University Of California At Irvine

A Jewish group announced this week that it will investigate alleged anti-Semitic incidents at UC Irvine, a campus with a history of tension between Muslim and Jewish students. The Hillel Foundation of Orange County said the investigation will attempt to document "an alarming increase in anti-Semitism" at the school, an official with the group said. Hillel is an international group of Jewish college and university students with more than 500 chapters.

When a vampire expert allegedly seduced a tipsy UC Irvine student four years ago, he inadvertently set off a chain of events that now jeopardizes the school's control of a dead philosopher's prized archives. The story came to light after UCI announced this month that it would drop a lawsuit against the widow and sons of philosopher Jacques Derrida, the acclaimed founder of deconstruction, an influential but bewildering theory that questions the concept of absolute truth.

UC Irvine's School of Medicine has hired an auditor to review the orthopedics department's finances in response to concerns about a contract with a private medical practice that has cost the school more than $1 million in lost revenue, UCI officials said.

A retired UC Irvine math professor who has never been to Sicily is running for a city council seat in Palermo -- the island's capital and the homeland of his ancestors. Frank Cannonito, who says of his age only that he's in his early 80s, is running in the May elections on the ticket of L'Altra Sicilia, a political organization that calls for the preservation of traditional Sicilian culture and language. "There's been a continual denigration of Sicilian culture by the dominant culture.

UC Irvine is pulling out of a satellite orthopedics office in Mission Viejo that school officials say has cost it more than $1 million in lost revenue in 3 1/2 years and closing the residency program at Mission Hospital that the office runs. Dr. Ranjan Gupta, chairman of the UCI orthopedics department, said the university would end its contract with Mission Orthopedic Medical Associates on April 12, about five months early. UCI will shut down the residency program at year's end.

The battle for control of a dead French philosopher's archives took another odd turn last week when UC Irvine officials said they had revived their lawsuit against his widow -- at her request. The school has been wrangling with the heirs of Jacques Derrida, the founder of an influential philosophy called deconstruction, for more than two years. In November, UCI sued Derrida's estate in federal court, a move that infuriated his admirers at the school and beyond.

The family of a college student who died after an alleged fraternity hazing incident two years ago has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the fraternity and UC Irvine. Kenny Luong, 19, suffered fatal head injuries during an August 2005 football game held at a city park to initiate pledges into Lambda Phi Epsilon, a nationwide Asian fraternity.

On a campus beset by strained relations between Jewish and Islamic groups, former President Jimmy Carter urged the UC Irvine students to understand each other's positions and to work together. "I'd like to see the leaders form a combined group and take my invitation to go to Palestine and see what's going on for yourselves," said Carter, in Orange County to discuss his controversial book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." "If you take me up on it, I'll raise the money to pay for your trip."

UC Irvine blended its power game with great defense to beat Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne, 30-20, 24-30, 30-23, 30-28, to win its first NCAA volleyball title Saturday. Matt Webber was selected the tournament MVP, but don't try telling him he's any more valuable than any of the other Anteaters. "MVP to me means, I don't know, it doesn't mean much," the 6-foot-7 senior said. "We did it. We played as a team. For one guy to stand out doesn't make much sense.

An early-morning fire in a UC Riverside dorm damaged a lounge area and forced the evacuation of 840 students Thursday while firefighters extinguished the flames, authorities said. There were no injuries. The fire broke out about 3:30 a.m. in the third-floor west lounge of the Aberdeen and Inverness residence hall, university officials said. Riverside firefighters used ladders to rescue seven students from a third-floor ledge. The fire was under control in about 30 minutes.