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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY—NEW BRUNSWICK
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2016
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Professor reflects on contributions to medicine, agriculture fields DAN COREY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
More than 40 years after cracking the genetic code, Rutgers microbiologist Joachim Messing does not regret his decision to help save lives and not cash in. Messing, director of the Rutgers Waksman Institute of Microbiology, has entered his 31st year at the University after setting the foundation for creating synthetic human proteins,
such as insulin, along with reducing world hunger with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). A German immigrant, Messing arrived at Rutgers in 1985 when former University President Edward J. Bloustein recruited him to further develop the University’s life science programs. The year 1985 was good for those studying life science at Rutgers, because both the University and the state of New Jersey provided support through capital improvements
Joachim Messing, director of the Rutgers Waksman Institute of Microbiology, revolutionized research with his work on genetically modified organisms. MARIELLE SUMERGIDO / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
and active recruitment efforts, Messing said. “America was very much supportive of young people — young scientists — whereas the German system was very hierarchical,” he said. “It was good to be on the top, but (there) was a complicated path to get there.” Most notably, Messing founded the University’s Department of Genetics and the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. But accomplishing these feats was not an easy process. Messing’s love of experimentation has its roots in a children’s chemistry set that allowed him to measure the pH levels of solutions, among other elementary practices, he said. “I like to experiment,” he said. “(But) my father was a mason, and he was really disappointed that I wanted to go into the sciences. He thought that I should at least be an architect — that would have been closer, or an engineer.” Before immigrating to the U.S., Messing was a pharmacy student and doctoral candidate in biochemistr y. But his success truly has its roots in his childhood struggling with food insecurity in postwar Germany. “My mother told (my son) that she couldn’t nurse me beyond the first month, because there was nothing to eat,” he said. “People can’t imagine SEE CONTRIBUTIONS ON PAGE 4
RUSA researches new proposal for smokeless campus
Student assembly adopts medical amnesty report NIKHILESH DE NEWS EDITOR
Students should not be afraid of calling for medical assistance if their friends are in distress from alcohol poisoning or drug overdoses, said Matt Panconi, president of the Rutgers University Student Assembly. On Thursday night, the assembly adopted a medical amnesty investigative report written by several members of the body. The report advocates for Rutgers administrators to change their rules on how underage students are punished when they call the
police or other authorities when drinking or otherwise consuming drugs at the University. “Medical amnesty is a law, it prevents people from getting in trouble if there’s underage drinking going on and if something goes wrong and they call the police,” said Panconi, a Rutgers Business School senior. “They’re protected from trouble with the law and I think it’s important to have it at Rutgers.” The University’s guidelines do not explicitly state that students will be punished if they are caught drinking SEE REPORT ON PAGE 4
First-year students protest more than previous years BUSHRA HASAN STAFF WRITER
NOA HALFF ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Students can be seen smoking cigarettes throughout Rutgers campuses, but some Rutgers University Student Assembly members are attempting to change this. Zachary Borden, a Rutgers— Camden College of Arts and Sciences graduate school senator and a co-chair for the Student Affairs Committee at the Rutgers University Student Assembly, has been working to create a smoke-free campus at Rutgers. His goal is to accomplish the charge given to him by the executive committee, to “examine the desirability, feasibility, impact and means of evolving into a smoke-free Rutgers,” he said. “We have looked at the current Rutgers smoking policy and issues with enforcement, the desire of the student body for a
Viktor Krapivin, left, and Anish Patel, right, worked together on an investigative report analyzing the potential effects of a medical amnesty policy at Rutgers. EDWIN GANO / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Zachary Borden, a Camden College of Arts and Sciences graduate student, has spent the past year studying the feasibility of a smokefree campus. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DIMITRI RODRIGUEZ / PHOTO EDITOR smoke-free campus, foreseeable problems with a smoke-free policy and possible alternatives to being completely smoke-free,” Borden said. Because Borden is an ex-smoker, he said he sees both sides of the issue. He aims to give both non-smokers and smokers the proper consideration, but his goal is to recommend a solution that benefits the Rutgers community the most.
Borden has been conducting research regarding the health concern of vaping and other tobacco substitutes, which are not as well-documented as the effects of smoking. It has been “enlightening” to look into the recent data from foundational studies, he said. An issue Borden has encountered is the polarization on the SEE CAMPUS ON PAGE 4
First-year college students are more likely to partake in political demonstrations, according to the Cooperative Institutional Research Program. A study, conducted by the research program, assessed the political activism of the Class of 2019. When more than 140,000 full-time first-year students were asked if they would demonstrate or protest, 8.5 percent said they had a “very good chance” of doing so, a 2.9 percent growth from the Class of 2018, according to USA Today. The increased enthusiasm for political movements is unusually higher than previous years, said Ellen Stolzenberg, assistant director of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program. For those questioning the validity of the study, Stolzenberg said the data was collected “between March and October 2015,” long before students have officially started their college semester.
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“(Our) data (was) collected before a lot of some of the larger-scale protests that we read about, but the students are exposed,” she said. Members of the student body at the Douglass Residential College have taken an active role in activism for equality and social justice, said Jacquelyn Litt, dean of Douglass Residential College. “The national context of campus activism and the awareness around inclusion and exclusion in campus, local and national contexts have likely created the conditions for the interest,” she said. According to the research program, 81 percent, 64 percent and 56 percent of first-year students support same-sex marriage, the legal status of abortion and the legalization of marijuana, respectively. Litt, a professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, speaks for Douglass Residential College, but said this phenomenon SEE YEARS ON PAGE 4