Mirror - Vol. 31, No. 03 - September 22, 2005

              WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 22,2005
Vol. 31, Iss. 3-24 pages
FREE - Take One MIRROR WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
Itching for relief: Students struggle to Nix the lice
outbreak in campus housing
BY BILL MCBAIN
The simple act of reading this story or
discussing it with friends will make your
head itch.
Dozens of on-campus students have been
diagnosed with lice since school started, and
shelves of lice removal products were sold out
at the Fairfield Stop & Shop and CVS stores
on Tuesday.
Lice is a parasitic insect that attaches
itself onto the hair and feeds off blood from
the human host. A louse then lays eggs called
nits. These eggs are visible as sesame-sized
pods, and can be passed when something like
a hat or brush is rubbed against them. Lice
has been around for thousands of years and as
many as six to 12 million people get head lice
every year worldwide, according to informa-tion
provided by the health center.
Despite a large-scale infestation in all
living areas of Fairfield University, The Mir-ror
had difficulty getting students to talk on
the record about it. .
"I just don't want my name quoted as
someone with lice. The stigma is just too
hurtful," one student said.
Another female student who wished to
remain anonymous told The Mirror her story
about having lice.
"My roommate went to the hairdresser
and the stylist refused to cut her hair because
she had lice. When she came home I went to
the health center and found out I had lice eggs,
called nits, in my hair."
Cases of lice have been reported in all
areas of campus, but exact numbers could
not be obtained.
"We cannot release information about
our patients because of the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (fflPAA),"
said Gary Nelson, director of the health
center.
"The health center is always happy to
examine students any time 24/7. If a student
thinks they have lice they should be diagnosed
before trying to treat it. The shampoo for lice
is neurotoxic, and so students should not use
it unless they have lice," said Nelson.
Nelson also said that students shouldn't
SEE "LICE" ON P. 6
Intoxicated FUers visit hospital and health center 23 times
DRINK TIL YOU DROP
Jeff Billingham/The Mirror
Fire engines and ambulances race to Regis on Sept. 16 to bring intoxicated students to St. Vincent's.
BY CALTLIN CALLAGHAN
»
One hundred and fifty-nine
thousand of today's first year
college students will drop out of
school next year for alcohol and
drug-related reasons, and 300,000
of today's college students will
eventually die of alcohol-related
causes, according to the Core
Institute, which gathers statistics
about college students' drinking
patterns.
These statistics, which can be
found in a pamphlet distributed
by the health center entitled "The
College Experience," should
strike a nerve with Fairfield Uni-versity
students.
Twenty-three Fairfield Uni-versity
students were sent to the
health center or hospitalized for
excessive consumption ofalcohol
during the first two weeks of the
academic year. Fifteen ofthese 23
students were freshmen.
Public safety officers}, the
office of wellness and prevention,
the dean of students, and health
center representatives all refused
to provide the names or residence
halls of the students involved in
these incidents for privacy and
legal purposes.
During the 2004-2005 school
year, 75 percent ofalcohol-related
incidents at Fairfield University
involved freshmen.
This frightening trend can be
seen around the nation as college
students tend to over-consume al-cohol
during the red zone, a dan-gerous
time period between Sept.
1 and Oct. 15 each year. Gary
Nelson, director of the health
center, attributes this dangerous
trend to students readjusting to
the school year or new students
adjusting to college life.
Fourteen hundred alcohol
related deaths each year are due
to alcohol on college campuses,
according to Nelson.
Alcohol-related deaths are
sometimes caused by alcohol
poisoning, when over-consump-tion
results in a reduced heart
rate, drop in pulse or cessation
of respiration.
But even more alcohol-re-lated
deaths are caused by aspira-tion,
when one's body treats the
alcohol as a poison and vomits it
up. The vomit blocks the wind-pipe
so that it enters the lungs,
which can cause death. Aspiration
can also cause enough of an ob-struction
to cause brain damage,
according to Nelson.
Although it is not widely
SEE "UNIVERSITY" ON P. 2
NBC newsman Tim Russert tells students to communicate
BY MARY MCCALL
If one lesson arose from the
attacks on the World Trade Center,
the war in Iraq, and the aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina, it's that the
American citizens and the authority
that represents them need credibil-ity
and accountability, according to
NBC newsman Tim Russert.
"We have to hold ourselves
accountable, and so does our gov-ernment,"
Russert, the political
analyst for NBC Nightly News and
the Today program , told a sold-out
audience at the Quick Center on
Monday night
Russert stated that the gov-ernment's
basic responsibility is to
defend and protect its people. It is
the role ofthe government, as well as
its citizens, to make sure that people
have the opportunity to survive.
However, in regards to the Ryan Blair/ The Mirror
Russert at the Quick Center.
events on Sept. 11 and the destruc-tion
caused by Hurricane Katrina,
it was a lack of communication that
cost many Americans their lives,
he said.
In Louisiana, the police were
never told where to go in the evacu-ation.
In New York, the firefighters
did not have communication sys-tems
and thus were trapped when
the buildings went down.
After the attacks on the World
Trade Center, Americans had to
learn to be more careful and precise.
What happened on Sept. 11th cre-ated
"a whole different world that
we had to live in and be conscious
of," Russert said.
The attack on American soil
"refined reality," said the journalist,
who was the opening speaker in the
annual Open Visions Forum series.
SEE "RUSSERT" ON P. 6