April 1, 2006

Art collector Shelby White's $200 million gift to New York University for founding of ancient studies institute is stirring intense debate among archaeologists across country, and even at NYU; White describes gift as dream project of lifetime for her and her husband, financier Leon Levy, who died in 2003; some archeologists argue that by accepting money, university is tacitly approving White's practice of buying Greek and Roman antiquities, including some that experts believe were looted from archaeological sites; some scholars point to policies adopted by their own institutions to discourage or ban acceptance of Levy-White money; photo (M)

Joe Nocera column defends short sellers in light of Lesley Stahl's expose on CBS program 60 Minutes expose on seeming conspiracy involving SAC Capital Advisors, Gradient Analytics and other companies accused of stock manipulation by Canadian pharmaceutical Biovail; photo (M)

Emergency operators who took calls from World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001, were thrust into situations for which no training could have prepared them; they had no time to do anything but give advice and improvise answers even when they were in dark about evacuation orders that had been issued by fire and police commanders; helplessness increasingly defined their predicament and it showed in some of their conversations; calls from inside tower totaled about 130; over 3,000 calls flooded antiquated system in first 18 minutes, and over 57,000 in first 24 hours after first plane hit north tower; graph; photos (M)

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column discusses motivation to root for George Mason University men's basketball team, which will face Florida University in improbable NCAA tournament semifinal (M)

Dan Barry About New York column on effect of New York Roman Catholic Archdiocese's plan to close number of parishes and schools; describes impact of plan on Bronx school and two nuns who work there; photos (M)