Salient

New in Brief

By Nicola Kean | 16 Oct, 2006

Student health is advising anyone with a persistent cough to see their doctor and not attend classes, after three Vic students were recently diagnosed with Whooping Cough. Whooping Cough is spread by a bacteria and causes a cough with a whooping sound, bouts of which can end with vomiting or difficulty breathing that can last longer than two weeks.

Law lecturer David McLauchlan has been crowned the Academic Idol of 2006, winning the title by a narrow margin of 21 votes.

Over 1500 people voted in the final round of the competition, approximately 300 more than voted in the annual VUWSA elections, despite an email being sent out to every student’s personal email address. Salient Editor James Robinson, visibly pleased by the result, says “while it’s been good to see that students can rally behind something, it’s only sad that once again it can’t be their students’ association.”

In anticipation for the upcoming exam period, VUWSA has organised a week of stress-free breakfasts. The first of these were held this morning at the Kelburn campus, with cereal, toast, tea and coffee being served, as well as “smiles”, according to VUWSA Welfare Vice-President Jules van Cruysen. The stress-free breakfasts will be held at the Pipitea campus on Tuesday and again at the Kelburn campus in the quad from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM, while on Thursday a “midnight feast” is organized for the Design and Architecture School at 10 PM.