The Exponent Online


03/25/2002	Previous Edition 3/22

Survivor speaks of persecution

Jason Gulley/Exponent Photographer

RED, WHITE AND BLUE: Paul Jones, a freshman in the Schools of Engineering, carries the U.S. flag for the Navy ROTC color guard at the 21st annual Holocaust Remembrance Conference.

By Yuri Victor
Staff Writer

There were schooldays, there were Sundays, there were good days and there were days when a shot would echo from the confines of a prison wall. A body falls to the soil — the aftershock already in effect. The prison guard steps forward, pistol drawn, and fires a final shot.

This day was different. Three hundred men in blue and white prison garb watched in nervous silence as a young man was executed. Headlines read, "First Resister Killed; Jehovah's Witness Executed."

His death was not an end but a beginning. The beginning of the Jehovah's Witness resistance and persecution. With a single shot the Nazi Germans had started a revolt that caused the arrest of all male members from a local congregation. Rudolf Graichen, only 12 years old, watched his father sentenced to five years in prison.

Saturday night at the 21st Annual Holocaust Remembrance Conference Graichen spoke of the truth, of his experience and of his persecution.

Even as a young boy Graichen was very much aware of the nefarious actions of his peers. For his resistant attitude he was sent to a reform school where the teachers were strict and the motto was, "You better or else."

As a form of indoctrination the teacher decided to take the class on a field trip instead of class. The only requirement was that each student had to wear the Nazi uniform. In excitement all the students cheered, except for one.

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Graduate school attendance rises

Many students are choosing to attend graduate school instead of heading into the work world, but because of tight budgets and high demands for research, what was once known as just a way to further higher education has become much more.

"It's like a job, but at same time you get to take classes," said Ai Lin Chun, a graduate student.

Chun is attending school via a graduate assistantship.

"A lot of people think you pay grad school like you would your undergraduate education, but it's not the same," she said.

Two main financial aid tools students use to pay for their graduate

schooling are assistantships and fellowships

Graduate assistants are considered staff of the University — they are employed by various departments and sometimes assist professors in the classroom.

A graduate fellowship is defined as a free grant given to the University for the support of a graduate student in his or her research. Graduate fellows are not considered employees of the University.

Because more students are applying to graduate school the graduate school has seen an increase in fellowship and assistantship applications, but representatives from the school say the acceptance standard for those applications has not been raised.

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PSG to hold forum to ask candidates questions

Due to a lack of candidates running in their respective schools, eight students will automatically become Purdue Student Government senators on April 1.

Those candidates who won by default were School of Liberal Arts senators-elect Tara Gibson and Scott Keller; Education senator-elect Luke Bowman; Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences senator-elect Brian Heiwig; Science senators-elect Rahim Sewani and Jonathan Fulkerson; and Undergraduate Studies Program senator-elect Steve Bryan.

Consumer and Family Sciences senator-elect Kirstin Leach, who was appointed to replace a resigned senator at the beginning of the spring semester, is the only returning member from last semester's Senate and was able to keep her seat with a default victory.

Leach was troubled when informed of her easy victory.

"The security of my position is nice; however, I did not really earn my seat and that bothers me," Leach said.

Other candidates who won had mixed feelings about their automatic victory.

Scott Keller said the lack of interest shown by students in running for PSG reflects the problems with the system.

"I think it just goes to show improvements need to be made in regards to the student government being more visible to the students," Keller said.

Bryan Heiwig was almost disappointed that he was the lone candidate running from his school.

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Campus

Survivor speaks of persecution

Graduate school attendance rises

Holocaust conference discusses terrorist actions

Alleged rape undergoes investigation