THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWS ORGANIZATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI | WWW.NEWSRECORD.ORG
THE NEWS RECORD
131 years in print Vol. CXXXI Issue xIII
THURSDAY | OCT. 28 | 2010
CCM GRADUATE HOMECOMING BRINGS “ROCK OF AGES” TO ARoNOFF
spotlight | 4
sports | 6
COLLAROS’ saturday status uncertain
UC accused of selling out vendor JAMES SPRAGUE | NEWS EDITOR
A third-party vendor on campus is accusing the University of Cincinnati of unethical practices and attempting to run him out of
his vending machine business. Russ Jeffreys, a vendor with the Ohio Blind Vendors who maintains a juice machine and snack machine on campus, has alleged that UC’s Campus
Services Operations is trying to run him out of the vending business by undercutting him on beverage prices. “I’ve had a contract with [UC] for 20 years, and for 19 years I’ve
EAMON QUEENEY | PHOTO EDITOR
NOT FOR LONG Russ Jeffreys’ vending machines might soon be leaving campus after a 20-year contract. Jeffreys said UC-sponsored competition and fees are becoming too much to handle for his small business.
had no problems,” Jeffreys said. Among Jeffreys complaints is that the university placed a beverage vending machine next to his in the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning last year. The university machine, Jeffreys said, offers the same products as his but with a 10 percent discount. Jeffreys machine doesn’t offer the discount and he has seen his profits plummet from approximately $1,000 per month to $200 per month. “They’re trying to cut me out of the juice business,” Jeffreys said. Pallavi Patel, assistant vice president for Campus Services Operations, disagrees. “UC strives to offer good vending product mix to students, staff and faculty in each building
at all campuses,” Patel said. “In order to provide the juice options to students in DAAP, UC decided to offer juices in the UC vending machine.” Jeffreys originally wanted to remove his juice machine from its DAAP location but then decided to stock the machine, resulting in the two juice machines, Patel said. Jeffreys also claims that UC is offering the 10 percent discount on their machines, while charging a 10 percent commission on his monthly earnings from vending. “I’m being subsidized,” Jeffreys said. Patel disputes this argument as well, saying that the university see VENDOR | 2
UC PUSHES SUSTAINABILITY Campus events seek to raise awareness
SAM GREENE | ONLINE EDITOR
SUPPORTING GAY RIGHTS Student Body President Drew Smith praised the LGBTQ Center’s new program director and offices.
LGBTQ moving forward
GERMAN LOPEZ | NEWS EDITOR
GERMAN LOPEZ | NEWS EDITOR
The LGBTQ Center is on a straight path to permanent establishment on campus. In the weekly Student Government meeting Wednesday, Student Body President Drew Smith praised Leisan Smith, a UC alumna who started full-time as the first program director for UC’s LGBTQ Center on Monday. “Everyone had great things to say about her,” Drew Smith said. The LGBTQ Center is also getting its first permanent offices on campus, which Drew Smith toured earlier in the week. “It looks like LGBTQ is going to have a suitable office in Steger,” Drew Smith said. “But a couple of thing still need to be approved.” The LGBTQ Center “supports students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or who are questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity,” according to the LGBTQ Center’s website. The offices will provide a LGBTQ resource library and act as a public place for programming that affects the LGBTQ community on campus. The LGBTQ Center also certifies Safe Zone Allies, who are students and faculty that receive special training to support and information to any students who seek help with issues pertaining to gender and sexuality.
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Entertainment Spotlight Classifieds Sports
THURSDAY
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SAT
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see sustain | 2
Student discovers cell abnormality JAMES SPRAGUE | NEWS EDITOR
FORECAST
FRI
EAMON QUEENEY | PHOTO EDITOR
WE’LL BE CLEANER Schneider and Turner halls will be two of the many residence halls around the nation that will seek to make their water and energy use more efficient. The competition will offer awards to both schools and individual residence halls.
Sustainability Month is coming to a close, but the University of Cincinnati is still planning further actions and events to promote sustainability, including participating in a nationwide competition to lower energy and water use. The Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) is a three-week contest hosted by the Alliance to Save Energy and LucidDesignGroup that tests which schools’ residence halls can lower energy and water consumption the most. The competition seeks to “engage, educate, motivate and empower students to conserve resources in their residence,” according to the CCN website. Starting Nov. 1 and ending Nov. 19, all UC residence halls will have their resource use measured using oncampus metering, according to the CCN website. The measurements will be compared to a baseline, which is taken by measuring national electricity and water use at participating campuses from Oct. 18 to Oct. 31. When the contest finishes, awards will be given out to residence halls and campuses in various categories pertaining to electricity and water use. Some states, including Ohio, will also give out special awards to in-state schools, according to the CCN website. The contest is part an ongoing strategy to make UC more energy efficient, a major goal in UC President Gregory William’s UC2019 plan. In support of sustainability, Student Government named October Sustainability Month. Events have been held on campus in conjunction
A student working in a hematology lab at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Allied Health Sciences has discovered a once-in-a-lifetime cell abnormality. Shaun Gabriel, a fifth-year clinical laboratory science student at CAHS, was participating in a hematology lab exercise Oct. 11 when he recognized what is known as a Cabot ring in one of the cells on the slide he was examining. Cabot rings are thin, red or violet colored strands that often form in the shape of a loop or a figure-8 and are believed by scientists to be the remains of a mitotic spindle. Gabriel recognized immediately what he had found on the slide. “We had just had a lecture a couple of hours beforehand [about Cabot Rings],” Gabriel said. Gabriel said he was very excited about the discovery. “I felt pretty proud,” Gabriel said. The discovery of Cabot rings in a cell is a rare event, said Gideon Labiner, a assistant clinical professor at CAHS.
“This is the kind of thing that’ll show up on [the television show] ‘House,’ ” Labiner said. The cell is described in many medical books as being elusive and many scientists and researchers never see one in their lifetimes, Labiner said. There were some doubters at first to what he had found, Gabriel said. “Professor Labiner didn’t believe me when he first looked at it,” Gabriel said. Labiner not only verified that the cell contained a Cabot ring, but also brought other students, professors and even UC provost Santa Ono to observe the abnormality. “[Provost Ono] was very attuned to what we were seeing [on the slide],” Labiner said. Ono had already been visiting CAHS when he was told of the discovery, Labiner said. To have someone of Ono’s stature observing what he had found flattered him, Gabriel said. Pathologists from local hospitals provided the samples of cells for examination to the hematology lab.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF Clinical Laboratory Science Program
WELL, THAT’S WEIRD The Cabot rings discovered by Shaun Gabriel is said to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The cell abnormality is known in the science community as being elusive.