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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2014
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Norwegian academic discusses global health ERIN PETENKO ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Since Dr. Ole Petter Ottersen helped publish a report on politics and global health, people in many nations have approached him asking him to analyze policy decisions. Ottersen, president of the University of Oslo in Norway, discussed the role of politics in global health issues yesterday at the School of Communication and Information on the College Avenue campus. Ottersen is chair of the Lancet-UiO Commission on the Global Governance of Health, which published the report. He has also served as director of the Norwegian Research Council’s Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience. Ottersen said his university had some similarities with Rutgers. Like Rutgers, which was founded 10 years before the nation’s independence, the University of Oslo was founded in 1811, just a few years before Norway’s independence from Denmark. He said the country was “too strong” for Denmark with a university, but universities are still just as strong today. Global challenges should occupy center stage for all types of education,
he said, in order to understand how to tackle them. His university has made that one of its priorities. That was the focus of Ottersen’s commissions report, which aimed to study the social and political determinants of health, such as economic inequality. Eighteen members from 16 different countries contributed to the report. He said too many educators have taught students to think of disease as biology gone astray and to think of health systems on a national rather than an international scale. “Medical approach alone can’t fight the root causes of disease,” he said. It is time to groom the minds of medical educators to encompass the complex issues in his report. One such complex issue is Ebola, which he called the “terrorism of poverty,” commenting on the relationship between lack of health resources and suffering from the disease. Polio vaccinations are another example of the relationship between politics and health. After the violence in Afghanistan and the Middle East, many of the programs lost the gains they originally made. SEE HEALTH ON PAGE 8
Attendees at the “Eyes in Gaza” event at the Red Lion Café on the College Avenue campus look at photographs of a Palestinian boy presented by Dr. Mads Gilbert. COLLIN PIETERS
Doctor shares experience in Gaza LIN LAN CORRESPONDENT
Society is often quick to pity those who have experienced suffering, but much slower to recognize their strength and resilience, Dr. Mads Gilbert said. Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor at the Clinic of Emergency Medicine, gave a presentation yesterday on the resilience of Palestinians at “Eyes in Gaza,” which took place
ALEXANDRA R. MEIER AND LIDIA DE LOS SANTOS STAFF WRITERS
KATIE PARK CORRESPONDENT
SEE NARRATIVE ON PAGE 6
regained control, and he had taken full control in his own life.” Khalil had insisted on dressing his own wounds without anesthesia and was up on his feet, helping and comforting patients around the hospital. “We need all the time to look for the capacity to master, not only look for the failure,” Gilbert said. “Solidarity, not pity, will strengthen the SEE DOCTOR ON PAGE 5
Organizations sprint for annual bed races
Professor at Cornell talks queer narrative in US hip-hop Rapper Lil B raised eyebrows in 2011 when he released his album, “I’m Gay (I’m Happy),” then went on record stating he never had interest in men and was attracted to women. At the same time, he claimed he was still both heterosexual and gay. Lil B defended his album by saying the album title was a way to “break down barriers” and exemplify that words mean nothing. “Don’t let a word make you discriminate upon another human,” he said on air to MTV’s RapFix Live. Many people accused Lil B of naming his album “I’m Gay” as a marketing ruse — something plastic and in orientation with capitalist flows. But C. Riley Snorton sees the album as more than just music — it is an intersection of gender, sexuality, blackness and capitalism. Snorton, assistant professor in Africana studies and feminist, gender and sexuality studies at Cornell University, spoke to a tightly packed audience yesterday at the Ruth Dill Johnson Crockett building on Dou-
at the Red Lion Café on the College Avenue campus. One resilient inspiration was a 14 year old named Khalil, the Palestinian boy who Gilber t met in 1982 after he had just lost his mother to an Israeli bombing raid. The boy himself had been dragged from the scene with an injured left arm, which was later amputated. “A week later, I met the other side of Khalil,” Gilbert said. “Khalil had
Rutgers University Glee Club will be performing their Homecoming concert on Saturday. TIANFANG YU / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER / MARCH 2014
Rutgers Glee Club gears up for Homecoming concert MAEGAN KAE SUNAZ STAFF WRITER
Being a member of the Rutgers University Glee Club has taught Ben Mather more than just how to sing, including professional skills like the proper way to wear a tuxedo. “You learn to be organized and how to do time management, so you’re always ready for the next concert while balancing everything else in your life,” said Mather, a School of Arts and Sciences senior and the Club’s public relations manager.
Zack Jaffe, a Rutgers Business School junior and Glee Club member, said the Club’s rich history makes the members proud to be a part of it. Established in 1872, the Rutgers University Glee Club is one of the oldest student-run organizations in University history. They will perform during Saturday’s homecoming game and will then have a concert at the Kirkpatrick Chapel at 7:30 p.m. in collaboration with the Kirkpatrick Choir. SEE CLUB ON PAGE 5
Last night, Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, prisoners and pirates sprinted down College Avenue — all in the name of Scarlet spirit. To kick off Homecoming weekend, the Rutgers University Programming Association and the Rutgers University Alumni Association sponsored the seventh annual “Homecoming Charity Bed Races.” A total of 61 organizations participated in yesterday’s event. Each organization decorates a bed with an appropriate theme and selects four members — three pushers and one rider — to race other beds down College Avenue, starting in front of Bishop Quads, passing the College Avenue Student Center and finishing in front of Brower Commons. RUPA encouraged each participating organization to donate at least 300 diapers to Cuddle Me Diaper Bank, said Jennifer Holt, assistant director of traditions and community at RUPA. The Division of Student Affairs provided these organizations with beds. The teams were judged by five categories: speed, the amount of collected diapers, the racers’ costumes, the bed’s decoration and the most spirited. Teams were awarded by individual categories and best overall performance.
Theta Tau, a co-ed professional engineering fraternity, won first place overall and donated the most diapers, said Ryan Griffith, director of RUPA’s Outreach Committee. Iota Phi Theta fraternity won second place overall and first place for speed. The College Avenue Student Center staff won third place overall. Dressed as characters from the hit TV show “Orange is the New Black,” the sorority Sigma Lambda Gamma scored the award for best costume, Griffith said. The fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon won the award for the best decorated bed, and Livingston Theater Costume was deemed the most spirited. “Homecoming Charity Bed Races” became a Rutgers tradition in 2007, with only 15 teams participating. Now that participation has more than quadrupled, hundreds of students had gathered at 9 p.m. last night to watch this year’s event. “It’s a really cool tradition,” Holt said. “It brings the whole community together, and it’s for charity, so I think it’s a lot of fun.” As a cosponsoring organization, RUAA’s bed was the first to team to race. When the event began, the teams collected enough diapers to help more than 350 children. Last year, the Rutgers community helped more than 32,000 children by raising a record 26,000 diapers for the cause. Holt and the rest of the RUPA team hopes to beat last year’s numbers.
VOLUME 146, ISSUE 95 • UNIVERSITY ... 3 • LIFESTYLE ... 9 • OPINIONS ... 10 • DIVERSIONS ... 12 • CLASSIFIEDS ... 14 • SPORTS ... BACK