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December 4, 2005

Buzzing into December.

SNOW: Yeah, it's here. After a little bit of snow Thanksgiving weekend, college-goers across the area saw more snow Sunday, with even more slated to come early this coming week. One little nugget one friend of the Buzz passed on: a little fun to have with snowfall is to remember which date the first snowfall fell (this year, Nov. 23). The old logic goes we can expect 23 instances of snow fall of a couple of inches or more. It'll be interesting to see how that pans out. Two down...

MENINGITIS CONCERNS: Fairfield University's Mirror reported Thursday on the death of a Marist student from bacterial meningitis, and the concerns that are now rising over the potential for an outbreak (link). While Connecticut now mandates that all students be vaccinated against meningitis, the vaccine does not cover all known strains. And even though students are vaccinated, it did not stop the death of the Marist student, who had been vaccinated already.

FORMER STUDENT MURDERED: The Mirror also reported on the death of of Ciara McDermott '97, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in an apparent murder-suicide (link). McDermott was a police officer on the Newington force.

CASH AS CREDIT: Who's been posting all those ads around campus? Southern administration wants to know, and is even willing to pay for such knowledge, the Southern News reports (link). Ads promoting bar specials and happenings at clubs are littering the campus, and now the school is using its own students in an attempt to crack down on the rampant issue. Causing even more difficulty: many times the bars and clubs hire college-aged students to promote the events on their own campuses.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Students at Southern are upset at what they find is overpriced merchandise at the on-campus food stores that sell similar items to Stop & Shop, but at higher prices (link). Those in charge of the operation state that the issue comes down to volume. If Stop & Shop is really that much cheaper, maybe a Peapod delivery order should be placed daily to keep the store stocked and at lower prices?

REALITY BITES: Students at Sacred Heart were treated to a pair of ex-MTV reality show stars speaking out eating disorders recently, the Spectrum reported (link). Both speakers brought their personal experiences with them as they talked about the importance of keeping a healthy attitude about body image, while not succombing to the pressure of a perfect body, which can lead some down the path to anorexia or bulimia.

DREAMING OF SUCCESS: A Buzz reader wrote in asking about a program at Housatonic called "Achieving the Dream" and if we had any details. I'm happy to help. The Connecticut Post reported Nov. 2 that the college was in the running for a $400,000 grant for the program, a grant which would be for a four-year period. Reporter Linda Conner Lambeck provided these details in her report:

For purposes of the grant, success is defined as increasing the
number of students who:

Anita Gliniecki, dean of students at Housatonic, said the idea
is to not only promote students' success, but, in a sense, to
"bottle" it, so other colleges can do the same things.

The school has already received $50,000 from the Nellie Mae Foundation for the program. In the spring, they are up for a potential $400,000 grant from the same foundation.

The school will also use the program to ensure that courses are being held at times where students can attend. Many times students are forced to defer or drop out because class times begin to clash with changing work schedules.

Hope that helps, and if any other readers know anything further, please pass it on to The Buzz! Stay safe and don't get trampled in the malls by all the holiday shoppers :)

What's the Buzz on your campus? Drop Josh a line at thebuzz@ctpost.com

Posted by Josh on 10:21 PM | Comments (551)