AIRAN SCRUBY
News Assistant
There’s been a lot of nitpicking on campus lately.
A mass e-mail from the Housing Office was sent Friday to all students, warning them that a case of lice had been detected in on-campus housing. The e-mail encouraged students to call with any specific questions they might have about how to treat lice, should they contract the parasite.
Stacy Rothberg, associate dean of students for Housing and Community Living, said that cases have been reported in two freshman standard halls, but would not reveal which halls had been affected for privacy reasons.
Chuck Strawn, the director of Community Living, instructed R.A.s in an e-mail not to speak with the media about the issue. R.A.s were instructed to “refer all outside sources (The Graphic, Channel 26, “The RanDumb Show”) to either the Dean of Students office or the Health Center.”
“I’m sure you understand how important it is to be respectful to those impacted, and these folks are best equipped to respond,” Strawn continued in the e-mail, sent Tuesday.
The curtain of silence drawn around the issue extended to students in affected dorms as well, who refused to discuss the issue with the Graphic.
“We want to be respectful to those communities that are dealing with lice,” Rothberg said. She said the decision to notify the residential community was made after four cases of lice were identified last week. Since then, others have begun treatment, and efforts to control the outbreak are continuing.
Rothberg said representatives from Housing are holding meetings with affected suite members and living areas to answer questions and “encourage respectful interactions” among those living in close quarters.
Housing and Community Living’s employees have been working with the Health Center and Facilities, Management and Planning, as well as with the R.A.s and R.D.s to eliminate lice on campus.
Rothberg said fact sheets from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are being distributed to students who have been affected. In addition, any student who reports lice in his or her dorm can have housekeepers do a thorough cleaning of their rooms.
“They (housekeeping) have done an excellent job of assisting us in this process,” Director of Housing Jim Brock said.
Nancy Safinick, the director of the Health Center, said head lice are not unusual in an environment like a university, where many people live in close proximity to one another.
Safinick said lice cannot crawl or fly and will die within 24 hours without a human host. Head lice are a result of direct contact or sharing hats, scarves, pillows, headphones or other personal items with those who are infected.
Head lice are attracted to clean hair, and are not a sign of a lack of hygiene, according to the CDC. Head lice eggs are called nits, and hatch in seven to 10 days. A female louse lays approximately three to five eggs each day.
The lifespan of the average louse is about 30 days, if the parasite has a host from which it can obtain a steady supply of human blood.
Lice can be eliminated through many shampoos and treatments that can be purchased over the counter. Students who think they may have lice can contact the Health Center at ext. 4316, or Pepperdine’s registered nurse on call at (800) 413-0848.
11-17-2005