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VOL. 24. NO.2 SEPTEMBER 23, 2003

yesterday, today & tomorrow

ONE PILOT’S PLEA

It was a harrowing end to a vacation in Italy for Rosemary Chiaverini, who works in Development for the International Institute. Two hours before the end of a 10-hour flight Aug. 14 from Munich to L.A., the pilot of her Lufthansa flight interrupted a movie. “There’s a madman at the cockpit door. I need strong men to help me out now!” Immediately, passengers rushed forward to assist. “It was amazing,” Chiaverini said. “Everyone felt this solidarity — that this was not going to happen again.” The man, who was yelling, “We all need to die,” was restrained, handcuffed, sedated and arrested after the plane landed safely. “He thought no one was flying the plane, and that he had to get in there to fly it, although he’s not a pilot,” she said. This was the second time Chiaverini escaped a serious air mishap. In 1986, she narrowly missed taking TWA Flight 840 to Rome. A terrorist bomb exploded on that flight, killing four Americans.

FACULTY GIVE IT AN ’A’

Virtually every measure of academic excellence has grown stronger under the comprehensive review policy, according to a faculty report presented to the Board of Regents on Sept. 18. In addition, the proportions of students admitted to selective campuses from low-income families, families with no previous experience with college, low-performing schools and rural areas are also higher under comprehensive review. Meanwhile, the proportion of underrepresented students in UC’s applicant pool increased from 18.9% in 2001 to 20.9% this year. Underrepresented students also increased as a proportion of the admitted class at all selective campuses during the same period.

PATENT INFRINGED

Microsoft Corp. improperly put patented Web browser technology into its Internet Explorer, helping the computer giant to win critical market share from rival Netscape Navigator, a federal jury in Chicago decided Aug. 11 in a landmark verdict. The jury in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois found that Microsoft infringed a patent owned by UC and licensed by Eolas Technologies Inc., and awarded the two $520.6 million in damages. Michael Doyle, Eolas’ president and a former researcher at UC San Francisco, co-invented the patent’s technology to allow interactive applications in Web pages.