the news in brief

(U-WIRE) LEXINGTON, Ky. – Music downloads are now free and legal for University of Kentucky… (U-WIRE) LEXINGTON, Ky. – Music downloads are now free and legal for University of Kentucky students, after the University became part of Ruckus Network Inc. earlier this month.

As of Sunday, 4,775 UK students registered and made more than 260,000 legal downloads. Student Government Director of Constituency Services Tyler Fleck said SG started working last year to bring the service to campus.

“Four students were subpoenaed [last year] for illegal music downloads,” Fleck said. “So we were looking for different routes for students to legally download music for free.”

Chris Utah, director of campus sales for Ruckus, said the company started out as a subscription service similar to Napster, but now it is free and legal because Ruckus is funded by advertisements. Ruckus pays record labels a fee, which makes the music legal to download for students, Utah said.

“It’s important to let people know that it really is completely free,” Fleck said. “It doesn’t use student fees, and it didn’t cost anyone a dime.”

It does cost money to transfer songs to an mp3 player, however. Utah said students can pay a flat fee of $20 per semester and download an unlimited amount of songs to any mp3 player except iPods.

Ruckus only operates under Windows and the downloads are not compatible with iPods. One problem Fleck said students have had is that Ruckus does not work on Macintosh computers. Fleck and Utah said Ruckus is working on that problem and hoped toa have it fixed soon.

More than 200 college campuses use Ruckus, Utah said, and students can also use the Ruckus Facebook application. Facebook users can download the Ruckus application, and their profile will show “recently downloaded music” lists and playlists. Ruckus users can download songs from their friends’ Facebook profiles that have the application.

Students can create a Ruckus account using their UK e-mail at the Ruckus website www.ruckus.com. – Katie Saltz, Kentucky Kernel (U. Kentucky)

(U-WIRE) PHILADELPHIA – The candidates are back for another round – on April 16, presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama will face off in Philadelphia during the 21st Democratic debate.

The debate – hosted by ABC – will be held at the National Constitution Center in downtown Philadelphia. It will be one of the candidates’ last chances to impress voters before Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary.

The event will be the second Democratic debate held in Philadelphia this election season. The first was held Oct. 30 at Drexel University.

According to Joseph Torsella, CEO of the NCC, a debate at the institution has been in the works for several months. After an unsuccessful attempt to host a “national town hall”-style debate prior to Super Tuesday, the NCC continued to look into holding a debate.

“That sort of morphed from Super Tuesday to this,” Torsella said.

Both campaigns said they would use the debate to reach out to Pennsylvania voters.

A Clinton press release from last week stated, “Hillary is prepared to show she has real solutions for the problems facing residents of the Keystone State.”

Clinton currently has a double-digit lead in the Pennsylvania polls.

Obama spokesman Matt Lehrich addressed Clinton’s lead when commenting on the debate.

“We recognize that Sen. Obama is the underdog here in Pennsylvania, but we look forward to that challenge,” he said, adding that the debate would help Pennsylvanians learn about Obama’s message. – Emily Schultheis, Daily Pennsylvanian (U. Penn)

(U-WIRE) DURHAM, N.C. – A recent lawsuit against Duke – which alleges mistreatment on the part of University administrators or faculty – has in no way complicated the standing of the 11 seniors and nine juniors on the men’s lacrosse team who are plaintiffs in the suit, a University official said.

But despite that statement from John Burness, senior vice president for public and government relations, it remains to be seen how professors, students and other members of the Duke and Durham communities will treat the players in their remaining time at the University listed as defendants in their Feb. 21 suit.

“It can be awkward to be in a room with someone who has sued [you],” said Thomas Metzloff, a law professor at Duke.

Although the plaintiffs in the most recent lawsuit include 38 current and former students, the case is very different from other lawsuits of this kind and will likely not warrant the same attention from the media and the University community, Metzloff said.

Among some Duke students and professors, however, critical opinions about the plaintiffs and the lawsuit are inevitable, said Duke law professor James Coleman.

There is an important difference between a professor and student expressing a critical opinion and acting in a retaliatory or inappropriate manner, he added.

“Any professor who should retaliate against a student by calling him out in class, failing him or giving him a lower grade … would be inappropriate,” Coleman said. He said students have their own prerogative in expressing negative opinions.

Provost Peter Lange said he doubted any Duke faculty member would act in an unprofessional manner toward the plaintiffs.

He added, however, that in the case of mistreatment, students have many paths within the University to file a complaint, including the student ombudsperson.

As members of an athletic team, the plaintiffs will remain representatives of the University for the 2008 lacrosse season. Their scholarships are also unaffected by the suit, Burness said.

Negative effects of the suit on the players’ athletic performance have not been seen thus far and cannot be predicted this early into the season and the lawsuit itself, men’s lacrosse head coach John Danowski said.

Representatives of the Office of Student Affairs declined to comment on the suit, as did representatives of plaintiffs’ attorney Charles Cooper. – Marisa Siegel, The Chronicle (Duke)