Entries for May 2007

The Stanford Daily continues its coverage of the Stanford imposter and reports that Azia Kim was able to infiltrate the Army ROTC detachment at Santa Clara University. (Because of a campus ban on ROTC, Stanford undergrads who want to participate have to take do so at other nearby colleges.)

Kim took classes on Army tactics and history (which she excelled at), received military equipment, and earned official military awards for her top grades at Stanford (which she proved with forged documents).

When a fellow cadet once asked, "Wouldn't it be funny if you went to Housing and they said that you weren't a Stanford student," Kim "didn't even flinch," says an acquaintance. "That just shows her awesomeness." --Alison Go

• A kooky comparative lit professor at the University of Washington has retired, leaving behind the memory of him prancing about in his underwear while dramatizing Dostoyevsky, the Daily writes. The 1960s really were a magical time.
• The Michigan Liquor Control Commission has increased the security deposit on kegs from $10 to $30, the Michigan Daily reports. Supporters of the change say it will deter thieves from taking the stainless steel containers and selling them as scrap metal; they are lobbying for an even bigger increase, maybe up to $90 a keg. --A.G.

Power outages at two schools caused considerable consternation, actually forcing students to go outside into the perfectly nice weather. At Michigan State, some students complained that an outage affecting almost 4,000 residences and businesses, including a student bookstore and a Starbucks, has caused rampant boredom and frustration, the State News reports. "I just bought a new video game," yelled one student. At Ohio University, an outage canceled the earliest showings of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie at the campus theater, according to the Post. The scene at the theater was described as "pandemonium." --Alison Go

• Eschewing cover charges, several enterprising Ohio University students have funded private house parties, thanks to sponsorship from a calzone restaurant and a caffeinated malt beverage company, the Post reports.
• Northwestern University, which ranks ninth of the 11 Big Ten schools for the male-to-female ratio of tenured faculty, faces criticism for allegedly discriminating against women, the Daily Northwestern reports.--A.G.

A new twist in the Duke Fuqua School of Business cheating scandal: Many of the accused are Asian international students and have been in the country for less than a year, the Chronicle reports.

The lawyer representing 16 students who are appealing the school's sanctions, which range from failing grades to expulsion, said his clients did not completely understand the Honor Code or judicial proceedings. "There is something else going on here, something that needs to be explained before we go forward with this, because it doesn't look right," he said.

He also said that many of the students wrote letters of confession when pressured by faculty, accelerating the trial process and leaving them little time to defend themselves. International students who are expelled would lose their student visas and would be deported. --Alison Go

If you can't get into Stanford, then do like Azia Kim and fake it. For eight months, using excuses and explanations ranging from housing mix-ups to "roommate" issues, Kim was able to dupe at least two unsuspecting (and legit) sophomores into thinking she was a full-time student for the fall and winter quarters, the Stanford Daily reports. Kim bought books, attended classes, and even broke into a roommate's E-mail account to cover her tracks. She was eventually busted after several resident advisers finally started wondering what was up.

Without a Stanford ID or a key, she was forced to sneak into meals and enter her room through its window. Spending much of her time at her boyfriend's, Kim's roommate never noticed. "She took off the screen and always left one of the windows wide open and the blinds up," the roommate said. "I just guessed she always wanted a breezy room."--Christina Mueller and A.G.

• A year and a half of demonstrations and two cancelled commencement speakers later, the University of California system and union officials reached agreement yesterday over a custodial worker wage dispute, the Daily Californian writes. The agreement will increase hourly wages at Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Santa Barbara by $1.75, and by 50 cents at the other UC campuses, affecting about 3,000 custodians.
• The "Women of UW" calendar, awash with scantily clad University of Washington students, has been pulled from university bookstore shelves after an E-mail campaign charged the calendar with objectifying women, the Seattle Times reports. The calendar features 13 women because, as the Times points out, "one month shows twins."
• More than 100 Iowa State faculty members signed a petition opposing a chaplain for the football team, according to the Iowa State Daily.
• The Daily Barometer writes about the "barefoot man," an Oregon State sophomore who isn't much a fan of shoes. With long hair and beard, he is often described as looking like Jesus. He also carves garden gnomes. --A.G.

The FBI continues to investigate a series of security breaches at Ohio University starting two years ago, which exposed the personal information of almost 300,000 university alumni donors and the medical records of at least 60,000 more and allowed the perpetrators to use the school's network to hack other computers all over the country, the Post reports. A controversial report says the infiltrated system had gone undetected for months and in one case more than a year, partially owing to institutional problems like high turnover in the information technology department.

At least two IT officials have been fired because of the breach, according to the Post. A class action suit also has been filed by alumni, blaming the school for negligence and asking for compensation for any injuries related to identity theft.

