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Show Monday, June 20, 2005 SUMMER UTAH CHRONICLE U TO USE POLYHEME HAIL TO THE CHIEF Black and white and read all over continued from Page 1 Building community requires communication Believe it or not, there's a reason the majority of journalists earn degrees in communication, and The Daily Utah Chronicle has alreadyseen that rationale manifest itself in the early weeks of Summer Semester. Newspapers are faced with several challenges on a daily basis—the majority of which occur Steve behind the scenes and are never made public to the hundreds of thousands of readers. Virtually all of these obstacles can be traced back to one underlying issue: communication. At The Chronicle, internal cooperation has been an ongoing project, which has hopefully taken one giant leap for journalist-kind in the past couple of weeks with a ground-shaking, wall-rattling project in Union Room 240. The office borrowed a page from the history books with the help of more than $2,000, electricians and some handy power tools. The Chronicle recreated the end of the Cold War era by bringing down an obstructive wall that had long divided its newsroom. With that internal, conceptual barrier tackled, the staff of the student newspaper is already considering how to address the next challengebreaking down the walls of the Union. While Room 240 underwent a physical makeover, the barrier ahead is a more theoretical challenge, one that writers and editors will address by familiarizing themselves with—and then reporting on—issues on campus. The U administration and student government have long agreed that building a campus community is one of the biggest issues facing the U, as the student population is comprised in large part of commuters who live at home or elsewhere off campus. Those parties are attempting to address this issue through their broad reach with projects such as the upcoming student Recreation Center, which they hope will promote campus community if the structure is strategically placed to involve upper campus and the residence halls with lower campus and commuters. Projects such as this, no matter how laudable the goal may be, come with a massive price tag for a population that is already often struggling to get by. At The Chronicle, U students work together to provide a forum through which fellow students can express themselves and interact from any- where via "Letters to the Editor" and "Student on the Street" segments in the Opinion Section, or simple e-mail or verbal feedback. All these efforts are part of the ultimate attempt to promote campus community for the affordable student fee of $1.73 per semester. Because the campus populaGehrke tion's helps fund the student paper, The Chronicle, in turn, has the responsibility to deliver stories on vital issues in a non-biased manner and deliver the inside scoop on events that are important to the U to promote the collective goals of the campus. As part of their ongoing effort to better reflect and investigate the campus community here at the U, as well as consistently striving to bolster a more involved student body, writers at The Chronicle are constantly on the run, dedicating their time and efforts to the readership they diligently serve. This year, the student newspaper has stepped up its approach in several forms. Page Two has been reformatted in order to draw more attention to campus events put on by student organizations. By publicizing these efforts free of charge, The Chronicle hopes to be one path through which students can find involvement and build a place for themselves at theU. The Chronicle is always working to improve readers' ability to interact with writers, editors and their fellow readers by giving them a mouthpiece through which they can speak to their fellow Utes. In coming weeks the goal of the paper and its collective contributors will be to seek out the needs and interests of the campus and address them. The entire university—students, faculty and staff alike—should feel free, even obligated, to e-mail or approach Chronicle staffers to let them know what it is they should be covering more effectively. In the meantime, writers will be out there digging for the things you want to find. Get the most out of your $1.73 and make The Chronicle black, white, and read all over. Communication is key, so come visit The Chronicle in Union 240 or send an e-mail to: sgehrke@ chronicle.utah.edu Student loan interest rates to jump July 1 Tommy Acchione Daily Pennsylvaman (U. Pennsylvania) PHILADELPHIA—While many students are enjoying sandy beaches and a break from the daily college grind, the judgment day for the fate of their future financial burden is fast approaching. The Bush administration has recently proposed an interest rate hike on government loans for students—the first in several years—that was approved by Congress earlier this month. On July i, interest rates on consolidation of student government loans currently offered by the government will increase by 1.93 percent over last year*s rates. This increase applies to variable-rate Stafford loans—a popular low interest rate student loan. In addition, interest rates for student loan consolidation will raise another 1.5 to 2.0 percent by July 1,2006. This will be the highest rate increase in several years, and it could amount to thousands of dollars for both undergraduate students, and in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars for graduate students who do not consolidate before the deadline. Currently, students can use loan consolidation to combine all of their government loans that are at different interest rates into one fixed interest rate over a long-term period. The current rates are different depending on whether students decide to consolidate before or after graduation. However, the 1.93 percent hike applies to all rates. According to The Associate Vice President of Finance, Frank Claus, the hike affects over 15,000 students at Penn who currently have not consolidated government loans. However, students still have over 15 days to file an application to Student Financial Services, which will accept them until June 30. Penn's Student Financial Services has come up with one solution to the problem by offering to consolidate loans for students at