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Harvard Law School Pushes Students Into Public Sector
Tweet Share on Facebook March 19, 2008 Comment (3)Harvard Law School announced it would waive tuition for third-year law students who pledged to work in the public sector, the Harvard Crimson reports. The program could save a student around $40,000 and is meant to draw students away from corporate law positions. "What this is intended to do is to appeal to students who really want to go into careers in public service but were deterred from doing so because of their fear of carrying around large debt burdens," said the dean.
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Tulane Students Report Pot Shortage
Tweet Share on Facebook March 19, 2008 Comment (3)As if there weren't any bigger problems in the world, Tulane students are reporting a weed shortage on campus, the Hullabaloo writes. Supposedly brought on by a police bust last week, the deficit has students struggling to find replacement dealers and waiting for things to return to the way things were. "Maybe once all the drama blows over things will be back to normal," a resourceful freshman said. "It's really not that big of a deal. I mean, we live in New Orleans. Just because there isn't weed on campus doesn't mean it's hard to get trashed whenever you want."
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Controversial Pitt Sign Stolen
Tweet Share on Facebook March 18, 2008 CommentA controversial bar sign at the University of Pittsburgh has been taken down—but not by the restaurant's owners. The sign—advertising drink and food specials on "Wetback Wednesdays"—was stolen Sunday, the Pitt News reports.
A handful of Pitt students have been boycotting the establishment since late February and have garnered the attention of national media (us, CNN, MSNBC). They have also drawn the ire of the bar owners, who have vigilantly defended themselves and also posted a follow-up sign, mocking the protesters. "For those easily offended: Now offering Mexican-American Wednesdays."
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Students Find Way Around Blood Drive Ban
Tweet Share on Facebook March 18, 2008 CommentBlood drives may be forbidden at San Jose State University, but students—by not claiming any official affiliation with the university—are doing their best to work around the ban put in place by the school's president in January. Members of a school fraternity held a blood drive near campus Monday, the Spartan Daily reports.
President Don Kassing and school officials met last week with FDA officials to discuss the exclusion of gay men from giving blood (the reason SJSU banned blood drives in the first place) but said they left "a little disappointed, a little frustrated" by the FDA's reluctance to reconsider its policies. More recently, Kassing faced the SJSU student media and defended the "suspension" (not ban) of blood drives while also admitting he has not donated blood in a while. "But I've found myself thinking about it." Since it's kind of impossible not to, given all those meetings about banning blood drives.
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Candidates Descend on Pa. Campuses
Tweet Share on Facebook March 17, 2008 CommentFor the next five weeks, it will be Pennsylvania's turn under the political spotlight. Lots of candidate visits, lots of advertising, lots of media attention. On college campuses, the onslaught has already begun. The youth vote favors Sen. Barack Obama, but that hasn't stopped Hillary Clinton from making visits at Temple University and near the University of Pittsburgh.
The end of spring break at Pitt also didn't stop thousands from showing up at the Friday rally (although the crowd was noticeably noncollegiate), while Pittsburgh's young mayor (at 28, the youngest of a major U.S. city) endorsed the senator from New York (her crusade against student debt ain't bad, either).
At Penn State, campaigns for both Democratic candidates are setting up headquarters on campus this week in a push for unregistered voters. And if sales of cardboard cutouts are any signal—Obama has sold three; Clinton, none—Obama-mania has at least partially caught on at State College, too.
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Illinois Students Stage a 'Die-In'
Tweet Share on Facebook March 14, 2008 CommentMarking the upcoming five-year anniversary of the Iraq war, around 50 University of Illinois students staged a march and "die-in" Thursday, the Daily Illini reports. "We're calling it a 'condemoration' because we're both condemning and commemorating the war," said one of the activists. Aside from customary antiwar rhetoric ("We need to stop spending billions of dollars on this illegal and immoral war!" or "It's about ending the military-industrial complex!"), the protesters also drew chalk lines around their "corpses" to really "make passersby understand the human impact of the war." Despite some dirty looks, the event was mostly a success, one of the participants says.
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Michigan Sophomore to Run for Mayor
Tweet Share on Facebook March 13, 2008 Comment (7)A University of Michigan sophomore is planning a run for Ann Arbor mayor—pitting himself against a four-term Democratic incumbent and another Democratic challenger, the Michigan Daily reports. Eric Plourde says he will run as a Libertarian and has reassured voters he'll lighten his course load if he's elected (really).
That will probably be unnecessary, and Plourde himself is under little illusion that he will win. "Being in a minor party doesn't help. Being young doesn't help."
If by some small miracle he did win the election, Plourde wouldn't be the first college student to hold a mayoral seat. Last November, a 22-year-old Bloomsburg University student won an unopposed election with 914 votes for mayor of Bloomsburg, Pa. At age 19, Plourde wouldn't even be the youngest person elected to lead a city. That honor goes to the then 18-year-old mayor of Hillsdale, Mich., who beat a baby boomer incumbent in 2005. Oddly enough, Pennsylvania has also been home to two more elected mayors who can't legally drink alcohol. Must be something in that Michigan and Pennsylvania water.
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Tufts Tackles Mouse Problem
Tweet Share on Facebook March 13, 2008 CommentTufts University, home of the Jumbos, has been wrestling with a mouse problem in dorms all winter, the Tufts Daily reports. While infestations are an annual problem, this winter's invasion is so severe that school officials have begun discussing preventive measures for next year.
In one of the dorms, one room has reported catching seven mice. Students in another room set four mousetraps, all of which went off the first night they were in place. "Now there's just so many [mice]," said a resident. "You'll be trying to sleep and hear a mouse crawling through your desk."
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Spitzer Scandal Disrupts Lobbying Efforts
Tweet Share on Facebook March 12, 2008 Comment (1)Apparently, the Spitzer scandal affects college kids, too! Around 500 students from all over New York, including a "small delegation" from New York University, descended upon Albany Tuesday to lobby for more funding of student aid programs, the Washington Square News reports. Instead, they stumbled upon a Legislature attempting to "regain a sense of normalcy." Said one state senator's aide: "It just doesn't seem real."
The trip was scheduled to coincide with the state Legislature's budget planning, but the unfortunate timing has made lobbying infinitely more difficult. "It felt like the legislators were very careful about what they said more so because of the scandal," said one NYU student. "Did it affect our trip? Absolutely. Everyone seemed to be more quiet, more reserved."
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Two More San Jose Schools Ban Blood Drives
Tweet Share on Facebook March 12, 2008 Comment (4)Following in the footsteps of San Jose State University, the San Jose Evergreen Community College District has also banned campus blood drives because of its commitment to nondiscrimination policies, the Spartan Daily reports.
Because of FDA guidelines, gay men are not allowed to give blood—a policy that conflicts with the district's promise to uphold nondiscrimination "at all costs," as the chancellor put it. Evergreen Valley College and San Jose City College are the two schools that will be affected by the ban.