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US

Duke University undergrads ordered to stay in place all week as Covid-19 cases spike

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In a letter sent to students on Saturday, officials at the Durham, North Carolina, university said that more than 180 students have tested positive for Covid-19 and are in isolation, while another 200 are under in quarantine based on contact tracing.

The spike in cases is “principally driven by students attending recruitment parties for selective living groups,” the letter said. This is the largest one-week total of positive cases and quarantines since the pandemic began, officials said.

All courses will shift to remote learning and students living on campus must stay in their room or apartment at all times outside of essential activities, such as getting food or for health or safety reasons. Off-campus students are not permitted on campus other than to participate in surveillance testing, seek medical care or to pick up food orders.

The Duke outbreak is a fresh example of the pandemic’s ongoing danger, even as daily new Covid-19 cases continue to decline and millions get vaccinated. The outbreak has even reached into the storied men’s basketball team, which withdrew from the ACC tournament on Thursday after a positive case in the program.

“If this feels serious, it’s because it is,” the letter says. “The restriction of student movement — coupled with a renewed dedication to following social distancing, masking, symptom monitoring and other public health guidelines — gives us the best path toward curtailing further spread. Violations of these requirements will be considered a violation of the Duke Compact and will be treated as such; flagrant and repeated violations will be grounds for suspension or withdrawal from Duke.”

The letter was signed by Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students John Blackshear, Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education Gary Bennett and Vice Provost of Student Affairs Mary Pat McMahon.

The letter says the ability to finish the semester and have a commencement for those graduating is “hanging in the balance.” Duke officials will provide an update to the order on March 18, it says.

CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed to this report.

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Science

12-year-old prodigy Alena Wicker set to attend Arizona State University, plans to land job at NASA

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ARIZONA — A 12-year-old prodigy is off to college.

Alena Wicker, of Arizona, has already completed high school through at-home schooling.

Now, she’s off to Arizona State University.

She plans to major in astronomical and planetary sciences and chemistry.

Her passion for building started as an infant with LEGOs.

Wicker’s hope is to land a job at NASA when she’s 16.

“I’ll be driving one of those future space mobiles by the time I graduate college,” she said.

Her goal is to build rovers like the one sent to Mars in the Perseverance mission.

“It doesn’t matter what your age or what you’re planning to do,” Wicker said. “Go for it, dream, then accomplish it.”

Copyright © 2021 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.



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World

All Duke University undergrads must quarantine

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DURHAM, N.C. — Duke University issued a quarantine order for all of its undergraduates effective Saturday night due to a coronavirus outbreak caused by students who attended recruitment parties, the school said.

The university said in a statement that all undergraduate students will be forced to stay-in-place until at least March 21. Suspension or dismissal from the school are potential punishments for “flagrant or repeat violators.”

Over the past week, the school has reported more than 180 positive coronavirus cases among students. There are an additional 200 students who may have been exposed and have been ordered to quarantine.

The school said in the statement that the outbreak was “principally driven by students attending recruitment parties for selective living groups.”

Duke said it would provide a policy update on Thursday.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Virus tolls have been similar in U.S. states despite governors’ contrasting actions

— By some measures, the panedemic’s been more costly for U.S. than World War II

— Rules have put medically vulnerable near the end of vaccine lines in many places

— In a pandemic, the Navajo community steps up for the vulnerable

— IRS says new round of COVID relief payments on the way

— After a long pandemic year, a changed New York shows signs of revival

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Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

LOS ANGELES — Coronavirus hospitalizations in California’s most populous county have slipped below 1,000 for the first in four months.

The number of patients with COVID-19 in Los Angeles County hospitals hit 979, the lowest since Nov. 23. There are 3,250 people hospitalized statewide, a drop of more than 85% since peaking around 22,000 in early January.

Case rates also remain low and much of the state is preparing for some restrictions to be lifted in the coming days.

State officials announced Friday that 13 counties would be eligible to open restaurants, movie theaters, gyms and museums at limited capacity on Sunday.

On Monday the state is opening up vaccinations to an estimated 4.4 million people ages 16-64 with disabilities and certain health conditions, including severe obesity, type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease at stage 4 or above and Down syndrome.

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ROME — The new Italian government says it aims to have 80% of the population vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of September.

