January 24, 2012

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THENORTHERNLIGHT

January 24, 2012

University of Alaska Anchorage

www.thenorthernlight.org

Mystery thief returns portrait Bed bugs of founder after several months sink their

By Alden Lee

Assistant Features Editor

For a short while, Beatrice McDonald disappeared. Someone must really appreciate McDonald’s likeness. It might be her decidedly 60’s-style haircut.

Or her groovy, black-framed, wing-tipped glasses. Or perhaps her prominent secretarial work in the 70’s and 80’s, and her rich history with UAA. Whatever the reason, someone lifted McDonald’s portrait off the wall of the Beatrice McDonald Hall and made away with it in mid-November. The 25x29 inch color picture, complete with a golden frame and small plaque, hung representative of a woman who had been with the university since its fledging adult night school days. The portrait heist is certainly one of a kind. Its disappearance left building management and campus police scrambling to locate its whereabouts, searching through the nooks and crannies of the BMH. Eventually a call for the portrait’s return was posted on the Green & Gold website, with a

no-questions-asked disclaimer. And just a few days ago, someone kindly felt inclined to return it. “This is really something new,” said Chris Mizelle, the maintenance and operations director of Facilities & Campus Services. “I’ve worked at UAA for 30 something years now and this is definitely a first.” Beatrice McDonald, who was an associate professor of office administration, was among the original faculty members of the community college when it first opened out of West High School in 1954 as the Anchorage Community College. The woman strove to expand the college’s associate arts program in office administration, and advocated heavily on the behalf of secretaries statewide. Her efforts made her an honorary

See BEATRICE Page4

“Hookup” site stays afloat amid allegations of copyright violation Website for relationships and listings stirs up UAA officials over logo design; website developer remains anonymous By Teresa Kennedy News Editor

UAAHookup – a combination of eBay, Match.com, and iSawYou – launched in late December from the hosting account of a man who only identified himself as “Vlad”. Designed as a variation of Craigslist, the site offers users the ability to post items and residences for sale, personal ads for relationships or friendship, or to post about that person you wanted to approach but were too scared to. All that is needed is a UAA email address. Vlad’s surf across the web has recently plunged into rocky waves. He received an anonymous email accusing him of copyright infringement for using a variation of UAA’s logo, and warning him that the site has been reported to UAA and he would be expelled if he did not take down the website. Copyright violation is what Vlad tried to avoid as he designed the site. “Obviously it looks similar but I used a different font, I didn’t use the slash mark,” Vlad stated. “I tried to keep it different enough.” He went at lengths to post several times on the site that UAA is “NOT affiliated in any way with The University of Alaska Anchorage” and takes full responsibility for the content. Despite his attempts for a fair use image, Vlad is facing doubt as to the legality of using the trademark.

“I question from a legal standpoint whether he can stand behind a copyright violation,” said Vice Provost of IT Services,

The charged statement holds no official merit however. Both UAA Advancement and IT Services have denied knowledge of the

teeth into North Hall By Teresa Kennedy News Editor

The number of bedbug cases in Anchorage has been dramatically night and replaced them with increasing over the past few years, couches from the common area,” according to Eagle Pest Control Schmidt explained carefully. owner Randy Beuter. “We went to the RA and they “That would be an wouldn’t do anything, so that’s understatement,” he said. The why we took matters into our problem extends to bedbugs and own hands and traded them out scabies. Scabies and bedbugs are ourselves,” he stated, defending two separate things, according to his actions. Beuter, but similar in the result. The key to first detecting the “Scabies are a mite that burrow bugs are similar to Schmidt’s into your skin,” he explained. method. They are transferred by close“Usually the first thing that tips proximity contact. Bedbugs, people off is that they are being however, actually bitten at night, move from one maybe while in source of heat to your bedroom or another. on your couch,” “Bedbugs Beuter stated. are extreme The next step hitchhikers. is looking for They are the best small streaks of hitchhikers in the excrement around bug world,” said the bed frame and Beuter. But the –Eagle Pest Control mattress. As the spring bed is not the only owner, Randy Beuter place to look. semester started for the UAA Beuter community, North Hall and a emphasizes that bedbugs love few Main Apartment Complexes the dark and one needs to check (MAC) found themselves curtains, laundry, picture frames, victims of the expanding bedbug and even books to find the insects. population. An unconfirmed “We found bedbugs in Bibles number of rooms are hosting the twice now,” he added. nighttime visitors. See Page 2 Debra Lovaas, the Director of Housing, confirmed that UAA currently has a bedbug issue, but stressed it was “not an outbreak.” “Once we learn that there is a bedbug problem in any one area, we isolate it right away,” Lovaas said, declining to give further comment. This is not the first time UAA dorm rooms have met with the nighttime crawlers. Phil Schmidt, a history major, experienced the discomfort of bedbugs in the form of scabies when they arrived at his North Hall dorm room in Fall 2010. A friend noticed the bites first, after hanging out with Schmidt in his room. “He started getting a bunch of weird bumps on his body on his back. He said they were really itchy,” Schmidt said. Not long after, Schmidt and his roommate started scratching at their own hands and arms. “We’re pretty sure it was from the couches that were there from the previous year. Anybody who sat there got them,” Schmidt stated. They went to the Residence Assistance within their building, but when no help came the boys quickly moved into action. “We took the couches out late at

“Bedbugs are extreme hitchhikers. They are the best hitchhikers in the bug world.”

Beauty and the Beast: Exclusive Interview

Richard Whitney. “I think it’s a copycat. This is the kind of approach somebody uses when they’re trying to lock onto our electronic base and try to pull students and people affiliated with

email or where it came from. UAA Advancement’s Senior Electronic Media Specialist Jeffery Oliver has been speaking with Vlad since his office found out about the site ten days ago.

Women’s basketball:

UAA onto their services.” The mysterious email also threatened Vlad that “ITS staff already know who you are and will punish to the fullest extent of the law.”

“We have contacted [Vlad] to ask them politely about removing the somewhat confusing branding that could make people believe it is a UAA See Page 2 website,”

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January 24, 2012 by The Northern Light - Issuu