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Group gives black women sense of 'sisterhood' at UW
Navigating the maze of UW can be difficult - particularly for minority students coping with a predominantly white campus.
Sisterhood, a UW organization, offers support to black women. Sisterhood was initiated by current president Toyia Taylor and two friends in 1993. The group currently has 40 members.
"There is a lack of sincerity and love among the sisters" at UW, said Taylor. Sisterhood seeks to correct that.
Sisterhood's foremost goal, according to Taylor, is to help develop a "bond" between black women at UW.
Tiffany Gaston, a member of Sisterhood's advisory board, said this bond is necessary. She explained the importance of associating with people with whom one shares common goals and experiences, especially if one belongs to a minority group.
Finding that commonalty is difficult for many black students. UW's black population comprises only 3.3 percent of the total campus population, according to the data management department of Admissions and Records.
Taylor said a lack of unity exists among these students, which makes it lonely for them.
Terry Martin, historian and head of communications for Sisterhood, agreed.
"There's not that many black people on campus, so when someone walks by you without saying 'Hi,' it's kind of disappointing."
Gaston said one of Sisterhood's objectives is to encourage its members to participate actively in the UW community and to seek out the resources they need for succeeding here.
Chastity Hawkins, Sisterhood's treasurer, said it was necessary for black and other minority students to develop the ability to find these resources.
She said at times many universities, including UW, recruit minority students to fill a quota, but don't help them once they're here.
"I think it's important to want to keep the black students here," said Hawkins.
According to Admissions and Records, during the 1993-'94 school year, enrollment dropped 15.1 percent among black freshmen.
Only 9.2 percent of "white and other" freshmen dropped out. These statistics, however, did not indicate any reasons for the difference.
Gaston said the enrollment problem was part of a bigger picture.
"The problems we're talking about just aren't UW problems, they're society problems," she said.
Sisterhood also aims to help black women acquire the skills they need to make it in the "real world," as well as on campus, she said.
Despite being a UW organization, much of Sisterhood's focus is on community service.
Community involvement is crucial in creating and maintaining a connection with the black community, said Taylor. She explained many students lose touch with the rest of the black community on entering college.
"Urban life isn't something a lot of [Sisterhood members] have seen or been part of," said Taylor.
She explained many of the women are from the suburbs, and do not feel a strong "tie" to the black community.
The group has been involved with community activities such as a discussion at the Aridell Mitchell home for homeless teen parents. Sisterhood members talked with the young parents about going to school, self-esteem and motivation.
Sisterhood also participated in a banquet for mothers and their daughters at Renton High School, which has a high pregnancy and low graduation rate.
Taylor's speech focused on self-respect and the importance of the mother-daughter relationship.
Taylor recalled one "really special" Halloween when Sisterhood took low-income housing children trick-or-treating.
"If we can inspire them in a little way, maybe they'll want to go to college," said Taylor.
The idea for Sisterhood stemmed from an informal study group in which Taylor and her friends participated after their African-American history class.
The members of the group found themselves talking about issues brought up in class, but which were restricted to "surface" discussion.
The study group originally consisted of black men and women, but the three friends felt there was a strong need for an organization solely for black women.
Sisterhood has made large strides since it first began. According to members, the group now has a strong identity, solid organization and dedicated members.
Melba Taylor, a junior chemistry major, is new to both UW and Sisterhood. She voiced her support for the organization.
"I think it's one of the most positive groups I've been involved in," she said.
Med center doctors make first successful diagnoses via satellite
Yesterday, doctors at the UW Medical Center examined the internal organs, via satellite, of soldiers lying in a camouflaged tent at Fort Lewis in Tacoma.
Volunteer active duty soldiers acted as mock casualties, undergoing ultrasound scans of their abdomens and necks. Doctors at the UW directed the exam remotely and made diagnoses.
This was the first time medical images were successfully transmitted from a remote site with high enough resolution for doctors to use for diagnoses.
"The idea is to get the technology to the problem," said Dr. Stephen Carter, lead investigator and UW clinical associate professor of radiology, at the remote site at Fort Lewis.