Premier Mario Draghi’s office on Saturday announced more goals of the national vaccination program, which only recently has started picking up its pace after delays in vaccine deliveries and other logistics slowdowns.

Just under 2 million people in Italy – or roughly 3% of the population – had been fully vaccinated as of Saturday.

On Monday, much of the country, including Rome’s region, Lazio, will be put under tougher restrictions on citizens’ movements outside the home. Hospitals are struggling with an increase of ICU admissions for COVID-19 patients. Daily new caseloads of confirmed infections have soared above 20,000 in recent days, including on Saturday, with the Health Ministry reporting 26,062 cases.

Italy has now tallied some 3.2 million cases in the pandemic. After Britain, Italy has Europe’s second-highest known death toll, with 101,881 dead.

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PHOENIX — Arizona on Saturday reported 262 new cases of COVID-19 — the lowest one-day total since September at the trough between the summer and winter surges.

The state has now recorded 823,094 cases and 16,546 deaths with the 27 newly reported. Hospitalizations for the disease dropped to 814, down from the Jan. 11 pandemic peak of 5,082, according to the state’s coronavirus dashboard.

The state also reported fewer than 1,000 additional cases on three of the previous six days.

But the state Department of Health Services announced late Friday it has detected three cases of a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus that was first discovered in Brazil. It’s unclear how widespread that variant is in Arizona, but studies indicate vaccines are effective against it, the department said in a news release.

Also Friday, Gov. Doug Ducey said Arizona can meet President Joe Biden’s goal to offer vaccinations to everyone who wants one by May as long as the federal government supplies enough vaccines.

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WASHINGTON – Commercial air travel appears to be on the upswing despite the coronavirus pandemic.

The Transportation Security Administration said its agents screened more than 1.3 million passengers at airport security checkpoints nationwide on Friday.

Spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said in a tweet that the last time the number was that high was March 15, 2020 – about a year ago.

Public health officials generally have cautioned against commercial travel.

Farbstein included a reminder in her tweet, saying “if you choose to fly, wear that mask!”

President Joe Biden marked Thursday’s first anniversary of the pandemic with a prime-time address to the nation in which he said he expects to have enough coronavirus vaccine for all Americans by May 1.

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BUDAPEST— Hungary reported a record-breaking day of new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, and the number of patients being treated in the country’s hospitals also reached a new high.

Health authorities announced 9,444 new confirmed cases, more than 1,000 more than the previous record set on Friday. The jump came amid a rapid spread of a coronavirus variant first discovered in the United Kingdom.

The outbreak has put a strain on Hungary’s health care system. Officials reported the hospitalization of 179 more COVID-19 patients, bringing the national total to a record high of 8,897

Hungary has the second-highest COVID-19 vaccination rate in the 27-nation European Union, underpinned by the acquisition of vaccines from Russia and China as well as the EU. The number of people who have received at least one dose of a vaccine climbed to nearly 1.3 million in the country of fewer than 10 million.

Officials say they plan to have all people over age 60 vaccinated by Easter.

As of Saturday, Hungary reported 16,790 virus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, giving the country the seventh-worst death rate per 1 million people in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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TBILISI, Georgia — Georgia received its first batch of coronavirus vaccines on Saturday and is set to become the last European country to launch a COVID-19 vaccination drive.

The ex-Soviet nation received 43,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX program, a United Nations=backed initiative aimed at ensuring equal access to vaccines. Georgia’s second shipment of 87,000 vaccines is expected next month.

Georgian Health Minister Ekaterina Tikaradze said the country will start administering the vaccine on Monday, with the first shots given to medical workers.

Georgia hopes to vaccinate 60% of its population of 3.7 million this year.

The country has engaged in talks to receive additional batches of the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines. Georgia is also negotiating with China to receive the Sinovac vaccine.

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Police in France have arrested a Dutch man and an American man suspected of involvement in the stabbing of two Dutch police officers in the northern Dutch city of Groningen.

The incident happened after the officers questioned two men who were outdoors during the Netherlands’ coronavirus curfew on Wednesday night.

One of the police officers suffered serious injuries to his face and neck in the stabbing.

Police in Groningen say that French officers detained the suspects Saturday morning in northern France.

