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Trail Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook May 22, 2007 Comment- 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?
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Football Isn't Everything, Even in College
Tweet Share on Facebook May 21, 2007 CommentA 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
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Trail Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook May 21, 2007 Comment- 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.
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The Plight of a Cadet at a ROTC-less School
Tweet Share on Facebook May 18, 2007 CommentStanford 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
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Graphing Calculators, Let Me Introduce You to Big Brother
Tweet Share on Facebook May 18, 2007 Comment (1)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.
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Trail Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook May 18, 2007 Comment- Ohio State hosts a carnival where "cotton candy and other food will be provided," the Lantern reports. I love how cotton candy is "food" now.
- Harvard students want more ways to waste time and have lobbied for dorm access to 250 glorious channels of satellite TV, the Crimson writes.
- MIT and UCLA are making computer programming so easy a child (but not a caveman) can understand it, the Daily Bruin reports.
- The Mirror writes about Dartmouth's young alumni, especially fraternity and sorority members who don't seem eager to move on.
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California Schools Debate the Price of Tobacco Grants
Tweet Share on Facebook May 17, 2007 CommentControversy within the University of California community continues over whether the schools should begin accepting grant money from tobacco companies, UC-Santa Barbara's Daily Nexus reports. Critics of the grants claim that tobacco-funded research corrupts the university's integrity, while supporters say refusing the money is just stifling perfectly good science.
One UC-San Francisco medical professor with an affinity for gangster analogies condemns the faculty members who back the grants. "If Al Capone offered money to open a center to study tax policy ... these guys would take it," he said. "To see this great university chasing after the cigarette companies is like watching a prostitute run down the street after a mobster."--Alison Go
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Cyclists Face Off Against Motorist and Police
Tweet Share on Facebook May 17, 2007 CommentA UC-Berkeley pro-biking demonstration on May 11 turned violent after a driver allegedly intentionally accelerated toward a crowd of cyclists crossing the street. According to the Daily Californian, the cyclists then turned on the vehicle, pounding on the van and cracking the windshield.
As if there weren't enough to dispute already, the police account and bicyclists' recollection of the event differ mildly. While protesters say officers on the scene refused to take their statements, the police say the witnesses declined to talk. The police are still investigating the incident, which has incensed the biking community. "This is a mentality of drivers, this isn't an isolated incident," says one of the protesters. "They think they can hit bicyclists and be OK." --A.G.
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Big Ten Network Saves Audience from Bad Beer Ads
Tweet Share on Facebook May 17, 2007 CommentWhen the Big Ten Network, the first of its kind, launches in August, sports fans will not be subjected to the Coors train, "Man Rules," or that horrible Bacardi and Diet Coke commercial. The network has banned alcohol-related ads from its coverage, in part to remain more family friendly, the Daily Northwestern reports. Ohio State was the first school to endorse the move, with Northwestern and the University of Minnesota following suit. About a quarter of the NCAA schools have endorsed an initiative to reject TV alcohol ads during sports programs. "Young people shouldn't be sent the message that athletic prowess is linked to alcohol consumption," says one official. True, but what about watching athletic prowess? --A.G.
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Trail Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook May 17, 2007 Comment- Doctors are concerned that students who listen to portable music players such iPods already may be starting to go deaf, Oregon State's Daily Barometer writes.
- The California Aggie draws a connection between UC-Davis sophomore Clement David not owning a cellphone and his taking a three-month hike through Nepal. He will also face off with tigers while riding an elephant in a jungle, he says.
- Vampire Diaries, an X-rated film shot on the Ball State campus, has seen weak sales since riling up school officials in February, the Daily News reports.
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