In the 45-degree morning cold, a high-quality mobile ultrasound machine, or "scanner," was wheeled out the back of a van. The scanner was set up on the dirt floor of the tent where six cots were placed for the mock casualties.
Then the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) took over. Engineers established a two-way satellite link with doctors at the UW.
Deborah Pinck, a JPL engineer who was on site for the project, explained how the images from the casualty site at Fort Lewis would be examined remotely by UW physicians.
According to Pinck, after the army volunteers were scanned by an ultrasound specialist, the scanned images were then transmitted to a van parked a few yards from the tent.
The van, equipped with a transmitter resembling an upside-down gold salad bowl, shot the images to a satellite 20,000 miles above the Earth's surface. From there, the image went to the JPL laboratories in Pasadena, Calif., and then back up to the UW Medical Center.
Meanwhile, the process worked in reverse to allow the physicians at the UW to talk to the ultrasound technician in the tent at Fort Lewis while the examination was taking place.
The two-way link enabled the doctors to "virtually examine" a patient from miles away.
Lt. Colonel Greg Bender, M.D., chief of the Department of Radiology at Fort Lewis' Madigan Hospital, was at the field site.
Bender expressed his enthusiasm for working with the University to develop the cutting-edge "telemedicine" technology.
He said although the experiment at Fort Lewis was a simulation of battlefield conditions, telemedicine can be used in variety of circumstances where doctors physically can't be there to examine a patient and make diagnoses.
"Whether it's your hospital, our hospital or out on the battlefield, this technology can help tremendously," said Bender.
Carter, who has been traveling all over the country with the JPL van doing preliminary tests, said the mobile transmitter allows medical care to go to places it has never been able to reach.
"Here we're totally self-contained," he said.
Carter predicted telemedicine technology will take expert medical care into remote rural areas, homes, senior care centers or other locations where patients have a hard time getting to centralized medical centers.
Carter added that the mobile technology also can be useful in disaster situations such as earthquakes or bombings where the local medical infrastructure has been wiped out.
Back at the UW Medical Center's Radiology Department, Dr. Brent K. Stewart, UW associate professor and director of diagnostic physics, reveled in the success of the project.
Stewart, who worked on developing the image transmission technology, said, "It went even better than I expected."
According to Stewart, the data rate at which the images were transmitted from Fort Lewis was three times faster than any previously used rate.
Stewart said the high data rate is what gives the images the high resolution necessary to use them for accurate medical diagnosis.
The physicians who participated in the project from the UW end said the images were by far the best they had ever seen, said Stewart.
Police Beat
Compiled by Mike Mohandeson
Officers were dispatched to a domestic disturbance on the 5600 block of 15th Ave. NE. When they arrived at the scene, they could hear a man and woman arguing and things being thrown about inside the apartment. When officers knocked on the door and identified themselves, the woman allegedly replied with, "Fuck you! You're not coming in here without a search warrant." Officers then heard the deadbolt lock.
Officers then informed the woman they were there to check on her welfare and that she would have to let them in to ensure that she was okay.
According to the police report, the woman said she did not call the police and that she wanted the officers to go away.
The two officers then had their sector sergeant respond to the scene. By the time the sergeant arrived, the two officers had obtained keys to the apartment from the manager. Each attempt to open the door proved unsuccessful because the woman kept relocking the door each time they attempted entry. The sergeant then informed the woman that if she did not allow them access, they would be forced to break through the door. The woman continued to refuse them access.
The officers then broke through the door and once they stepped inside, the woman began swinging at them with her fists. Officers then wrestled her to the floor where the woman began scratching and kicking. She was quickly brought under control and both the man and woman were handcuffed and arrested.
A man entered a business on the 5400 block of 25th Ave. NE and walked up to the counter where he allegedly pulled a black .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol out of his coat and pointed it at the two employees stationed there. According to the police report, he then calmly told the two employees, "Give me all your money, quick." Both complied with the man's demand by placing all the money from the register on the counter.
The man then produced a wrinkled paper sack from the inside of his jacket, into which the man placed the money. The man then asked if that was all of the money, to which the employees answered yes. The man then turned and left the store walking westbound on NE 55th Street.
