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Show The Utes will face California EG Poinsetta cerither 7, 2009 www.dailyutah niversit le.co udent 1890 o . 119 No. 56 ©2009 The final straw: End-of-semester stress Jamie Bowen STAFF WRITER Archana Subbiah is a senior in biomedical engineering and, like most students, does not like the end of the semester because of the stress of finals. Last semester during Finals Week, Subbiah would enter the Merrill Engineering Building at 9 a.m. and wouldn't leave until 2 a.m., she said. "It's stressful," she said. She and many other students find the stress of finals to be hard to handle and often sacrifice their sleep and health during that week. Brett Curtis, a senior in organization communication, said he stays up until 2:30 a.m. and wakes up at 6:3o a.m. at least two days during Finals Week. He said the stress and lack of sleep often give him headaches. Of the top io reasons students get poor grades, the top two are stress and sleep difficulties, according to the U health promotion and education office. "We see a lot of students with a lot of problems," said Elizabeth Craig, a health educator. "They come in because they are sleepy." In light of all the stress, many students also turn to high doses of caffeine or junk food to help them stay awake during finals. Subbiah said she likes to eat burritos at the Mexican restaurant Betos on 400 South to keep her awake during Finals Week. Students need to watch their intake because too much caffeine can result in a crash, Craig said. Students should be getting anywhere from seven to eight hours of sleep a night, especially during finals, she said. Staying up all night doesn't really help because then students can't retain the information, she said. Craig said students should do some sort of physical stress reliever during Finals Week, whether it's exercise, yoga or anything else physical. Students should stick to their normal studying habits. Also, if the students are sick with the flu, they should talk to their professors and take the test another time, Craig said. "They need to focus on getting well," she said. For more information on good health habits during finals, contact the health promotion and education office at 801-581-8114. j.bowen@chronicle.utah.edu JULIAN GOMEZ/The Daily Utah Chronicle Students spend their Saturday preparing for Finals Week in the Marriott Library. During finals, many students eat poorly and sleep less, resulting in a lot of students getting sick. Muslim community finds home in Utah Chris Mumford V1 - 1 • r w STAFF WRITER )11 RICHARD PAYSON/The Daily Utah Chronicle Faculty members in charge of the U's climate action plan forum were suprised that only four people came to the event after they sent out almost 1,000 emails inviting people to the event. Low attendance limits forum effectiveness Rita Totten STAFF WRITER As the semester comes to a close, the Office of Sustainability hosted its last open forum of the year—with only a handful of people. A community open house, welcoming the input of the surrounding U community on the U's climate action plan, was held Thursday in the Crimson View restaurant. The plan is to use public input to design the U's approach to become climate neutral. U President Michael Young signed a commitment in April 2008 that he would present such a definitive plan by May. But the open houses—including Thursday's— have not gone exactly as planned. Even though the U sent out almost 1,000 e-mails asking the public to show up and share ideas, only four people came for the informational meeting, not including Myron Willson, director of the Office of Sustainability, other members of the office and the media. No more than a handful showed up at the previous two meetings, where political debates or rehashing information about what the sustainability office does, rather than what it could be doing, often took time away from the sharing of new sustainable project ideas. "We wanted to get ideas and thoughts and were hoping to get input from the community," Willson said. Willson had planned a presentation to community members on what the U has already done and what it is continuing to do in an effort to become more sustainable. Although few people attended, Willson gave the same presentation as the past two forums to the few Salt Lake City architects who came in late. He asked them from an administrative standpoint about what barriers they saw in developing sustainability on campus. "We need to start thinking about this," Willson said of the U's sustainability efforts. For example, energy is going to cost more with inflation, so the price of utilities is going to rise, Willson said. "This money will have to come out of tuition or the budget," Willson said. "We are looking for ways to avoid looming costs." Because of the U's size, it benefits everyone to be sustainable, said U spokesman Remi Barron. Barron said they want the community's input, so they might consider holding another forum. The information that would have been given out at last Thursday's open house might be sent out in an e-mail to community members. "We might just ask for comments through e-mails or phone calls," Barron said. The next sustainability forum is scheduled for sometime next semester. r.totten@chronicle.utah.edu Although they trace their roots to some of the world's most exotic and troubled regions from the Middle East to Africa, many Muslim students call the U home and have at least one thing in common— feeling comfortable and happy here. Shukri Harbi, a freshman in political science, fled Somalia with her family for the peace and safety of Utah at the height of the African nation's civil war in 1993. People at the U and in Utah generally have been respectful and tolerant, she said, but she gets a lot of questions about her faith and attracts some stares because of the headscarf she wears. Because members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints share certain moral values with Islam and have a history of dealing with religious discrimination, Harbi said she feels that her status as a minority is treated with greater sensitivity than it might be elsewhere. Likewise, Anwar Arafat, who graduated from the U in film studies last year, said life in See MUSLIMS Page 3 RESEARCH AT THE U Participants sought for mood study Scientists focus on difference between bipolar, depression Eligible Participants Deborah Rafferty STAFF WRITER After centuries of study, mental disorders are still largely a mystery, but U scientists aren't ready to give up, especially when it comes to various forms of depression. The Department of Veterans Affairs is recruiting participants to take part in a new study that will look into neurological and biological differences between bipolar disorder and clinical depression. The main goal of the study is to determine what •Male •Age 21 to 45 •Right-handed •Not currently using nicotine •No history of a psychiatric disorder See RESEARCH Page 3 Source: The School of Medicine Subjects will be compensated with $50 for each phase of the two-phase study. To participate, contact Susanna Johnson at 801-5821565 ext. 2759 or e-mail her at susannajohnson@va.gov. Trustees to vote on media council Michael McFall NEWS EDITOR After years of debate, a final decision about the future of student media might be reached at the U Board of Trustees' meeting Tuesday. Three years ago, U President Michael Young requested that a task force figure out what direction student media should go and appointed Ann Darling, chairwoman of the communi- cation department, to lead it. The task force recommended merging the Publications Council, which oversees student publications, and the Student Broadcast Council, which oversees KUTE, as well as the creation of a public relations agency. The Board of Trustees approved a $1.68 per semester fee increase last spring to fund the result, the Student Media Council. The board is scheduled to vote on the merger during its Tuesday meeting. Drafting the merger was met with heated contention from U student media, particularly about a controversial new position known as the student media advocate, which would have created an administrative presence. Essentially, the advocate would have been a liaison See TRUSTEES Page 5 |
