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Yale Surprised by Inclusion on Iran’s Blacklist
Tweet Share on Facebook January 21, 2010 Comment (5)Yale was taken aback after seeing its name on a blacklist released by an Iranian intelligence agency. The blacklist includes 60 groups that are allegedly part of an anti-Iran conspiracy backed by Britain, Israel, and the United States.
Experts say the whole thing is product of Iranian paranoia, the Yale Daily News reports, and school officials are shocked at their institution's inclusion. Yale President Richard Levin says he has no clue why Yale is on the list. Officials say they hope it doesn't hurt Iranian students' chances of matriculating to Yale—although it's already difficult to get a visa to the United States from Iran, the report says.
"We don't have any official explanation," University Secretary and Vice President Linda Lorimer tells the Daily News, "since obviously the Iranian authorities are not indicating the basis for the inclusion of certain organizations and not others."
A fun fact about the list: Yale is the only entire school listed. Certain programs at certain schools are named, but no other entire institution made the list.
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University of California Considers Wait List for First Time
Tweet Share on Facebook January 21, 2010 Comment (1)The University of California may be on the brink of a radical change.
For the first time in the history of the University of California system, prospective students in the near future may be put on a wait list, the Daily Californian reports. The idea is that a wait list will give the 10-school system more flexibility during the admissions process, a necessity given its financial instability. The ability to increase or decrease enrollment depends on state funding.
The University of California Board of Regents met in San Francisco yesterday and expressed the need for a "coordinated lobbying effort" directed at the state Legislature to get the funding the university needs.
"I think, once again, you have a budget you can't believe in," UC Regent Richard Blum tells the Californian. "I don't think half the stuff is going to come true. We have to be up there [in Sacramento] as regents, as administrators, and as students."
There's interest from at least one regent in rolling back the 32 percent fee increase if the university gets its desired funding, the report says. Others said that the rollbacks should wait until the system's finances are on stronger ground.
In all, the takeaway from the regents' meeting was simple: The University of California has to make its presence felt in Sacramento.
"We should be in touch with every legislator, particularly those who are up for re-election," Blum says. "[We need to] find out who is on our side and who is not on our side and, if they are not on our side, find out how we can support their opponent."
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At Notre Dame, a Comic Strip Gone Awry
Tweet Share on Facebook January 20, 2010 Comment (9)Notre Dame's student newspaper is in some hot water. And the Observer has a not-so-humorous comic strip to blame for it.
The comic strip, called The Mobile Party, featured a saw with eyes, feet, and hands telling a human a joke. The saw says, "What's the easiest way to turn a fruit into a vegetable?" The answer: "a baseball bat." The original version of the comic strip had the same two characters, only the saw's punch line—if you can call it that—was "AIDS" instead of a baseball bat. The newspaper editors rejected the first version but published the second. (Visit College Media Matters for a view of the strip and its original version.)
It's pretty obvious why the strip might offend people. And the Observer is trying to do some damage control. An editorial published on Friday apologized.
"The burden of responsibility ultimately lies on us for allowing it to go to print," the editors write. "There is no excuse that can be given and nothing that can be said to reverse the damage that has already been done by this egregious error in judgment."
The paper's assistant managing editor resigned on Monday, announcing her move in an open letter to the Notre Dame community.
"As assistant managing editor, I have failed in my duties to protect the quality and uphold the standards of the Observer," Kara King writes in the letter.
The comic strip's writers, a trio of seniors at Notre Dame, wrote a letter to the editor that gave the reasoning behind the strip and apologized.
"We want to apologize for the offensive, distasteful, and completely humorless joke that was made and acknowledge the grave error in its production," the comic strip authors wrote. "We cannot begin to express how apologetic we are for everyone who has been hurt by our comic and its implied message."
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Haiti Quake Hits South Dakota State Coach Hard
Tweet Share on Facebook January 19, 2010 Comment (4)The tragedy in Haiti hit home for South Dakota State University basketball coach Scott Nagy, whose 6-year-old adopted daughter is Haitian. Nagy and his family have not been able to contact his daughter's birth mother since the earthquake.
To help the disaster-stricken Caribbean nation, Nagy will coach barefoot this weekend when his South Dakota State Jackrabbits host Oakland University of Michigan, the Associated Press reports. Nagy hopes to raise $30,000 and collect 2,000 pairs of shoes for Haitian relief.
Nagy is working with Samaritan's Feet, a charitable organization that provides footwear for those who need it. The organization has gained attention because of Indiana University-Purdue University—Indianapolis (better known as IUPUI) basketball coach Ron Hunter's work. To donate to Samaritan's Feet, text "shoes" to 85944.
[Read what colleges are doing to provide aid to Haiti.]
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Paper Trail’s End-of-Year Awards Announced
Tweet Share on Facebook January 15, 2010 CommentWell, that was fun. Two weeks of voting for the annual Paper Trail awards prompted some interesting results but no real surprises in terms of winners. The closest vote came for the Best Alternative Media Outlet, where some voiced concerns over the inclusion of the blog Club Trillion, a popular journal kept by Ohio State basketball player Mark Titus. I'm not here to argue those points—we'll cross that bridge next time around if we must. Instead, I'm here to deliver the goods.
