Campus Briefs

Janet Reno suffered fainting spellA simple fainting spell was the cause of former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno’s Jan. 30 collapse at Strong Auditorium. About 40 minutes into her speech, she said, “Excuse me, I need to sit down,” and then collapsed to the floor. She was rushed to Strong Memorial Hospital soon after.”Reno suffered a simple fainting spell, which we believe was a result of a busy travel day, unusually warm conditions in the University of Rochester auditorium where she was speaking, and the fact that she had not eaten much during the day,” said John Franklin Richeson of Strong Hospital. “Ms. Reno was unconscious less than a minute,” he said. “She suffered no injury as a result of the fainting spell. The medical team at Strong performed EKGs, a CAT scan, blood chemistry and overnight monitoring, all of which were normal.””Other than her Parkinson’s, we found Ms. Reno to be in excellent health. What happened should have no impact on her everyday functioning, including campaigning,” Richeson said.Reno was discharged at 9:40 a.m. on Jan. 31. Mary Frances Berry talk to be rescheduledA talk by Dr. Mary Frances Berry on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. was originally scheduled for Feb. 1, but was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.Berry’s plane could not land because of heavy wind in the Rochester area that day. Officials at Rochester International Airport deemed the conditions dangerous and did not allow the plane to land.Berry is the current chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and was scheduled to deliver a speech entitled “Empowering the Dream: Reaffirming the American Ideals of Freedom, Justice and Opportunity for All.”According to Assistant Dean and Director of the Office of Minority Student Affairs Norman Burnett, “efforts are under way to reschedule the event as soon as possible.”Students’ Association Web site among best in nationThe Web site of the UR Students’ Association, called The Hive, was named among the best student Web sites in the nation by Student Leader Magazine.A Web site competition sponsored by Macromedia placed The Hive in the top three student Web sites in the student government category.Web sites were judged by a panel of judges who based their decisions on factors including content, design, interactivity with visitors, quality of links and how it helps students.Designers of the Web site said they believe the recognition is overdue and hope it will help to increase awareness of the site. “This new award will hopefully let the university community know that the site has received national recognition, which should increase traffic,” lead designer Daryl DuLong said. The Web site will celebrate its second anniversary in March and has grown from just 100 hits in its first month to nearly 200,000 hits in January.The final results of the contest will be published in the next issue of the magazine.Reporting by Karen Taylor and Chadwick Schnee.