Report: Primate Center allegations unfounded

An investigation into allegations of mistreatment of animals at the California National Primate Research Center at UC Davis has found that they were either unfounded, out of context or too vague to be pursued properly.

The claims were made in October, 2006, by Cheri Stevens, a former animal care technician at the center, at a press conference organized by Stop Animal Exploitation Now!, an activist group that opposes research involving animals. Stevens was employed by the center from March 2002 to March 2005.

"Our initial reaction to these claims was that they were baseless, but I nonetheless felt it appropriate to request an investigation," said center director Dallas Hyde. "I am pleased that the committee's report finds that these allegations were unsubstantiated. However, where there are recommendations that we can follow, we will implement them if we have not done so already."

The UC Davis investigation was conducted by UC Davis Attending Veterinarian Lon Kendall and members of the campus Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The committee oversees all research involving animals at UC Davis.

Computer security eyed

For the latest information in computer and network security, the campus was the place to be June 20-22.

The third biennial UC Davis Information Technology Security Symposium provided a chance for 240 UC tech employees to get updates on security issues and techniques. The event was open to tech staff from all UC campuses, though most came from Davis. More than 40 computer lab sessions, lectures and panel discussions were available to participants.

The event kicked off with keynote speaker Marcus Ranum, an expert on designing and installing security system designs. Ranum, who invented the proxy firewall and works as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies and national governments, talked about improvements in IT security in the past decade as well as promising new measures and practices.

Sessions addressed a broad range of security concerns — from disaster recovery planning to central authentication service (a sign-on system created by Yale University that lets an application authenticate a user). More specialized sessions looked at secure e-voting, online credit card transactions and UC Davis initiatives and policies.

For more information, visit itsecuritysymposium.ucdavis.edu.

Spare the Air Days

Campus commuters can find information on how to change their driving habits during Spare the Air Days at the Transportation and Parking Services' Web site — www.taps.ucdavis.edu — or by contacting Ann Davies Nesbitt at amdaviesnesbitt@ucdavis.edu, (530) 752-6453. More details are available at www.sparetheair.com. Spare the Air advisories are issued when the Air Quality Index is forecast to be 127 or higher.