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November 2011
Volume 24
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Boise, Idaho
Top Stories
Sin City
Sonny Lacks charms with quips, smiles “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot
Broncos take the house down in Las Vegas, 48-21.
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Album Review
Appleseed Cast to play in Boise. See what’s on the new EP.
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Peds only
Rules to keep bikes out of the Quad aren’t always obeyed.
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Weather Today
5 things Sonny said (some more than once) 1: Make sure you know what doctors are doing with your cells at all times. 2: Getting the chance to speak about his mother is “lovely,” and “warm.”
Tasha Adams
3: He is excited the younger generation is learning about his mother’s cells.
Sonny Lacks is not a professional public speaker. He has no training and barely any experience. But none of that mattered to the people who packed into the Simplot Ballroom in the Student Union Building on Nov. 3 to listen to him speak. The turn-out was so overwhelming extra chairs had to be brought in to accommodate all the attendants and the lecture was late to start because they had to allow late arrivals to shuffle in. He was all smiles as he sat on stage and conversed with a moderator about his mother, the book written about her and how it felt to find out that her cells have lived on, decades after her death. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” written by Rebecca Skloot, is this year’s campus read. It investigates the origin of the HeLa cell, the first human cell to survive in culture. Henrietta was 31 years old when she passed away from complications of cervical cancer in 1951, but some of her cells had been removed during a biopsy and were cultured without her consent. The cells thrived and became one of the most important tools in medicine, but her family had no idea. The moderator started out by mentioning it was Sonny’s first time in Idaho and asked about his campus tour. “I got a very good campus tour by a young man that took me all around and showed me everything and told me about everything. I tell you one thing though, he’s a good guy. He didn’t keep his mouth shut not one time,” Sonny said. His comment made the audience laugh and set the tone for the rest of the lecture. And despite his lack of experience, Sonny enthralled the audience for the entire hour he spoke. Toward the end of the lecture and before audience questions, the moderator asked Sonny about the plans for a movie based on the book in which Terrence Howard is rumored to be playing Sonny. “Lemme play my own self!” Sonny said, jokingly, causing another round of applause from the audience. Sonny Lacks during his speech at Boise State Thursday Nov. 3.
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Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown and her family can’t afford health insurance. News Editor
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4: People get excited when they find out he is Henrietta’s son, including his doctors and a random girl who worked at McDonald’s. 5: The book was accurate and if there were any discrepancies, it was due to the failing memory of Skloot’s sources.
Campus Read
The Campus Read program is designed to encourage students and other members of the University community to engage in learning both in and out of the classroom. It is intended to create a common experience for the campus community to help raise awareness and tolerance of inter-generational and cultural likenesses and differences, promote academic discourse and critical thinking. It also seeks to provide an introduction to the expectations of higher education, integrate an academic and social experience into the campus community and create a sense of community by increasing student-to-student and student-to-faculty and staff interaction. Information from facebook. com/campusread.
Campus Contagion focuses on health privacy Partly Cloudy
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What’s Inside News Briefs
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Students wear stickers to spread information about privacy rights of patients Stephanie Casanova Assistant News Editor
Something contagious is spreading today. Students all over campus are spreading information about their privacy rights as healthcare patients. There will be people wearing stickers on their back asking “Would you still have my back if I had (blank)?” Campus Contagion is an event being co-hosted by New Student & Family Programs (NSFP) and University Health & Recreation (UHR). The event is in conjunction with this year’s campus read “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” by Rebecca Skloot. In the book, Henrietta Lacks’ cells are used for medical advancements without her consent. “A lot of people don’t understand what … all the laws mean,” Elise Alford, pro-
gram coordinator for NSFP, of take note of the social re- really going to be experienc- rience, the responses they got said. “A lot of Americans sponse they receive from ing kind of what is it like to throughout the day, the book don’t understand HIPAA others in classes or from for a day waive that medical and to ask any questions they (Health Insurance Probabil- their faculty members, from privacy, waive that right,” might have. ity and Accountability Act) people they see on campus,” Alford said. “So part of the goal is also Legislation.” Alford said. During the debrief period, empathy, walking in anNSFP and UHR are Students are able to take from 7 to 8:30 p.m., students other’s shoes for that day,” spreading information, much stickers with them, spread will listen in on an informa- Alford said. “How can we be like a disease or virus would the information and invite tion session about HIPAA advocates for others and how spread, by having students others to join the debrief ses- Legislation and their privacy could we show compassion wear a sticker on their back sion at 7 p.m. at the Student rights as health patients. when there can be stigmatito see what it would be like to Union Building Dining Stage. They will also break into zation surrounding medical have their personal medical “Hopefully students are groups to discuss their expe- conditions that people have.” information exposed. Their intent is to educate students about medical privacy, patient rights and health. Part one of the event is from 8 to 10 a.m. at the NSFP Office on the first floor of the Student Union Building (SUB). Students are to dropin for a few minutes to catch information and choose what condition they want on their sticker. “They’ll wear it throughout the day and while they’re in class and really just kind Student volunteers will wear stickers asking “Would you still have my back if I had...” arbiteronline.com