Florida International University FIU Digital Commons The aP nther Press (formerly The Beacon) Special Collections and University Archives 2-25-2016 The Beacon, February 25, 2016 Florida International University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/student_newspaper Recommended Citation Florida International University, "The Beacon, February 25, 2016" (2016). The Panther Press (formerly The Beacon). 854. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/student_newspaper/854 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections and University Archives at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The aP nther Press (formerly The Beacon) by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Forum for Free Student Expression at Florida International University One copy per person. Additional copies are 25 cents. Vol. 27 Issue 67 fiusm.com Thursday, February 25 , 2016 GUITART HEROES Mental Health Alliance comes to University GUETHSHINA ALTENA the fall semester of 2015 Staff writer when Suzette Ferretti, a [email protected] senior psychology major, made the necessary efforts Never before in the and put in the request for history of FIU has a club the club to be created. like the National Alliance Once the club was on Mental Health Illness approved by the main existed on campus. organization and the The University Counsel for Student welcomes its first NAMI Organizations, Ferretti club on campus to gather became the first president those interested in mental of the club, along with two illnesses. other e-board members. According to the NAMI The club seeks to unite official website, NAMI students from all majors clubs are student-led, and backgrounds who are SELENE BASILE/THE BEACON student-run mental health interested in the kind of organizations on college societal issues related to School of Music guitar ensemble perform in the GC pit to spread the word about the upcoming Miami campuses. mental illness. International GuitArt Festival. Fort Lauderdale bridge scandal has Some people have been affected by domestic abuse or dealt with suicidal thoughts, so I think ties to FIU campus, Miami-Dade that mental illnesses are relevant to everybody Katherine Perez wrong whatsoever,” Mirmiran said in an e-mail to the Herald. Junior MICHAEL VASQUEZ Mirmiran left his FIU job last year, and is now the provost and Biology The Miami Herald vice president for academic affairs at the University of Texas at TNS Staff Tyler. Their goal is to raise “I have always been In a segment aired earlier this week, Local 10 investigative mental health awareness passionate about mental An unusual bridge-repair contract in the city of Fort Lauderdale reporter Bob Norman tracked down the former Fort Lauderdale with fairs, walks and illnesses. It is something has sparked a criminal investigation, and those involved have ties to employee at the center of the controversy, former Assistant City candlelight vigils. that has grown up with Miami-Dade County and Florida International University. Engineer Pedram Zohrevand. Zohrevand denied steering a city NAMI also educates me because I grew up in a Miami-Dade’s new deputy director of water and sewer, Hardeep contract to a company he had a relationship with. the campus community household where you had Anand, was public works director in Fort Lauderdale when the “I didn’t do that. I did all things the right way,” he told the TV with presentations, guest a problem like that but strange bridge contract was awarded. Anand acknowledged to station. speakers and student people did not really talk the Miami Herald on Thursday that he’s hired a criminal defense Zohrevand, who left his $106,433 city job in October, could not panels. They advocate for about it.” Ferretti says. attorney, but insisted he wasn’t connected to the bridge contract, be reached by the Herald. improved mental health Ferretti was looking which was awarded to his wife’s former business partner. An internal city of Fort Lauderdale investigation memo states services and policies on on the internet for “I have no involvement in it,” Anand said of the contract. “The that Zohrevand worked behind the scenes to make sure that a campus as well as support organizations that she can procurement department handles it.” certain company - Engin-Ovation LLC - was hired by the city for peers with signature NAMI get involved with when she Also connected to the investigation is former FIU engineering “bridge engineering consulting services.” That was the company programs and training from came across NAMI and saw dean Amir Mirmiran. It was a company run by Mirmiran’s wife that run by the FIU dean’s wife. The dean of the engineering school, NAMI State Organizations that they had a program that landed the city contract - even though it had just been incorporated Mirmiran, earned $242,168 at FIU, and had previously supervised and Affiliates. is incorporated into college and had no track record. The NAMI club at FIU SEE BRIDGE, PAGE 2 “I