When police arrived minutes later, they were unable to locate the man with a K-9 track. They did however take fingerprints off the counter where the man had placed his hands during the robbery. The prints were submitted to the FBI for identification. A police sketch of the man also was constructed from the descriptions given by the two employees, and the case was turned over to two Seattle police robbery detectives. A total of $427.05 was taken from the store during the incident.
An argument between two brothers broke out in their apartment in the 5000 block of 11th Ave. NE over keeping their apartment clean. One of the brothers wanted to begin cleaning the place so that it would look presentable to the guests he was planning to have over.
When the other brother refused to help in the effort, the first grabbed the other's ankles and pulled him off the bed. At this point, the man who had just been pulled off the bed took a swing at his brother, but missed.
The other brother allegedly punched him in the face four times giving the first man a fat lip and a cut on the bridge of his nose.
When the brother who had just been assaulted tried to call a friend to come get him, his brother once again began hitting him. When police were finally called in, the brother who had beaten the other was arrested and booked into King County Jail for domestic violence assault.
A woman heard a strange noise outside her bathroom window, which she usually leaves open while she showers and dries her hair. After hearing the noise, she stated that she went into her bedroom and looked out a window that has a view of her bathroom window. The woman reported that from her vantage point she was able to observe a man squatting atop a storage unit looking into her bathroom window.
Once the man noticed the woman had spotted him, he grinned at her and then got down from the storage unit. The woman said the man walked around the side of the apartment building, paying special attention to her unit before getting into his vehicle and fleeing in an unknown direction.
When officers arrived, they provided the woman with a case number and safety tips concerning this type of situation.
A man walked into a small grocery store in the 4200 block of Brooklyn Ave. NE and asked that one of the store employees show him where the breath mints were. When at the counter to purchase them, the man leaned across the counter and allegedly pulled a kitchen knife on the cashier, declaring he was robbing the store. The clerk backed away from the knife and the man took the cash from the till, which had been opened when the mints were being rung up.
After grabbing the money, the man ran north from the store with an estimated $190 and quickly disappeared. According to the cashier, the man appeared intoxicated and his eyes "bulged." An unsuccessful area check was made once officers arrived and some partial fingerprints were lifted from the counter top and cash drawer.
UW Briefs
Edited by Philip Jason Ocampo
Halloween concerts in Kane today
The UW School of Music will present the Littlefield Organ Halloween Concerts today featuring classical pieces and organ music.
J. Melvin Butler, Robert Huw Morgan, Lisa Ham and Rodney Blackburn are the organists for both shows. All four will be attired in costumes and the Walker Ames Room will be decorated in a Halloween motif. In addition, the pipe organ will be adorned with cobwebs.
The pieces featured are "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach, "The Ride of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner, "The Flight of the Bumble Bee" by Rimsky-Korsakov, "Toccata" from "Gothic Suite" by Leon Boellmann. Other works by Vierne, Mendelssohn, Dupre, Langlais and Hindemith also will be featured.
The concerts are at 12:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Walker Ames Room, 225 Kane Hall. Tickets are $5 general, $3 students and seniors, and are available at the door. For more information call 685-8384.
- Kerri DeVault
Fraternity hosts haunted house with a cause
Chi Psi fraternity held its annual haunted house last Friday. The haunted house is a philanthropy the fraternity undertakes for the Big Brothers of King County program.
"Every year this fraternity has totally sponsored this for us," said Cheryl Keller, director of special programs with the Big Brothers. "It's great because we have a limited budget. It's also one of the kids' favorite events."
The house was divided into three sections: the main floor as the games area, the second as the "tricks" floor and the third as the haunted house.
Chi Psi member Patrick Hinshaw said the fraternity looks forward to the event. "It's really a lot of fun," Hinshaw said. "We feel good talking to the kids. They're really cute."
The kids apparently enjoyed themselves as well. While many chanted "Throw me some more candy," others were occupied with the games and the magic show.
"It was spooky," said Chris Adkins, dressed as a little Jimi Hendrix. "It was fun, too, because we got lots of candy."
