Campus Informer - October 6, 2005

Giant chickens, enormous bar tabs, conservatives “coming out” and more news from schools across the country.

By Andrew Garib, Cornell University and Maggie Brock, University of South Carolina
Thursday October 6, 2005

She’s Like Lassie, in Ferret Form
Our Lady of the Lake University

“She gives me something else to focus on besides what’s wrong, and she just stays with me and soothes me and calms me,” said Our Lady of the Lake University ’s Sarah Sevick of her beloved ferret, Lilly. Before Lilly, Sevick’s anxiety and panic attacks kept her from attending college and maintaining employment. But according to the 19-year old (human) the rodent remedy has allowed Sevick to rehabilitate. That hasn’t stopped the University from barring the ferret named Patch Adams from their campus due to health and safety concerns, prompting Sevick (no doubt with the courage inspired by Lilly) to launch legal action and ask the Justice Department to find the university in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. “People really don’t understand,” Sevick told KSAT News in San Antonio, referring to the ferret trained to aid her in coping with post traumatic stress disorder and other psychological ailments. “They think she’s just a pet, but she’s working for me.” Still, the university is unwilling to classify Sevick’s illness as a disability and so they don’t consider the ferret a “service animal.” Meanwhile, the primate portion of this dynamic duo has continued her studies at Our Lady of the Lake, but doubts she’ll be able continue solo. No word yet on Justice Department appointments for the select group of rodents who have helped George Bush in the past.

 
The Important Thing is Football is OK
University of Oklahoma

It was business as usual for the 80,000 spectators at the University of Oklahoma-Kansas State football game on October 1st — despite the suicide bombing that pierced the otherwise routine halftime preparations a mere 100 yards away from UO’s packed Memorial Stadium. The explosion, which killed only the bomber and caused no other injuries, didn’t seem to prompt nursing student Elizabeth Allen to change her schedule any time soon. “I’ve never been worried about going [to games],” said Allen, who incredibly hadn’t heard about the bombing at the time she spoke to the Daily Toreador two days after the incident. The investigators – including a litany of federal and local from the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the OU Police Department, the Norman Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office – suspect a junior engineering student with a history of depression named Joel Henry Hinrichs III to be the bomber who took his own life by detonating a device at what is usually a busy traffic junction. But neither that, nor the second explosive device found at the scene, was enough to set off alarm bells among UO’s administrators. Officials ordered the partial evacuation of Hinrich’s apartment building, and the stadium was locked down during halftime, yet aside from two safety announcements during the game that didn’t mention the bombing, no other unusual precautions were taken and the game continued as scheduled.

 
Campus Conservatives Come Creeping Out of the Closet
National

We were remiss last week by forgetting to let our readers know about “Conservative Coming Out Day” which happened on a few dozen campuses across the country on September 21st. The rallying cry for the event was an essay written by Dr. Mike Adams, who is a regular columnist for conservative web rag TownHall.com. He writes that “oppressed campus conservatives” need to be liberated and then goes on to tell these proud, budding young conservatives to “remember these important words: Marxism is an emotional disorder, not a political philosophy. And political correctness is really the only form of hate speech.” He then goes onto say that we need to create “safe zones” for conservatives. (Um, these days isn’t your safe zone called, sadly, the United States of America?)

At some schools that hosted these events, the majority of people in attendance were protesters. At of U of I Urbana-Champaign, the event even included an “affirmative action giveaway” raffle offering free handguns for women and gay students. Not everyone was thrilled by CCOD, which deliberately apes the language used by the gay and lesbian community. Matt Midles, a Penn State student said, "I think it is unfortunate that they have to mock National Coming Out Day and not just have a conservative rally. Rather than asserting their own issues, they’re attacking someone else’s." A national conservative organization distributed a CCOD kit that featured a poster reading “I came out on National Conservative Coming Out Day and I’m in good company,” alongside photos of entertainment legends like Pat Sajak and Chuck Norris.

Despite the fact that “Conservative Coming Out Day” almost coincided with “National Talk Like a Pirate Day” there were no reports of campuses choosing to combine both activities.

 
A University President With a $44,000 Bar Tab
American University

American University ’s Student Government passed a resolution this week demanding that President Benjamin Ladner step down. President Ladner recently came under fire for his lavish spending practices, which included using university money for $44,000 worth of alcohol, an $85,000 a year driver and “professional development” trips for his private chef in Paris, London and Rome. Now that many of AU’s trustees want Ladner to step aside, he reportedly is being offered an extremely generous severance package that includes one year leave with full compensation (around $800,000) and various benefits in addition to being allowed to continue to serve as a full professor with a salary 20% higher than that paid to any other AU faculty.

At this point, students are demanding transparency of their university leadership. That is something that has certainly been lacking. Though President Ladner claims he had never asked for additional compensation, the Washington Post recently reported on a 2004 confidential memo from President Ladner asking the university’s trustees to pay him an additional $5 million in pretax compensation over the course of five years which he claims was needed to “maintain my current living level” upon retirement.

Many students are quite angry. They attend a school that is tremendously expensive (tuition, room and board comes in at around $40,000 a year) but still in need of belt tightening – activities, including the tennis team, were threatened with cuts this year. At a recent protest, one student carried a sign that read: "I’ll be in debt for the rest of my life for a PARTY for Ben Ladner’s wife."

 
Which Came First: the Chicken or the DPS?
Iowa State University

The Department of Public Safety donned feathers and a beak Thursday morning on Iowa State’s campus in hopes that students would see past the clucking (and the Sesame Street-esque tactics) to learn more about pedestrian safety. Director of Public Safety Jerry Stewart says that the campaign really isn’t that unusual – it’s just “something people will tend to remember more than, say, a flier campaign”.

But why did the chicken cross the road at Iowa State ? After dealing with 6 pedestrian-related accidents since 2003, the DPS felt the need to do something. “The chicken will be the first phase in an overall campaign to reduce the potential for pedestrian-related collisions,” Stewart said. For those wondering whether or not the egg comes next, don’t watch for Humpty Dumpty any time soon – the next phase is, in fact, the flier campaign. Andrew Alt, program assistant for judicial affairs at Iowa State, sums it all up, saying, “most people have definitely been happy to see the chicken”.

 
Vote Your Mom For Student Government Senator!
University of Florida

Past elections for Student Government Senate at the University of Florida have been colorful affairs. But sadly, this year, Curious George was not given a single write-in vote by the student body at Florida ’s Gainesville campus in that university’s first ever intranet elections. “In the past, Curious George tended to get a few votes,” Senator-elect Allison Cullin told The Independent Florida Alligator. “Apparently, he went out of style.” That hasn’t stopped such luminaries as Albert the Alligator, Donald Duck, “Gengis Kan,” Your Mom, Derek Zoolander, famed college football coach Urban Meyer and every member of Led Zeppelin from being provided at least one vote in the recent Senate elections. Yes, even George W. Bush, brother (and beneficiary) of Florida governor Jeb Bush, received a nod from a handful of zealous voters. Senators are required to be full-time students in good standing with at least a 2.0 GPA, and must live in the voting district in which they plan to serve as a senator, requirements that would ostensibly eliminate a number of these candidates from eligibility. Thankfully, perennial third party candidate Ralph Nader was unable to muster enough votes to swing the District C election towards Dubya.