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VOL. 94, NO. 23 T H U R S D AY, M A RC H 3 , 2 0 1 1
“Covers the campus like the magnolias”
New center for veterinary regenerative medicine advances animal health By McKenna Begin | Staff writer
Graphic by Ken Meyer/Old Gold & Black
Only in its infancy, the Virginia Tech/Wake Forest Center for Veterinary Regenerative Medicine (CVRM) began consciously working on initiatives last month to better the understanding of care and treatment for animals. In January, the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine formed CVRM in conjunction with the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. According to a recent press release, the institutions intended for CVRM to be devoted to the science of regenerative medicine — the research of engineering replacement tissues and organs in the laboratory or using cell therapies to restore organ and tissue function in animals. Regenerative medicine has long been a focus of research in human medicine, and specialists are now translating their knowledge into veterinary medicine to help animals. Current projects include: inducing kidney regeneration in cats with chronic kidney failure, creating wound-healing treatments for horses and treating weakened heart muscles (cardiomyopathy) in dogs. “It is an honor to collaborate with our veterinary colleagues in this unique partnership to accelerate the development of new regenerative medicine therapies,” Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, said. Last semester, the university drew criticism for its treatment of animals in laboratory tests.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an international animal rights organization, sent letters to members of the university community, including President Nathan O. Hatch, demanding that the university cease its testing immediately. PETA condemned experiments by university faculty that introduced 17 Rhesus monkeys to cocaine, ending with euthanasia of these animals and dissection of
their brains. That same organization, however, displayed a reserved optimism for the future of the CVRM and its implications for t h e university’s relationship with animals. “This could be very beneficial to some animals as long as their human guardians are aware of the potential risks involved. The individual animals stand to benefit f ro m the treatments, if there is meaningful oversight to ensure that any potential harms are minimized, ” Justin Goodman, associate director
for the PETA Laboratory Investigations Department, said. Goodman also voiced concerns about whether or not the regenerative medicine program researches only animals that have naturally been affected by diseases. Goodman expressed the necessity for the program to avoid injuring or sickening otherwise healthy animals for experiments that work to advance the field. He finally explored the need for CVRM to make its clinical methods known to the general public. CVRM itself defined the parameters of the animals it seeks to work with and the possibility for technological advances in both animal and human science made by its research. A CVRM press release detailed how clients of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital may have the option to enter their pets into clinical trials of new regenerative medicine therapies. These trials will enable CVRM and Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine researchers to understand more about diseases that affect both animals and humans and to more quickly and readily assess the efficacy of regenerative treatments to remedy a variety of clinical conditions. “This center should provide benefits to both institutions by providing an avenue to translate this technology to a clinical setting,” J. Koudy Williams, professor at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the leading faculty member from the institute, said.
Theology, ecology and feminism join forces in series By Lindey Campagne | Asst. news editor
Is ecology a woman’s issue? Furthermore, is feminism going green? These questions and more were answered during the ninth annual Phyllis Trible Lecture Series. The series honors the university’s internationally known biblical scholar, Phyllis Trible. Hosted by the university’s School of Divinity and supported by the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, the series celebrated National Women’s History Month as the lectures bridged the connections between sustainability and feminism. As part of the two-day series, an eco-friendly faculty and student luncheon was held March 1. Attendees were addressed by Dedee DeLongpre Johnston, director of sustainability, who shared her hopes of making the university campus sustainable. The luncheon also included environmental poetry readings and table discussions on the topics of gender issues, ecology and sustainability. Speakers during the lecture series included feminist theologians Elizabeth A. Johnson, Daisy L. Machado, Jeanette Rodriquez, as well as Trible herself. Lectures began March 1 with an initial address by Trible. Well versed in the topic of feminism and theology, she has authored texts such as God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality and Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. She spoke on the state of the environment and the religious ties and implications of ecological chaos. The afternoon continued with Rodriguez, professor and chair in the Depart-
ment of Theology and Religious Studies at Seattle University. Her expertise is in the fields of theology association of land and identity and genocide studies. She delivered a lecture titled “La Tierra: Home, Identity and Destiny” that called for all people to view “earth as our first home.” “When we view earth as our first home, people will have a new way of being and a new way of thinking,” Rodriguez said. She believes this care and concern for the earth will lead to social and environmental change. “Immigration is a failure of roots and ecology. This is the ceaseless exile with which people live.”
