But as Bush sits comfortably on his $145 million war chest, the presumed Democratic nominee, Kerry is hard at work raising funds – more than $7 million since Super Tuesday – and spreading his campaign message across the nation with more than 22 percent less money then the incumbent.

In addition to raising funds, the Kerry camp announced Monday the expansion of the campaign national headquarters to downtown D.C.

The campaign decided it needed the new space after strong victories in Iowa and New Hampshire brought in a flood of volunteers to the headquarters in a Capitol Hill townhouse.

“The new headquarters will allow room for the thousands of volunteers from the area who want to be part of our efforts to defeat Bush in November,” said Campaign Manager Mary Beth Cahill in a statement to the press. “Our new downtown headquarters better complements our fundraising, internet activity, grassroots, and political efforts around the country. We’re very pleased to be moving into the new space.”

With a new workspace and assurance of capturing the Democratic nomination, Kerry campaign officials have been hard at work reaching out to college students across the country – a constituency that could potentially be very influential in November.

“We need the courage to stand up – make our voices heard – and say it is high time we made four years of college as universal and as affordable as a high school education is today. I know that students and middle class parents don’t have high priced lobbyists to do their bidding,” Kerry said in a statement to the press. “But I will not let the hope and dreams of millions of families be denied because the cost of going to college is out of reach. These kids and these families have the right to work for a better life – and they deserve a President who’s on their side in that fight.”

Danny Tobias, a senior economics major at the George Washington University said he is glad Kerry is working to help college students understand his message.

He said that talking to students means much more than flashy television ads.

“The Democrats don’t need the vast amount of money that Republicans do,” Tobias said.

“The Democratic message stands on its own – people are so unhappy with Bush right now that any change in direction will guarantee a vote for Kerry.”

Elizabeth Bostdorff, a senior double majoring in history and political science at Ohio State University agreed with Tobias.

“Public opinion is what matters to students because as much as we don’t admit it, most of us conform to each other,” Bostdorff said.

“I don’t think the money or ads will matter as much as the actual physical presence on a campus.”

Already there are nearly 200 student organizations working for Kerry’s campaign on college campuses across the country.

A recent body measurement survey indicates Americans are growing fatter faster than they are growing taller, and that trend does not seem to be letting up.

The SizeUSA survey used light scanning technology to measure 10,000 men and women of different ethnicities, finding the median weight for most groups was four to five pounds more than the median weight of a similar study performed 10 years ago.

“Unless there is an awakening to physical fitness, this will continue,” said Jim Lovejoy, director of SizeUSA. “And if you project [the growth] out over a hundred years, we won’t look so good.”

A federal grant provided half the funding for the survey, along with the US Army, clothing manufacturers and others.

Lovejoy said the military is interested in body measurements in order to understand fitness levels and clothing manufacturers use them to understand more about sizing and distribution issues.

“We have a couple of target groups and we will use [the data] to do customized pieces that focus on those target groups,” said Bill Stowe, director of strategic planning and innovation for the VF Jeanswear Group, which produces Wrangler and Lee brand jeans.

He said one of those groups is comprised of Hispanic women, who have a different shape than white or black women.

In the survey, women’s bust-waist-hips measurements for ages 18-25 were 38-32-41 for whites, 40-33-43 for blacks and 39-33-41 for Hispanics.

“On average, women go from four to six inches bigger in the bust and waist, and three inches bigger in the hips by age 50,” Lovejoy said.

The average chest-waist-hips measurement for a white male age 18-25 was 41 inches, 35 inches and 41 inches. Blacks in the same age group had one-inch smaller waist on average, and Hispanics had one-inch smaller hips.

Lovejoy said the results are skewed upwards because there are more obese people than underweight people.

“Years ago the average men’s pant size was 34-36, and now it is skewing a little bit above 36,” Stowe said. “So with the men, we know that the majority of the weight goes to the waist line.”

Glancing around, she straightens her white T-shirt before picking up two large hand weights. She positions herself in front of the mirror on the wall and watches herself as she slowly maneuvers the weights above her head, one at a time. A drop of sweat begins to roll slowly down her face.

