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Samford Crimson
Serving Samford University Since 1915
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
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Potential spread
of staph infection
affects students
Caroline May &
Bennett Sumner
The Samford Crimson
Students received an e-jnail on Monday cautioning them to wash their
hands in light of a staph infection outbreak in the Birmingham area.
“Samford is making a concerted effort to minimize potential expo¬
sure? individuals may have to staph on campus, especially in athletic?
facilities,” Shauna Yelton, director of health services, said in the campus¬
wide e-mail.
Tuesday, Oct. 30, the Cage was closed due to the threat of the CA-
MRSA strain of staph in Seibert Hall.
“They thought it was spreading around the cage so they closed it
down,” sophomore undeclared major Molly McGuire said. “Right now
they're on contact precaution.”
Several students were infected with staph during the past year, includ¬
ing B.T. Hartloge, starting defensive back for the Bulldogs and senior fit¬
ness and health promotion major.
Hartloge contracted staph last year while playing on Southeast Mis¬
souri’s field.
“I had a cut on my forearm and after playing on the turf field the cut
became infected,” Hartloge said. “I went to Health Services, they cleaned
the area and took me to St. Vincent’s. It was kind of painful. They had to
make a big hole and clean it out.”
Measures are being taken to reduce the risk of staph exposure on cam¬
pus, especially by campus recreation.
“It [staph] is preventable,” Director of Campus Recreation Nick Mad¬
sen said. “It’s not just in gyms, it can be anywhere and anything we can
do prevention wise we do it. Our custodial staff cleans the machines and
floors daily. My staff cleans machines with antibacterial spray.”
Students have been told to be cautious concerning the infection and
some are still nervous about the possibility of staph.
“I was a little worried about it at first, and I wanted to make sure that
they had taken care of the problem before I reentered the building. I have
full faith that they did take care of it but you never know," Cameron Free,
sophomore business major, said.
Others are fully confident in the cleanliness of facilities.
“The facilities are old, but they are always kept clean,” junior Spanish
major Jen Vinson said.
McGuire, whose brother was infected with MRSA this summer, knows
the danger of the infection.
“I’m just really nervous about it because the experience I had with my
brother,” McGuire said. "He was infected this summer and it still has not
gone away, even after he’s been to see numerous doctors. MRSA is real¬
ly dangerous.”
The signs of MRSA vary by where the infection is on the body. In mild
cases it generally results in skin infections like boils or pimples; howev¬
er, some cases of MRSA has more serious results like skin infections,
infected blood streams, urinary track and lung infections, according to
WebMD.
The infection can be treated, though MRSA is resistant to an .Diodes.
“There are still several other antibiotics that can be used to treat
MRSA - which occasionally causes life-threatening infections - and
reports of 'outbreaks' might be overstated even though there have been
scattered cases in some Alabama schools,” State Health Officer for
Alabama Don Williamson said according to NBC 13.
A recent government study reported that more than 90, 000 Americans
could get the potentially deadly infection each year, according to
NBC13.
, “Whether or not MRSA has been reported in your community,
MRSA is there and some child or some adult is going to have it because
it's just so common now in the bacteria that we all live with,” Williamson
said.
For more information, visit WebMd.com or the Alabama Department
of Health online at adph.org. If you are experiencing any of the poten¬
tial symptoms of MRSA, visit a doctor or Health Services immediately.
Debate team scores big at Vanderbilt
Lydia H ignite
The Samford Crimson
The Samford University debate team is
ranked 26th in the nation, according to the
most recent rankings from the Cross Examina¬
tion Debate Association.
This is due to several recent accomplish¬
ments, including a junior varsity victory for
freshman political science major Jayme
Cloninger and junior communications
major Josh Smith at the Vanderbilt Univer¬
sity tournament.
The team defeated competition from
Kansas, Louisiana, Florida, Florida State,
Appalachian State and James Madison.
They finished with a 3-0 decision in the
final round. Smith was recognized as the sev¬
enth place junior varsity speaker.
The varsity team includes junior political
science major Erin Ramsey and freshman
political science major Logan Gramzinski.
