>> Q&A with JMU’s first running back, Chip Parkins, page B1. Video highlights of the Q&A can be seen online at breezejmu.org.
>> Follow us @TheBreezeJMU. >> Like us: facebook.com/ TheBreezeJMU. Serving James Madison University Since 1922
Few showers 56°/ 44° chance of precipitation: 30%
Vol. 88, No. 16 Thursday, October 20, 2011
University Health Center to expand in spring
By ELIZABETH DSURNEY contributing writer
In the spring, the University Health Center will double in clinic space with its move to the old Rockingham Memorial Hospital. The current UHC building, located next to Burruss Hall, is slated for demolition next semester. Over the holiday break, the center’s offices will move to the East Tower of the old RMH building temporarily and will open on Jan. . Once RMH’s North Tower is finished in the fall of , UHC will permanently be located there. UHC wanted to move into a larger space before the start of spring semester to accommodate more students and shorten the waiting time for
treatment, according to UHC Director Cannie Campbell. The current health center was constructed in when there were , students at Madison College. In , UHC added a new wing, and JMU had a student body of more than ,, according to Ann Simmons, the coordinator of Marketing and Programs of SWD. Now, UHC sees more than students a day, walk-in or by appointment. In about one week, , patients are seen, which eventually adds up to about , student visits per year, Campbell said. Student Wellness and Outreach in Warren Hall and the office of Substance Abuse Prevention in Maury Hall will also move to the East Tower
and eventually to the North Tower as well. This will be the first time in years that all the programs under the banner of the UHC will be in the same building. SWO and the office of SAP aren’t located in the current UHC building because it would be impossible to operate all three facilities there because of the large flow of students, Campbell explained. The entrance for the East Tower location will be located on the Cantrell Avenue side. The move to East Tower will be more efficient because of the increased room. Staff size will increase for the temporary space and will better enable see UHC, page A3 LAURA WEEKS / THE BREEZE
Demolition of the South Tower of the old Rockingham Memorial Hospital, which started in August, is nearly complete. The University Health Center will be demolished in January and temporarily relocated in RMH’s East Tower before its permanent location in the North Tower of RMH.
Reese’s story
The 6-year-old daughter of two alumni was diagnosed in 2010 with a rare cancer. A friend and alumna hopes to raise $20,000 to help pay their bills.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MELISSA COFFIN
LEFT ‘01 alumni Melissa and Matt Coffin pose with their two children, Reese and Rourke. Reese was diagnosed with a cancer called ependymoma in Oct. 2010. TOP Reese kisses her boyfriend, Hutch, on the cheek. Hutch was diagnosed with cancer at age 4. They met at St. Jude Children’s Hospital. BOTTOM Matt assists Reese with her cap and gown before her kindergarten graduation ceremony at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in the spring. Reese has finished radiation treatments and is now attending elementary school in Fredericksburg. By EVI FUELLE The Breeze
Melissa Mollet, an ’ alumna and a reporter for NBC in Washington, D.C., is not a woman who has time to spend hours on Facebook. But she stopped short when she saw her friend Melissa Coffin’s page. On Coffin’s Facebook, Mollet read about Reese, Coffin’s -year-old daughter who had been diagnosed last October with a rare form of spinal cord cancer. Reese has an ependymoma, a tumor growing from her ependymoma, a tissue in the central nervous system. Ependymoma is a cancer that typically presents itself in children and under in the brainstem and in adults and older in the spine, Coffin explained. Reese’s tumor is both intracranial and
spinal, making it extremely rare and also very difficult to treat because of the complexity of both areas, said Reese’s father, Matt. She started to display symptoms after her fifth birthday and was diagnosed almost six months later, Melissa Coffin said. The doctors and neurosurgeons who had looked at Reese’s case agreed that her condition was extremely rare and very difficult to treat, Matt said. “She has already been through extensive full cranial and spinal radiation, and at St. Jude’s she’s getting chemo and a combination of three different drugs,” Matt said. The Coffin family has been struggling to finance Reese’s medical bills and traveling expenses. Sedation treatments, which Reese receives every day, aren’t covered
How to help Reese’s “Road to Recovery”
T-shirts are on sale for $20 on the Coffin family’s website, caringbridge.org/visit/reesecoffin. Sign up for emails on the family’s blog, reesesroad.wordpress. com and be notified as soon as the next T-shirt designs are available for purchase. People can make donations and follow Reese’s progress and treatment on the family’s website.
by the Coffins’ insurance. “Financially, my husband and I haven’t worked for a year, and on top of the medical expenses we have a mortgage and another child,” Coffin said.
They have more than $, in unpaid medical bills, Mollet said. She’s trying to raise $, of that however she can. “I am getting in touch with everyone I know, sending emails and letters, hoping for contributions from family, friends, organizations at JMU and other companies and charities,” Mollet said in an email. With financial concerns looming, the Coffin family has come up with creative ways to raise money for Reese. “We have shirts we sell that Reese designed when she was years old.,” Melissa Coffin said. “They’ve become her foundation shirt.” People can also donate any amount on the website and follow Reese’s progress and treatment. see REESE, page A3
New Sawhill Gallery exhibit turns trash into treasure By SIDNEY BARTON contributing writer
Alex Bay’s artwork is what one would expect to find in a junkyard. Bay, , has a love for anything “ugly, tawdry or just ordinary,” which is regularly reflected in his work. His work is made of things like rough-hewn wood, bare or blackened steel and cheesecloth. Bay uses his art to express his emotions and his opinions of human capacity for evil. Bay also finds influence from the Holocaust, which he considers the ultimate manifestation of evil in human history. He lived in Italy during World War II and experienced some of the ruination firsthand. “It definitely evoked an emotional response,” said Alison Long, a senior art major. “I’m Jewish, so I paid special attention.” His exhibit, “Revels Ended,” is on display in Sawhill Gallery until Dec. . On Monday night, Bay gave a brief lecture in the gallery to an audience
10/20 INSIDE
PAUL JONES / THE BREEZE
Artwork by Alex Bay will be on display in the Sawhill Gallery until Dec. 9. The pieces, which consist of “ugly, tawdry or just ordinary” objects, are how Bay expresses his emotions and opinions of human capacity for evil.
of roughly people. He said an artist’s work is the sum of the artist’s experience and that everyone’s
A3
NEWS Where grass is greener
Environmental activist talks about rescuing animals and going vegan.
perception of art is based on personal experiences. He also emphasized that serious art
A5
OPINION Don’t forget the lyrics
Most of today’s music lacks meaning.
ought to deal with important issues. This is reflected in his own focus on tragedy, such as the Spanish Civil
B1
SPORTS Powerful Pow-wow
The College of William & Mary is - coming into the women’s soccer game against JMU.
War, which was already in motion when he was born and heavily impacted his family. “I was [a] witness to a mixture of wartime devastation in which art was commingled,” Bay said. “In the midst of the bombed ruins of the modern cities were ancient frescoes, statuary and decorative work.” Bay’s artwork is the result of a process that can take years. He describes its beginning as the “desire to express a feeling.” While some of Bay’s art is made of “discarded things which retain the traces of human use,” a fair amount is produced by Bay himself in his shop. Bay’s works emphasize function over appearance: Many are made of unaltered wood and steel, with no embellishment. Susan Alexander, a senior studying digital media and art at Eastern Mennonite University, compared the aesthetic quality of the art with that see ART, page B3
B3
LIFE Fat free
Author promotes positive body image as part of national Fat Talk Free Week.