Siera McDonald, a self-proclaimed exercise addict, is familiar with this scene.

“As human creatures, our bodies are meant to be moved and used. In my perfect life, I would be outside using my body for two to three hours a day,” she said.

While no one doubts the benefits of daily exercise and a healthy lifestyle, sometimes people take exercise to the extreme, developing a dependence or compulsion for exercise that can often disrupt their daily activities.

Doctors and scholars debate the intensity of this physical and psychological affliction, and research is mixed at best, but everyone seems to agree that for some people, exercise can become more than just a way to stay healthy and fit.

More than anything, health professionals debate what to call this problem. Exercise dependence and exercise addiction are the most common terms used to describe this behavior, but some feel these titles are inaccurate.

“There are a lot of people who say it isn’t a dependence or it’s not a real addiction, so it should be called compulsive exercise or obligatory exercise, but not necessarily a dependence,” said Dr. Jan Melcher, a Carruth Center counselor who has worked with patients with exercise problems.

For the most part, these terms are synonymous in describing a fairly new phenomenon in which people become obsessed with exercise. Obsessive exercisers feel exercise is necessary to cope with the stresses of daily life.

In serious cases, people experience withdrawal symptoms when exercise is decreased or skipped altogether. Oftentimes, they exercise despite illnesses and injuries, and other areas of their lives suffer because of the obsession.

“With exercise, if it were to be an addiction, you would start to see people’s relationships getting put to the side. Family, work, school – those type of things would start to drop off,” said Dr. Sam Zizzi, a professor of sport and exercise psychology.

For many people, exercise begins to take up an increasingly larger chunk of time as they spend more and more time at the gym.

“It’s a constant battle with time. Fitting it into the day is a challenge,” said McDonald, who admits she would never pass on dinner with friends to exercise.

Two theories explain why people might develop an addiction to exercise.

The social theory suggests exercise addiction is a coping mechanism that has been taken to the extreme. While someone might have developed an exercise routine to lose a few pounds, he or she now must work out every day to reduce the guilt that results from not exercising.

The endorphin theory takes a more physiological approach. It argues that people become obsessed with exercise as a way to maintain the positive mood that results from endorphins produced by exercise. In this scenario, a person must continue the exercising behavior to preserve the way it makes them feel, much like the effect of a drug.

A recent study conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison gives even more credibility to the endorphin theory. Like drug addicts, mice that have been deprived of their running wheels crave exercise, activating the brain the same way that any other craving does.

Whether this finding applies to humans has yet to be examined, but it does lend support to the theory that exercise can be addictive.

Ian Hanobeck exercises about five times a week to lose weight, stay in shape and prepare for the U.S. Navy.

“It’s a lot of fun. You feel a lot better afterwards,” he said.

Groups such as CAP Brutality, the Enough is Enough Campaign, University Church, and the Spartacist Youth League marched from the flag pole at the center of the quadrangles to the Regenstein, and finally to the University police building on 56th Street and Ellis Avenue to present the petition in person.

As protestors rallied and cheered, ABC camera crews followed the crowd and filmed the event, which was led by Divinity School student Paul Ford, a member of CAP Brutality. During the course of the protest, Rev. Don Coleman of University Church and Joan Parkin of Enough is Enough spoke about their respective organizations, and Carthans recounted his story in front of the Regenstein Library.

The rally took place on the last day of a week-long movement against police brutality organized by CAP Brutality, including a day of silence on March 1. Students from the School of Social Service Administration formed CAP Brutality in response to the January 24 incident.

“The rally was a success because it demonstrated the concern of the community regarding the issue of police brutality and harassment,” Ford said. “There was a high, diverse turnout of students and community members. This type of coalition was one of the goals of the rally.”

Michelle Freeman, a student of the SSA and member of CAP Brutality, was also pleased with the turnout.

“We have community members from both Woodlawn and Hyde Park, and not only students,” she said.

Community member Sandra Couthern, who recently moved to the far South Side, was present at the rally because police brutality is particularly important to her.

“I’m an activist,” she said.

