Volume CXIII No. 62
com
Student to represent hometown in Htfd
By Paul Petrone
Campus Correspondent
On Nov. 4, 28-year-old Democrat
Mae Flexer, a UConn continuing stud-
ies student, won a landslide election
over Republican challenger Angeline
Kwansy to become the state representa-
tive for the 44th district.
Flexer defeated Kwansy by a nearly
2 to 1 margin, turning the district blue
for the first time since 1990. She takes
the office held by Republican Michael
Caron of Danielson, who chose not to
Chopping it all off for charity
Beautician Kathy LaJoie (right) puts rubber bands in 3rd-semester psychology major Dana Addorisio’s hair. Dana donated 8 inches of her hair to Pantene Pro-V Beautiful Lengths program, a charity
that makes wigs for women suffering from cancer. For more on Thursday night’s hair drive, which featured shows from two student performance groups, see page 7.
Friends remember
late freshman
By Emily Volz
Campus Correspondent
It’s been more than a week
since a 19-year old freshman,
died at Hartford Hospital after
losing consciousness at a post-
election celebration party at
the Student Union Nov. 4, but
the feeling is still fresh for the
students, family and friends
who are mourning their loss.
Bertozzi Mposo’s sudden,
unexpected death sent shock-
waves through the UConn
community after the campus
received news of the loss.
UConn students, faculty and
staff were informed by an
e-mail from John Saddlemire,
vice president for Student
Affairs, on Thursday, Nov. 6.
Mposo was a 1st–semester
economics major who lived in
Buckley hall. She had moved
to the United States from
the Democratic Republic of
Congo three years ago.
Joel Teron, a 1st-semester
human development and fam-
» INSIDE FRIDAY’S DAILY CAMPUS:
seek a 10th term this election season.
Flexer credited her victory to her vol-
unteer efforts that started in high school
and carried over to UConn, where she
received her undergraduate degree in
political science.
“Volunteering as a high school and
college student helped me create the
connections I needed to get me going
in politics,” Flexer said.
Flexer’s interest in politics began at
age 17, before she could even vote,
when she jumped in town budget bat-
tles, according to her Web site.
ily studies major, met Mposo
at Wilbur Cross High School
shortly after she moved from
the Congo to New Haven. The
two quickly became friends.
“We were really close,”
Teron said. “When we both
found out we got into UConn,
we were so excited.”
Teron said he and Mposo
spent almost every day
together. When he learned of
Mposo’s death, it seemed sur-
real.
“It was like something out
of a movie,” Teron said. He
wasn’t aware of Mposo’s
death until friends extended
their sympathies to him after
class last Thursday.
Teron said it was a complete
shock to hear the news.
“She was an encouraging
person,” Teron said. “She
had a positive spirit that she
brought on everybody – she
made you feel like you could
do anything.”
» FRESHMAN, page 3
» FOCUS
Student comedians
keep the mood light
as students shed their
locks for charity.
see page
Friday, November 14, 2008
Eventually, she joined Killingly’s
Democratic Town Committee at age
18. By age 23, she was the youngest
person in the state ever elected Town
Committee Chairwoman, according to
her Web site.
Flexer was politically active in her
UConn undergraduate days, participat-
ing in the legislative internship pro-
gram and becoming the president of the
UConn College Democrats.
After she graduated, she volun-
teered in several campaigns, most
notably Democrat Representative
Michael Miller, left, and Ross Zachs, both of Hartford, kiss after being married in West Hartford on Wednesday. Since Wednesday
morning, 66 same-sex couples across the state have taken advantage of a state Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriage.
66 CT marriage licenses granted to
same-sex couples since Wednesday
HARTFORD (AP) — A partial tally by
city and town clerks in Connecticut shows
they’ve issued 66 marriage licenses to same-
sex couples since Wednesday, the first day
that gays and lesbians could get married in
the state.
The state Department of Public Health has
received data from 130 of the state’s 169 cities
and towns so far. A total of 94 licenses were
issued Wednesday from those municipalities,
7 see page
Joe Courtney’s winning 2006 cam-
paign over incumbent Republican Rob
Simmons in Connecticut’s 2nd district.
Flexer was then hired by Donald
Williams, president of the state senate,
where she worked as his legislative
aide for three years.
Eventually, she went back to UConn
where she enrolled in public adminis-
tration classes. She plans to apply to
the university’s graduate school next
semester.
» UCONN, page 2
ED RYAN/The Daily Campus
AP
including 28 to opposite-sex couples.
Public Health Department spokesman
William Gerrish says couples have 65 days to
have their nuptials “solemnized” by a minis-
ter, justice of the peace or other officiator.
The state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 last
month that same-sex couples have the right
to wed in Connecticut. A lower-court judge
entered a final order permitting same-sex
marriages Wednesday morning.
» SPORTS
Both basketball
teams get ready
for their regular
season openers.
14
www.dailycampus.
Photo courtesy of Mae Flexer
Mae Flexer, newly elected as a state representative,
poses in front of the Capital building in Hartford.
Reports of
gunshots at
Va. Tech a
false alarm
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) —
An exploded cartridge from a nail
gun produced sounds similar to
gunfire near a Virginia Tech dor-
mitory Thursday, briefly scaring
a campus still scarred from mass
shootings last year.
The scare was the first use of the
university’s revamped crisis alert
system. Virginia Tech added text
messages and other ways of warn-
ing students of possible danger
to its system of e-mail alerts after
gunman Seung-Hui Cho took 32
lives before turning the gun on
himself.
The results were spotty: While
an initial text message explaining
police were investigating potential
gunfire was successful, text mes-
sages that explained the sounds
were not gunfire did not go through
on mobile phones. The problem
was traced to the service provider
in the mountainous area, university
spokesman Larry Hincker said, and
school officials have asked the ven-
dor for an explanation.
“We attempt to use as many
channels as possible to notify the
community of emergency situa-
tions,” Hincker said in a statement.
“We regret that the one system not
under our control failed to work as
expected.”
Police secured Pritchard Hall
around 1 p.m., and searched every
room in the 1,000-student dormi-
tory. They reopened it two hours
later after finding no evidence of
gunshots.
The school sent out a campus
alert saying police were investigat-
ing “reported sounds of gunshots
in Pritchard Hall” before police
determined that the sounds came
from an exploding cartridge from a
nail gun that had been set off near
a trash bin.
Police responded to the dormi-
tory within three minutes of the
report, Hincker said, and the cam-
pus was alerted with a series of
messages sent to e-mails, to cell
phones, on the school Web page
and to classroom message boards.
Several students said they got
alerts both by e-mails and text
messages. About 30,000 students,
faculty and staff on the 28,000-
student campus subscribe to the
emergency text message system,
and 70 percent of them wanted
that to be the primary way they are
notified about potential danger on
campus.
“I was actually very impressed
by how quick it was,” said Adam
Parker, a sophomore who got an
e-mail and two text messages.
But freshman Lauren Dalton
said, “By the time I got the alert,
it was over.”
Officers found an exploded car-
tridge from a power nailer used in
construction near trash bins near-
by. Police theorized that someone
caused the construction shell to
explode, possibly by slamming the
lid of a trash bin, and the sound
»INDEX
Weather 2
Commentary 4
Focus 7
Comics 10
Sports 14