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Tax Break = More Ramen Noodles
Tweet Share on Facebook May 9, 2007 CommentIn a classic case of "well, the sentiment is nice," University of Texas students are one step closer to getting a tax break on textbooks, the Daily Texan reports. The state Senate unanimously passed a bill Tuesday that would set aside two 10-day periods before the start of the fall and spring semesters when students could buy books tax free. The legislation now heads to the House.–A.G.
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Trail Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook May 9, 2007 Comment- In its oxymoronic quest to figure out whether the vitamin-fortified Diet Coke Plus is a "healthy soda," the Daily Northwestern reports that "adding a few supplements to something that is not healthy does not magically make it healthy."
- UCLA may soon begin construction for an on-campus pub, according to the Daily Bruin.
- The Poly Post at Cal Poly-Pomona reports the most profitable majors are business, engineering, marketing, accounting, and information technology. Liberal arts students are left to wonder how many ways you can combine "bottom dweller" and "English major" in a sentence.
- According to the Daily Nexus, a two-hour blackout forced UC-Santa Barbara students to leave class early, hang out outside, use the stairs, delay dinner, and forgo Facebook. The horrors. –A.G.
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At UC-Santa Barbara, Plans to Protest Nuclear Weapon Research
Tweet Share on Facebook May 8, 2007 CommentCriticizing the moral and environmental implications of nuclear weaponry, 15 students at UC-Santa Barbara have proposed a hunger strike and a weeklong tent city-style campout to protest the university's ties with nuclear research facilities including Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Daily Nexus reports. In a possible boon for the pudding industry, the students have threatened a solid food hunger strike and have suggested that hundreds or thousands of supporters would join the protest.
One school official warned students that resistance was futile. "The regents have no concern about [your health and safety]," Dean of Social Sciences Melvin Oliver says. "Think strategically." --Alison Go
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Pickup Truck Misses Students but Hits Sorority House
Tweet Share on Facebook May 8, 2007 CommentA high-speed police chase resulted in a collision between a pickup truck and a University of Kansas sorority house, the Daily Kansan reports. According to the police, officers originally had responded to a report of a man smashing the windows of two vehicles with a hammer and threatening a man with a knife around 2:20 a.m. The resulting car chase at speeds of up to 80 mph led the Dodge Dakota pickup to the Chi Omega house, where the 23-year-old driver narrowly missed students relaxing in the sorority's fountain. The pickup driver was flown by helicopter to a hospital for treatment. None of the students at the sorority house were injured.
About 10 Jayhawks were in the fountain at the time, "some swimming in bikinis or boxers." The close call left sophomore Rufus Kerr, who was taking a soggy study break, in a state of stunned helplessness. "One girl was throwing up right where the truck went the minute before," he said. "We were just so vulnerable." --A.G.
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Trail Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook May 8, 2007 Comment- A district attorney has dropped all charges against four men involved in an altercation involving a tent, machete, and pitchfork outside a University of Wisconsin fraternity house, the Badger Herald reports.
- Two Cal Poly students live double lives as Girl Scout leaders, the Mustang Daily reports. Their third-grade lackeys describe the two leaders as "nice," patient," and "not so bossy." Paper Trail thinks they're just trying to score free cookies.
- As if Buckeyes and Wolverines needed another reason to resent each other, Ohio State University announced Bill Clinton will be its commencement speaker on June 10, the Lantern reports. Clinton spoke at the University of Michigan on April 28.
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Student Journalism Has a Bad Week Globally
Tweet Share on Facebook May 7, 2007 CommentIt's been a trying time for student journalists this week. Besides the arrest of two former Harvard Crimson editors, the University News at St. Louis University lost a major battle in its war with school administrators over the paper's independence, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The university's board of trustees OK'd a new charter for the newspaper, allowing the school to make structural changes, including how editors are hired and fired, the News reports. Student editors say the move is an attempt to gain more control over a paper that has often criticized the administration while school officials say it is an effort to improve the publication's quality, the Columbia Tribune reports.
On the other side of the world, a student editor of a reformist newspaper at Tehran's Amir Kabir University was arrested Thursday after the publication of allegedly anti-Islam caricatures, the Gulf Times reports. The material has spurred days of protest, and members of the right-wing Basij military have demanded the firing of those responsible for its publication. Editors of several reformist newspapers say they have been framed–that the images were put into papers by unknown individuals as a plot to discredit them. –Alison Go
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Unfriendly Skies Greet Clinton at Michigan
Tweet Share on Facebook May 7, 2007 CommentUniversity of Michigan commencement planners most likely pined for the Goodyear blimp after seeing what antiabortion activists cooked up for the April 29 graduation ceremony. With former President Bill Clinton as the keynote speaker, two banners flew overhead that read "Choose life, not Hillary & abortion," and "Congratulations graduates. Defend the unborn," the Michigan Daily reports.
Although the signs, which flew overhead for most of the ceremony, were not directly disruptive, they did illustrate the confusion and miscommunication between the university and the Federal Aviation Administration. No-fly zones are normally in effect at football games at Michigan Stadium where the ceremony was held, but FAA officials said they had "never seen a temporary flight restriction imposed on the aviation community for a former president" and that a request from the university had never been made. School administrators say they did in fact ask for a no-fly zone, that it had been granted, and that the FAA changed its decision a day before the event. –A.G.
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Trail Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook May 7, 2007 Comment- Students at Oregon State University voted for an $8.50 "green fee" that will presumably allow the school to purchase more renewable forms of energy, the Daily Barometer reports.
- The RamRide program at Colorado State University celebrated its 50,000th safe ride Saturday, the Rocky Mountain Collegian reports. The program's director recounts stories of schlepping egregiously drunk kids from one side of campus to the other. –A.G.
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Racist Graffiti Gets Villanova Talking
Tweet Share on Facebook May 4, 2007 CommentAt least five incidents of racist graffiti have rattled students and university administrators but have also inspired a push to increase cultural awareness, the Villanovan reports. The incidents include antiblack sentiments and a swastika drawing on residence hall walls. Two students have stepped forward in one of the cases.
A march and an open forum discussion were planned for Thursday, and long-term projects may include boosting awareness during freshman orientation and marking where the incidents occurred. --Alison Go
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Maryland Tries Out Coed Dorm Rooms
Tweet Share on Facebook May 4, 2007 CommentThe University of Maryland has approved a trial period in 2008 for mixed-sex apartments in the school's housing facilities, the Diamondback reports. While the controversial living arrangement has been implemented in a handful of small liberal arts colleges, Maryland would become the second large state school to adopt any kind of mixed living, after UC-Berkeley.
Some activists hailed the decision as supportive of transgender students, while cultural conservatives remain wary. Those in the middle wonder what may happen when relationships are involved. Housing officials are considering safeguards for the trial, such as parental approval, background checks, and special training for resident advisers. --A.G.
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