By ryan March 5, 2001
Each March the staff of The Cornell Daily Sun makes the trek up East Hill, enters a classroom and leaves with a new group of leaders. This year Sunnies used this historic pilgrimage to elect the 119th Editorial Board on Saturday afternoon in McGraw Hall. The new board left with the excitement and dedication that the 118th instilled upon it, ready to continue the journalistic standard that has been set and make changes to better the newspaper. Editor in Chief Andrew Gelfand ’02 had little to offer the new board in terms of direction, commenting only that “there will definitely be more coverage of the Boston Red Sox in our sports section.” Although elected on a commitment to improve the newspaper’s overall content and to continue to expand the technology used at The Sun, all Gelfand could do was laugh diabolically after being elected and sip some of his predecessor’s Cheerwine. A history major from Princeton, N.J., Gelfand was a News Editor for the 118th and previously served as a night editor and reporter on the endowed college and budget and administration beats. Abhijit Pal ’02, The Sun’s new business manager, has pledged to “maximize profits.” After spending the past year as The Sun’s advertising manager, Pal feels confident that he will be able to step up and commit the time that his predecessor put into the job. The applied economics and management major also noted that he has large plans for Gelfand at Senior Board meetings. After returning from a semester abroad in Spain, managing editor Alison Thomas ’02 decided she would return to her passion for journalism. Although this meant giving up Spanish Scrabble — “they have all sorts of weird letters” — the native of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations has big plans for the newspaper: “I’m going tap into that Rhode Island student-base,” she said. Running solely on the campaign that copy editing of columns and edits would involve more than the word, “Dude,” Christen Aragoni ’02 was unanimously elected Associate Editor. A native of southern California, the weekend blizzard conditions only sealed her fate that she would never leave The Sun again: “Hey, when do I get a night off?” Goni asked. Gideon Simpson ’03, the new advertising manager, continues one tradition the 118th started that the 119th is committed to: New Jersey pride. A history and math major from Tenafly, N.J., Simpson exclaimed with passion when finding out he had fellow Jerseyites on the Board: “New Jersey and you, perfect together.” Although his interests after school lie in government and not in business, Simpson plans to carry on the work done by Pal. And let us not forget Shiva Nagaraj ’02, the resident of Hillsborough, N.J., who is the new sports editor and may be as committed to the Garden State as Simpson. Nagaraj who lists his interest as sleeping 16-hour days, has big plans for sports: “We may even finish on time this semester,” he said. Nagaraj also wanted to give a shout out to all his friends in the Cornell Anaphoric Society. Web Editor Andrew Fiore ’02 is back for another round. Deciding to actually spend this term in Ithaca instead of interning at Microsoft, the native of Durham, N.C., accepted the position directing this comment to the other Ivy newspapers: “All your base are belong to us.” Nobody knew what he was talking about. And that included new Photography Editor Eric Miller ’03. Experimenting with either Just for Men or Grecian Five, Miller has accepted the responsibility of not only improving the photo department, but keeping staffers guessing what his next hair color will be. He has also graciously accepted the vocal role in edit meetings that his predecessor has laid out for him. After dallying in news for a little bit, Laura Thomas ’02 moved to Red Letter Daze and now takes over as the Arts and Entertainment Editor. With big plans to cover local events and to redesign the section, she has also branched out to acting, with skits appearing daily in the newsroom. She also wants to raise awareness for the section asking: “Does anyone even know what day Daze comes out?” Lindsay Jacobson ’04, is The Sun’s next circulation manager, although many people still do not know what this position entails. As a freshman economics major in the Arts School, her experiences of living in the dorms has given her the firsthand knowledge to improve readership. After being rather quiet for more than a year, Beth Herskovits ’03 became vocal coincidentally the same day she became a news editor. In her Staten Island accent, Herskovits denies the change, but says she looks forward to her new role at The Sun. After serving The Sun as its workhorse reporter for more than the past semester, Matt Hirsch ’02 has tackled the position of news editor with a passion. He has brought a new dimension to the job and has big plans to improve the news department. Unfortunately, as Hirsch has realized, Ithaca lacks decent Chinese buffets for him to foster his most brilliant thoughts. Amanda Angel ’03 learned the art of being the new Assistant Sports Editor the right way: being thrown to the wolves. Due to Mr. Nagaraj’s untimely sleeping habit, Angel learned the ropes rather quickly on the job. She has, however, promised to beat Mr. Nagaraj senseless if he tries it again or if anyone tries to tell her she’s a