class cuts

Zzzzzzzzz

It's 4 a.m. and you've only read twenty pages on the reading list for a final exam in the morning.

Go to sleep anyway, according to a Cornell sleep researcher.

"Don't-ever stay up all night," counselled Janet Snoyer to an audience of red-eyed Big Red students last week. The Cornell Daily Sun reported that Snoyer suggested serious snoozing for snore-short students.

Snoyer said sleep deprivation can decrease recall, objectivity, and memory consolidation, although there are no harmful long-term effects of sleep loss.

Stimulants such as caffeine, Snoyer said, relieve physical fatigue faster than mental fatigue. She said that exercise is a more effective stimulant.

Snoyer also suggested that students should "do your active tasks when you're the most tired and your most passive tasks when you're mos awake." SWARTHMORE

Pumpkin Bandits Apprehended

Jack-o-lanterns are frowning in terror on the otherwise peaceful campus of Swarthmore College.

After unidentified thieves successfully purloined two 150-pound pumpkins in pre-Halloween hijinks, two less clever copycat culprits continued the fruit terrorism.

These would-be plunderers attempted to steal only one oversized pumpkin, but their efforts were fruitless. Dining hall sleuths tracked the piefilling pilferers, who were apprehended by Swarthmore security.

The pumpkin snatcher was without conscience, said Janet Dickerson, dean of students. "He acknowledged it without any shame or trepidation," she said. "He was very courageous."

Swarthmore officials refused to release the name of the offender. They asserted, however, that he will receive just and speedy punishment. "We have a very creative judicial committee here," Dickerson said.

The culprit has not yet explained his motives. College officials, however, have several hypotheses. "It was a wonderful, big pumpkin, and a challenge. Swarthmore students are always up for a challenge," Dickerson said, adding, "he hasn't given me any real insight into whether he needed the pumpkin or if he wanted to make a pie."

"It was approaching Halloween night and we gathered that he and his friends wanted to have in their possession a 150-pound pumpkin," speculated Alan Roth, director of security and safety services.

Students at the normally-staid Pennsylvania campus have reacted with a pumpkin-sized yawn. "Nobody's really angry," said senior Anthony R. Ibrahim. "It hasn't been that much of an issue."

"It has not caused any kind of major controversies on the campus," Roth commented.

Harvard's Halloween harvest heists have gone unreported, security officials said. SALEM STATE COLLEGE

Septuagenerian Swinger

Joe Sweeney made the varsity tennis team at Salem State College as a sophomore-after 50 years of practice.

Sweeney, 71, is believed to be the oldest intercollegiate athlete in the nation, the Associated Press reported. The white-bearded septuagenerian played in three singles matches for Salem State, losing all of them.

He fared better with doubles, however, as he and his partner finished the season with a 2-1 record.

"I've competed and coached in 10 different sports and tennis is the toughest," Sweeney, in blue sweats and cap in the orange-and-black school colors, said during a recent fast-paced practice session with a 19-year-old teammate whom he finally beat 6-4. "That's why it's such a good game."

Sweeney, a retired cost estimator for a defense contractor, came to Salem in 1983 to give private instruction to a young protegee and then was hired as the women's team coach. Last year, he decided to get a college education for himself but waited a season before trying out for the team.

"For someone of his age, he's incredible," said Salem Coach Grant Longley, 45, who needed players after four former team members were knocked out of competition by poor grades. Sweeney, studying French and piano, and majoring in physical education so he can eventually return to coaching, is a solid B student. BOSTON COLLEGE

But Does He Have to Pay an Overdue Fine?

A Boston College librarian accused of peddling hundreds of works stolen from the school's rare books collection surrendered to the FBI Monday after missing a hearing because of a mixup between lawyers.

Magistrate Robert B. Collings ordered the arrest of Ralph Coffman when the 46-year-old curator and his attorney failed to appear in federal court for a pretrial hearing.

But attorney Robert Griffith said his client was released and the case was continued to Nov. 10 when he and the prosecutor apologized. Both had meant to ask for more time to prepare for the hearing, but neither had done so, Griffith said.

Coffman is accused of trying to sell two 15th century books by Thomas Aquinas and other valuable works from the Boston College library that he supervised for five years.