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Correction regarding Muslim prayer room
I read with interest the well-written article about the Muslim prayer room by Ona Golonka in the Sept. 10 issue of the Beacon. The article was quite accurate in giving the history of the prayer room and how it has been a great resource for Muslim students on this campus for many years.
However, there was a factual error in this article (quite possibly perpetrated by the Muslim students interviewed by Ms. Golonka) which I would like to correct.
The direction in which Muslims pray in North America is actually north northwest and not west.
This is simply because a Muslim is supposed to use the shortest distance between his/her location on the globe and Mecca (Makkah) which is, in fact, along the so-called "Great Circle".
As I understand it, this religious injunction came about in the 1950's and 60's when many immigrants were arriving in North America and did not know which way to orient their prayer rugs.
At that time, religious scholars got together and came up with the rule of using the shortest distance. In Oregon, it is approximately 10 degrees east of the true North.
I just wanted to clarify this fact for the general readership of Beacon.
Khalid Khan
Dean of Engineering
Minor stress in changing majors
As someone who has recently changed majors, I can relate to the article in the Sept. 10issue, "Minor Stress at Changing Majors."
After a stressful week and a half of thinking through this decision, I finally changed my major from psychology to English this week. While I made this change for several reasons, the main reason is that English has always been my favorite subject, and I am truly passionate about it. Although I do like psychology, I realized that my main reason for choosing this major was that it could lead to a career path as a school counselor.
While I still consider this a possible career option, I realized that I do not have to make any decisions about a future career right now. Having been through this ordeal myself, I can offer advice to undeclared students, particularly freshman. Choose a major in which you are truly interested. Don't study something just because you could make a lot of money or that it leads to a certain career. You have all your life to choose a career, but only four years in college to study something which you truly love.
This is a big decision and you don't have to go through it alone. Advisors, professors, department chairs, career services and other students can help! Thank you so much for publishing an article about a subject that students can both relate to and go through.
Laura Eager
sophomore, psychology
Swine flu is no joke
I was very disappointed to read the article "Swine flu is just absurd hysteria." It was my understanding that submissions to the Beacon be based on fact and sound reasoning, rather than a person with no medical experience or knowledge of disease patterns climbing up on their soapbox and subjecting readers to misinformation and blatant untruths.
According to the author, swine flu is not a true epidemic and should also be discounted because of its relatively low death rate.
An epidemic occurs when new cases of a certain disease exceed the expected number of cases (a definition that would have been available to the author had he chosen to check out Wikipedia, much less any medical textbook). This is certainly the case with H1N1.
Dismissing H1N1 because it has had "a very small impact" is foolish.
H1N1 is a mutated form of a normal influenza virus, meaning that it is a form that humans have little or no immunity to. Therefore, it is easily spread from one person to another (particularly in the close quarters of a college campus).
College age students are particularly susceptible. To compare a disease that has resulted in deaths to an iPod is insulting. It is true that H1N1 is no more or less virulent than a regular seasonal strain of influenza.
However, keep in mind that thousands of people every year die from the regular, seasonal flu.
Yes, the hysteria surrounding H1N1 can reach ridiculous heights. But as a person who has had a family friend recently die from this virus, I for one am not taking any chances with my health.
I encourage all students to educate themselves and decide whether or not they will choose to be vaccinated. However, I would suggest that you not get your information from an untrained, ill-educated and poorly written article.
Ellany Saxton
junior, nursing
Check your facts on Swine flu
Thank you for the entertaining article on the Swine flu and the author's perception that the hub-bub around H1N1 is, in his mind, ludicrous.
I assure you, no one in the public health arena is amused. I suggest Mr. Machado might have actually researched the 1918 flu pandemic where 1/3 of the world's population (500 million) were believed to be infected, with death rates somewhere around 50-100 million.
Had Mr. Machado researched the difference(s) between H1N1 and H3N2 (the influenza most prevalent since 1968), he might have learned contrary to "common sense" that the symptoms are not exactly the same.
I recommend Mr. Machado let his fingers do the walking here: www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/, before he does the talking.
Louisa Davis Sills
Clinical Faculty Consultant