One was a 20-year-old Dutch man and the other a 32-year-old American national. Their identities have not been released.

Police say procedures are underway to have the suspects sent back to the Netherlands.

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VIENNA — Police in Austria are enforcing new rules requiring people to show a negative coronavirus test to leave Wiener Neustadt, a city of more than 45,000 people.

The system that took effect Saturday involves police and other officials controlling 26 exit roads from the city south of Vienna around the clock. Wiener Neustadt has an exceptionally high level of coronavirus infections — more than 500 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants over seven days, compared with a national average of 198 per 100,000.

Fines of up to 1,450 euros ($1,730) are foreseen for people who violate the rules.

Mayor Klaus Schneeberger said testing stations set up in recent days have a capacity to test 15,000 people per day. He said he didn’t understand why Austria’s health ministry “doesn’t use this occasion to start a vaccination campaign here so we get this under control.”

A targeted campaign to vaccinate the entire adult population is underway in the Schwaz district in western Austria, which has seen a significant number of cases of the more contagious virus variant first detected in South Africa.

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BERLIN — The leaders of Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Bulgaria are calling for talks among European Union leaders about the distribution of vaccines within the 27-nation bloc.

Austrian media reported Saturday that the five leaders wrote a joint letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel. That came after Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz complained on Friday that, even though the EU had agreed on distribution of the vaccines on a per-capita basis, some countries were receiving considerably more than others.

The letter asserted that “if this system were to carry on, it would continue creating and exacerbating huge disparities among Member States by this summer.”

Officials elsewhere have noted that countries have wanted differing amounts of various vaccines and have not always taken up their full allocation.

Austria’s health ministry — which is run by Kurz’s junior coalition partner — was among those rejecting Kurz’s criticism. Oe1 radio reported that its general secretary, Ines Stilling, said negotiations on distributing the vaccines had been “balanced and transparent.”

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AMMAN — Jordan has become the first country in the Middle East to receive coronavirus vaccines through the global COVAX initiative.

A plane carrying 144,000 shots of AstraZeneca vaccine landed in Amman’s airport late Friday and was greeted by representatives of the agencies supporting the COVAX program — the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the European Union.

The COVAX alliance aims to share COVID-19 vaccines with more than 90 lower and middle-income nations. However, the program is facing delays, underfunding and limited supply.

The EU has allocated 8 million euros to support Jordan’s purchase of vaccines. A second shipment from COVAX is expected in April.

Jordan launched its vaccination drive in mid-January with plans to inoculate over 4 million residents in 2021, according to Health Minister Nathir Obeidat.

The kingdom, home to nearly 10 million people, has approved five vaccine types, including Russian and Chinese ones. The vaccination campaign also targets some of the 650,000 Syrian refugees.

The country is struggling to contain the surge of infections. It has reported over 465,000 cases and more than 5,200 deaths.

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan health authorities said on Saturday that they will continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine and that health workers have begun inoculating people over 60.

Sri Lanka has so far received 1.264 million doses of the vaccine and, by Saturday, 760,765 Sri Lankans had received a shot.

The Health Ministry said on Saturday that it is continuing to use the AstraZeneca vaccine despite it being suspended in some countries, including Denmark.

According to State Minister Channa Jayasumana who oversees pharmaceutical production, supply and regulation, Sri Lanka has not yet taken a decision to suspend the vaccine.

Sri Lanka received 500,000 doses of the vaccine from India as a donation, while the island nation bought the same number again from the Serum Institute of India. It received another 264,000 doses from the COVAX facility.

Sri Lanka has also planned to purchase some 13 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines directly.

By Saturday, Sri Lanka’s total positive cases stood at 87,285, with 525 fatalities.

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ISLAMABAD — The provincial government in Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab, has announced the shutting of 15 famous shrines, including that of the Sufi saint famously known as Data Ganj Bakhsh in Lahore, amid the third wave of the coronavirus.

Federal authorities earlier announced the closing of educational institutions for two weeks in seven cities in Punjab and some in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistan has reported 602,536 cases, including 13,476 deaths.

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WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials are warning health professionals about the risk of false positive results with a widely used laboratory test for COVID-19 and flu.

