THE INdependent student news organization at the university of cincinnati
Vol. CXXVIV Issue 21
monday , NOV. 9, 2009 football recap
mr. university Kappa Alpha Theta puts on competition to find him page 3
dragon age Fantasy roleplaying game gets sloppy with orc blood page 4
UC earns another victory Saturday against UConn page 6
UC ranks 106th of 141 in sex ed grading rusty pate the news record
The University of Cincinnati ranked 106 out of 141 schools in the Trojan brand condoms 2009 Sexual Health Report Card. The report, conducted by the independent research firm Sperling’s BestPlaces, is an annual ranking of the sexual health resources and information available to students at American colleges and universities. Cincinnati ranked 129th in 2008. “It’s disappointing we are ranked so low,” said Libby Cates, a third-year psychology student. “Honestly, it’s kind of sad, but it’s good they do studies like this.” Taking advantage of university sexual health services is good idea, Cates said. Brandon Rose, a third-year education student, takes a more
anonymous route for his sexual education information. “I guess I would just look it up on the Internet,” Rose said. Bert Sperling completed similar studies concerning health and living places. His firm worked with Trojan on the sexual health report card for each of the four years the annual study was conducted. “We devised a methodology to focus on, not sexual activity and not sexual illness, but rather the kinds of services and resources that are available at the different schools to allow the students to live the most sexually healthy life they can,” Sperling said. The study collected data from student health center representatives, researching universities’ health center Web sites and polling students from each school. Affordability and access to information about services netted the best scores.
Students participated in the study through a Facebook page set up by the research firm. “We got about 7,000 responses in all the schools that we looked at,” Sperling said. The University of South Carolina ranked as No.1, up seven spots from the 2008 report card. The Ivy League placed three schools in the top 10: Columbia University in fourth, Cornell University in eighth and Brown University in ninth. The entire Big East performed poorly, with seven schools ranked in the bottom 20. “We are putting out the information and letting the student health centers and the students use it as a resource to see how the different schools compare with each other,” Sperling said.
Photo illustration by Jamie Ritzer | the news record
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PHOTOS BY Justin Tepe | the news record
Berlin Wall: 20 years later
Survey: H1N1 vaccine not in high demand Alexandra buzek the news record
Approximately 5 percent of students at the University of Cincinnati received the H1N1 vaccine, according to a recent survey. Of the 91 students surveyed, five received the H1N1 vaccine, while approximately 20 percent received the seasonal flu vaccine. Both graduate and undergraduate students in various fields of study were surveyed. The new influenza, declared a national pandemic, has mild to severe effects and can be overcome with preventatives and awareness. The virus began spreading in the United States in April. “Location wise, Mexico had the first few cases,” said David Kramp, president of the Student Society of Health-System Pharmacy (SSHP), and a third-year pharmacy student. “H1N1 formed from parts of avian flu, parts of swine, parts of seasonal all kind of combined together.” Of the 16 million people vaccinated against H1N1, 302 reported side effects to the Centers for Disease Control from the medication. The
justin tepe | the news record
supplies of H1N1 vaccines allotted to UHS have run out. Seasonal flu vaccine supplies are also running low.
problems were mild, according to Kramp’s report. H1N1 was linked to a single death between April and July, statistics show. Out of 50,000 people, one person reported mild side effects due to the vaccine, according to Kramp’s report. People with respiratory problems, pregnancy issues and underlying conditions, were most susceptible, Kramp said. “[We] have administered the H1N1 vaccine when we have it, but we currently are out,” said Susan SmithImbus, a clinical nurse coordinator at University Health Services. The university, which is a recipient of state-rationed vaccines, is waiting for another supply. “We hope we will be [receiving another shipment], but do not know when that will be arriving,” Smith-Imbus said. The clinic carried both seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccinations as separate injections and flu mists. Seasonal flu vaccine stocks are also running low, SmithImbus said. “I didn’t think I was going to get H1N1,” said Aaron Sykes, a first-year mechanical engineering student, who had the virus a month ago. “I woke up with a really bad headache, and then my body started to ache and I started to feel [bad] the rest of the day,” Sykes said. “Then I started to chill later in the day and realized, yeah, I had a fever.” It took him four days to begin recovering. The virus can live on surfaces for two to eight hours, according to Kramp’s statistics. “A lot more people nowadays think the vaccines really don’t work that well and are likely to be unsafe. I can see both sides people are still debating about,” Kramp said. “There needs to be a strong message from health care professionals who believe in this.”
Saskia Sassen (top) of Columbia University delivers a keynote speech at “The Berlin Wall, Twenty Years After.” Enrique Jaramillo (above) from Panama and Jonathan Murphy (right) of University College in Cork, Ireland, look at photos of the Berlin Wall in TUC’s Great Hall, Sunday, Nov. 8.
Scholars look to past with a new perspective
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o commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, scholars from across the world are gathering on the University of Cincinnati’s campus to give an international perspective on the event. “The Berlin Wall: 20 Years After,” drew more than 70 people into Tangeman University Center’s Great Hall on the first day of the two-day presentation. Anthony Perzigian, senior vice president of academic affairs and provost of UC, gave the opening remarks. “Much planning and effort went into this conference,” Perzigian said. “With the 20-year anniversary upon us, there is a renewed scholarly interest [in the Berlin Wall].” Scholars spoke about various topics including little-known repercussions of 1989 and effects of the end of the Cold War on Japan. “I want to think of 1989 as a ‘master category,’” said Saskia Sassen, a professor of sociology at Columbia University and a keynote speaker at the event. “It casts a penumbra that has been my sight for the last 20 years.” Sassen’s presentation focused on “invisible histories” around the world as the Berlin Wall fell. “We keep learning new facts and living with new effects of 1989,” Sassen said. “When powerlessness becomes complex, its history is often invisible.” After reciting a largely unknown story about a group of Berlin citizens who refused to be oppressed by the city’s police, Sassen explained how, although the fall of the wall is seen as positive, capitalism began to run rampant shortly thereafter.
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“When 1989 happens, certain actors – multinational companies – had the world as their playing field,” Sassen said. “We are still living with these consequences today.” Speakers then split up and presented in panels in the meeting rooms on the upper level of TUC. Richard Schade, a professor of German studies at UC and honorary consul of Germany delivered a comprehensive speech about the various Berlin Wall installations in the United States, and made comments regarding several locations in which sections are being displayed. Schade, who was also active in counterintelligence during the late 1980s, said his connection to the Berlin Wall is different than other scholars. “A wall segment surrounded by Honolulu’s palms are a little more than exotic,” Schade said. “[In New York] you can have lattes and the wall at the same time.” In order to bring pieces of the wall to Cincinnati, Schade worked with the German consulate and local firms to fund the shipping of the 2.5-ton section. “The total cost: one Euro,” Schade said. “We don’t know how much the firms paid for it. It was pro bono.” The event has many sponsors including the Charles Phelps Taft Memorial Fund and two University of Cincinnati councils as well as the Conslate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Chicago. Funding provided by the sponsors allowed the conference to remain free and open to the public. The second half of the presentations start Monday, Nov. 9 at 9 a.m. in the Great Hall and will finish with the final keynote speaker Josef Joffe publisher and editor of Die Zeit, a German weekly newspaper.
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Uc vs. uconn See a photo slideshow from TNR photographers Kareem Elgazzar and Coulter Loeb from the latest Bearcat victory.