“We’re the city. We’re the ones that own the community,” Couthern added. “We have to take it back.”

Ford argued against those who assume that because Carthans is a convicted felon, he should be judged negatively in the investigation of the alleged Jan. 24 assault.

“Much has been made of Clemmie’s past … But we must remember that he’s a student at one of the most elite institutions in the country,” Ford said. “We incarcerate far too many brothers in this country.”

California Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon said he will not pursue the legislation because colleges and universities have taken steps on their own to rein in tuition. But he said he would put the penalties back into his bill if he feels universities are not making enough progress. For the University of Minnesota and other higher education officials, the announcement is encouraging.

“It’s a welcome step,” said Terry Hartle, senior vice president for the American Council on Education. “The sanctions that Mr. McKeon wanted to impose on colleges and universities was always the most controversial and problematic part of his proposal, and we’re pleased that he’s decided to go in a different direction.”

One part of the bill, which McKeon authored, would have canceled funding for student aid programs at institutions where tuition increased at more than twice the rate of inflation.

McKeon’s proposal would have affected the UM because its tuition has gone up at more than double the rate of inflation for the last four years, said Peter Zetterberg, director of the Office of Institutional Research and Reporting.

Hartle said if Congress had passed such a bill, it would have negatively affected the quality of higher education.

The bill would force universities to reduce the number of faculty and staff, and cut library hours, he said.

Sen. Sandra Pappas, D-St. Paul, said she was pleased with McKeon’s announcement.

“I believe that nationwide, we’ve been starving our higher education institutions, and that’s eroding quality that our students want and expect,” said Pappas, chairwoman of the state Senate Higher Education Budget Division. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to punish [higher education institutions] for wanting to provide quality.”

Although McKeon withdrew the legislation, dialogue about tuition will continue nationwide, said John Engelen, university director of federal relations. He said the university hopes to give Washington a better understanding of its situation, such as how local politics affect tuition decisions.

“We don’t turn to tuition as the first place to raise revenue when we’re pressed,” Engelen said. “We hope that the state legislature in future years supports the university, but last year, it didn’t.”

Craig Swan, vice provost for undergraduate education, said he was pleased to see the proposal withdrawn.

“I thought it was a form of price fixing that would be bad policy generally, and in the case of universities,” Swan said.

David Arendale, a General College social sciences professor, said he hopes federal and state governments continue to pay attention to higher education.

“I think if we can come up with a solution to this, then there will not be the pressure to increase tuition at the current rate,” Arendale said. “Students are bearing the brunt for an issue that needs to be solved elsewhere.”

The women in this particular trial were taking estrogen therapy for a variety of reasons, including easing menopause symptoms, increasing bone density and reducing their risk of heart disease, but a safety review board at the NIH determined that the risk of stroke had become significantly high enough that the trial needed to be halted, and the agency informed participants that estrogen therapy conferred no protection against heart disease. The NIH review board also reported that the risk of breast cancer was not higher for the women receiving the estrogen treatment when compared to those receiving the placebo.

Marcia Stefanick, medicine professor and researcher at the Stanford University Prevention Research Center and principal investigator of the WHI, had been expecting the phone call from the National Institutes of Health to halt the estrogen-only hormone treatment after another trial in the WHI determined that the combined therapy of estrogen and progesterone could elevate a woman’s risk of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer. And last week, Stefanick received that call, requiring her and the rest of the research team to go through a flurry of phone calls and letters, informing all of the participants in the study – and 40,000 gynecologists and health professionals – that the study had to be halted and that women should not continue taking estrogen.

Prior to the WHI, medical professionals hypothesized that because a woman’s risk of heart attack was higher after she underwent menopause, estrogen and progesterone probably had some type of preventative action against heart disease.

These two WHI trials, where women received either estrogen and progesterone or estrogen alone, demonstrate that these theories no longer hold, and doctors can no longer recommend hormone therapy to reduce a woman’s risk of heart disease.

“Even though these two clinical trials have shown that there is no protective action against heart disease from hormone therapy, some researchers still believe that there is a window of opportunity where estrogen deprivation can have an impact of the heart disease outcome,” Stefanick said.

