Issue 136 ·Wednesday, February 27, 2002
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UEA'S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
No room· for third years UEA STUDENTS currently studying abroad are outraged that they will not be allocated a room on campus for their return- due to the opening of the new Medical school and increased admissions in other departments. Accommodation will be stretched to breaking point next year and due to the University wanting honour their pledge to house all first years, returning students will not get the chance to live on campus, writes Liz Hutchinson . Returning LLT student Michelle Clarke, who is studying near Bordeaux, is angry that the situation has come to this. "After campaigning last year and discussing this subject thoroughly within what was then known as Students Forum, I am appalled that the situation has not improved one tiny bit. "I am not pointing the blame at the staff in the Accommodation Office because, quite frankly, I think they are as much in the dark as we are," said Michelle. And she thinks that it will be hard to find a house from where she is curren tl y studying. "Why are returning year abroad students expected to son their living accommodation out from hundreds of miles away, a quite impossible task." And Michelle and other students in her po ition are angry that international students should be given a room · even thought they are in Norwich to find a house. " International students have exactly the same opportunities to meet new people and are physically able to organise off campus housing, as first year home students. " Us year abroad students are returning to our most important year, and should not be distracted from their academic work by the added stress of searching for accommodation when we return in September," added Michelle. But Director of Accommodation services Jenny Grant claimed that returning students have never been guaranteed accommodation when they return to UEA. "S tudents who study abroad do so in the
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Faculty mourn death of Professor lan Langford REBECCA LAWRENCE Chief News Reporter
A UEA lecturer has been found dead at his home in Norwich. The news of the tragic death of lan Langford of ENV, has shocked staff and students at the University who remember him as a friendly colleague. A post mortem has revealed that he died of natural causes. He was found half-naked in his home in Marlborough Road, Norwich on Tuesday, February 12 - but the death is not being treated as suspicious. Norfolk Police spokeswoman Nina Terry said there will not be an inquest and the police have finished with the case. "There will not be an inquest into his death . The blood found in the house is believed to have resulted from a fall. From a police perspective, the case is now finished with ." But a spokesperson for the Norw1ch Police Coroner Office said the case was initially treated as suspicious . " it is now confirmed that lan Langford died from natural courses. it is not possible to divulge the nature of the disease as th is is confidential medical information. But 1! is true that Langford was a heavy drinker. .. Staff at the One Stop Shop co nve-
nience shop near where the lecturer lived said he was a polite regular customer, although his behav1our had deteriorated in recent weeks. "He would usually come in on a daily basis and buy a big bottle of vodka," said a worker. But on the Sunday before his death, staff at the convenience store were shocked when Or Langford visited the store, dressed in just a jumper and a pair of trainers, leading to him being questioned by police . UEA's Or Jan Langford , 40, worked for the University's Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment {CSERGE) but was most recently made a senior researcher in environmental risk . He specialised in statistical methods applied to environmental issues and alongside Professor Harvey Goldstein {of the Institute of Education in London) was developing analytical tools for spatial analysis. Or Langford, who catne to UEA in 1993, achieved a first-class degree in Environmental Science, followed by a PhD in childhood leukaemia and infection . He was also a chartered statistician and became a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Soc1ety. Professor Kerry Turner, Director of CSERGE released a statement, paying tribute to his hard work. "We are all very shocked by this appalling news. Jan was without a doubt one of Europe's Jead1ng experts on envi-
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ronmental risk , specialising in the links between human health and environmental risk ." " He will be greatly missed at UEA both as a brilliant academic and as a friendly and approachable colleague.
He was one of the most brilliant colleagues I have ever had, both as an individual researcher and a team player. Our thoughts are very much w1th his family," added Professor Turner, who spoke at Langford's funeral.
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Above: Deceased ENV professor, lan Langford.
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THE EVENT: ANDREW WK, SHANE LYNCH AND SIMON SCHAMA
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