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Michelle Obama Challenges George Washington Students
Tweet Share on Facebook September 11, 2009 Comment (10)Michelle Obama likes to say that, in spite of her public obligations, she is first and foremost a parent. And like a mother coaxing a child to be good with the promise of a reward, the first lady has promised to speak at George Washington University's 2010 commencement ceremony if the GW community completes 100,000 hours of community service before the May ceremony, the GW Hatchet reports.
Activities like volunteerism, service learning, and federal work study will count toward the service goal. For GW students to complete Obama's challenge by next year's May 16 commencement ceremony, students will have to volunteer an average of 405 total hours per day, which breaks down to a perfectly reasonable 10 hours of service per undergrad over the course of the year.
Obama's announcement coincides with GW's Freshman Day of Service and the eighth anniversary of 9/11, which President Barack Obama declared a national day of service. Student Association President Julie Bindelglass said that she invited the first lady to the Freshman Day of Service over the summer, and when Obama said that she could not attend, the idea to propose the challenge emerged.
Last year, Michelle Obama spoke at commencement ceremonies for the University of California-Merced.
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Swine Flu Slams Washington State
Tweet Share on Facebook September 11, 2009 Comment (3)Washington has had more reports of flulike symptoms among its college students than any other state—three times more than Georgia, the state with the next highest tally, the American College Health Association and the Seattle Post Intelligencer report.
Testing will be necessary to show how many of the illnesses are swine flu. But the figures are being closely watched because of expectations of a resurgence of the H1N1 virus.
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Police Arrest Penn State Partyers
Tweet Share on Facebook September 11, 2009 Comment (7)Local police have arrested 57 Pennsylvania State University-Altoona students since the start of the fall semester a few weeks ago—a sharp increase from the three students arrested at this point last year, the Daily Collegian reports.
Logan Township Police Chief Ron Heller says that most of the arrests have involved alcohol violations and that township meetings have been packed all summer with residents complaining about students littering and throwing loud parties. "Penn State was named the No. 1 party school," Heller says. "I don't know if they're trying to live up to that title or not."
Junior Eric Sales says that police are unfairly targeting parties to send a message to the Logan Township community. "They're screwing over the kids who want to have fun but are still taking their college career seriously," Sales says. "It's unfair. There can be a party and there are 10 people drinking and having fun, but the police will come up there and arrest everyone."
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Oakland University in Michigan's Strike Ends
Tweet Share on Facebook September 10, 2009 Comment (3)The professors' strike at Oakland University in Michigan ended today after the faculty and the administration tentatively agreed on a three-year contract, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports. On Wednesday, a judge had ordered the two sides to reconvene negotiations after talks stalled.
The contract, according to the report, includes a limit on the use of full-time professors who aren't on the tenure track; protection of faculty members' intellectual property; and options for two healthcare plans. Professors will skip raises this year and give up two days of pay.
The contract must be apporved by a faculty vote.
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Yale Grad Student Missing
Tweet Share on Facebook September 10, 2009 Comment (5)A Yale medical school graduate student went missing Tuesday, the Yale Daily News reports. The 24-year-old Annie Le has not been seen or heard from since Tuesday morning, according to police at the New Haven, Conn., school.
Police said there was no sign of foul play but did not divulge any more details of the investigation. Le's last documented appearance came on a surveillance camera at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, when she was seen entering a Yale research facility, the report says. It's not known when she left that building, but her purse, which held money and a cellphone, was left in her office.
Le was last seen wearing a knee-length brown skirt, bright green short-sleeve T-shirt, brown shoes, and a brown necklace, according to several reports. She is described as being 4 feet, 11 inches tall, weighing 80 pounds, and having straight, shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes. She is of Asian descent.
If anyone has information about the case, contact the Yale Police Department at (203) 432-4400.
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Samford University Hoops Player Found Dead
Tweet Share on Facebook September 9, 2009 CommentA 23-year-old basketball player at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., was found dead in his dorm room on Tuesday morning, the Associated Press reports (hat tip, USA Today).
Jim Griffin, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, apparently had an undetectable heart condition, according to the report. Griffin had worked out and played in a pickup basketball game on Monday night, and the team had scheduled his preseason workout after a trainer gave the go-ahead. Griffin had no prior known medical issues.
The official cause of death has not been released, but an autopsy was scheduled for today.
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Ad in Harvard Student Paper Causes Outrage
Tweet Share on Facebook September 9, 2009 Comment (6)The Harvard Crimson finds itself at the center of controversy this week after publishing an ad in Tuesday's newspaper that questioned the existence of the Holocaust, the Crimson reports. The ad, which was submitted by the founder of the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust, Bradley Smith, will not run the rest of the week, as was previously scheduled.
The ad asked readers to "provide, with proof, the name of one person killed in a gas chamber at Auschwitz." It prompted an overwhelming outpouring of outrage, from campus group leaders to individual undergrads. A joint letter signed by 30 undergraduates said, "Some of us are the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors and were deeply hurt by the implication that those stories passed on to us of our past—of lives lost and families destroyed—were all lies concocted by a vast Jewish conspiracy."
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San Diego State Opens Veterans House on Campus
Tweet Share on Facebook September 9, 2009 CommentIn recent months, there has been a strong push—from educational institutions to the White House—to accommodate veterans returning from active military service around the world. The latest development might even start a new trend at institutions across the country.
The house for veterans that just opened along San Diego State University's fraternity row last week is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States, and it very likely won't be the last, SDSU's Daily Aztec reports. There were school officials from other institutions on hand to witness the grand opening of SDSU's newest on-campus house, where veterans—many of whom use funds from the GI Bill—will live for at least the next three years.
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Virginia Candidate Visits George Washington University
Tweet Share on Facebook September 8, 2009 Comment (3)While speaking with young Republicans at George Washington University, Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell refused to discuss the controversial, conservative arguments he made in his college thesis, opinions that were made public earlier this month and might jeopardize the success of his campaign, the GW Hatchet reports.
In the thesis, McDonnell expressed negative views of working women, feminists, and homosexuals. Many political strategists argue that McDonnell needs the female vote to win the November election. McDonnell, a 14-year Virginia General Assembly veteran, has tried to distance himself from the thesis, telling the Washington Post that, "like everybody, my views on many issues have changed as I have gotten older."
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Tennessee Colleges Will Train Nurses for Disaster
Tweet Share on Facebook September 8, 2009 Comment (3)Professors from the University of Memphis, Vanderbilt University, and Southwest Tennessee Community College will begin training nurses for the battlefield and natural disasters starting next fall, the Daily Helmsman reports.
This summer, the Department of Defense awarded a $2 million grant to these Tennessee schools to create the program, which will prepare nurses to treat the catastrophic injuries associated with natural disasters as well as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons of mass destruction.
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