The Food and Drug Administration issued the alert to Friday for health facilities using Roche’s cobas test for coronavirus and seasonal flu. The agency warned that problems with the test’s processing tubes could result in false diagnosis in people who are not actually infected.

Roche’s testing system is widely used to screen large batches of patient samples in hospitals and laboratories.

The FDA recommends health workers test samples multiple times to help assure accuracy. If the test delivers conflicting results it may indicate a problem and use should be discontinued, the agency says.

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Sports

Les Miles: University of Kansas parts way with head coach Les Miles amid report of harassment allegations during his LSU tenure

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The announcement comes days after KU director of athletics Jeff Long said Miles would be placed on administrative leave while the school conducted a review to determine next steps.

It followed the release of two reports investigating accusations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by Miles during his time at Louisiana State University. Miles has denied the allegations.

Miles was the head coach at LSU from 2005-16, winning the national championship in the 2007 season. He was hired by the Jayhawks to lead their football team on November 18, 2018.

“I am extremely disappointed for our university, fans and everyone involved with our football program,” Long said in a statement Monday. “There is a lot of young talent on this football team, and I have no doubt we will identify the right individual to lead this program. We will begin the search for a new head coach immediately with an outside firm to assist in this process. We need to win football games, and that is exactly what we’re going to do.”

A statement from Miles was also provided by the athletics department.

“This is certainly a difficult day for me and for my family,” Miles said. “I love this university and the young men in our football program. I have truly enjoyed being the head coach at KU and know that it is in a better place now than when I arrived. To our student-athletes, I want you to remember that you came to play for KU and earn a degree here. So, I implore you to stay and build on what we started and do all of the things we talked about doing together. There is a bright future for all of you and for KU Football.”

2 reports investigated Miles at LSU

Friday’s announcement of Miles’ administrative leave followed the release of an LSU Title IX investigation conducted by the Husch Blackwell law firm. That report followed on the release of findings from a 2013 investigation into Miles by the Taylor Porter law firm.

The Taylor Porter investigation, which was at the request of LSU, concluded that Miles “engaged in behavior which showed poor judgment,” but didn’t substantiate any legal violation.

On Friday, Miles’ attorney, Peter Ginsberg, said in a statement that “the Taylor Porter Report should put an end to the baseless, inaccurate media reports that Coach Les Miles engaged in an appropriate touching of an Athletic Department student volunteer eight years ago.”

“Coach Miles denies then, as he denies now, that any such conduct occurred,” Ginsberg said, adding, “The Report also disclosed that a second woman made a similar allegation. The Report found that accuser was totally unreliable and her claim totally unsupported.”

The attorney also blasted the Husch Blackwell investigation, Ginsberg said the investigators did not interview Miles or other key witnesses. Instead, he alleged the law firm second-guessed the Taylor Porter findings without providing any basis for doing so.

Husch Blackwell was hired by LSU following a report in USA Today in November 2020 headlined “LSU mishandled sexual misconduct complaints against students, including top athletes.”

The Husch Blackwell report includes a statement from Sharon Lewis, who currently is Associate Athletic Director for Football Recruiting and Alumni Relations.

Her statement from May 2019 “chronicled significant alleged misconduct committed by the then-most powerful person in the Athletics Department (and perhaps the University), LSU Football Coach Les Miles, from approximately 2009 until Miles’ departure in 2016.”

Among the allegations made by Lewis, the report says, was that after losing the 2012 national championship game, Miles “attempted to sexualize the staff of student workers in the football program by, for instance, allegedly demanding that he wanted ‘blondes with the big boobs’ and ‘pretty girls.'”

Miles has denied all allegations of misconduct, the report said. CNN had asked through Kansas for comment from Miles on the report.

According to the Husch Blackwell report, Joe Alleva, then LSU’s director of athletics, stated that he “recommended to the University’s President, to the University’s Board of Supervisors, and to the University’s attorneys, to terminate Les Miles for cause.”

“One more time I want us to think about which scenario is worse for LSU,” Alleva said in a June 21, 2013 email to incoming LSU president F. King Alexander, which is included in the report. “Explaining why we let him go or explaining why we let him stay.”

KU said Monday that the search for a new head coach begins immediately and that Mike DeBord will continue to serve as the acting head coach until an interim head coach is determined.

CNN’s Wayne Sterling contributed to this report.

