Despite the brouhaha over this year's batch of uncharacteristic admissions numbers, Yale and Harvard both report yield rates—the number of students who accepted offers—virtually the same as last year's. At Harvard, the rate stayed steady at 78 percent; at Yale, the percentage went from 68.9 to 69.4.

Meanwhile, the wait list game has gotten more complicated. This year, top schools have admitted fewer students in the first place (for a variety of reasons, such as the abnormally large applicant numbers and dorm overcrowding), and these colleges are now dipping particularly deep into their wait lists to fill their next freshmen classes. And students aren't the only ones who are feeling the angst of uncertainty. Dartmouth, for instance, is "in a holding pattern," its admissions dean said. "If they go deep into their wait lists there's a domino effect that has an impact on all of us."

More protesting over California higher education budget cuts: Hundreds of UC-Berkeley students rallied to spare the department of East Asian Languages and Cultures from cuts, which could reduce Japanese language courses by 40 percent, Chinese language courses by 54 percent, and Korean language courses by 66 percent, the Daily Californian reports

Attendance at the demonstration—which also featured students marching and chanting "Hey hey, ho, ho. Asian languages will not go"— was impressive, despite impending finals. "The fact that these students would come out at a time when they are so pressed for time, it just speaks volumes about how much this issue matters to them."

Classes were canceled at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio after a four-alarm fire severely damaged the Catholic college's 113-year-old historic main building Tuesday night, according to the Houston Chronicle . There were no injuries or deaths as a result of the fire, but more than 100 students have been displaced from their dorms. Finals remain scheduled for next week.

Officials are still seeking the cause of the fire and are also looking into potential links to other minor incidents around campus—such as a small trash can fire that day and a bomb threat found Monday.

*San Diego State University has placed six fraternities on "interim suspension" after the arrest of several members in the recent large drug bust on campus, the Daily Aztec reports.

*A finals week tradition at Penn State University called the "Mifflin Streak" has led to the arrest of four students, the Daily Collegian reports. The four were charged with disorderly conduct and open lewdness. Oddly enough, the large block party that led to the arrest of 400 people at the University of Wisconsin was also held on a thoroughfare named "Mifflin." Weird.

*Speaking of alcohol consumption at Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court has ruled that a Madison ban on drink specials after 8 p.m. on weekends does not violate antitrust laws, the Daily Cardinal writes.

A proposal for a six-day school week at Kean University in New Jersey has sparked protest from students and faculty, the Star-Ledger reports. According to Kean officials, the longer week would utilize campus facilities more efficiently, allow students to graduate more quickly, and even alleviate campus parking problems. Under the proposal, the school would add more classes on Fridays and Saturdays, making them shorter, and spreading out more classes through the week.

The plan—which takes other schools' efforts to boost Friday classes to the next level—has faced criticism that lower-income students at the commuter school would have less flexibility with their jobs while faculty would have less time for research and community service.

In a massive drug bust, police have arrested 96 people in the San Diego area—75 of them students from San Diego State University, law enforcement officials said today.

The undercover investigation—named "Operation Sudden Fall" and joined by federal officials halfway through—was initiated in May 2007 after an SDSU student died of a cocaine overdose. A Mesa College student also died of an accidental overdose at an SDSU frat house late February this year.

Police seized marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy pills, mushrooms, hash oil, methamphetamine, prescription drugs, brass knuckles, one shotgun, three semiautomatic pistols, and about $60,000 in cash. Undercover officers conducted more than 130 drug buys in locations like fraternity houses, student parking lots, and dorms.

Eighteen SDSU students were arrested this morning, while the rest have been taken in over the course of the past year. Those arrested include students living in campus housing and fraternities; one student was majoring in criminal justice (arrested on charges of possession of cocaine and two guns), while two others—one getting his master's degree in homeland security and the other working as a campus police community service officer—were arrested on suspicion of selling cocaine.

All arrested students have been suspended from SDSU pending review.

An independent investigation of a 2007 study abroad program in rural Ghana found that the 17 University of Washington students on the trip were mistreated, concluding that the instructor had "improperly handled complaints concerning illnesses, lack of food and poor content of lectures," the Daily writes. The report also says the instructor's husband misbehaved on the trip, allegedly calling the participants "imperialists" during a student's visit to a clinic.

The instructor refutes the report's claims, mostly blaming the nongovernmental organization that sponsored the trip for the problems: "The report is seriously flawed, incomplete and full of factual inaccuracies."

The students were not reimbursed for the program but instead received $2,500 for their troubles.

