Of STDs and seventh-graders

Checklist for girls entering the seventh grade: Glittery nail polish —check. One or two of those strange dresses from the 80s that have inexplicably made a comeback — check. Low-heeled stilettos (because your parents won’t let you buy the four-inchers) — check. HPV vaccine? Um, wait.

HPV vaccine?

Why the dilemmas of pre-pubescent junior high schoolers was a newsworthy item in a college student newspaper was beyond me, but that was before I read the article published in the Oregon State University Daily Barometer. It began with a rundown of the much-discussed California assembly bill that would have all girls neutered for human papilloma virus before entering the worst years of their lives and ends with a slight endorsement of the vaccine, which is available on OSU’s campus.

The good: “From a medical standpoint, the vaccine appears to be very safe and effective and can actually prevent most cases of cervical cancer,” Dr. Lora Jasman, director of Student Health Services at OSU told the paper.

The bad: Some parents disagree with having their child more or less “treated” for a STD almost before they’re old enough to know how one gets an STD to begin with. That’s fair I suppose, but if I were a seventh-grader, I’d be more concerned about getting mono.

The costly: The vaccine, which is administered in three separate pokes, is not cheap. Each shot can cost more than $140, the Barometer reported.

And finally, the scary: “A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that one in four U.S. women between the ages of 14 to 59 has human papilloma virus (HPV). It also found that the prevalence of HPV in women age 14 to 24 is substantially higher than the previous estimates, 7.5 million versus 4.6 million.”

Sold yet? You decide. The vaccine is available at Hall Health for $175 per shot.

Salary squabbles of the rich and well-educated

William Powers, president of the University of Texas, was recently ranked the nation’s second-highest paid university president, according to a report published recently by The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Daily Texan.

Powers, who rakes in a cool $552,500 per year, protested, saying in essence that he really isn’t among the top-paid university presidents in the nation, as that a half-million and change is only a base salary and doesn’t account for additional deferred salary and benefits packages, The Texan reported.

Those perks are received by UW President Mark Emmert, among others.

Powers doesn’t even make as much as UT Chancellor Mark Yudof, whose total earnings are $741,894 per annum.

Social networking with a Spanish twist

Presenting Vostu.com, a Facebook-like site for the Latin-American community. Started by two Harvard students and one Harvard alum, and launched publicly in February, the site has already attracted more than 600 members, according to an article published in The Harvard Crimson Wednesday.

Unlike the sprawling Facebook, where one can find a group to describe anything (almost literally anything —groups include “As an anal-retentive Child I was Very Protective of My Crayola Crayons” and “Enough with the Poking, Lets Just Have Sex”) one of the group’s creators said he feels Vostu.com’s smaller community will appeal to the Spanish-speaking world.

Given that Spanish is already the world’s second most widely-spoken tongue, it’s doubtful that Vostu.com will stay small for long if the idea takes hold. The three Harvardites already have a social networking site for Arabs in the works, The Crimson reported.