Posted on Apr 24, 1998

Construction equipment will be removed from the area between the
Schaffer Library addition and Alumni Gymnasium, and landscaping is to begin within a
month, according to William Shafer, capital projects manager.

Two tennis courts that were sacrificed during construction will be
repaired shortly, he said.

As students and staff make full use of the new addition, workers are
tending to some final “punch list” items such as painting and re-lighting,
Shafer said. Among some of the minor adjustments will be the addition of desk lamps in
areas that have low lighting, and some shades on the east windows.

“I believe the general response to the building has been
positive,” Shafer said.

Selective demolition is ongoing in the 1961 building, he added.
Landscape work in Library Plaza is scheduled for this summer.

Meanwhile, contractors are predicting substantial completion of the F.W.
Olin Center by mid-July, he said. There has been substantial progress on the outside
masonry as work continues to dry the interior after several rains. “We will have
classes in Olin this fall,” Shafer said. “The building will be
outstanding.”

Posted on Apr 24, 1998

Friday, April 24, through Monday, April 27, 8 and 10 p.m., Reamer
Campus Center Auditorium. Film, Amistad, presented by film committee.

Saturday, April 25, 8 p.m., Memorial Chapel. Singer-songwriter
Catie Curtis performs in a free public concert sponsored by Union's Bisexual, Gay and
Lesbian Advocates and Defenders.

Saturday, April 25, 9:50 p.m. (and Sunday, April 26, at 12:50 a.m.) Broadcast
on C-SPAN 2 (Channel 42 or 52) about Serge and Beate Klarsfeld.

Sunday, April 26, 3 p.m., Memorial Chapel. The Schenectady
Museum-Union College chamber series presents the Emerson String Quartet performing a
program of Beethoven and Shostakovich.

Sunday, April 26, 7 p.m., Memorial Chapel. The Burnt Hills
Oratorio performs In the Shadow of the Rainbow, a requiem by Tim Luby commissioned
by Prof. Rudy Nydegger in memory of his father, Vernon. For details call 399-7502.

Tuesday, April 28, 7:30 p.m., Nott Memorial. Computer scientist
and composer Jaron Lanier will speak on “The Future of Humanism in a Technological
Age.”

Wednesday, April 29, 12:20 p.m., Reamer Campus Center Auditorium. Faculty
meeting.

Friday, May 1, noon to 6 p.m., Reamer Campus Center. Celebration
of Israel's 50th anniversary sponsored by Hillel.

Ongoing at various sites and times: “Dialogues on
Race.” (See story this issue.)

Posted on Apr 24, 1998

The recent convocation with Nazi-hunters and authors Serge and Beate
Klarsfeld has been scheduled for broadcast on local and national television.

WMHT – Channel 17 was to have aired an hour-long program on Thursday,
April 23, at 8 p.m. It will be repeated May 6 at 8 p.m. on Channel 45, and May
16 at 4 p.m. on Channel 17.

C-SPAN2, which taped the event for national broadcast, is to air it on
their About Books program on Saturday, April 25, from 9:50 to 11 p.m.; and
again on Sunday, April 26, from 12:50 to 2 a.m.

Locally, C-SPAN2 airs on Channel 42 (TCI) and Channel 52 (Time Warner
Cable).

The Klarsfelds visit on March 15 opened the Lessons for Humanity
series, which has drawn thousands to the campus over the last month.

Posted on Apr 24, 1998

There are some 6,000 traditional healers in the East African nation of
Kenya, practitioners whose art has been passed down from generation-to-generation, mostly
by word of mouth.

Most Kenyans rely on these herbalists, who treat a range of ailments at
a fraction of the cost of a trip to a hospital.

But the herbalists and the ancient medicine they practice are threatened
by massive cutdowns of the vegetation they use to derive their medicines. And there has
been little cooperation between the loosely affiliated practitioners, the government and
modern medicine to ensure that their resources and livelihoods are protected.

Enter Laurel Salzman, a senior biology major and Africana Studies minor
who in 1996 traveled to Kenya on a Union Term Abroad to study the problems faced by the
herbalists and to bring their plight to the attention of others.

Salzman and 50 other Union students are presenting this week at the
National Conference on Undergraduate Research at Salisbury State University in Maryland.
Her advisor is Prof. A.T. Miller of Africana Studies.

Salzman developed a questionnaire, translated it into Swahili (a
language she has studied at Union), and traveled up to two hours from her base in Nairobi
to meet with healers. From interviewing about 30 healers in urban and rural areas, she
developed a comprehensive report about their problems to be presented to the government
and various environmental organizations.

“By far, their biggest problem is a loss of resources from massive
cutdowns,” Salzman said. “And because there is very little cooperation with the
government, they aren't notified of pending cutdowns so that they can go in ahead of
time and harvest plants for their medicines.”

Salzman, of East Greenwich, R.I., plans to stay at Union another year to
pursue her master's degree in teaching, but she plans to perhaps apply to the Peace
Corp or travel in the next few years. “All of us are teachers,” she said.
“It's all about communication. I need to see more of the world. There are places
I need to go.”

Posted on Apr 17, 1998

April 1, 1998

1. Minutes of March 11th were approved.

2. Professor Baker provided further information on the Eight Year
Leadership in Medicine Joint Union-AMC Program. GMI has created a new course, HSS 221,
Health Policy, Economics and Marketing. The discussion on pre-professionalism continued
with regard to the absence of GenEd requirements.

The program was unanimously approved. It will be distributed to the
faculty for discussion and approval.

3. The AAC approved reduction of possible AP credits granted in biology
for a 4 or 5 on the AP biology test from two to one in order to accommodate the changes in
the core sequence in biology.

4. The meeting time during those weeks when General Faculty meetings are
held on Wednesday, will be on Fridays at the same time.

Next week Chris Leone will come to discuss granting course credit for
work on Concordiensis.