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US

Bowling Green State University sophomore dies after drinking at fraternity event, family attorney says

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“He was a beloved son, brother, and grandson,” Alto said. “At this time we are gathering all of the facts leading to his untimely death and we have no interest in commenting on speculation.”

Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity said in a statement Saturday that a new member of the BGSU chapter “was involved in an alleged incident of alcohol-related hazing at an off-campus event.”

“The International Fraternity is horrified and outraged by this incident,” the international fraternity said in a statement. “The Fraternity has a zero-tolerance policy toward illegal activity, substance abuse, bullying, and hazing of any kind.”

The BGSU chapter was placed on “administrative suspension,” the fraternity added. “We will also pursue permanent suspension of Delta Beta Chapter as well as expulsion of all chapter members from the International Fraternity.

A spokesperson for BGSU told CNN that it has also placed its chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha on interim suspension.

“The local law enforcement and university investigations are ongoing,” Alex Solis, a BGSU spokesperson, told CNN in an email statement. “However, I can confirm that we have placed Pi Kappa Alpha on interim suspension for alleged hazing activity.”

On Saturday, the university said in a series of tweets that it met with “student leaders to decide the short- and long-term future of fraternity and sorority life at BGSU.”

“BGSU is committed to not just the student conduct and law enforcement investigations, but a full inquiry into each Greek chapter’s prevention and compliance responsibilities under University policies prohibiting hazing,” the university wrote.

Duncan Faulk, Foltz’s freshman roommate at BGSU, mourned his friend.

“It’s hard to imagine my life without him,” Faulk told CNN affiliate WTVG. “He’s been there since I’ve grown up, and having him as a friend is one of the only things I’ve always know. It’s just going to be hard to know he’s not going to be there doing the things he enjoyed doing. I’m just really, really going to miss him.”

Foltz’s family was able to donate his organs, Alto said.



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US

Unruly party near Colorado University in Boulder prompts police to vow arrests

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Police in Boulder, Colo., said Sunday that they were working to identify those who took part in a large street party on University Hill that resulted in three officers being assaulted by bricks and rocks, reports said.

KDVR, the local station, reported that the Saturday night party included a large crowd that set off fireworks and caused significant property damage, including to an armored police vehicle and fire truck. Police from the Boulder Police Department said they are reviewing footage in order to “charge and identify” those involved.

The school also issued a statement calling the incident “unacceptable and irresponsible,” especially when considering compliance with COVID-19 health orders.

“We appreciate the efforts of law enforcement to address the unacceptable conduct of these students and apologize to the residents of University Hill for their behavior,” the school’s statement said.

A police vehicle was damaged during a massive street party.
(Boulder Police Department)

Photographs from the scene showed cars with smashed windows and at least one car was flipped over.

The Washington Post reported that there were about 500 to 800 “maskless revelers.” The report said police arrived at about 8:30 p.m. and warned the crowd that they faced arrest if they did not leave. There was a clash with police when about 100 from the group charged them, the report said.

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Michael Dougherty, the Boulder County district attorney, told reporters at a news conference that calling what happened on Saturday a party is incorrect.

“I don’t regard people flipping over a car as a party. I don’t regard people throwing bottles and rocks at firefighters and police officers as a party. Those are criminal acts and will be treated as such.”

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World

Prestigious Istanbul University Fights Erdogan’s Reach

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ISTANBUL — For several weeks — rain, shine, or even snow — a rebellion has been underway in one of the most hallowed establishments of Turkish academia: the campus of Bogazici University in Istanbul.

Every day, faculty members stand on the main lawn in a socially distanced, silent protest, their backs turned on the office of the rector, whose appointment by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan they oppose.

Traditionally, the university academics elect the rector, who controls much of the life in the university, from their own ranks. By naming an outside appointee to his liking, Mr. Erdogan has set off a battle for control of one of Turkey’s institutional jewels.

Bogazici University is one of the best universities in Turkey, endowed with a startlingly beautiful campus, perched above a crenelated fortress on the shores of the Bosporus. Once part of the American-founded Robert College that opened in 1863, it is famous for its Western-leaning liberal arts culture.

As such, it has long been a target of Mr. Erdogan and his religiously conservative supporters, who not only covet its prestige but deplore its liberal attitudes.

