Community Briefs

Published: Wednesday, November 27, 1996

Wednesday, November 27, 1996Judicial Board to hear petition against USAC

The Undergraduate Students Association Judicial Board upheld its Chief Justice Eric Mah's call for a hearing regarding the use of "Students First!" in relation with the undergraduate government events and publications.

After more than an hour of closed-session deliberation late Monday, the justices voted 4-0 in favor of holding a public hearing on the case.

The board would have gone ahead with the public hearing right after the closed session, but Undergraduate Students Association Council President John Du asked the judicial board for a time extension in order to build his case.

Granting Du the extension, the judicial board decided to hold the official public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Monday. At this time, however, the board did not have a scheduled location for the hearing. Information will be posted outside USAC offices on the second floor of Kerckhoff Hall.

UCLA receives online network

UCLA, along with 23 other academic institutions in the southwestern United States, was selected to receive the College Club System, a free central communication network.

This system gives the entire college community free e-mail, World Wide Web pages, entitlement to numerous college discounts and a slew of other online services.

Developed exclusively for the college community, the system enables students to conveniently find out about everything relating to college life, including class information, campus, cultural and sporting events and upcoming activities in the local area.

"Part of College Club's mission is to enrich every student's individual college experience by enhancing and simplifying the process of exchanging information," said Amanda Rochios, director of Student Promotions at College Club.

Students can customize their College Club accounts by linking to people, groups or topics that are important to them. Nearly 400 "Personal Interest" categories everything from alpine skiing to Zen connect students with shared interests.

Appealing system features include chat rooms, personal web pages, an interactive discount directory that provides discounts from hundreds of local merchants and Virtual Collegetown, which allows students to create a customized online "town" that contains their favorite services and attractions.

Students, faculty and staff can access the system at http://www.collegeclub.com.

Virtual emporium to offer online shopping

Virtual Emporium, the world's first retail outlet dedicated to online shopping began Nov. 7, bringing more than 80 Internet shopping sites under one "room."

Shoppers use one of 30 Gateway 2000 personal computers located at 1340 Third St. in Santa Monica and can surf through stores carrying items such as clothing, music and food. Customers will find five distinct shopping environments at Virtual Emporium.

The Virtual Emporium store connects users to the Internet through a high-speed T1 line provided by Digex Inc. "Mini On-line Shops" are now located at Ackerman Union and Encino Marketplace.

Customers may also access the Virtual Emporium website at http://www.

vemporium.com. There is no charge to shop Virtual Emporium, but shoppers can purchase goods by way of credit card.

"Virtual Emporium will be the ultimate shopping experience for the holidays," said Tuck Rickards, the system's founder and chief executive officer. "No aching feet and no lugging bags to the car just sit down and relax. We bring the shops to you."

Compiled by Daily Bruin staff and wire reports