After two years, authorities still have little idea who is behind the attacks, but they did trace the increase in traffic to computers in Asia. --Alison Go and Christina Mueller

• University of Minnesota officials are considering a smoke-free campus after the governor signed a statewide smoking ban, the Minnesota Daily reports. "You shouldn't have to walk five blocks to have a smoke," says a smoker who opposes the ban. True, especially if you can't make it halfway there without feeling winded.
• Perhaps that Maytag man from the commercials should wander over to the campus of Northeastern University to help fix the 284 dishwashers affected by a February 1 recall, the Northeastern News suggests.
• Making a tough, life-changing decision, the Dartmouth student association earmarked $8,000 for new vending machines that work with the school's debit card system instead of more television channels at the cardio machines in the gym, the Dartmouth reports.
• A University of Oklahoma senior makes and sells electric bicycles for $864, the Hub writes. Should the Segway makers be worried? --Alison Go

Northwestern University's annual music festival, Dillo Day, will be short one band but expecting thousands of winged party crashers, the Daily Northwestern reports. Motion City Soundtrack has canceled its concert because of the lead singer's "medical problems," and organizers are now scrambling to replace the Minneapolis-based pop-rock band.

Meanwhile, students' ears very likely will still be ringing as "huge, deafening flying insects emerge from the darkness . . . flood the air, scream out their mating calls, reproduce, and die" on Dillo Day weekend. After their regular 17-year hiatus, thousands or even millions of cicadas will descend upon Evanston and will basically behave like many college students: They will indulge in food and sex. "But it's not like it's locusts or anything," says one optimistic festival planner.

As a bonus, if partyers get a little hungry, there are plenty of the high-protein fliers to snack on. Do they taste like chicken? Not so much. Cicadas are apparently reminiscent of canned asparagus when eaten raw, and their texture is more like shrimp when cooked. "My favorite recipe is to barbecue them with garlic and butter," says one enthusiast. Kind of like lobster. But disgusting. --Alison Go

• UC-Santa Barbara skateboarders probably are shaking in their well-worn sneakers as two town hall meetings will be convened to discuss skating safety, the Daily Nexus reports.
• Next time a purring, naked woman appears in a pop-up Web ad while you're in a quiet and crowded computer lab, record yourself. That's how one Dartmouth senior got second place and $800 in a computer security video contest, the Dartmouth reports.
• A Lantern story asks: How would you spend $40,000? Send an in-state student to Ohio State for five years or buy a giant seal (not the animal) as a class gift?

A Daily Bruin columnist defends UCLA's 100 non-football national championships after an Orange County Register column essentially dismissed them. Football domination is, apparently, not the most important thing in the world ever, according to the Bruin. "To say that this [university's] athletic program is underachieving because it has not won a football title is preposterous," he writes.

Perhaps sensing his colleague's desperation, another Bruin writer proposes a new NCAA sport, "Jeopardus Awesomenus," in light of the school's 2007 Jeopardy! College Championship win at the hands of the endearingly awkward Cliff Galiher.

But really, are 100 NCAA championships plus a pre-eminent game show award just as sweet as one football title? Maybe. --Alison Go

• The George Washington University Board of Trustees has made a call for more uniformity in the freshman writing requirement, the GW Hatchet reports. Note to Board of Trustees: Read Ayn Rand's Anthem.
• Ohio State students in a course called "Fashion, the Body, and Popular Culture" got a guest lecture from a drag queen, the Lantern reports.
• News of the Obvious: A poll at Tufts shows that no students think a new pub will make social life worse, the Tufts Daily reports.

Stanford senior Diana Clough, an ROTC cadet who must travel 30 minutes one way to train at Santa Clara University, has lived a "split existence," as President Bush described it, the Stanford Daily writes. Bush recently condemned schools that do not have ROTC chapters on campus. "To the cadets and midshipmen who are graduating from a college or university that believes ROTC is not worthy of a place on campus, here is my message: Your university may not honor your military service, but the United States of America does," he said.

Clough was one of the students Bush's speechwriters interviewed for insight. As a freshman without a car, she depended on older cadets for rides to the drills, labs, and training sessions, and now, as a senior, she does her best to support the underclassmen in the same situation. "I felt like [Bush] was talking about me the entire time," she says, "which is really insane." --Alison Go

Remember the good ol' days when graphing calculators were good only for Tetris? Now Texas Instruments wants you to use your TI-83 calculator to, gasp, communicate with your professor, the Oregon State Daily Barometer reports.

The new TI-Navigator wirelessly connects students' devices with an instructor's computer, giving teachers "real-time feedback from students." That's all warm and fuzzy, but it also allows instructors to see and track what is on students' screens at any given time. No definitive word yet on whether Oregon State will implement the program, but to be safe, conspiracy theorists should stick to the liberal arts majors.--A.G.