Entries for January 18, 2007

Maybe they heard stories of people like the University of Iowa student who's signing up for the National Guard in part because military service will help him pay off his loans, or the Boston University student whose studies were delayed by a trip to the Marine Corps and then Iraq—all to help him pay for college. The bill passed by the House of Representatives yesterday, which calls for bringing interest rates on federal student loans down to about 3.4 percent over five years (from 6.8 percent today), would cost an estimated $6 billion, the Associated Press reports.

That might have been the philosophy behind Cornell University President David Skorton's winter break trip to India, whose educational system is attracting attention recently from American leaders who are nervous the U.S. system is falling behind. (Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings visited India in 2006 and cited the country's investments in education in testimony to the House Committee on Science (PDF) in March.)The Daily Sun reports that Cornell has now drafted "several memoranda of understanding ... including agreements to expand collaboration in engineering, computing, agriculture, food processing, and marketing." Skorton's tour, which snaked through Bangalore, New Delhi, Bombay, and Hyderabad, included a two-hour session with India's prime minister at Manmohan Singh's private residence, the Sun reports.

Mostafa Tabatabainejad, the UCLA student whom campus police struck with a Taser two months ago, filed a federal lawsuit against UCLA and university police yesterday claiming his civil rights had been abused, the Daily Bruin reports. Police struck Tabatabainejad repeatedly with a Taser gun when he failed to produce identification in a campus library and then did not leave the library promptly when asked. A cellphone video of the incident surfaced on the Internet shortly after, sparking a campus protest. The lawsuit also claims that the attack on Tabatabainejad, who has a bipolar disorder, violated the Americans With Disabilities Act. But the lawsuit's main goal, the student's attorney told the L.A. Times, is "to change the way UCLA police behave and treat people on campus, their discipline and their training."

Earlier:

• UCLA Taser Cop Was Once Officer of the Year--and Once Shot a Homeless Man
• UCLA Students to Protest Tasers Today

Florida Gulf Coast University President William Merwin resigned yesterday, citing "a personal relationship with a female faculty member." Students, surprised by the resignation, had quickly concocted rumors to explain it, the Naples News reports. "We heard he stole money to give to poor kids," one student said. Merwin told the Fort Myers News-Press he made the decision after learning he'd been caught. "Someone said they happened to see me [with the woman]," he told the paper. "So I told my wife. She was devastated." Since taking the job in 1999, Merwin oversaw growth from a student body of 2,000 to 8,000, according to the Naples News.

• After more than a month of debate, Jimmy Carter will speak at Brandeis University this month—and so will Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard law school professor "who through the whole debate has been framed as Carter's archnemesis," the Justice reports.
• At Boston University, partying restrictions have come not from the university but from the city of Boston, whose mayor's office earlier this month ordered a temporary ban on under-21 nights at all clubs in the popular Lansdowne Street area and the theater district, the Daily Free Press reports.
• Hosting George W. Bush's presidential library will not compromise academic freedom, Southern Methodist University President Gerald Turner assured faculty yesterday, the Dallas Morning News reports. Since the deal was announced, professors have expressed concern over hosting Bush's library-and the public policy institute expected to come with it.