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AP Article - Radioactive Pillow Student Expelled
Radioactive Pillow Student Expelled
Updated 9:35 PM ET April 4, 2000
NEW YORK (AP) - Columbia University has expelled a Chinese graduate student who officials say tainted a pillow in her apartment with a radioactive material in an attempt to force the school to let her switch majors from biology to business.
The student, Yao Cheng, claims she didn't know how her pillow became tainted with the radioactive stain.
Cheng, who works in a lab in a building where the radioactive material, phosphorus-32, is used in research to tag cells and genes, has appealed the expulsion. If she loses the appeal, she could forfeit her student visa and be forced to leave the United States.
A Columbia spokesman declined Tuesday to comment on Cheng's claims. A telephone number for Cheng could not be obtained.
Cheng and her husband, Lei Liu, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science, initially said a routine test on Feb. 8 showed she had slight contamination on her hands, chin and hair. The next day she borrowed a Geiger counter, scanned her apartment, found the pillow, and reported it to the university.
Columbia suspended the couple when an investigation determined the radioactive substance had been intentionally placed there. Columbia officials said that during the investigation, Cheng suggested that she might have to transfer her current studies from biology to business.
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Jim Hardeman, Manager
Environmental Radiation Program
Environmental Protection Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
4244 International Parkway, Suite 114
Atlanta, GA 30354
(404) 362-2675 fax: (404) 362-2653
Jim_Hardeman@mail.dnr.state.ga.us
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