The other team included sophomore politi¬
cal science major Nick Agnello and junior
business major Chad Macumber advanced to
the Sweet 16 at Vanderbilt.
Gramzinski was recognized as the fifth place
varsity speaker.
Because of Cloninger and Smith success at
Vanderbilt, the team has been promoted to the
varsity division.
“We’re not moving up because of an individ¬
ual team accomplishment,” Cloninger said.
The debate squad opened its season this
semester at the Georgia State National Debate
Tournament, in September.
Cloninger and Smith finished third in the
junior varsity division at Georgia State, which
was Cloninger’s first collegiate tournament.
Samford’s debate squad engages in policy
debate, meaning that each summer a topic is
given that will be the topic for each tournament
for both fall and spring semesters.
This year’s topic discusses constructive
engagement in Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon,
the Palestinian Authority and Syria.
Those arguing for the affirmative must
explain why the U.S. federal government
should instructively engage these countries
by a security guarantee or foreign assistance.
Those opposing must argue that assistance
is a bad idea or describe a better way to han¬
dle the situation.
In the preliminaries, each team must argue
affirmatively for half of its debates and nega¬
tively for the other half.
“These students spend the time equivalent
to a full-time job researching this topic in
between tournaments,” debate coach Abi Wil¬
liams said. “It takes an insane amount of ded¬
ication. The situation overseas is changing on
a daily basis, if not hourly.”
“In a tournament, you may go on Friday and
argue for one thing, but then find out that night
something has changed and stay up all night
researching something completely different
for Saturday.”
Each team has their own strategy before
they go into a debate.
“The goal in a good debate, if everything
goes well, is that nothing be left to chance,”
Agnello said. “The goal is to have as little
spontaneity as possible. It’s difficult to make
all the right arguments, and all the complete
arguments, off the cuff.”
The ultimate goal of the SU debate team,
Williams said, is to qualify for the National
Debate Tournament (NDT), which is held
each year at the end of March at California
State University in Fullerton.
See DEBATE, page 2
Jenna Bush tours to Birmingham
Danielle Cloyd
The Samford Crimson
Books-a-Miilion at Brookwood Village Mall
welcomed the arrival of First Daughter Jenna
Bush on Nov. 1 to promote her new novel,
“Ana’s Story.” •
Before the book signing at 7 p.m„ the doors
to the bookstore were closed as the secret serv¬
ice checked and rechecked the store, making
sure that it was safe and secure for Bush.
Onlookers passing by could observe agents
waving their wands over the store and a bomb
dog sniffing the surrounding aisles.
Since her book was puMished in September.
Bush has been traveling across the United
States promoting it and raising awareness for
AIDS and the prevention of the disease.
Bush has been targeting young people by
speaking to high school students about the dis-
i AIDS victims face.
She’s also focused on how young people
cope with having the disease in their day-to-
day lives.
The novel is meant tty reach out to both
young and old people and to show the public
who read “Ana’s Story” that a person at any age
can help.
Bush presented "Ana’s Story" to her audi¬
ence as an inspirational tale of hope about a 17-
year-old Latin American girl.
The story tells readers that Ana is a mother
and has already experienced more hardships
than some face in a lifetime.
Bush explained to her audience that she met
and befriended Ana during her internship with
the United Nations Children’s fund, an organi-
healthcare and
“Ana” is
Bush promised Ana to keep her identity a
secret.
The children in, Ana’s area face unbeliev¬
able discrimination if it is known that they are
HIV positive.
■typically, when it is discovered that some¬
one has AIDS, he or she is immediately ostra¬
cized by the public and, in many cases, kicked
out of his or her home by close relatives.
Bush was inspired to write the story
because of the young woman’s charisma and
determination to keep persevering for her
child and herself in a world that has shown her
nothing but adversity.
Bush read a passage in her novel about the
deaths of the central character’s 2-month-old
baby sister and mother when Ana was too
young to appreciate what it meant to die or to
See BUSH, pqgc 2
***.-■- A*:
Jenna. Bush signs a copy of her novel, "Ana's Story" in Books-
arMilllon, which is about a seventeen-year-old girl with AIDS.
Send story ideas to crimson@samfbrd.edu.
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