ’03, who committed suicide several days after her graduation in May. The service will include a performance by the African Music Ensemble, of which Foster was a three-year veteran, and a memorial speech by Foster’s advisor, Associate Professor of Psychology Jaine Strauss. In addition to the performance and memorial, Chaplain Lucy Forster-Smith and Associate Chaplain Father Pat Malone will speak.

(News Editor Brent Hecht)
 

Josh Bertsch hearing delayed until early November

The sentencing hearing for Joshua Bertsch ’03, who pleaded guilty to 19 counts of child pornography possession and one count of child pornography dissemination, has been delayed until Nov. 4. The hearing was originally scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 30. Accordin to Ramsey County Court Clerk Jack Rhodes, “this [delay] is not unusual in cases like these.” The defense requested a continuance, which was approved by Judge Joanne Smith, who is overseeing the case. Bertsch faces a maximum sentence of 102 years in prison, but such a long prison term is not common in cases similar to Bertsch’s.

(Contributing Writer Tiffany Smith)
 

National press shone on Macalester last week

So U.S. News and World Report may have taken its sweet time giving Macalester some recognition, but this past week the college found itself featured in not one, but two national newspapers. If you picked up the front section of the Sunday New York Times last weekend, you may have noticed a full-page ad purchased by the college. Last year, the school had several full-page ads in the Times, all of which advocated a specific message. Last weekend’s ad featured a message from President Brian Rosenberg regarding the importance of a liberal arts education.

Macalester was also mentioned in The Wall Street Journal in its list of the top 50 feeder schools for top graduate schools. At number 38, the college ranked above both Barnard College and University of California at Berkeley. The Journal listed the schools in order of the percentage of graduating seniors that attended certain elite graduate programs.

(Managing Editor Lizzie Tannen)