Penn State police are on full alert this month--not for muggers, or rapists, but for tree thieves.
In an era marked by a dramatic rise in the number of plastic artificial evergreens, Penn State students have apparently decided to side with tradition. Last Christmas, the school reported more than five incidents of tree theft from university grounds. The loss totalled about $6000, officials said.
"Several [students] were apprehended," University Police Services Supervisor Robert McNichol told The Daily Collegian. "They steal the small trees which are in between the larger trees, or cut off the tops of trees because they are geometrically perfect."
To combat what they fear will be a rash of Yuletide thefts, Penn State officials have established a rigorous schedule of fines. "The amount of the fine will be based on the type of tree that is stolen," McNichol said. Fines for stealing are $3 per foot for timber trees, $10 for tree farm and nursery trees, and $36 for the prime landscape and "research" trees.
UPenn Doctor Sold Cadavers
Professors at Harvard and elsewhere have long been criticized for moonlighting in other jobs such as consulting that detract from their campus responsibilities.
But a former physician at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania may have outdone most of his colleagues. Martin Spector was fined $35,200 and sentenced to 1600 hours of community service for selling stolen body parts.
The 72 year-old ear, nose, and throat specialist was convicted of violating the Public Health Code which prohibits the transport of body parts across state lines.
Spector allegedly tried to sell a human head, ears. and arms which he had purchased from morgue workers, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. Spector had been in business for 15 years before he was discovered by investigators. A suit was filed against Sepctor after a man discovered that his mother's body parts had been sold.
"People donate their bodies to science for specific purposes and feel they are making an informed decision," Common Pleas Court Judge Mark Bernstein said at Spector's sentencing. "Dr. Spector has trampled on the rights of people who were doing a humane service for the good of science."
Spector has denied that the cadaver parts were sold for profit. He said his actions had been unfairly portrayed as a disservice to the medical profession.
BU Relaxes Parietals--Slightly
Following a storm of protest, Boston University President John Silber has agreed to loosen up on his parietal plan that includes a ban on all overnight guests of the opposite sex from the school's dormitories.
The controversial Silber agreed to allow five overnight visits by members of the same sex during the course of a semester. An outright ban would still be in force during the first two weeks of school and during exam periods.
Silber, who is widely credited with upgrading the image of Boston University, attempted to install the new rules to prevent the school from turning into a hotel. Students had complained that they were forced to house unwanted guests brought in by roommates.
Silber said that he would not give into demands that he end the ban entirely "because of parents, who are in a proportion of about 30 to 1 opposed to overnight visitors of the opposite sex."
But Silber has acknowledged that the plan, which generated national publicity, may be largely unenforceable. For their part, students say that the ban may cause a student exodus off campus into already crowded local housing. About 8500 students currently live in dormitories at BU.
Silber's decision to relax the ban came after he appointed a task force to study the plan. The president's revised decision incorporates some of their proposals, but is still more stringent than the task force recommended late last month.