The Duke freshman who contracted meningitis while sleeping out at the university's Krzyzewskiville tent city is expected to recover fully.

Bill Purdy, who directs Duke's student health service, said this morning the female student is in the hospital and doing fine. He said Duke officials have tracked down a dozen more of her roommates and tentmates, the people with whom she has been in close contact with recently. They've all received antibiotics as a precaution.

"We don't expect to have any more cases, but we'll be watching very closely," he said. 

Purdy said the student was one of 12 sharing a tent for the last six weeks in anticipation of tonight's big game with UNC. Meningitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord and brain, is passed through very close contact, so the other students sharing the tent were of particular interest to campus health officails, Purdy said.

"We don't have to treat the next tent, or the tent two over, or someone in a class with her, or who had coffee with her," Purdy said.

About 70 percent of this year's Duke freshman class had received the meningitis vaccine prior to coming to college, Purdy said. The student in question did not, according to her medical records, Purdy said. The vaccine lowers the meningitis risk considerably but does not completely protect you because it doesn't guard against all strains.

Meningitis is a constant threat on college campuses because it can spread relatively easily in dormitories and other places where people live in close proximity.

Krzyzewskiville, a sprawling community of tents, made this a somewhat tricky and unusual public health situation, Purdy conceded.

"Germs can certainly spread in tents very easily," he said. "It's close quarters and certainly not the best hygiene."

A Duke student who has spent time in Krzyzewskiville, the tent village where students sleep out before big basketball games, has contracted meningitis, the university has announced.

University officials say the female first-year Duke student, who has not been identified, is doing fine and that the bacterial infection was detected early.

People in close contact with her, including those who have been sharing her tent, have been given antibiotics.

The student had spiked a high fever and had been vomiting Monday evening or Tuesday morning and was admitted to the emergency room, according to this report in Duke's student newspaper. The meningitis was confirmed Tuesday evening.

The student was no longer staying over in Krzyzewskiville when the infection set in, the paper reported.

The student has bacterial meningitis, which is considered more serious than the viral form. Meningitis is an infection of the brain and spinal cord. Duke officials say between 50 and 75 percent of Duke students have previously received a meningitis vaccine, which is recommended but not required by state law.

Symptoms include high fever, vomiting, a stiff neck and severe headache.

NOTE: I've updated our blog with additional information on this meningitis scare. Click here.

As student body president at N.C. Central University, Kent Williams Jr. believes he's something of a role model for his fellow students.

And he cringes walking around campus and seeing what some of baggy, low-slung jeans and other less-than-professional clothing his fellow classmates wear.

So he's doing something about it. Read more here.

Juicy Campus, a website that fostered vulgar, crass, anonymous gossip among college students, has fallen victim to the recession.

The online board, the brainchild of Duke University graduate Matt Ivester, was a popular place for college students to make crude comments about others. Cloaked, naturally, in anonymity.

The website vexed university administrators, many of whom are surely reveling in its demise. It certainly didn't raise the level of campus discourse, what with topics like "Biggest slut on campus" and the like.

Ivester created the website while at Duke. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, one Duke administrator tried, unsuccessfully, to convince Ivester to tone it down.

So the administrator, Larry Moneta, Duke's vice president for student affairs, advised colleagues to just let the website play itself out, according to the Chronicle article.

"This is one of the rare occasions in which I got it right," Moneta told that publication. "It ran its course, in some respects longer than I expected. Rest in peace."

A fundraising initiative to raise money for financial aid at Duke University has netted $308 million, according to a news release from the university.

The $308 million appears to be the final take from the initiative, which began in 2005 and will establish 478 new scholarships and fellowships.

If this news seems a bit stale, you may be recalling Duke's announcement of just two months ago. That was when the university announced the initiative had topped the $300 million mark.

Apparently, it had just a bit more fundraising to go.

At Duke, campus police have added to its arsenal the ultimate in easy navigation of campus - the Segway.

In the video below, you'll see how Duke police are using the Segway to get around campus.

Looks fun, doesn't it? 

"Stop, thief, or I'll lean forward and glide effortlessly towards you!"

Duke University is requesting a third continuance on its request to close two streets near East Campus.The request was due for a public hearing during tonight's Durham City Council meeting.

The request has met opposition from the nearby Burch Avenue Neighborhood Association and several other neighborhoods.

If approved, the university would get ownership of the Maxwell and Sumter street right-of-ways, which run 1,067 feet and 295 feet, respectively, through Duke property between Buchanan Boulevard and Campus Drive, the railroad and Durham Freeway.

Duke originally said it did not intend to actually close the streets, only to take control of them for incorporation into a renovation of the area around its Smith Warehouse, which is being remodeled for office space.

However, opponents say, Duke has now changed its mind and wants to install a gate to restrict access. City council member Eugene Brown said he would not support Duke in that case.

Burch Avenue residents want the request denied unless Duke signs binding agreements that it will keep the streets open for public use, and provide a bicycle-pedestrian route between Pettigrew Street and Buchanan. The Old West Durham, Trinity Park and Long Meadow neighborhood associations have supported their position.

Maxwell and Sumter streets are in bad condition, but residents say they provide a useful detour when Buchanan is blocked by trains.

The council hearing was already continued from the Dec. 1 and Dec. 15 meetings to encourage Duke and the neighbors to strike an agreement, but council members were still receiving emails this week from citizens opposed to the closing.

Okay. Quick now. What does former UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser have in common with Oprah Winfrey?

Give up?

They will both receive honorary degrees in May from Duke University.

According to Duke news release today, Moeser and Winfrey are among seven recipients of honorary degrees at the May commencement ceremony. Winfrey will be the featured speaker at the May 10 event.

Moeser, who while presiding over commencement ceremonies in Chapel Hill during his eight years as chancellor, occasionally made light-hearted jabs at that private school down the road, is credited with the creation of the Carolina Covenant - a financial aid program for low-income students, as well as the expansion of genome research, successful fundraising and other accomplishments, according to the Duke news release.

Given the interest in yesterday's inauguration of President Barack Obama, most newspapers of any size printed special sections for folks to keep for posterity.

We at the News & Observer did one; please go grab a couple for the grandkids.

And when you do, click on the youtube link below to learn, courtesy of Duke University's libraries, how best to preserve the paper.

As you may have heard, snow is expected Tuesday. Could be a lot, may be a little. So live up to the stereotype and run out NOW for bread and milk.

Around the Triangle, universities are bracing for whatever comes. Here are links to the adverse weather pages - complete with bold red lettering when needed for emphasis - at our local universities.

UNC Chapel Hill.

Duke.

N.C. State 

(You may want to check here too for NCSU info)

Wake Technical Community College

Durham Technical Community College

As of this writing late Monday, there were no weather advisories posted on the main web pages for N.C. Central, Shaw or Meredith.