the current lower interest rate. SFS is currently working with American Education Services and the Pennsylvania Higher Education Administrative Association to both answer student question and provide financial options. According to Claus, Penn has been on top of the problem from the beginning, "even though this is one of the busiest times for us," Claus said. Postcards were sent to all students who currently receive government loans days after the initial news, and letters and e-mails have followed them in recent weeks. However, if you are looking for more information on consolidation, your best bet may not be the phone lines at SFS. "Penn has been inundated with telephone calls," Claus said, "it is a massive problem." Claus, who says he does not make recommendations lightly, advises students to check the web site as soon as possible. "My advice is to go to our Web site and then go from there to PHEAA, get as much information as you can, go to the online application process and apply," Claus said. Undergraduate students may not have as much to worry about as Perm's upper level students, because of the relatively small amount of money they are allowed to borrow in government loans, but the opportunity is only there for another 15 days regardless of loan size. College senior Roy Prather is not too worried about the interest rate hike. He currently has government loans and is unsure of his plans to consolidate; however, he has been pleased with the notifications the school has offered. Prather has read over the details carefully and believes that while it may be a burden for those with large loans, he is relying on the fluctuation of the economy. "It will be an inconvenience for people now," Prather said, "especially since it could be years from now when [the interest rates] could be lowered." U-Wire FDA requires that the public be notified before the study begins. Thus, those who have concerns can speak up. If anyone does not wish to participate in the study, he or she can receive a light blue plastic bracelet from the U Hospital, indicating that they do not want to receive PolyHeme. Over the next year, 36 randomly assigned people will participate in the study. Half of them will be given PolyHeme while the other half will be given the usual treatment for extreme bleeding: a saline solution to replace blood volume. PolyHeme will not be given to pregnant women, patients younger than 18, patients with "unsurvivable injuries" and those who object to any kind of blood transfusion. Mahasan Samhouri, a sophomore premedical laboratory science major, worries that PolyHeme may affect her job outlook by possibly reducing the need for laboratory services involving human blood. "It could definitely affect your career choices and how hard it is to find a job in medical lab science," Samhouri said. GRANT HELPS MEDICAL INFORMATICS RESEARCH UPREPARES TO FIGHT BIOTERRORISM continued from Page 1 continued from Page 1 How diseases are changing over time in a population is the major area of study the grant will fund. "Public health is so much about tracking data; how you use, gather and track data about disease outbreaks is critical," said Chris Nelson of the U's health sciences department. "Utah is roughly half the size of New York and is a microcosm population consisting of urban, rural and midsize areas making it the perfect population to study." Sims also stated that the grant would help to develop currently underused health information networks and data sources. "The amount of medical knowledge is doubling every five to six years," Nelson said. "Due to the large volume of medical information, a more expansive database of information will enable physicians, nurses and health-care providers to give better individual care." Within the next year, Sims estimates the research done with the grant money should be published and will help improve people's health care. ktrieu@chronicle.utah.edu To train doctors and nurses currently working in the medical field, bioterrorism experts will offer lectures on how to respond to emergency situations such as infectious outbreaks. "The idea is to use our research ad vantages...to help prevent disaster and better understand it," said Colleen Connelly, a nurse at the University Hospital and the emergency preparedness manager for the U Health Sciences Center. Research is expected to begin as soon as this July. cyork@chronicle.utah.edu The Chronicle is hiringpage designers! , -^ E-mail Katie at ; ^ ?i; ktrieu@chrotucle.utab,ecltt,c; New Position for the 05-06 Academic Year Business Manager of The Daily Utah Chronicle $9/hr plus growth commissions and tuition waiver if goals are met 20 hours per week The Daily Utah Chronicle is looking for a business-sawy student to manage its classifieds, front office, PR and special projects. The business manager will report to the general manager and is expected to increase revenues through enhancing current operations and generating/implementing new ideas and products. Priority will be given to graduate students and upper-level business students. This is a great opportunity to get hands-on management skills in a fun, on-campus environment. Send resume to Adam Ward award@chronide. Utah edu. Read www.daiyutafodhiraMdexom But Dr. Robert C. Blaylock, Medical Director for TVansfusion Services at ARUP Laboratories, which provide emergency blopd supplies to the U Hospital, does not think PolyHeme will replace the need for human blood. "This product, if ultimately approved for use, will have a very limited application. Its intended use will be only in emergency situations to stabilize critically injured patients until blood can be cross matched and transfused," he said. "This is not a replacement for blood. It is a supplementary product." For Summers, using PolyHeme in the field takes on a personal meaning. "I've lost a couple of friends in fires," Summers said. He recalled an incident in which a falling wall crushed one of his co-workers. Although Summers' friend was awake and talking when he reached the ER, he did not survive his injuries. Summers hopes that PolyHeme will make a difference for trauma victims such as his friend. For more information about the clinical trial of PolyHeme, visit uuhsc.utah.edu/polyheme or call 801-585-0385. ccallister@ chronicle.utah.edu at |