Daily Bruin Alumni News

News Update
Campus Update: Patient Privacy Compromised at Med Center
April 7-11, 2008

61 Patients’ Privacy Violated at UCLA Medical Center
After the Los Angeles Times reported that 61 patients’ medical records at the UCLA medical center, including high profile celebrities such as Britney Spears, Farrah Fawcett, and California First Lady Maria Shriver, were accessed without permission, the medical center is now under close watch. The Times found the worker who accessed Fawcett’s electronic medical record also opened the records of 32 other patients. In the past month, 13 employees were fired and several others reprimanded for opening Spears’ medical records. The medical center conducted investigations and concluded a single worker was responsible for the latest breach in privacy. To prevent future breaches in privacy, the medical center will continue to improve their security systems and prevent unauthorized users from accessing information.

GSA holds election orientation
Tuesday night, the Graduate Students Association held a meeting for candidates who are running in the upcoming election for the 2008-2009 school year. During the meeting, rules and regulations of the election were discussed while many candidates were able to meet one another. Each candidate holds a different focus in their campaigns: some promise to knock down boundaries between traditional subjects, while others push for affordable education. Though the volumes of issues have not changed, the election code has. Candidates can now only receive unlimited unofficial endorsements as opposed to official endorsements.

Even though the number of applicants increased from five to eight in comparison to last year, participation in the race has generally been low, including the number of voters. However, participation is expected to increase with the creation of a slate called GSA Commitment. The GSA Commitment hopes to help bring together graduate students across disciplines to be more involved with the election.

BruinCasts garner mixed reception
Many traditional lectures are being replaced by podcasting in schools all across the country. At UCLA alone, this quarter provides 42 courses with podcasting, a significant rise from the five that were offered in spring of 2005. Though many find podcasting supplemental to their classroom experience, professors are concerned that students will be more tempted to skip class. Professors have found that when courses make podcasts available online, attendance could drop to 50 percent or below. Another concern is that students can’t receive the full effect of a lecture through a podcast and are encouraged to have even less contact with their professors. However, most students would argue that podcasts are essential when they need to refer to a detailed and difficult-to-understand lecture. Also, it gives sick students and even an overly busy student the ability to access the material that they missed from their professors’ own mouths.

Oh, the prospects
That time of the draft has come near and everyone at UCLA is wondering whether Kevin Love, Darren Collison, and Russell Westbrook will leave for the NBA draft. There has been a lot of speculation that Love and Collison have already decided to enter the draft and even hire agents. However, the two starters have denied such reports, stating they have yet to discuss their plans with their families. Westbrook’s position is no different while he declines to speak of his plans for next year. Even though most people believe all three will enter the draft, there is still a chance that all three starters will stay to help lead UCLA to the finals next year. So until April 27 (the deadline to declare early entry in the NBA draft), the Bruins will still have an indefinite roster.

Services help inexpert writers
Recently, many universities across the nation have seen an astonishing level of unprepared incoming freshmen when it comes to writing proficiency. To solve this, UCLA has taken steps to put all students through Writing I and Writing II requirements to ensure success in academics and later careers for all students. Professors believe students should be able to come up with their own ideas and express them clearly at the college level.

Men’s track ready to excel in invitational
This past weekend, the No. 3 ranked UCLA men’s track team participated in the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational at home on the Bruins’ track as a first step towards the NCAA’s. The Bruins have 11 athletes ranked in the top 10 in the nation in their specific events. Athletes to look out for are Kevin Craddock, Boldizsar Kocsor and Laef Barnes.

AAP Suffers Budget Cuts
The Academic Advancement Program is being forced to make a five percent to 10 percent cut in funding due to state-wide budget cuts. Offering tutoring for nearly 450 students, the AAP program will have to reduce the number of tutors it employs, leaving students of English and humanities, social science, mathematics, and science with a largely reduced resource for on-campus tutoring and less one-on-one time with tutors. Though the size of tutoring sessions will be increased, scholarships, smaller developing programs, and the salaries of the AAP program's employees will not be affected.

Women's Water polo Team Aims for a Perfect Season
UCLA women's water polo is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation (24-0, 10-0) with only three games remaining in the season before they head into the conference tournament. Ending the season with no losses has only occurred twice in the history of women's water polo. With the standards high (as the Bruins have won the past three NCAA titles), the Bruins look forward to the weekend's tournament and their future games in the conference, though by no means will they claim that they have the title "in the bag." A modest and young team, the Bruins know that if they play intensely and at put forth their best efforts, it is all they can ask for.

Faculty members recognized
So far this year (2008), two professors have won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, and six have received Guggenheim fellowships (grants that give researchers more leeway in their projects). Marking the culmination of a project that he has worked on for the past 20 years, for Professor Saul Friedlander, winning the 2008 Pulitzer Prize was surprising, especially because his novel speaks of the holocaust, a topic usually not featured by a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Fellow Pulitzer Prize winning professor, Daniel Howe, said he hopes winning the prize will help publicize his book, "What Hath God Wraught: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848." Unique of its kind, his history book (one in a series) covers history from both the top down and the bottom up. These two professors represent only two of the prize-winning professors here at UCLA which include: Professor Katherine Stone, Professor Glen MacDonald, Assistant Professor Marc Suchard, Professor Susanna Hecht, Professor Roger Waldinger, and Professor Chandrashekhar Khare.

Compiled by Jenna Kieselbach, Carolina Chau, Megan Smith, Tiffany Hsia and Aleen Bedrosian.

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