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Los Angeles Times: Paid family leave needs employer support
Paid family leave, which goes into effect in 2004 in California, is a major step toward making the workplace family-friendly. But what’s needed next is an attitude change in the corporate culture, writes Caryl Rivers, a COM professor of journalism, in the October 10 Los Angeles Times. She says that family leave won’t work if employees don’t take it out of fear they’ll be viewed as slackers or passed over for promotions and salary increases. While more women than men currently take the unpaid family leaves allowed under federal law, Rivers says, men will be doing so with greater frequency; single fathers represent the fastest growing segment of the workforce and face the same child-care problems as women. Rivers says that although corporate America holds the opinion that employees who place work over family are the ones who get ahead, those CEOs who value the family lives of their workers can reduce burnout and absenteeism, improve employee loyalty, and reduce turnover through family-friendly policies, including family leave.
Hartford Courant: JFK had more medical problems than realized
Robert Dallek, a CAS professor of history and author of more than 15 books, says that John F. Kennedy was far more ill during the 1960 presidential campaign than previously realized. Speaking in Hartford, Conn., at the Mark Twain House 2002 Symposium on the art of writing biographies, which was covered by the October 8 Hartford Courant, Dallek says that besides suffering from Addison’s disease, Kennedy also had chronic spastic colitis that caused bleeding, prostatitis, most likely from untreated venereal disease contracted during college, and spinal degeneration caused by osteoporosis, a side effect of steroids he took. In researching his newest book, John F. Kennedy: A Biography, to be published in 2003, Dallek was given access to previously sealed medical records. Kennedy was on “massive amounts of medication,” he says. “If the public had known how sick he was, it probably never would have elected him in 1960.” The Atlantic Monthly will publish an article this December previewing Dallek’s book.
Boston Herald: Sniper’s tarot calling card rules out terrorist, says MET prof
A tarot “death card” with the words “Dear policeman, I am God” found at the scene of a recent Maryland Beltway sniper shooting has astrologers, tarot experts, and forensic scholars weighing in on the meaning of the card and its message, reports the October 10 Boston Herald. Most say that they doubt the killer believes he is God or even fully understands the symbolism of the card. Daniel LeClair, a MET professor and a criminologist, says the card probably rules out Islamic terrorism, noting that the “I am God” statement is blasphemy to Muslims. “He’s introducing his personality into the drama,” says LeClair. “I don’t think he thinks he is God. He’s a narcissist. He wants to create a personality. He’s chosen something that scares people.”
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October 2002
Boston University
Office of University Relations