Greek Week is upon us once again. Made up of events taking place over the course of this week, Greek Week is the one occasion of the year in which different Greek organizations join together in support of the same worthy cause. The proceeds from this year’s events will benefit the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation [UCP].

“There is no specific monetary goal,” said Katie Moro, co-chair of the Greek Week council and member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. “But of course we want to top last year’s total of $10,000.”

Donations are collected through a wide-range of activities. One activity planned for Wednesday afternoon is titled “Jail-n-Bail,” and allows for students to “bail” faculty members and administrators-with flexible lunch-breaks-out of a voluntary jail located at the Rock. All collected bail money will go towards UCP. Another event is Greek Night at Wall’s Ice Cream, where from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday night the profits from all purchased ice cream will benefit UCP.

In addition to raising money, Greek organizations are competing for the coveted Greek Week Cup. The respective fraternity and sorority that gets the most points-earned through raising money and by winning competitions such as the Organized Cheer and the potato-sack race on Greek Week Olympic day-will receive the hallowed cup that is passed down from winner to winner every year.

“We’re trying to downplay the competition this year,” Kara Miller, coordinator of Greek Affairs, said.

Chad Carmichael, Greek Week co-chair and member of Lambda Chi Alpha, agreed.

He said the biggest goal for Greek Week’s participants is raising money for UCP.

“On the whole, it’s all for the cause,” Carmichael said. “I truly believe that.”

Robyn Antonelli, sophomore and member of Delta Gamma, expressed very different goals for her sorority during Greek Week.

“We’re desperately trying to beat the self-proclaimed D Phi E Nation,” Antonelli said.

Delta Phi Epsilon refers to itself as a “nation” because it has cultivated somewhat of a Greek Week dynasty, taking home the cup in each of the last three years.

One fraternity acknowledged its annual apathy and withdrew itself from the competition entirely this year.

“We’ve done [Greek Week] the last couple years,” Nick Leydan, president of Sigma Chi, said. “It ends up being a waste of time because of an inability for us to get the participation we need to compete.”

The vast majority of Greek organizations participate in Greek Week, though their motivations and goals certainly vary. Reduced to its most essential components, Greek Week is a fun-filled extravaganza in the traditionally Greek spirit of philanthropy.

Dave Maggiotto can be contacted at d.maggiotto@umiami.edu.

Gone are the days of red circles around want ads in a newspaper. Technology has introduced creative ways to solicit and apply for jobs; companies list interview opportunities on websites, expanding the possibilities for employment by advertising nationwide. Now landing a job comes down to being able to stand out from the crowd and catch the eye of employers. In an increasingly competitive job market, students fresh out of college are finding it necessary to approach job-hunting in unconventional ways.

Innovative eBay item…

UM graduate Jason Kobrin completed a degree in Business Administration in May of 2003. Instead of mulling through openings for an appealing job, Kobrin took a novel approach by listing himself on eBay. The bidding started at $65,000 for one year of his work in any type of marketing or risk-assessment company.

Kobrin felt his creative initiative would give him a competitive edge that employers would translate to an ability to be inventive in his profession, making him an asset to any business.

“I saw that a guy sold the rights to his forehead for $37,000 for 30 days. After seeing that, I realized I have more to offer than just my forehead,” Kobrin said. “I understand that the best jobs in the industry are generally not at career fairs or even posted on websites.”

Despite having 1,901 hits during the ten-day listing, no serious bidders surfaced. However, Kobrin received several emails that acknowledged his creativity and boldness. He even caught the attention of eBay President Bill Cobb, whose assistant informed Kobrin he was welcome to a job in their company.

Kobrin is finishing his MBA at Nova Southeastern University and is still looking for an enticing job; he may even re-list on eBay.

College Junktion: student produced

Others bypass the hiring process with innovative ideas and launch their own companies.

Just four months ago, five current UM students got an early start by launching their own business. MiamiMerchants.com is a web-based company that focuses on the needs of college students, including its auction website, College Junktion.

The company is made up of President and CEO Jason Baptiste, sophomore; Vice President Joel Glenn, junior; CFO Benjamin Horwitz, freshman; Head of Public and Media Relations Margaret Scott, freshman; and Director of Collegiate Relations Urie Norris, freshman.

EBay’s newest competitor, open only to college students with an “edu” email address, debuted the same day eBay upped listing prices. Listing prices on College Junktion are often free and never exceed $3. Allowing only student sellers could mean the possibility of transferring goods without shipping costs since items purchased can be picked up in person.

College Junktion is just the start for the young entrepreneurs of MiamiMerchants.com. Future plans include social networking features, a partnership with StormPay, and a non-auction e-commerce website.

“Always be confident in your professional abilities and trust your intuition,” Scott said. “Your career should be on your terms.”

Stacey Arnold can be contacted at s.arnold@umiami.edu.

Two decades ago, thousands in the world were dying of a new, unknown illness with no option other than hoping for a cure. The discovery of what was causing their affliction marked an important time in recent scientific history. Robert C. Gallo, an American scientist, with his partner Luc Montagnier, co-discovered HIV, concluding that the retrovirus was the cause of AIDS.