Long-Islander. Rounding out the tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum replacement players is new Assistant Sports Editor Gary Schueller ’03. Although a Yankees fan, he believes he has a future in this organization. The native of Mohegan Lake, N.Y., already holds one record at The Sun — largest finishing time differential ever. Ed Howard ’03 became the new Assistant Arts and Entertainment Editor. With a great knowledge of all entertainment, but especially music, Howard is one of those rare Daze editors who actually came from the Daze section. We hope to see more like you. Lauren Bleich ’03, a biology and society major from New Orleans, capped off Mardi Gras with her election to Assistant Advertising Manager at The Sun. She plans to use her outgoing personality to work on customer accounts and develop customer relations.Archived article by Sun Staff
By ryan March 5, 2001
North Campus residents received an e-mail from Gannett: Cornell University Health Services Saturday to alert them of a meningitis case in Jameson Hall. Gannett staff treated a male freshman who was suffering from meningococcal disease, a rare strain of meningitis. On Thursday, the 19-year-old student visited Gannett suffering from mild flu-like symptoms, according to Sharon Dittman, the associate director of community relations for Gannett. Dittman said that Gannett staff members attending him noticed his symptoms worsening during his visit, which suggested the rare but serious infection. “One of the really scary things about this disease is how fast it progresses,” she said. She noted that after doctors identified the disease, the student’s symptoms worsened further and he was given antibiotics. He was then transported to Cayuga Medical Center for immediate treatment. Due to patient confidentiality, officials at Cayuga Medical Center could not comment on the student’s condition. Dittman informed residential advisors at Jameson that the student’s condition has been improving since Saturday. “He’s doing a lot better,” she said, noting that on Saturday the student’s health had improved to the point where he was receiving visitors. “I think Gannett really did a good job in this case. This was a really close call,” said President Hunter R. Rawlings III. Rawlings wished to show his appreciation for Gannett’s quick identification of the infection which can be misidentified because of its common symptoms. Meningococcal disease is caused by the bacteria, meningococcus, and can manifest itself in two forms. The disease is spread through air and through contact with the infected person. This latest case is meningococcal meningitis. The second form, meningococcemia, was identified at Cornell on Nov. 30, 1999, in a 19-year-old female sophomore. Her condition was also severe but improved after medical treatment. Each strain exhibits fever, severe headaches, changes in mental stability, vomiting, neck stiffness and possible rash as its symptoms, according to Gannett’s web-site. Only about 3,000 cases of meningococcal disease are identified throughout the country each year, with only around 120 of those cases affecting college students, according to Dittman. “This … disease usually occurs in isolated cases in children or young adults, but has some potential in a campus setting to occur in multiple individuals,” stated Dr. Janet Corson-Rikert, the director of Gannett, in her e-mail to North Campus. Although it is a very serious infection, the disease is not spread by casual contact. Around 10 percent of the population carries the disease without symptoms or knowledge of its presence because it can lie dormant. Also it cannot live outside the body for long periods of time, thus preventing the possibility for widespread infection, Dittman noted. Dittman stresses that Gannett released information about the student not to frighten the community but to comply with regulations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and inform about the potentially fatal disease. “This is a time of year when a lot of bugs are going around. If people are sick they should start noticing for more severe symptoms,” Dittman said. In Corson-Rikert’s e-mail, she highlighted some precautionary measures to prevent spread of the disease. These measures include frequent hand-washing, avoiding the sharing of utensils, lipstick and chapstick, close sneezing and coughing and any other activity that compromises the immune system. “The prevention [information] is pretty important. It’s probably the best things we can do to prevent the disease,” Dittman noted. According to Dittman, the CDC automatically issues a review of every case of this strain of meningitis. In order to comply with this inquiry, Gannett notified those who may have been in direct contact with the student. She said that Gannett follows the CDC’s stance on vaccination, that although meningitis is rare the CDC recommends that college students consider vaccination if they are in close quarters with other students. “It’s not 100 percent,” she noted stating that the vaccination does not completely protect against the disease and that the $75 price tag may keep students from receiving it. For more information about the disease and its vaccination contact Gannett at 255-5155 or visit www.gannett.cornell.edu/HCmeningo.html.Archived article by Carlos Perkins