Generous benefits often compensate for a smaller-than-average paycheck for UA employees, yearly increases in health care costs are threatening to tip the scale. With a significant increase in health care costs this year and another looming next year, many faculty members are concerned about taking yearly pay cuts.

“It hurts us a lot more when you cut our benefits than when you cut salaries,” said John Petrovic, a member of the Faculty Senate and the UA Faculty and Staff Benefits Committee.

“You end up getting taxed on that money rather than if it was going to benefits, and we’re really getting screwed two ways.”

The Faculty Senate held a special faculty-wide meeting Tuesday to discuss the issue.

UA Vice President for Financial Affairs Kerry Kennedy said he wants to create a $4 million reserve fund for increased health care costs or a health care emergency.

The benefits committee will work with Kennedy throughout the year to develop acceptable changes to the health care system. Kennedy said he wants to create the reserve in a longer span of time.

“We are hoping with these changes and a combination of increases to have a reserve of $1 million by the end of the year,” he said. “We don’t have to have the money tomorrow just as long as we make progress each year.”

In January, faculty and staff members incurred several extra health care costs, such as a $75 prescription deductible and increased fees.

Kennedy said he is aware that faculty and staff members are concerned, and he said cutting benefits while not raising salaries could impact the University’s ability to attract and keep good teachers.

“I completely understand where the faculty and staff are coming from because this issue hits everyone in the pocketbook,” he said. “If you don’t increase salaries and we get further and further behind our peer institutions, it puts a strain on being able to recruit faculty members.

Math professor Robert Moore said one of the reasons he was drawn to the University in the first place was UA health care plan.

“This university has always had the drawing power of its benefits package,” he said. “But now if we change it to be low salaries and not-so-good benefits, we will be doing nothing to draw faculty to the university.”

Some faculty members think the university is doing enough to contribute to the health care problem.

The study examines DNA synthesis and repair, and explains why molecule aberrations, which lead to cancers, are infrequent.

“The subject of DNA repair not only goes to the heart of preserving the integrity of our genome but also has widespread repercussions in a variety of cancers, neurological aberrations and the process of aging,” said Ravi Radhakrishnan, a post-doctoral chemistry assistant at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, in an e-mail.

Radhakrishnan co-authored the study with Tamar Schlick, a professor of chemistry, math and computer science at Courant Institute.

DNA molecules consist of a three-part subunit called a nucleotide.

A correct sequence of the chemicals that make up nucleotides ensures proper functioning of the cells.

Graduate schools across the country have said that as long as a professor has signed a letter, there is nothing wrong with allowing students to write their own recommendations, according to The New York Times.

University of Wisconsin philosophy professor Mike Byrd, who writes recommendation letters regularly, says that he would never have a student write his or her own letter.

“If I agreed to write a recommendation letter for someone, I would need to know enough about that person to do it myself,” he said. “To me, not having enough time to write a letter is not a serious reason.”

Byrd added that as a professor, he has a basis of comparative knowledge that students do not have, especially looking backward over the years at large groups of people.

“Students don’t know how they compare to large groups of people. Some people are overly reticent about themselves, while others are overly assertive,” he said. “I think in the long run, the quality of a letter one would get would suffer if it were written by the applicant.”

Byrd said he was unsure if this is an ethical issue or a matter of personal preference.

“I would say that among the great ethical issues, this doesn’t top the list, but I would never have a student write his or her own recommendation letter. I feel a responsibility to do it myself,” Byrd said.

Randy Cohen, author of The New York Times Magazine column The Ethicist, said he did not view the issue as an ethical one.

“There is nothing intrinsically ethical or unethical about it. It is my understanding that when a professor signs a letter, he or she is endorsing ideas about the student, not claiming authorship,” said Cohen, adding that he could be misunderstanding the conventions among professors but that he believed the practice to be common and not deceptive.

“The obligation you have as an applicant is not to deceive your reader. If you’re unsure about something, you should refer to someone with a knowledge of what is commonly acceptable,” Cohen said.