Daisy L. Machado Feminist theologian
She was also adamant about praising Trible for her extensive work in theology and feminism. Machado ended the day with “Body Map: Ecocide and Femicide on the Border.” Machado is dean of academic affairs and professor of church history at Union Theological Seminary. Her specialty is U.S. Christianities. In 2002, Machado and Rodriguez co-edited A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice. M a c h a d o drew attention to the femicides occurring in Juarez, Mexico, as well as Guatemala. She
argued that colonization is a destruction of identity, but the key to social change lies in acknowledging the interconnectedness between human issues like genocides, poverty and theology. Like Rodriguez, she emphasized the earth as a house that we all, as human beings, share. Machado explained the correlation between the oppression and abuse of women worldwide with the misuse and harm humans impose on the environment. This connection, she said, has roots primarily in the theological aspects of patriarchy. Machado pointed out the way maquiladoras are treated as a specific example of human cruelty. Maquiladoras are women who live on the border of the United States and Mexico, but are harassed for being in limbo between locations and cultures. They live out their Mexican heritage while trying to assimilate to United States culture. “Immigration is a failure of roots and ecology. This is the ceaseless exile with which people live,” Machado said of the immigration issues afflicting individuals who move to the United States from Mexico. In this way, she pointed out, immigration and issues of the like become ecological dilemmas as well as social ones. On March 2, the lecture series continued with a presentation titled “Ecological Theology in Women’s Voices: Advances and Critical Questions” delivered by Johnson. All guest speakers were featured in a panel discussion after Johnson’s lecture where audience members were invited to ask questions about the topics addressed. Feminism is not only going green, it is green. The speakers in the series all agreed that patriarchy is largely to blame for the way humans view the environment as an inferior being — one to be neglected and abused. And if we do not start viewing ourselves as one with earth, the feminist theologians argued, we may destroy it for future generations.
Lecturer addresses academic crisis National Humanities Center President fears that the U. S. is in peril as discipline declines
By Pat Kelly | Staff writer President and Director of the National Humanities Center Geoffrey G. Harpham addressed the pertinence of studying the humanities in modern day society. Titled “The Task of Humanities, Then and Now,” Harpham delivered the lecture in Benson University Center Feb. 28. Underlying Harpham’s remarks was a clear warning — the humanities are in crisis. “These days, the approach is economic stability at the expense of all else and cuts to anything that does not produce immediate revenue,” Harpham said. “We are in a sort of ‘survivalist mode’ mentality that is both untraditional and distinctly unAmerican.” This year England has declared a 100 percent cut of public funding for humanities programs. Closer to home, the State University of New York at Albany (SUNY) announced that it will eliminate entirely its language, theater and classics departments to cut costs — a move that has fear reverberating throughout liberal arts institutions around the nation. The United States, facing an unprecedented deficit and slow economic recovery, is in the midst of addressing budget questions that put humanities on the chopping block. According to Harpham, hope for renewing dialogue on the humanities is scarce. Amplifying the effects of a poor political climate, the last United States commission on the humanities was held over 30 years ago. Harpham warned that these cuts are misguided and place our nation’s future in peril. Instead, he believes that the most important question to address is: how do we meet the nation’s long-term intellectual and economic needs? The humanities, Harpham believes, can serve as the foundation for healthy and sustainable growth as a nation. While Harpham described it as impossible to truly quantify their impact, he defined the humanities as forcing students to think about issues in different ways — to reason, question critically and innovate. Harpham listed these skills as vital for moving forward as a nation. The average American now changes careers over six times in their lifetime and a diverse background gives them the ability to reinvent themselves. He stressed that college should not be approached solely as a means to acquire job skills, but rather as a way to develop more important Harpham life skills. Harpham posits that the humanities can force us to become better citizens and more dynamic thinkers. “The humanities are the telos of mature democracy,” Harpham said. Harpham alluded to a quotation by John Adams. “I must study politics and war, that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, natural history and naval architecture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, tapestry and porcelain,” Adams said. An audience member posed to Harpham an argument he viewed as common on campus, that $200,000 for four years of education is too significant an investment to not have a marketable degree that leads directly into a well-paid job after graduation. “We as a nation have been producing highlyspecialized business and medical students for a few decades now. You would expect that would create a great business climate, right? And job security? Unemployment continues to hover close to 10 percent,” Harpham said. “We should be preparing students to be good citizens and not training them for jobs that likely won’t exist five years from now.”