The appointment of Melih Bulu, a businessman known for his ties to Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or A.K. Party — he was an unsuccessful election candidate for the party several years ago — has been seen as one more step Mr. Erdogan has taken to extend his influence over every aspect of Turkish social and cultural life.

Mr. Erdogan has amassed sweeping powers since a failed coup in 2016. Under a state of emergency, he ordered a widespread crackdown against his opponents, including many who had no connection to the coup plot, such as journalists, politicians and human rights activists.

In the months before the coup, his target had been the world of academia. Thousands of academics were purged from their jobs for signing a petition calling for peace with Kurdish militants in early 2016. Then under a presidential decree later that year, Mr. Erdogan claimed the right to appoint university rectors.

Bogazici University had been spared the worst of the purges, but students and faculty members said they always knew a battle was looming. They were forced to accept a compromise candidate for rector four years ago, and several students who protested Turkey’s intervention in Syria were prosecuted.

Mr. Erdogan appointed Mr. Bulu on Jan. 1. Within days, hundreds of students turned out to protest, some clashing with the police, who closed off the university’s main entrance to the campus, and more tussling with plainclothes officers inside the campus.

At least 30 students were detained in police raids on their homes after the first protests and in supporting demonstrations in other cities. Several students have filed complaints about being subjected to strip searches. In response, the students turned to other forms of protest, creating art exhibitions, making cartoons, and composing and playing songs around the campus.

Tensions rose sharply after members of the government denounced artwork by L.G.B.T.Q. protesters and the police detained four students and confiscated pride flags.

The protesters called for trade unions and political parties to join mass protests on Monday and the police turned out in force, sealing off the main entrance to the campus and detaining dozens of students as they invaded the campus and ordered them home.

Bogazici students have insisted they will keep up a sustained protest until Mr. Bulu’s appointment is withdrawn or he resigns.

“We don’t want an appointed rector,” said Ardis Canturk, 23, a construction engineering student, who is among those attending the daily protests. “We want our own elected rector from our own university.”

He said the protesters did not object to Mr. Bulu himself but to the manner in which he took the post. Protesters compared his appointment to the cases of more than 100 elected mayors who have been removed from their posts and replaced with government appointees in recent years.

Mr. Bulu tried at first to engage with the students, talking to them on campus, and expressing his love of the heavy metal band, Metallica. But as the protests continued he has declined interviews and increased security measures around his office.

Academics have raised questions about Mr. Bulu’s qualifications on social media, accusing him of plagiarism in his articles and his academic dissertations. Mr. Bulu has denied plagiarism and explained in a television interview that he had just forgotten to place quotation marks in some places in his writings.

But professors and students are most concerned about what his appointment means for the future of the university and its famously freethinking campus. Students said that they feared that clubs and extracurricular activities would be shut down, and that the faculty would change.

“We have certain principles that were officially stated in 2012 by the University Senate, related to academic freedoms, academic and scientific autonomy, as well as democratic values of our university,” said Can Candan, who teaches documentary film studies at Bogazici and is among those protesting daily. “This appointment clearly violates these principles. So we decided we have to speak up and say we don’t accept this.”

Halil Ibrahim Yenigun, who was purged from his post at a Turkish university for signing the peace petition in 2016, and now teaches political science at San Jose State University in California, called the appointment a “hostile takeover” of one of the last universities that has retained any academic autonomy.

“This was a long expected onslaught against academia as Erdogan was taking over all the stream of social life one by one,” he said.

The aim was twofold, he said. Mr. Erdogan was set on raising a generation of Turks to turn back a century of secularism in a republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s first president. But his supporters also wanted the upward mobility that Bogazici University offers, he said; its graduates lead many of Turkey’s top companies and academic institutions.

Mr. Erdogan’s supporters explain the move in terms of righting decades of discrimination against religious conservatives who were long shut out of public education and government jobs. Women who wear head scarves were not allowed to enroll in public universities until Mr. Erdogan reversed that ruling a decade ago.

A pro-government columnist, Hilal Kaplan, a Bogazici graduate who wears a hijab, compared religious conservatives’ struggle to that of Malcolm X and Black Americans and warned in an opinion piece that the “privileged” secularists who ruled the country for decades would fight back.