Dr. Gallo, currently the director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, delivered the keynote address during the 31st Annual Eastern-Atlantic Student Research Forum [ESRF], a four day international symposium at UM’s Miller School of Medicine, held to present original basic science and clinical research. He discussed the challenges and prospects for meeting the complexities of HIV and AIDS research today.

“He is the smartest, wittiest and most inspiring person,” said Dr. Savita Pahwa of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. “His perseverance and tenacity has brought him where he is today.”

In 1980, Dr. Gallo and his colleagues were pioneers in the field of retrovirology. They discovered HTLV-1, the first human retrovirus, and linked it to being the cause of a form of leukemia. In 1981, the group discovered HTLV-2, and finally in 1982 discovered the third known human retrovirus, HIV, and linked it to causing AIDS.

At first, there was controversy concerning the discoveries.

“You get much more credit if no one believes you at first,” Dr. Gallo said. “You move a field when you have verification.”

During the period of Dr. Gallo’s research, HIV was prominent mainly in Africa. Today, however, the disease and variants of it has spread to countries all over the world.

“Though African Americans are known to be the most at risk for HIV, no race is immune,” Dr. Gallo said.

Dr. Gallo named a few of his successes, namely antiviral therapy using drugs and understanding how HIV enters the cell. He has written a book, Virus Hunting, which outlines his discovery process and how it fits into the story of his life. He also helped promote the HIV blood test.

“Blood tests are simple, safe, inexpensive, and accurate,” Dr. Gallo said. “They offer instantaneous and global verification.”

Hari Nadiminti, a UM medical student who served as co-director of the event, was pleased with the results of the lecture.

“ESRF was very honored and fortunate to have this world-renowned scientist speak at our forum,” Nadiminti said.

“Dr. Gallo gave a very informative talk-it was enlightening in terms of HIV therapy in the future,” said Alexis Furze, a fourth-year UM medical student who attended the lecture.

The key problem of HIV today, according to Dr. Gallo, is retrovirus integration.

“There are three things that are needed most now,” Dr. Gallo said. “First, we need a continued development of new approaches to therapy. Second, we need the delivery of drugs to underdeveloped countries. Finally, obviously, we need the development of an effective HIV preventative vaccine.”

Today, the best vaccine lasts about three to four months, thus voiding the practicality of using it. Dr. Gallo further acknowledged that there is no real vaccine yet, and that some solutions to the disease are not based on rational science.

“This is a solvable problem,” Dr. Gallo said. “I feel better about our prospects.”

Shalu Patel can be contacted at s.patel16@umiami.edu.

High school seniors have been religiously checking their mailboxes, eagerly awaiting their acceptance letters to college for the 2005-2006 school year.

Now that the filing period has closed at UM, statistics reveal that there is a slight disparity between the number of applications from males and from females. The Office of Admissions disclosed that there were 9,700 female and 8,600 male applicants, making the applicants’ male-to-female ratio 47 percent to 53 percent.

While the difference in the application pool is fairly small, females are expected to be admitted at a somewhat higher rate than males. According to Matthew Ward, senior associate director of the Office of Admissions, the reason is that their applications are more qualified.

“There is a national trend that females perform better than males,” Ward said. “Colleges all over the country are noticing that more females are doing what it takes to get into college-they are pursuing it more.”

Simply put, there are more girls in colleges because more of them apply and more of them are well-qualified applicants. And, as UM becomes more nationally prominent, the influence of that national trend is taking effect on the school. While the rumor of a 30 to 70 percent male to female ratio on campus is inaccurate, the real statistic still shows a see-sawed scale. The male-to-female ratio of admitted freshmen for the Fall 2004 semester was close to 40 to 60 percent male to female.

“The school is not doing anything aggressive to maintain gender equity,” Ward said. “If we’re giving males more leeway so more of them can be admitted, that would be unfair to the females. What do you think that’d be called?”

Ward also says that it is UM’s mission to make admission decisions that would make the campus’ composition academically strong, as well as socially diverse.

“We’re not making decisions along stat lines,” Ward said.

To get a spot at UM this fall, high school seniors from every state in the U.S. applied. There was an increase of two percent from the previous year in the number of applications, as well as an average 10-point SAT score increase.

It is expected that more females than males will be admitted for the next school year, but the gender ratio will not be hugely disproportioned.

“We’re not creating any aggressive affirmation action policy, but I’ll tell you, if it gets to a 30 to 70 ratio, it’s an imbalance,” Ward said.

For now, current students can expect a new freshman class similar to this year’s. The total number of available freshman seats of approximately 2,000 is not a significant change from last year. Furthermore, Fall 2005’s male to female ratio has a high probability of remaining about the same. Perhaps the one sure change is that UM is increasing its reputation by the addition of a stronger, more diverse freshman class every year.

Bryce Pham can be contacted at b.pham@umiami.edu.