Festival will cruise through campus area

"It Takes an Entire Village," is the theme of the 23rd Annual African American Heritage Festival, taking place May 14 through 20. The festival will attract between 30,000 and 40,000 people to the campus area for programs celebrating African-American culture.

University and Columbus officials have worked together to ensure that festival events, including the practice of "cruising" on the nights of May 18 and 19, will go smoothly.

The "cruising" route, which traditionally flows through campus neighborhoods, will instead be redirected onto campus. The route will be directed up High Street and through the campus. On Friday and Saturday evenings, High Street will be one-way northbound between Fifth and Lane avenues. Lane Avenue will be one-way westbound from High Street to Olentangy River Road. King Avenue will be one-way eastbound from Cannon Drive to High Street. "Cruising" traffic will be directed west on Woodruff Avenue, south on Cannon Drive, and east on King Avenue back up to High Street.

For more information, see www.osuheritagefestival.com.

Encyclopedia of the Midwest earns NEH funds

The Institute for Cooperative Research and Public Humanities (Humanities Institute) will receive a grant of $269,693 along with $150,000 federal matching funds for a two-year award from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the largest supporter of humanities programs in the United States.

The NEH award will be used to support the Encyclopedia of the Midwest, a single-volume work that is being prepared by more than 700 authorities on the Midwest.

Christian Zacher, professor of English and director of the Humanities Institute, said the Encyclopedia will provide both facts and interpretation about the Midwest for general readers, students, teachers and journalists, and community, business and government leaders in the United States as well as abroad.

"We expect the Encyclopedia to become a valuable resource for anyone interested in what it means to be'Midwestern,'and its history and culture," Zacher said. "This volume will include sections on landscapes and people, society and culture, community and social life, economy and technology, and public life. The Midwest has had much to do with American values and belief systems."

An eventual Web-based elaboration of the print edition will extend the educational purpose of the Encyclopedia through multimedia versions and customized instructional publications designed for a host of specific users and audiences, and provide links with a wide array of archives, historical societies, libraries, departments of tourism and museums.

The project is being directed by three general editors: Andrew R.L. Cayton, distinguished professor of history, Miami University of Ohio; Richard Sisson, Board of Trustees chair in comparative politics, Ohio State; and Zacher; and the managing editor, Charlotte Dihoff. A 17-member editorial advisory board, two general consulting editors, and 22 scholars will contribute their editorial talents.

The Encyclopedia is being produced by the Humanities Institute, which works on and off campus to promote cultural understanding. Through its various projects, it aims to become a center for the investigation of both the Midwest and regionalism nationally and worldwide. The volume will be published by Indiana University Press, which is the publisher of a number of encyclopedias, including those on Indianapolis and Cleveland as well as the highly regarded book series Midwestern History and Culture.

The NEH is an independent federal agency whose mission is to enrich American cultural life by promoting knowledge of human history, thought and culture throughout the nation.

For more information about the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities and the Encyclopedia of the Midwest, call 688-0265, e-mail eom@osu.edu or visit www.allmidwest.org.

Mount Society sponsors week of events

Reaching out to the Ohio State and Columbus communities is the concept behind Mount Legacy Week, running through May 20, during which student teams from the Mount Leadership Society will focus on a number of community service projects. Mount Legacy Week events include:

May 10, The HIV/AIDS team will host educational speakers from the Columbus AIDS Task Force, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Halloran House lobby.

May 11-12, The Children and Families team will sponsor events for Columbus school children: Beach Bonanza, 3 to 7 p.m. May 11, Medary Elementary School, and Spring Celebration, 1 to 3 p.m. May 12, Raney Commons.

May 14, The Homelessness service team has coordinated a fair for the campus area's homeless people, 5:30 p.m., Buckeye Suite C/D/E, Ohio Union.

May 14-16 and 18, The Political Action team has organized a weeklong series of speakers and events: Debate between College Democrats, College Republicans and the Green Party, 8 p.m. May 14, Baker Hall East; USG President Ryan Robinson and President-elect Eddie Pauline will speak, 8 p.m. May 15, Park Hall; Martha Garland, vice provost and dean for undergraduate studies, will discuss tuition and other issues, 8 p.m. May 16, lobby of Halloran House; and a Political Action Fair featuring many political action student groups, 3 to 5 p.m., May 18, Ohio Union Stecker Lounge.