“They will oppose you with a self-fulfilling arrogance,” she warned the new rector in a Twitter post, “and I expect you to go on your path without caring about them. Bogazici does not only belong to the elitists, but to the nation.”

Many Bogazici alumni have denounced that characterization, pointing out that the university is a public institution and open to students with the highest scores on countrywide entrance exams.

Murat Sevinç, a professor of constitutional law who has lectured at Bogazici, wrote in a newspaper column how his illiterate mother and working-class father had pinched and saved to give him and his sisters an education.

“The son of parents who never saw school became a professor,” he wrote. “Elitist, this and that, come off it, leave that rubbish aside. It is work, work, work.”

Deniz Karakullukcu, a philosophy student who is also a founding member of DEVA, a new political party, dismissed Ms. Kaplan’s view as government propaganda.

“This is not the situation at all,” he said. “There are students from every province, from very different cultures, world views and religious beliefs, but when they come to Bogazici they tend to take a more liberal view.”

Zeynep Bayrak, a political science student in her final year who wears a hijab, said she had joined the protests because the appointment of the rector was undemocratic. She said she had received abuse on social media but also received many messages of support.

“I am religious; I am a Muslim; I believe we can all coexist,” she said. “We won’t stop.”



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Sports

University of Michigan Athletics Enters Department-Wide Activity Pause

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University of Michigan Athletics Enters Department-Wide Activity Pause

1/23/2021 10:23:00 PM

// Kurt Svoboda

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Under a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) decision made Saturday (Jan. 23), the University of Michigan Athletic Department will immediately pause athletic activities in all sports, including games, team and individual training sessions, until further notice and up to 14 days.

While U-M has worked diligently on testing and reporting within state and Big Ten Conference guidelines, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is mandating a more aggressive strategy for this B.1.1.7 variant, which exceeds current program efforts designed around the standard form of the virus.

The mandate follows positive test results for the SAR-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant virus infections from several individuals linked to the U-M Athletic Department through its diligent testing regiment. The B.1.1.7 variant is thought to be approximately 50 percent more transmissible than the standard form of the virus, leading to faster spread of the virus, potentially increased numbers of cases, and additional hospitalizations and deaths. Therefore, a pause of all athletic activities and a closure of all U-M athletic facilities are being taken to strengthen the public health intervention. Team members (student-athletes, coaches, and team staff) must immediately isolate/quarantine effective Jan. 23 until further notice and up to 14 days (Feb. 7).

“Canceling competitions is never something we want to do, but with so many unknowns about this variant of COVID-19, we must do everything we can to minimize the spread among student-athletes, coaches, staff, and to the student-athletes at other schools,” said Warde Manuel, the Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics.

University public health officials are working closely with the Washtenaw County Health Department and Michigan Department of Human Health Services on additional mitigation strategies to address the COVID-19 B.1.1.7 variant in the university community. The university will be carefully considering additional mitigation measures. There are many unknowns that remain under investigation by U-M, local and state public health officials.

No determination has been made on how the pause may impact scheduled games beyond Feb. 7.

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Health

Orange County readies second mass vaccination site at Soka University, tweaks appointment system – Orange County Register

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Orange County staff and volunteers are gearing up for the opening of a mass vaccination center at Soka University in Aliso Viejo on Saturday.

It joins the first center the county opened last week at Disneyland that has been handling about 3,000 appointments a day.

“Bring your umbrellas, plan for rain, if you’re in a walker, you have to take those things into account,” county spokeswoman Molly Nichelson said. Staff and volunteers will be on hand to help visitors from the campus parking structure off Wood Canyon Drive to a gym nearby, where vaccines will take place.

The county has enough vaccines and staff on hand for a confident launch of the new Soka Super POD (point-of-distribution) this weekend, said spokeswoman Molly Nichelson. Officials have said they would not open new locations until volunteers and doses were available to make it worth it; five sites are ultimately expected.

But public health officials are tempering expectations and asking for patience after the Othena appointment system got off to a rocky start among its target users: seniors age 65 and older.

The Health Care Agency said this week the appointment process had been “simplified” to stop users from needing to constantly refresh Othena on their computers and phones in hopes of landing a slot.

