M O N D A Y FEBRUARY 3, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 9
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Norwalk virus hits campus BY CARLA BLUMENKRANZ
The Norwalk virus, which plagued cruise ship passengers from Amsterdam to the Caribbean last year, is likely responsible for an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness on campus this weekend. Several students have required IV treatment after one to three days of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, said Dr. Edward Wheeler, director of Health Services. Symptoms also may include headache, low-grade fever and abdominal pain, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The virus is typically transmitted by the fecal-oral route, traveling from a person’s stool to their hands and ultimately infecting food or drink. The associated illness usually occurs within 24 to 48 hours and persists for 48 to 60 hours. After an exceptional number of students suffered from similar symptoms at the end of last semester, Health Services sent stool specimens for culture and confirmed that they were infected with the Norwalk virus, Wheeler said. If students continue to become ill, Health Services will repeat the process again. To avoid contracting the virus, Wheeler recommended that students remember to wash their hands often, particularly after bowel movements. He also suggested that students avoid sharing food and drinks, utensils, face cloths and towels. see NORWALK, page 5
Bomb threat on campus proves to be a hoax
Photo courtesy Nick Mark
PEACE ON PEMBROKE The view from Andrews Terrace on Sunday afternoon was a peaceful one.
Jeffrey Johnson, Black History Month Convocation speaker, urges students to take community action BY MOMOKO HIROSE AND SARA PERKINS
At Friday’s Black History Month Convocation, speakers urged students to escape complacency and create their own futures by taking action in the community. Jeffrey Johnson, national director of the Youth, College and Young Adult Division for the NAACP, gave the keynote address, and Izetta Mobley ’03 presented a senior reflection. “The idea of the new month is to
empower you — to realize (that you’re able to) take control of the future,” Phillip Ford ’03, co-coordinator of Black History Month at Brown, told The Herald. “We’ve been standing on the work of the past.” The theme of this year’s Black History Month was “We’ve been warmed by fires we didn’t build: reclaiming responsibility and asserting agency in social change.” The fires built in the past are no longer enough to warm the current generation and ensure the well-being of the future
generation, Johnson told the crowd. “This is a time to make sure … the fire does not burn out,” said Brianna Brown ’03, co-coordinator of Black History Month. Black History Month originally started in 1926 as Negro History Week, Johnson said. February was chosen because it marks the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, he see BLACK HISTORY, page 4
BY JULIETTE WALLACK
An anonymous caller threatened the athletic center with a bomb Saturday, but people in and near the buildings were largely unaware of the threat. The caller reported to Providence Police that there was an explosive device in a car parked in the athletic center parking lot. The threat, made just before the 7 p.m. women’s basketball game, was false, said Providence Police Lieutenant Thomas Verdi. The building was not evacuated, and the game began and ended on time, said Athletic Director David Roach. The call was made from a pay phone on North Main Street, Verdi said. He said this type of call is relatively common and called it “a non-event.” “It’s not as if we get them daily, but very seldom do we have a bomb threat where we actually respond and find something,” he said. The call was placed to Providence Police, but the Department of Public Safety responded as well on a “police assist,” said Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service. Nickel confirmed the caller claimed there was a car in the athletic center park-
Transsexual, transgender students and faculty discuss issues in academia
see BOMB THREAT, page 4
see SYMPOSIUM, page 5
BY ZOE RIPPLE
In an all-day symposium organizer Cole Krawitz called the first of its kind, panelists discussed issues surrounding transsexual and transgender students and faculty in academia. “Transecting the Academy,” a symposium held at Brown on Saturday, examined how transsexual and transgender undergraduate students’, graduate students’ and professors’ experiences can complicate and expand the curriculum taught in colleges and universities in the United States, according to the program. The symposium also brought transsexual and transgender people together to foster dialogue and to create networks in academia, Krawitz said. All of the presenters were transsexual or transgender people, said Sel Wahng, symposium co-coordinator and a visiting scholar at the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women. This made those attending the symposium feel “more relaxed.” In such an environment, those attending the symposium “could talk more about who they were,” Wahng said. Wahng said that many events focusing
on transsexual or transgender people don’t actually include many transsexual or transgender people. Scholars who are not transsexual also write about transsexual and transgender people, but often end up “generalizing” or “saying negative things,” Wahng said. One goal of the symposium was to “grapple with the ways courses are taught” and “how concepts of gender are dealt with” in academia, Krawitz said. Panelists and symposium participants also talked about the role of theory, asking “Is it working, and who is it working for?” Krawitz said. “Transecting the Academy” featured panels on Feminist Studies, Race and Ethnic Studies, Queer Studies and Trans Visual Culture. Wahng said about 150 people attended each panel throughout the day, filling room 106 of Smith–Buonanno to capacity. Author Susan Stryker gave the closing remarks. Her works include “Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area,” and “Queer Pulp:
I N S I D E M O N D AY, F E B RUA RY 3 , 2 0 0 3 Wreckage of space shuttle strewn over parts of Texas and Louisiana page 3
Professor of Arabic literature Elliott Colla outlines next steps for opponents of war guest column, page 7
Camille Gerwin ’03 discusses the effects of ignoring American allies’ concerns column, page 7
New Graduate Center lounge BY CASSIE RAMIREZ
After six months of renovation, the new Graduate Center lounge opened last Friday afternoon with a celebratory party. A committee of graduate students worked with Signer Harris Architects to revitalize the lounge, said former Graduate Student Council President and committee member Heinrich Hock GS. Hock said the space, previously a piano lounge, was “the only available space on campus.” He said the committee received many suggestions for possible uses for the space, from making it a child care center to an area where teaching assistants could hold office hours. “But what seemed to be overarching was that people wanted a place for socializing and studying,” Hock said. “I hope there is the feeling of a see GRAD CENTER, page 4
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Both men’s and women’s basketball teams hang on to first place in Ivy League sports, page 8
Adam Stern ’06 says the NBA’s history of roughness makes it more like the WWE sports column, page 8
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