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April 27, 2009
Colleges urging precautions for swine flu
Colleges and universities across Texas are warning students, faculty members and staff members to take precautions in an effort to avoid contracting or passing along swine flu.
Respiratory illnesses can spread rapidly at campuses because of their high population density. However, students at many schools will be going home in the next few weeks as classes end.
A campuswide “safety alert” sent by officials at the University of Texas recommends washing hands frequently, covering the mouth when coughing or sneezing, and staying away from class or work if symptoms include a sudden fever, aches, coughing and fatigue.
“People who have swine flu may also experience nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and/or a runny nose and sore throat,” the UT-Austin notice said. “The majority of the patients with this flu have reported that the symptoms are mild and they have recovered fully.”
All 15 campuses in the UT System are sending out similar warnings to students and employees, said Anthony de Bruyn, a spokesman for the system. He said the system’s headquarters office in Austin was sending a message this afternoon to its employees in Austin and Washington, D.C.
At Southwestern University in Georgetown, spokeswoman Ellen Davis said, “I doubt this will reach crisis proportions before school gets out. Right now our greatest concern is for 25 students and two teachers were were supposed to leave for Mexico May 18.”
The Spanish classes might well wind up being held on campus instead of in Guanajuato, Davis said. Mexico has closed many universities in an effort to limit the spread of the outbreak.
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April 23, 2009
More on student, 20, facing charge in SFA massacre threat
NACOGDOCHES — Jennifer Grant, a Stephen F. Austin State University sophomore from Palestine, is accused of posting signs on and near campus that threatened a deadly mass shooting last week.
The Statesman originally posted news of the threats here. Grant was arraigned Thursday on a charge of felony terroristic threat. (The Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel has posted a picture of Grant at her arraignment here.)
The 20-year-old is a tenant of The Grove, the off-campus apartment complex where several signs appeared April 16. They warned that “10 people will be killed and shot at The Grove.”
The signs were found on the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre that left 32 people dead.
Grant was arrested Wednesday, the same day she confessed to posting the signs, according to an arrest affidavit (posted here) issued by university police and obtained by Lufkin television station KTRE.
Although police said it was too early to determine a motive, the affidavit said Grant had been given three extensions on a presentation that was due in a class that morning.
An access gate log at The Grove apartments indicated Grant entered twice between 2 and 4 a.m. the morning the signs were found, the affidavit said. Three of the signs were posted around a building where Grant takes six classes, the affidavit said.
Grant was released Thursday after posting $7,500 bond, said Officer Katie Sanders of the Nacogdoches County Jail. Sanders said there was no attorney information for Grant. A telephone listing for her couldn’t be found.
University Police Chief Marc Cossich said in Thursday’s Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel the investigation remained active but that no more arrests were expected. Cossich said information leading to the arrest came from a variety of sources.
Cossich didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press.
A student who said he knew Grant said he was surprised by the arrest.
“She has always been nice to me whenever I have talked to her and really seems like a nice person all around,” said 19-year-old David Bruce Smith, also of Palestine. “For her to make those drastic threats like that, all of a sudden, is highly doubtful for me.”
Conviction on the felony charge carries a prison sentence of two to 10 years and a fine not to exceed $10,000.
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April 16, 2009
Stephen F. Austin investigating shooting threat on Virginia Tech shooting anniversary
As members of the Virginia Tech community observe the second anniversary of the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history, officials at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches are investigating threats that a similar shooting could happen there today.
Stephen F. Austin University officials said campus police officers are working with the Nacogdoches City Police, the Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office, Nacogdoches school district police department, the Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers and the FBI to investigate the incident.
“University Police continues to conduct enhanced patrol throughout campus today. Extra patrol officers and bike patrol officers are currently on duty. While classes continue, the safety of our students, faculty and staff is our utmost concern and faculty are being encouraged to exercise leniency in dealing with absences and allowing makeup work,” according to an alert posted on the school’s Website.
“Several threatening signs were found posted on and off campus this morning,” the Website says. ” The signs found on campus stated ‘4-16-09 A shooting will occur today and students will die.’ Several signs were also found off-campus at the Grove apartment complex stating ‘4-16-09 10 people will be killed and shot at the grove.’
“While these messages are disturbing, there have been no other indications of a threat. Classes will continue as scheduled,” the site says.
Administrators have posted a campus alert on the school’s website and have established a call center while officials investigate.
The Virginia Tech shooting happened on April 16, 2007. Thirty-two people were killed and 17 were injured before the gunman, troubled student Seung-Hui Cho fatally shot himself. The classroom where he shot himself has been transformed into a peace center on campus. Classes there today have been canceled to allow students to attend memorial events.
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December 3, 2008
SAE fraternity in Calif. under investigation
The Associated Press reports that the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, has been suspended after the possibly alcohol-related death of a freshman after an SAE party.
An unconscious Carson Starkey, of Austin, was taken from a residence Tuesday morning to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, where the 18-year-old died. Starkey had attended the fraternity party.
University officials and the national SAE have now suspended the campus fraternity chapter until further notice. University police, sheriff and coroner’s investigators are examining the role of alcohol in Starkey’s death.
The fraternity has something of a history in Austin as well. University of Texas officials suspended the UT chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon in 1994 after three hazing violations.
And the UT chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon was sued by the parents of freshman pledge Tyler Cross, who fell from his fifth-floor balcony of an off-campus dormitory in November 2006 after officials said he was subjected to hazing.
State district Judge John Dietz reversed a $16.2 million default judgment against the local and national chapters of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and ordered a new trial. The judgment was made after the fraternity chapters failed to respond to the Crosses’ lawsuit.
Speaking of the local case, the fraternity’s Austin attorney, Jim Ewbank, said the national chapter has strong rules against alcohol and hazing abuse.
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