For users who have completed registration, Othena will email eligible groups around 10 a.m. each day, alerting them an appointment is available to them.

Dr. Clayton Chau, Health Care Agency director and county health officer, said staff members are considering a person’s coronavirus risk while assigning appointments. Staff also will send patients to whichever super site is closest, he said.

But if users don’t respond through Othena within a few hours, they’ll be placed back in the virtual queue, Nichelson said.

“They really have to pay attention to those emails that come through,” she said.

The Health Care Agency has set up a hotline at 714-834-2000 to field questions about Othena, vaccine appointments and other related issues during weekday business hours.

At this point, people who qualify for a vaccine and want an appointment can’t call to set one up, but can call for help in registering on Othena.

“We view that this’ll be able to make a us more nimble,” she said.

Chau advised seniors having trouble with Othena to ask their doctor or staff at a local senior center for help.

And super sites aren’t the only option, Chau said. The Health Care Agency also is ramping up smaller-scale “mobile” vaccination clinics, which have parachuted in for a day at a couple of seniors centers with more in the works.

Meanwhile, the county is still striking a balance of marshaling vaccines, staff and volunteers to get doses into the arms of the county’s most exposed and vulnerable to COVID-19 efficiently and fairly.

During a virtual town hall Thursday with Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, Chau said Orange County still doesn’t have enough vaccines and repeated the need for letting older seniors get their shots first, particularly those with chronic health conditions that make the coronavirus more dangerous to them.

“We are asking the community to be patient, let us give the vaccine to those 75 and older and those 65 and older with chronic problems,” he said. “Let us protect them first, because they are the ones that if they get infected, they end up in hospitals more than others.”

On Thursday, Orange County gave vaccine administrators the go-ahead to resume using Moderna vaccine lot 41L20A, which was put on hold by the state Department of Public Health after a handful of allergic reactions in San Diego last week. About 5,000 people in Orange County received shots from that batch, but there were no known adverse effects, the Heath Care Agency said earlier this week.

After an investigation, state health officials said late Wednesday there was “no scientific basis to continue the pause.”

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Science

Scientists Think These Ridiculous Bones May Belong to New Largest-Ever Dinosaur

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Scientists have unearthed massive, 98-million-year-old fossils in southwest Argentina they say may have belonged to the largest dinosaur ever discovered.

Human-sized pieces of fossilized bone belonging to the giant sauropod appear to be 10-20 percent larger than those attributed to Patagotitan mayorum, the biggest dinosaur ever identified, according to a statement Wednesday from the National University of La Matanza’s CTYS scientific agency.

 

Sauropods were enormous long-necked, long-tailed, plant-eating dinosaurs – the largest terrestrial creatures to ever have lived.

Among them, Patagotitan mayorum, also from Argentina, weighed in at about 70 tonnes and was 40 meters (131 feet) long, or about the length of four school buses.

(Jose Luis Carballido/CTyS-UNLaM/AFP)

Alejandro Otero of Argentina’s Museo de La Plata is working on piecing together a likeness of the new dinosaur from two-dozen vertebrae and bits of pelvic bone uncovered so far.

He has published a paper on the unidentified dinosaur for the scientific journal Cretaceous Research, according to the university statement.

The quest for more body parts, buried deep in rock, continues. For scientists, the holy grail will be the large femur or humerus bones, which are helpful in estimating a long-extinct creature’s body mass.

The massive fossils were discovered in 2012 in the Neuquen River Valley, but excavation work only began in 2015, according to palaeontologist Jose Luis Carballido of the Museo Egidio Feruglio.

(Jose Luis Carballido/CTyS-UNLaM/AFP)

“We have more than half the tail, a lot of hip bones,” said Carballido, who also worked on the classification of Patagotitan a few years ago.

“It’s obviously still inside the rock, so we have a few more years of digging ahead of us.”

 

The massive skeleton was found in a layer of rock dated to some 98 million years ago during the Upper Cretaceous period, added geologist Alberto Garrido, director of the Museum of Natural Sciences of Zapala.

“We suspect that the specimen may be complete or almost complete,” he said.

“Everything depends on what happens with the excavations. But regardless of whether it is bigger (than Patagotitan) or not, the discovery of an intact dinosaur of such dimensions is a novelty.” 

© Agence France-Presse

 

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