Winter Flu Outbreak Hits Students, UHS

Ill undergraduates are flocking to University Health Services (UHS) in what health officials called the worst flu outbreak in the last few years.

"[The syndrome] seems very prevalent, and probably more so than the last couple of years that I've been here," said Dr. Charles H. Weingarten, chief of medicine at UHS.

Weingarten said a significant number of undergraduates have entered UHS with a "syndrome similar to the flu," but he said it was not an epidemic.

"Fortunately, we haven't seen anybody that's terribly sick," he said.

Nevertheless, Weingarten said UHS officials have treated some serious cases in recent weeks.

"We have seen people that have had seizures or have been incapacitated for as much as a week, but nothing life threatening."

Weingarten said the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has confirmed eight different cases of the flu in laboratory testing.

And students are not the only ones affected.

Nurses at Beth Israel Hospital are also falling prey to the flu-like condition.

"They're dropping like flies," said Virginia M. Minichiello, nurse manager for the employee health service. "Just in today's one unit, we had four out of 10 assistants out, which is a pretty large percentage."

Minichiello said the ailment was best treated by bed rest, frequent fluid intake and Tylenol for fevers and achiness.

Weingarten said the recent surge available for comment.

On Tuesday, though, the rapper said he was surprised by the widespread negative reaction to "Cop Killer."

"I didn't think it was a controversial record because I thought everybody hated the police," Ice T said. "Everyone I know hates the police."

Ogletree said he did not condone Ice T's message, adding that he agreed with the mayor about the difficult job of police officers today.

Ogletree said, however, that there has not been a single act of violence against law enforcement officials linked to "Cop Killer."

He also said that Ice T has played an important role in limiting violence against police officers by talking with the members of violent street gangs, particularly those in the Los Angeles area, in the wake of the riots that shook the city last year.

"[Ice T's] raising of the issue has caused a lot of police officers to be conscientious about their work," Ogletree said. "As a person who had a sister who was a police officer and who was murdered, I would certainly not endorse or condone violence of any kind against police officers."

Ogletree's sister, a police officer in California, was murdered by an intruder while off duty in her home. The professor said Flynn was using the controversy surrounding Ice T as an opportunity to "give the impression of concern for police officers in light of the recent difficulties in the Boston police department."

"My sense is that there is a certain amount of hyperbole in the letter," Ogletree said. "If Ice T is going to be denied an opportunity to speak, or be punished for his words, we probably should have prosecuted Shakespeare for suggesting that we kill all the lawyers and any other people who have said offensive and obnoxious things over time."

An official with the company that handled the release of "Cop Killer" echoed Ogletree's reaction last night.

Bob Merlis, senior vice president and director of media relations for Warner Brothers Records, said that he believed the mayor's letter was an inappropriate interference of politics in popular culture.

"My personal thought is that it's just politics rearing its not-so-lovely head in art and culture, which is a terrible mix," Merlis said. "I also think the contention that Ice T's presence will provoke violence is ill-founded."

Merlis said that "Cop Killer," released in March of 1992, did not arouse controversy until May, when several police groups first took notice of it and launched a nationwide protest.

Still, the record company executive acknowledged that it was the negative publicity surrounding the song that prompted Warner Brothers Records and Ice T to announce recently that they were dissolving their contract with each other.

"If the 'Body Count' album containing the song 'Cop Killer' had not existed, we would not be having this conversation right now," Merlis said.

In the press release announcing the split, Warner Records Board Chair Mo Ostin had said it was the result of a "mutual agreement" between the company and Ice T after "creative differences."

A spokesperson for Flynn's office said that the mayor was unavailable for comment yesterday. DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis Gates Jr., who as chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies co-sponsored the speech with Ogletree, was out of town and could not be reached for comment last night

On Tuesday, though, the rapper said he was surprised by the widespread negative reaction to "Cop Killer."

"I didn't think it was a controversial record because I thought everybody hated the police," Ice T said. "Everyone I know hates the police."

Ogletree said he did not condone Ice T's message, adding that he agreed with the mayor about the difficult job of police officers today.

Ogletree said, however, that there has not been a single act of violence against law enforcement officials linked to "Cop Killer."

He also said that Ice T has played an important role in limiting violence against police officers by talking with the members of violent street gangs, particularly those in the Los Angeles area, in the wake of the riots that shook the city last year.

"[Ice T's] raising of the issue has caused a lot of police officers to be conscientious about their work," Ogletree said. "As a person who had a sister who was a police officer and who was murdered, I would certainly not endorse or condone violence of any kind against police officers."

Ogletree's sister, a police officer in California, was murdered by an intruder while off duty in her home. The professor said Flynn was using the controversy surrounding Ice T as an opportunity to "give the impression of concern for police officers in light of the recent difficulties in the Boston police department."

"My sense is that there is a certain amount of hyperbole in the letter," Ogletree said. "If Ice T is going to be denied an opportunity to speak, or be punished for his words, we probably should have prosecuted Shakespeare for suggesting that we kill all the lawyers and any other people who have said offensive and obnoxious things over time."

An official with the company that handled the release of "Cop Killer" echoed Ogletree's reaction last night.

Bob Merlis, senior vice president and director of media relations for Warner Brothers Records, said that he believed the mayor's letter was an inappropriate interference of politics in popular culture.

"My personal thought is that it's just politics rearing its not-so-lovely head in art and culture, which is a terrible mix," Merlis said. "I also think the contention that Ice T's presence will provoke violence is ill-founded."

Merlis said that "Cop Killer," released in March of 1992, did not arouse controversy until May, when several police groups first took notice of it and launched a nationwide protest.

Still, the record company executive acknowledged that it was the negative publicity surrounding the song that prompted Warner Brothers Records and Ice T to announce recently that they were dissolving their contract with each other.

"If the 'Body Count' album containing the song 'Cop Killer' had not existed, we would not be having this conversation right now," Merlis said.

In the press release announcing the split, Warner Records Board Chair Mo Ostin had said it was the result of a "mutual agreement" between the company and Ice T after "creative differences."

A spokesperson for Flynn's office said that the mayor was unavailable for comment yesterday. DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis Gates Jr., who as chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies co-sponsored the speech with Ogletree, was out of town and could not be reached for comment last night