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Fake Government. Real Arrest Warrants
Tweet Share on Facebook October 25, 2007 Comment (1)Two University of Michigan students were arraigned Wednesday on charges relating to a 2006 online attack during student government elections, the Michigan Daily reports. Each are facing a felony charge of use of a computer to commit a crime, with a maximum penalty of four years in prison and a $5,000 fine, and also misdemeanor charges of interference with an electronic communication device. Neither student offered a comment to the Daily reporters.
In the midst of voting during the March 2006 election period, the website of one of the school's political parties was attacked by a computer program designed to overload the site's servers. That party eventually lost most of its races by slim margins, and the arrests are the latest in a saga in which the college's top three student government parties were almost disqualified for elections violations amassed during the process.
Law enforcement, not surprisingly, deems student government election fraud a low priority, which explains the 19-month gap between the incident and this week's arraignment.
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Facebook Friends Microsoft
Tweet Share on Facebook October 25, 2007 CommentIt's official. Facebook is ridiculous. For just $240 million, Microsoft has secured a 1.6 percent stake (yes, there's a decimal point there) in the social networking site founded by Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg, the Harvard Crimson reports. That values the company at $15 billion and makes Zuckerberg, with his 20-percentstake, a $3 billion man. The deal ends a three-way fight over Facebook between the software giant and rivals Yahoo and Google and also blows away rumors that the Microsoft offer would value the company at a mere $10 billion. In other news, Zuckerberg has become the sexiest Harvard dropout since, well, Bill Gates.
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Trail Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook October 25, 2007 Comment*Minding its reputation for cutting-edge cool, the Ivy League is home to an online Risk tournament, the Daily Princetonian writes. Like the classic board game, students vie for world domination—good practice for a privilege-filled future.
*For its upcoming rivalry game against the University of Missouri, the University of Kansas will be searching for a phrase to replace its "Muck Fizzou" slogan on game day T-shirts, the University Daily Kansan writes. The school will hold a contest looking for a "clever but not vulgar" shirt. What's so vulgar about "muck?" And "fizzou," for that matter?
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Six Hours Later, Bomb Threat Causes Canceled Class
Tweet Share on Facebook October 24, 2007 Comment (129)Wildfires may be closing schools all over Southern California (UC-San Diego, San Diego State University, and Pepperdine University have shut down), but a bomb threat in the Midwest brought midterms to a screeching halt at the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Daily reports. The school canceled class late Tuesday, and several buildings were searched and evacuated after an E-mail stating no specific time and a handful of possible locations was sent to a university account. That E-mail was originally sent around 9:45 a.m., but it wasn't discovered by university personnel until 3:45 p.m. Luckily for the school, no bomb was found.
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Anonymous Evaluations Not That Anonymous
Tweet Share on Facebook October 24, 2007 CommentWhat's the fastest way to get outed on those anonymous professor evaluations? Write antigay comments and death threats, and then get reprimanded for your unnice words. That's what happened to one University of Georgia student who has since written an apology letter and a "1,200-word essay on how his remarks affect the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community," the Red & Black reports.
While the university went as far as hiring a handwriting analyst to confirm who wrote the nasty remarks on the evaluations, the LGBT community is angry, saying the university was slow in its efforts to find and punish the perpetrator of the antigay remarks. "Just last week, Columbia had a very ugly racist incident," said the teacher involved in the incident, referring to the noose hung on a professor's door at Columbia University. "At one institution, nothing is done. At another, the university president goes public."
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Brown Police Put It All on the Table. Students Not Hungry.
Tweet Share on Facebook October 24, 2007 CommentIn an attempt to foster community, display transparency, open discussion, and all those other warm fuzzies, Brown University's Department of Public Safety held an open forum this week for students. None showed up, the Brown Daily Herald reports. "I wasn't expecting standing room only, but I was expecting some students to show," said a DPS official. And now no one can say they didn't try.
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Empty Holsters Make a Point but Are Still a Fashion No-No
Tweet Share on Facebook October 23, 2007 CommentThe Second Amendment is having a moment. Students for Concealed Carry on Campus has organized a protest of concealed weapons bans at colleges. As part of the protest, students all over the country are wearing empty holsters this week, the O'Collegian reports. "It is a chance to draw attention to our cause," said one Oklahoma State University protester.
