Community Briefs

Cosby reaffirms plan to speak at UCB graduation

Comedian Bill Cosby confirmed through his agent last week that
he still plans to speak at UC Berkeley’s convocation ceremony in
May.

Campus organizers said yesterday that the move will help them
complete their plans for the university-wide graduation ceremony.
It had been unclear since the shooting death of his son last month
whether Cosby would speak at the ceremony.

"There’s no question he’s going to come," said Lani Shepp,
director of ceremonies for the UC Public Affairs office. "His agent
said, ‘He’s still willing to come if you still want him.’ Of
course, we said we’d love to have him."

Cosby contacted Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien last fall to ask if he
could be a speaker at the convocation, which is distinct from
graduation ceremonies conducted by individual campus departments
and colleges.

The confirmation of Cosby’s desire to speak came two weeks after
Cosby’s only son, Ennis, was shot and killed while he was changing
a flat tire alongside a Los Angeles freeway.

Jacquelyn Smith, adviser to the Senior Class Council, said
yesterday that she feels uncomfortable talking about plans for the
convocation in the wake of the shooting, but added that there is
little question as to who would be the preferred main speaker at
the engagement.

"He would be our keynote speaker," said Smith.

Cosby, 59, completed his undergraduate work at Temple University
and doctoral work at the University of Massachusetts. His doctoral
thesis was titled "The Integration of Visual Media Via Fat Albert
and the Cosby Kids Into the Elementary Schools Culminating as a
Teacher Aid to Achieve Increased Learning."

Known best for his role as Cliff Huxtable on the hit television
sitcom "The Cosby Show," Cosby is currently the executive producer
of "Cosby."

The popular comedian has also authored the books "Fatherhood,"
"Time Flies" and "Childhood."

Campus NOW begins campaign

The UC Davis Campus National Organization for Women is amidst a
letter-writing campaign to raise awareness about the connection
between eating disorders and beauty standards.

The letter-writing campaign will be directed toward magazines
such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Seventeen and J. Crew, to let the
editors know that their magazines would be better if the models in
them were more diverse, Campus NOW Coordinator Effie Greathouse
said.

Campus NOW will also be showing a spoof on a Calvin Klein ad,
produced by the Media Foundation, which portrays a model suffering
from an eating disorder.

"This campaign will raise awareness about the cultural reasons
why we have eating disorders, and how beauty standards affect
self-esteem," Greathouse said.

The campaign is in accordance with National Eating Disorder
Awareness Week, which began Monday and continues through today.

"What better time to start examining the way media affects body
image," first-year Campus NOW member Amelia Ryan said.

According to the American Anorexia and Bulimia Foundation,
150,000 women suffer from eating disorders every year.

Many believe the extreme number of women suffering from the
disorders is due to popular portrayal of the thin, waif figure of
models who do not represent what the majority of women look like,
according to Campus NOW.

"The ideal woman is not natural," Greathouse said. "The
magazines that show these ideal women promote self-hate, and so
nine out of 10 women feel dissatisfied with some aspect of their
body."

Campus NOW hopes the campaign will make people begin to think in
a different way and to promote the idea that women of all shapes
and sizes are beautiful, Greathouse said.

Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports