Two years into a cancer-cluster investigation at the Literature Building, department faculty, students and staff have started petitioning to move classes into Sixth College trailers and holding office hours in on-campus cafes or at the Cross-Cultural Center.
Today, protestors will host ‘Literature Office Hours Here,’ a demonstration on Library Walk from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., to inform students of what they perceive to be administrative inaction in the ongoing investigation of the building.
According to professor John D. Blanco, the event will be quieter than the teach-in held on Feb. 17, when dozens of participants marched to Chancellor Marye Anne Fox’s office to protest her response to professor Cedric Garland’s report. When his research found that an elevator in the building emitting high electromagnetic fields may have caused eight reported breast cancer cases between 2000 and 2006, Fox hired epidemiologist and UCLA professor Leeka Kheifets to review the report instead of shutting down the elevators. Kheifets is also an EMF expert.
‘The event is to raise awareness, since it is hard to gauge the general mood when there are not a lot of people left in the building,’ Blanco said. ‘Whether or not the administration is taking action, many faculty members have done their best to find alternative accommodation for their students.’
Kheifets’ review of Garland’s report on the suspected cancer cluster has been delayed several weeks due to complications with obtaining necessary data.
Oumelbanine Zhiri, chair of the committee tasked with addressing concerns within the Literature Department, said that though administrative communication has improved regarding the cluster, many students and faculty are frustrated that Kheifets’ follow-up to Garland’s report ‘mdash; estimated on Feb. 10 to take 10 weeks ‘mdash; has yet to be completed. In the meantime, Zhiri said the department has begun looking into other possible causes of the building’s high breast-cancer rates.
‘Even before [the report] is released, it is irrelevant,’ Zhiri said. ‘We have been speaking with faculty in the science departments and they think it might be something else that hasn’t been detected. They don’t think that it is the EMF, but they all say they wouldn’t want the families to work in the building. We hope to have a wide ranging toxicological study, rather than wait on a very narrow report.’
Kheifets said the report is her highest priority and, although she is currently waiting on data from the department, hopes to conclude soon. However, she has made it clear from the beginning that she does not think EMF is a likely culprit in the cancer cases.
Environmental Health and Safety Director Steve Benedict was unable to comment by press time, but previously said that the university is waiting on Kheifets’ findings to make any major decisions concerning the building or its occupants.
Readers can contact David Harvey at [email protected].