Some opponents of the ban argue that carrying weapons makes campuses safer and point to the Virginia Tech shooting as an incident in which other students carrying weapons could have prevented more violence. "We think one person at the right place at the right time could have lessened or eliminated the body count," said a Miami University student.
A number of university administrators disagree, saying guns can't possibly make campuses safer, even wondering whether the protest itself is disruptive or insensitive so soon after the Virgina Tech incident. But with proper deference to the Constitution, at least one University of Kentucky police captain bows to that other amendment, according to the Kernel newspaper. "I just don't think it would be a good learning environment if we had everyone running around with guns on campus," he said. "But we do respect their right to protest."
Meanwhile, a Penn State police official explains the school's dense population meshes poorly with not only guns but also bows and arrows, the Collegian reports. Plus there's always that pesky alcohol problem that plagues colleges everywhere. Take, for example, one Penn State student "dancing around drunk" with a concealed weapon strapped to his waistband. Said the police officer: "Obviously, weapons and alcohol do not mix."
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Williams's War on Errant Poo
Tweet Share on Facebook October 23, 2007 CommentWilliams College is having an excrement problem, and everyone—administrators, custodians, students, and the school newspapers' editorial board—is begging the putrid perpetrators to stop. Since the beginning of the semester, custodians have executed six "excrement-related bio-cleanups" on campus, the Williams Record reports. And just this past weekend, workers discovered five vomit-soiled toilets, along with a broken urinal and a damaged bathroom mirror. School officials have questioned its students' "human decency" and worry about their much "abused" custodial staff.
Even more frustrating for law enforcement is that the incidents have occurred all over the campus. "These have been in every neighborhood in every kind of building," Miles told the paper. "I can't say that there's a pattern, because it's been all over campus, which in some ways is more disturbing."
The school is in discussion over how to stop the epidemic. Ideas on the table include harsh punishments and high fines for perpetrators, fostering a connection between the criminals and victims ("putting a face to the people who have recently dealt with bio-cleanups"), community service for the entire student body, and addressing the obvious role of alcohol in these events.
The Williams Record has also taken a hard stand against this sloppy bathroom behavior. "The volume and variety of these bio-incidents indicate that this is everyone's problem. While only a few people may be making the messes, by standing silently on the sidelines, the majority of us are implicitly accepting this behavior. If the only noise the majority of us make about this issue is grumbling after the fact when our houses are slapped with fines, how can we expect change?" Bold words for trying times.
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Wildfires Shutter UC-San Diego Campus
Tweet Share on Facebook October 22, 2007 Comment (103)UC-San Diego may never get a snow day, but wildfires causing "extremely poor air quality" have forced officials to cancel class for the day, the Guardian reports. The university's Thornton Hospital also has ceased elective admissions and outpatient services in preparation for potential fire victims, and the newspaper has set up a blog with civilian commentary on the fires and updated road closures.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, drought-ravaged North Carolina residents aren't yet fleeing from their homes, but are instead outraged by Duke University and University of North Carolina athletic departments continuing to water their field hockey fields—which aren't even made of grass (they're made of synthetic turf). According to the News & Observer, the International Hockey Federation requires wet fields because it not only affects the way the ball bounces but also gives players better grip on the field, preventing injury. Residents in both cities have been banned from outdoor watering (there are only 69 days of water left in Durham's supply), but because of business exemptions, the schools are not actually doing anything illegal.
That's of little comfort to neighbors ("Sprinklers aren't even the right term, they're like fire hoses," said one local. "I couldn't believe it."), but fortunate scheduling may offer more relief: Most of the two teams' remaining games of the season are away.
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School Bands, 'You Suck,' and Differing Levels of Propriety
Tweet Share on Facebook October 22, 2007 Comment (20)The American University athletic department has asked the school's pep band to stop playing the "Hey" song, also known as "Rock and Roll Part II" by Gary Glitter, because students often shout "you suck" to the opposing team during the tune, the Eagle writes. AU's political correctness is charming, considering Louisiana State University's touchdown chant, which also features a hearty "you suck," was barred only after a clever play on words was added during a match-up against the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.
We at Paper Trail, however, can't help but wonder if the ban has less to do with sportsmanship than the original songwriter's recent legal troubles. Too bad, since the song is pretty much a classic.