Entries for November 17, 2006

UCLA students plan to hold a protest today in response to university police officers' repeated use of a Taser gun against a student Tuesday, Inside Higher Ed reports, linking to this Facebook announcement of the march. Police hit Mostafa Tabatabainejad four times with a Taser after he failed to provide a student ID card during a random check, the Daily Bruin reports. The Facebook announcement calls on students to join the march "not just because you're Persian/Iranian but because you care about your fellow human beings." A cellphone videotape of the evidence, obtained by the Daily Bruin, gives a detailed account of the library incident.

Racial slurs and hate speech aren't new at the University of Michigan. But since the state voted yes on Proposition 2, an affirmative action ban, they've gotten a "new edge," the university's dean of students told the Michigan Daily. Some of the messages are tied directly to Proposition 2; one student received a Facebook message calling him a "n-----" after he posted his opposition to the amendment on his profile. That student has now asked his peers to save similar examples as evidence that "equality and fairness does" not exist in this state."

Some students and administrators are trying to stop a growing tradition called the "fourth-year fifth," which dictates that University of Virginia seniors consume a fifth of alcohol, or about 17 shots, at the last home football game of their fourth year. One tool of opposition: a 5K race, says the Cavalier Daily.

The "lack of news," says assistant news editor Brian Sylvester, "is disturbing." Almost as disturbing as Sylvester's plea for a mutant invasion or a "triple homicide."

The University of Chicago, proud home of the "uncommon application," may soon join the Common Application bandwagon, the Maroon reports. The student newspaper's editorial board said it supports the move, but one op-ed contributor says that's all just "symbolic of how the University of Chicago has lost its way."

• Mansfield University—known as the site of the first outdoor college football game to be played at night, in 1892—has decided to cut its football team, the Associated Press reports.
• The University of Iowa may announce its next president today, the Daily Iowan reports.
• Maryland's new Democratic governor may help the University of Maryland move forward with benefits for gay and lesbian partners, says the Diamondback .
• A Washington State University student group offered support for a rule change that would allow university patrols of student dorms, despite a court decision--and despite a poll showing most students don't support the change, the Daily Evergreen reports.
• Florida State University and the University of Florida were created on the same day with the same piece of legislation, but the schools claim two different founding dates--probably for marketing reasons, says the Daily Alligator.
• Montana state universities could start mandating classes in American Indian history and culture, the Montana Kaimin reports.