categorically and unequivocally deny having done anything was initiated at the start of SEE NAMI, PAGE 2 Experts admit they know little about Zika virus FRANCO ORDONEZ other than humans can be infected with the identify research priorities and try to a health issue. McClatchy Washington Bureau Zika virus, how often it has been spread by hammer out a strategy for a response should The potential economic losses from a TNS Staff sexual contact, and whether, for sure, it’s an outbreak occur in the United States. pandemic could amount to $60 billion a the cause of devastating birth defects and Marcos Espinal, director of the year, he said. Those costs are consequences Federal and international health officials other neurological disorders, as suspected. Department of Communicable Disease and of policy and behavior changes associated confessed Tuesday to an encyclopedic list Scientists don’t know the role that Health Analysis at the Pan American Health with fears, rational and irrational, that can of unanswered questions about the fast- climate change may have had in Zika’s Organization, said it might be months before lead to travel bans, quarantines and blocks spreading Zika virus, which in a matter of rapid spread through the Americas. researchers had determined for certain one on trade. months has become an international public “We don’t, at a very basic level, know of the main public concerns whether Zika is More than 30 countries and territories health crisis. whether the virus has mutated and that is a linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that across the Americas have reported local In a bleak assessment of their ability cause of the explosive epidemic potential,” causes newborns to have small heads and transmissions of the Zika virus since it was to confront the disease, epidemiologists, said Ronald Rosenberg, acting director for other neurological disorders. But for now, first discovered in Brazil last May. There public health experts, scientists and the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases at the he said, all indications are that there is a have been 52 U.S. cases in 16 states and the researchers one by one held a conference on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. connection. District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Zika about their concerns that too little was At the request of the U.S. Department Victor Dzau, president of the National U.S. Virgin Islands. At least 21 cases have known about diagnosing the disease and of Health and Human Services, the leading Academy of Medicine, called the Zika virus been discovered in Florida, the most in any about how it might be spread. scientists and researchers met at the National a “wake-up call” and pressed world leaders state, including seven in Miami-Dade and Among the unknowns: what animals Academy of Sciences in Washington to to stop thinking of the epidemic as strictly four in Broward County. 2 The Beacon – Thursday, February 25, 2016 NEWS fiusm.com NATION & WORLD Students welcome BRIEFS new NAMI club Apple-FBI fight intensifies over San Bernardino NAMI, PAGE 2 of the CSO representative want to help and educate gunman’s iPhone for the club. students to get rid of those The court dispute between Research Center. campuses. Surprisingly to “We are looking to start misconceptions,” Blanco Apple and the Justice Department Apple called on the government her, there was not a NAMI a NAMI walk at FIU. It is said. over unlocking the San Bernardino, Monday to drop the court case club at FIU before, so she an event that the national She said, “We cannot Calif., gunman’s iPhone became in favor of a congressional decided to start one herself. organization has and we let a mental illness define a public relations war on Monday “commission or other panel of For the future, Ferretti encourage everyone to a person. I don’t think an with the FBI and Apple exchanging experts on intelligence, technology, said, “I look forward to participate; it is a great illness should dictate what words on the Internet. Additionally, and civil liberties to discuss the the expansion of the club way to raise awareness,” your life is going to be Congress has prepared to intervene. implications for law enforcement, by having more members she said. and with NAMI, we give For now, the FBI appears to be national security, privacy, and to share their experiences She believes NAMI people the opportunity to winning the battle according to new personal freedoms.” while spreading will bring awareness and see mental illness from polling information from the Pew awareness.” acceptance to mental another perspective.” “My ultimate goal was illnesses. In her opinion, Mabit Gonzalez is a Plan to close Guantanamo would keep 30 to 60 detainees always to get involve in it is crucial for people to senior Biology major with in custody my community and be part understand the implications a pre-med track and a of something bigger than of issues of mental health.