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Drexel Frat Learns Nothing Is Secret Online
Tweet Share on Facebook June 29, 2007 CommentLike something out of a bad CW television show, an E-mail circulating around Drexel University sororities accuses the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity of posting scandalous pictures and offensive content on its internal website, the Triangle reports. The E-mail reads: "Under headings such as 'jawn spotting' and 'smuts,' brothers can access your pictures, Facebook profile links, a list of brothers who have been with you, nicknames, comments about you and even a place where the men can rank you...Not only is it voyeurism, and pornography, it is also morally wrong." The letter also claims the site issued "derogatory 'falsehoods' against the women" and listed whether they had any sexually transmitted diseases.
As a result, fraternity alumni have suspended the Drexel chapter and will "reorganize" the group in the fall. The chapter denies many of the most severe allegations, but an alumni official says plans for a shake-up were underway even before the letter came to light. The alumni had worried whether the chapter had "the 'right' group of men" since March. —Alison Go
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Trail Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook June 29, 2007 Comment*It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a giant flying Rubik's cube made by six Virginia Tech engineers and architects, the Collegiate Times writes.
*The roommate of a would-be car theft victim fired a gun at two burglars making the attempt, BYU NewsNet reports. After hearing the car alarm, the two resourceful Brigham Young University students "quickly arose, grabbed pistols, and went to the underground parking to check on the vehicle." —Alison Go
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Harrison Ford at Yale: 'I'm Not a College Grad, but I Play One in Movies'
Tweet Share on Facebook June 28, 2007 Comment (1)Indiana Jones has raided the tower of ivory at Yale University in the first crusade to shoot the fourth film in the 26-year-old series, the New York Observer reports. New Haven storefronts have been transformed into 1957 (how specific) scenery, and a cloud of secrecy (via confidentiality agreements) has befallen the sleepy college town. A "pretty blond" student, who also happens to be an extra, has been shirking her summer school duties in hopes of making it big, while the rest of the campus is aflutter with gossip and supposition. "Some underclassmen callously commented that Mr. Ford was getting a bit long in the tooth for action flicks...[but others said he] was still worthy of being clutched while dangling from a rope over a snake pit—or something along those lines." —Alison Go
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Contestants Camp Out to Win Stinky Cars
Tweet Share on Facebook June 28, 2007 Comment (1)You know what we usually call people who live in cars? Homeless. Or hippies. But for a month in Georgia, we can call them "local celebrities," apparently with no job but with big dreams. A University of Georgia student and seven other contestants are calling two SUVs home until July 13, according to the Red and Black. The vehicles are parked in the middle of a mall and are free of any "luxury items" like books and iPods. The point of all this? Whoever lasts longest gets to take a car home—and, one hopes, some air freshener, too. —Alison Go
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Trail Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook June 28, 2007 Comment*A theater group at the University of Kansas will perform Pageant, featuring a bevy of guys in drag, the University Daily Kansan reports. The production is not a drag show but redundantly described by the director as a "parody of beauty pageants."
*Besides past experience in putting out fires, what do Iceman, Storm, the Flash, and Superman have in common? They pseudo-ironically helped burn down an Ohio University comic book store, the Post writes. —Alison Go
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The Pittsburgh Prairie Dogs?
Tweet Share on Facebook June 27, 2007 Comment (2)In an effort to create a more "refined" look for a University of Pittsburgh logo, school administrators have inadvertently stirred up a maelstrom of discontent among Panther fans, the Pitt News reports. According to one sportswriter, the change "turns the Pitt Panther into a Cowardly Lion, except the lion draws a strange resemblance to a dog." Or according to others, a pit bull, a pig, a prairie dog, or (our favorite) an otter. There's a poll and even a Facebook group ("Boycott the new Pitt logo—it looks like an otter"). —Alison Go
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Next Up in the Midwest's Battle Against Boozing: Illinois
Tweet Share on Facebook June 27, 2007 Comment (1)You know that rule about not talking politics when drinking? The same does not apply when it comes to talking drinks when politicking, and definitely not in Champaign. Home of the University of Illinois, the city of Champaign has recently tackled alcohol problems at a council meeting, the Daily Illini reports. A short list:
1. Excessive intoxication.
2. Lack of routine contact between servers and patrons at bars.
3. The sale of 1.5-liter bottles of wine at bars, stemming from problems caused by campus "wine nights."
4. "Happy Hour legislation."
5. Sale of distilled alcohol in quantities greater than 750 milliliters (a.k.a. a "fifth") in bars.
The restrictive policies, most of which stemmed from problems at campus bars, were shot down because of their "overwhelming" influence on off-campus establishments. The mayor suggested many of the problems would be lifted "simply by raising the entry age to 21," since that's going real well at the University of Iowa. —Alison Go
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In Santa Barbara, Grading Papers Outside = Protest
Tweet Share on Facebook June 27, 2007 CommentTeaching assistants at UC-Santa Barbara held a "grade-in," conducting their work out in the open to showcase the "excessive" workloads caused by burgeoning class size, the Daily Nexus reports. "We wanted to emphasize the fact that we are workers, a fact which we feel is often lost to the university," said one of the protesters. The local United Auto Workers chapter teamed up with the student employees—because we all know how well that worked out for the American auto workforce. —Alison Go
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You'd Want to Pray Too If You Went 4-8 Last Season
Tweet Share on Facebook June 26, 2007 CommentIn response to faculty discontent over a football team chaplain at Iowa State University, the school's athletics council approved a "volunteer life skills assistant" position instead, the Iowa State Daily reports. Critics say that the guidelines would offer a bogus "one size fits all" religious counseling experience and that "life skills volunteer" is really just a superfluously syllabic way of saying "chaplain." Unsatisfied with the changes, opponents of a religious counselor of any kind are prepared to take the athletic department to court. —Alison Go
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Trail Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook June 25, 2007 Comment*UC-Davis is opening its own Robert Mondavi Institute, the California Aggie reports. Best final exams ever?
*A college rivalry taken to the courts (the legal kind) ends with a Texas A&M store owner adding white splotches to a "Saw 'Em Off" parody logo to appease University of Texas attorneys, according to the Battalion.
*Instead of going to Europe, spending tons of money, isolating themselves among other American students, and learning almost nothing about foreign cultures, more students who want to study abroad can choose Africa, the Daily Pennsylvanian reports.
*What to do with a communications degree from Michigan State? Build a giant cupcake tower in pursuit of a Guinness world record, writes the State News. —Alison Go