The_Rambler_1975-11-25b

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VOLUME 46
NUMBER 6
NOV. 25,1975
POISONING f i A i t
CAMPUS LIGHTING:
New Bright Spot?
On October 31, a meeting
was held between ad-ministration
officials and
student representatives to
discuss the lack of adequate
lighting on campus. The
meeting came as a result of a
survey published in "Esca-late,"
the Evening College
newspaper, which found 303
campus lights not func-tioning.
Present in the Ad-ministration
Building's
Conference Room were Dr.
Laffin, Dr. Bedell, Dr. Dorin,
Matt Hickling, Mark
Natelson, Mr. Day, Mr.
Schnell, Mr. F'ischner, Mr.
Dellaquila, and Tony
Assande.
Matt Hickling, Chairman of
the S.G.A. Student Affairs
Board, presented the survey
and another, corroborating
survey taken in cooperation
with Campus Security.
Stating that most of the
problem was centered in the
dormitory area, Mr. Hickling
went on to say that the
majority of the 303 non-functioning
lights were
victims of maintenance
problems, ranging from
burnt -out bulbs to faulty
wiring. Citing several in-cidents
connected to the poor
lighting, Mr. Hickling pointed
out that many students were
afraid of passing through
campus after dark. »
M r . D e l l a q u i l a,
representing the College,
agreed that maintenance
problems had contributed to
the poor lighting. In his
presentation, he cited the
following maintenance
problems and the remedial
actions being undertaken: 1)
a broken transformer, now on
order; 2) broken light sensors
on the automatic lights, now
on order; 3) lack of equip-ment
to install light sensors, a
cherrypicker is being
borrowed from Stony Brook;
4) the rotting of underground
wiring, a major expense
under consideration; 5)
automatic timers not reset
for earlier evening hours, a
project completed prior to the
meeting. Mr. Dellaquila
pointed out that these were all
short term solutions.
Dr. Laffin explained that
the only long term solution,
new lifting facilities, were
tied into the new building
project, now under
moratorium by the state.
When asked if an attempt was
being made to separate the
lighting contract from the
building project. Dr. Laffin
replied that no action would
be taken until the state had
decided on the entire project.
Stating that, "The most
frustrating part of the
development of this campus
in recent years has been the
lighting," Dr. Laffin related
the battle between the ad-ministration,
seeking
practical lighting, and the
a r c h i t e c t s , favoring
•xesthetically beautifully
Ijhting. He suggested that
students might carry
flashlights if they were sin-cerely
concerned about
crossing campus at night.
This suggestion was sup-ported
by Mr. Schnell,
Director of Campus Security,
who added students should
walk together in groups.
Regretting that nothing
more concrete could be ac-complished
at this time, the
meeting was closed with the
promise that any new
developments would be
reported to all parties in-volved.
by Ivy Ploth
Starting October 27,
students at the State
University of New York at
Farmingdale were com-plaining
to the infirmary of
having stomach cramps,
nausea, vomitting, and
diarrhea. By October 31, the
infirmary was overwhelmed
with complaints of the same
illness.
Most of the problem arose
immediately following a
Halloween buffet sponsored
by the school. Over 150
students had stormed the
infirmary doors by the end of
that week.
Happy
Thanksgiving
L. R. DiLiello, the
microbiology professor of the
Farmingdale faculty who is
aiding the county health team
said, "It could te an in-testinal
visus, or food
poisoning." County Police
Health inspector was quoted
as saying, "There is strong
^ evidence that it was foodstuff.
T o A l l ^ haven't identified
^ anything yet." On November
^ 12, Dr. Charles Laffin,
President of Farmingdale,
made the following
statement, "At this point
nothing has been found to
indicate it was either the
menus, of the food, or
carelessness of preparation
or service." He said that he
would not take punitive action
against student demon-strators
"if they maintain
order... We must take
precaution to protect
property and personal
safety."
On November 6, 1975, the
students of Farmingdale held
a demonstration at the circle
in the center of campus.
Angry shouts of - over 400
students were heard
throughout the grounds.
Yelling chants such as, "We
paid our bucks, but this food
sucks," the crowd stormed
Clinton Dining Hall. Student
Government representative
Stavros Dalambakis, "The
Greek," suggested the group
claim their dinners, but leave
them uneaten on the tables
upstairs. Some ate, but most
students followed Greek's
suggestion. Personally, I
ordered a large amount of
food, and did not choose to eat
it. When about to dispose of it,
a fellow demonstrator came
to my table saying, "Who
wants some of their delicious
macaroni salad?" He then
said, "You look like you want
some," and dumped it on my
plate and tray. My feelings
about the incident were
mixed.
Some of the demonstrators
came prepared with signs
with slogans such as
"Diarrhea is no picnic,"
"LAFFIN wouldn't be
LAUGHIN' if he had to eat
this." Moments later, six
students burned their meal
tickets in the cafeteria lobby.
Dalambakis closed the
meeting saying he planned to
go out for pizza later in the
evening.
In a meeting held on
November 17, the outcome
was that there is still no
definite answer as to the
cause of the epidemic.
Specimens of the food and
stool of the afflicted students
has been sent to Albany, but
the results have not been
finalized. We urge the in-vestigation
committee to
finalize their evaluation and
publish it as soon as possible.