May 16, The Animal Rights team is hosting a pet therapy session, 6 p.m., in front of Drackett Tower.

Ag campuses institute foot-and-mouth prevention policy

All Ohio State farm animal facilities have been closed to public tours as a precautionary measure against bringing foot-and-mouth disease into Ohio.

The restriction is part of a prevention policy being imposed by animal production and health officials from the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC); Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI); and outlying branches to help ensure that Ohio's livestock stays free of foot-and-mouth disease.

Animals housed at the facilities may be more susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease than an average producer's herd, since the facilities attract foreign and domestic visitors daily and are maintained by faculty and students who travel often to Europe.

"In an age when people can literally move around the world in the span of a day, and the fact that we have many visitors to our facilities, it is critical that we have policies in place which protect Ohio State's livestock herds and flocks," stressed Steve Slack, associate vice president of the college and OARDC director. "Further, our actions must reflect the high regard and concern that we have for Ohio's livestock producers. Our guidelines are also meant to provide guidance and assurance to Ohio's producers."

Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, such as cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and deer. It is characterized by fever and blister-like lesions in and around the mouth, on the teats, and around and between the hooves. The disease leaves animals debilitated and causes losses in milk and meat production. Once infected, an animal never rids itself of the virus. The disease does not affect humans and it has no connection to mad cow disease.

The public closure of sheep, cattle, pig and poultry facilities on the Columbus campus, at OARDC and ATI, both in Wooster, and outlying branches throughout the state, is the "first line of defense to keeping foot-and-mouth disease out of our herds and hopefully reducing the risk to Ohio," said Larry Smith, an OARDC animal science researcher. "We need to be the pacesetter for the state. If we close our facilities, other producers will follow suit and close theirs, as well."

Other restrictions outlined in the policy include:

• "No visitors" signs will be posted at the entrances to all the college animal facilities.

• Only one vehicular entrance to each animal facility will be maintained. All other entrances will be barricaded.

• Field Days visitors will be advised not to attend if they have been traveling in countries that have the disease within 10 days from the Field Day. Notices on the above policy will be printed on Field Days programs.

• Future Field Days will not include visits to animal facilities.

The policy will be re-evaluated in September, when travel between the United States and Europe slows. An early re-evaluation will depend on how the situation in Europe develops.

"The decision to close the facilities to tours is not meant to instill panic in the public that there is a problem," said Joy Pate, associate chair of OARDC animal sciences. "Foot-and-mouth disease has not reached the States. It's just a precautionary measure."

The last reported case of foot-and-mouth disease in the United States was 1929 and the government, state agencies and land-grant universities are making sure it never reappears.

"The chance of foot-and-mouth disease ever reaching the U.S. is very low," said Mo Saif, head of OARDC's Food Animal Health Research Program. "But the consequences would be horrendous if it ever reached the states."

"If a case of foot-and-mouth ever reached the OARDC's Krauss Dairy in Wayne County, there would be a 10-mile radius quarantine around the affected area, which would mean that nothing -- animals, products, milk -- could move in or out," said Smith. "And many employees at the Krauss Dairy have animals at home beyond that 10-mile quarantine and the disease could rapidly spread outside the quarantine before we even knew about it."

Saif said the main threat to the spread of foot-and-mouth is via clothing and shoes, where the disease has reportedly been able to remain viable for up to two months. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that the disease maintains a high survival rate in soil, animal feed and water, and on vegetables. It also can remain in the human nasal cavity for up to two days.

L.R. "Skip" Nault, OARDC associate director, said the measures the University is taking to prevent foot-and-mouth disease from hitting Ohio should be seen as an educational opportunity for the students and the public. "I think the people will appreciate and respect what we are trying to accomplish," he said. "I think this will help educate the public on the types of problems that producers face."

Alternative programs to animal facility tours are being developed.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture estimates Ohio is home to 265,000 dairy cows, 1.2 million beef cattle, 1.5 million hogs and 142,000 sheep, with a combined value of $1.13 billion.

For more information on foot-and-mouth disease, log on to www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/, or ODA's Web site at www.state.oh.us/agr.

Candace Pollock is associate editor in the communications and technology office at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

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