Thursday, February 12, 1998
Community Briefs
Former Rieber Hall RA commits suicide
The community of Rieber Hall is in mourning, for 22-year-old
Robert Littlejohn, who until last fall was a Residence Assistant at
Rieber, took his own life on Monday.
Lt. Robert Smith of the City of Claremont Police Dept. said that
Littlejohn was found dead in his bedroom in Claremont. The details
of his death are still unclear, but information supplied by his
parents and evidence on the scene suggests suicide.
According to his parents, Littlejohn had been suffering from
depression for several years and had been taking antidepressants.
However, Rieber Resident Director Tere Valenzuaela remembered
Littlejohn as a quiet leader who loved fun and was always
helpful.
"People who knew him have been affected because they didn’t
expect him to do something like this," Valenzuaela said. "The whole
community is shocked because they lost a great friend and a
wonderful person."
Rieber Hall student Laura Messerschmitt said, "We were very
close; everyone is shocked." She recalled last December, after his
graduation, when his father had asked him to play the piano.
"He played ‘Flight of The Bumblebee’ from memory. I was really
touched; he was so talented," Messerschmitt said.
Littlejohn is survived by his parents, two younger brothers and
sister.
Services will be held next Monday, but details have yet to be
finalized.
Pine bark shown to reduce disease
It seems that those New Age holistic herbal healers were on to
something.
UC Berkeley scientists have shown an extract of pine bark to be
very effective as a combatant against disease, boosting the effects
of Vitamin C while destroying many free radicals – highly
destructive chemicals that damage cells and contribute to
disease.
The pine bark extract, known to consumers as Pycnogenol, is a
potent antioxidant – a chemical that neutralizes cell-damaging
entities – that grows largely in France and North Africa. It has
been widely used in Asia for medicinal purposes.
Scientist Lester Packer remains guardedly optimistic about the
effects of the new drug.
"It’s not too early to say that Pycnogenol is a good supplement
to take along with vitamins C and E," he said.
Long ridiculed for being a hokey substitute for "real medicine,"
herbal remedies, according to Packer, have proved to have
restorative powers just as effective as conventional medicines,
perhaps more.
ARCO donates to minority engineering
The ARCO Foundation recently made contributions totalling over
$600,000 to 19 colleges and universities throughout the country,
including UCLA. ARCO announced that it made the donations in an
effort to help retain and graduate minority students studying
engineering.
As part of ARCO’s Minority Engineering Program, the donated
funds will be used in several ways to help improve the retention
rate of minority engineering students. The program "helps our
industry increase the available pool of engineering talent, which,
in turn, will help us develop the kind of high-quality, diverse
workforce that is critical to our success," said Mike Bowlin, ARCO
Chair.
ARCO chose the schools receiving awards because of their high
numbers of minority students enrolled, their exceptional quality of
teaching and their already high retention rates for graduating
their students.
"All of our education programs are directed at helping young
people succeed in school and strengthen their chances to become
contributing members of society," said Lee Tashjian, president of
the ARCO Foundation. Since 1987 ARCO has donated over $7 million to
minority engineering programs over the world.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff reports.