A block party at the University of Wisconsin this weekend resulted in about 400 arrests, a 10 percent jump from last year and the most in the party's history, the Badger Herald reports. Around 10,000 people attended the party, which produced no major fights or incidents but did prompt police to shut down house parties for excessive noise and overcrowding. Most of the arrests were for infractions such as open containers of alcohol on public property or underage drinking.

Critics of the arrests say the heavy police presence has given the party an undue bad reputation. "I'm not blaming the cops," said the alderman whose district includes the area. "I'm just saying that their pro-arrest, zero-tolerance policy of heavy enforcement of all laws makes it seem as if this party is absolutely out of control, which it is not."

Without getting into specifics, University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman confirmed that black enrollment was down for the year, the Michigan Daily reports. The decrease corresponds with the implementation of a 2006 statewide ballot initiative that essentially banned affirmative action at public institutions. The numbers will be released later in the month, establishing whether the decline is officially a plunge or just a dip.

Coleman said the school plans to ramp up recruiting tactics aimed at underrepresented minorities for next year, as it did when minority enrollment dropped in the wake of the Supreme Court's affirmative action ruling in 2003.

Moms Weekend at Ohio University was not all tea and crumpets and watching chorale concerts: Some mothers hit up the bar scene with their kiddies, too, the Post reports. One mother has an explanation for the "crazy mom" debauchery and inappropriate dance moves: "It's like they sit in their house all year except for this one night."

* Two students from the University of Colorado-Boulder, who police say were "visibly intoxicated," were arrested early Wednesday morning after allegedly carting bows and arrows and hunting raccoons on campus, the Campus Press reports. The pair were found around 2:50 a.m. near the school's chemistry building "literally, like hiding behind bushes and things like that," a police officer said. They were held for possessing a deadly weapon on university property.

*Two Keene State University students have been charged with reckless conduct after taking an inflatable kiddie pool over waterfalls last month, the Keene Equinox reports. One of the "rafters" got trapped underneath the falls and was rescued by Keene firefighters, who also had to retrieve a woman who jumped in to try to save him.

An infrequent yet steady stream of hate graffiti has been reported on white boards and doors in a Penn State dorm this year, the Daily Collegian reports. Campus police are making a final end-of-the-school-year push for more info on the graffiti, which have been about race and sexual orientation.

Perpetrators could be charged with criminal mischief for defacing property, or harassment if the remarks are directed toward an individual.

With temperatures barely hitting 50 degrees, 18 SUNY-Geneseo students formed a human peace sign on the campus lawn. Naked. Really naked (see the pic).

More than 100 onlookers came to look (gawk?) at what one unadorned participant called "an artistic expression of what's important," the Lamron reports. Said the event organizer: "For people to step out of their comfort zone...really proves that they're committed to peace."

Apparently indifferent to indecent exposure laws, the school's dean of students voiced his support for the demonstration: "As far as I can tell, it's protected political expression. We have a group of students who want to take a stand on something—I'm supportive of that."

A University of Wisconsin Law School "Sex Toys 101" talk was shut down by the school, and the event organizers—who say the event was an attempt to promote safe alternatives to sex and discuss laws concerning sex toys—are not happy about it, the Badger Herald reports.

The official reason the seminar was canceled was that policy "prohibits the promotion or sale of commercial products by a private company." But many students suspect it's possible that the event's racy fliers had something to do with it, too. Accompanied by a photo of wrists in shackles, one advertisement asks: "Finals got you tied up at the library all night? Wouldn't you rather be tied up at home?" The other, littered with photos of sex toys, is probably too scandalous for me to repeat.

The two sides have sort of worked out their differences: Event organizers filed a complaint—asking for reimbursement for the event. The school complied but hasn't backed down from its claim that the cancellation was policy related, not necessarily a matter of taste. Meanwhile, the inevitable First Amendment discussion lingers. Says a political science professor: "The larger question to be asked is to what extent can the Law School set reasonable limits on presentations that advocate certain sexual practices because they have an interest in basic decency."

Blah, blah, blah. Why can't they just kiss and make up and color in pictures of male and female genitalia with rainbows like they do in Kansas?

For the California state school students who couldn't make it to the massive protest in Sacramento last week, there are other ways to take a stand against the proposed $386 million in budget cuts to higher education. Like fax machines. Lots of fax machines.

Activists at various Cal State campuses, including Long Beach and Fullerton, have been collecting signatures—which will be faxed individually to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office in Sacramento to "basically [try] to jam up his fax machines."

Over the weekend, 659 faxes from Long Beach were sent. Protest organizers—with apparent utter disregard for the cost of paper, ink, and fax machines—say they have collected thousands of signatures across the state.