Here are the winners:
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University of Southern Indiana Basketball Player Dies
Tweet Share on Facebook January 15, 2010 Comment (7)University of Southern Indiana basketball player Jeron Lewis died Thursday night after witnesses said he hit his head on the basketball court during Southern Indiana's game at Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro, Ky. The cause of death has not been determined.
The 21-year-old Lewis was reportedly convulsing as trainers tried to secure him, according to an ESPN.com report. Southern Indiana's student newspaper, the Shield, reports that Lewis had been with the team for two years. Lewis is survived by his fiancee; a son who was born in December; and his mother.
"The university community is heartbroken with the passing of this outstanding young man," USI President Linda L. M. Bennett said in a statement. "Jeron was an excellent example of a student athlete who strove to be the best that he could be. He will be truly missed, not only by his teammates, but by the university community. Our prayers are with Jeron's family in their time of need."
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Sand Volleyball Back on NCAA's Mind
Tweet Share on Facebook January 14, 2010 Comment (1)Sand volleyball is on a list of sports hoping to reach the Division I ranks. The sport has been waiting for some time, with opinion in college athletics circles strongly divided over whether it should be allowed or not. The debate had calmed down recently—until now.
Sand volleyball is back on the minds of the NCAA, the New York Times reports. There will be a vote tomorrow on a measure that could knock the sport off any lists for consideration for Division I varsity status. All members of the Big Ten Conference plus Duke, Stanford, and Clemson are part of a group of 63 schools working to get the sport voted off the NCAA's list.
Colleges against including sand volleyball as a Division I championship sport—usually schools that have indoor volleyball programs—fear that recruiting will be easier for schools that have sand volleyball programs, the report says. The potential vote has sparked conflicts between schools in the Midwest and in northern states and schools in warmer climates.
"The desire is there, the love of the sport is there, and the time has come to develop sand volleyball," Kerri Walsh ,Olympic gold medalist and sand volleyball champion, tells the Times. "I think people are stuck in their traditions, and change is difficult when you're stuck in those traditions."
Opponents of the sport also worry about resources and the cost of adding another sport to athletic departments' list of responsibilities, especially with the economic troubles many universities are facing. But proponents say new programs would create scholarships and a pipeline of talent for the United States' Olympic and professional teams.
There is a third group that argues that voting tomorrow is too hasty, saying that it's better to debate the topic and come to a compromise than quickly vote on it. We'll find out tomorrow what the NCAA does.
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Applications to University of Chicago Skyrocket
Tweet Share on Facebook January 14, 2010 Comment (8)The University of Chicago is a popular school—and rightfully so. It offers a world-class education in a fantastic city. But even with those positives, it was still surprising to read a report about the school in the Chicago Tribune on Thursday.
The University of Chicago received a whopping 19,306 applications from prospective undergraduate students for the 2010–2011 school year, the Tribune reports. That's a 42 percent jump in applications from last year, which saw more than 13,000 applicants. Even at a time when many schools are seeing increases in applications, a 42 percent rise is significant. The university plans to accept 19 percent of the applicants, the report says. That's roughly 3,500 undergraduates.
[Check out the Complete U.S. News Guide to Admissions.]
The school tells the Tribune that its increased popularity could come from numerous factors: a more prominent national identity, publicity stemming from having President Barack Obama as a former faculty member, or even the second year of use of the Common Application for the admissions process. Whatever caused the change, it's a welcome uptick in applicants. And the quality of applicants has remained high.
"These kids are every bit as witty and intellectually engaged as students of the past," University of Chicago Dean of Admissions James Nondorf tells the Tribune.
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SMU President Calls for Restraint in Sports Spending
Tweet Share on Facebook January 13, 2010 Comment (1)College basketball and football coaches at some elite Division I schools are paid a lot of money. Sometimes, programs at such schools make a lot of money. And in the high-stakes world in which these two entities exist, the costs of keeping both sports and the programs that play them going are soaring at an unsustainable pace.
At the NCAA Scholarly Colloquium on College Sports in Atlanta, university administrators spoke up. One of them, Southern Methodist University President Gerald Turner, said changing the system would require a cohesive effort, starting with financial restraint in coaching salaries, the Associated Press reports. Turner told his audience that schools forget financial responsibility when searching for a new coach or trying to retain a current coach.
"Change will require a national effort," Turner said. "It can't be done just at the conference level and certainly not at the institutional level."
Turner acknowledged, however, that coordination will be difficult.
"The big task as we move forward is to clearly define how to accomplish fiscal reform in a system where there is great diversity among budgets, great diversity among funding models, institutional practices, state legislatures, and other economic considerations and characteristics," Turner said.
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Is There a Rembrandt at Catholic University?
Tweet Share on Facebook January 13, 2010 Comment (3)There's not exactly a catchy lead-in to this story because it speaks for itself: Catholic University President David O'Connell might have found a Rembrandt in his bathroom cabinet.
Let that sink in for a second. A Rembrandt.
The Very Reverend O'Connell, who is approaching his 11th year as the 14th president of Catholic, found the etching some time ago and has been showing it off for years, the Washington Post reports. The piece, which is signed by Rembrandt in two places, is included in Catholic's art exhibit titled "Fine Lines: Discovering Rembrandt and Other Old Masters at Catholic University."
"We saw his name twice on the piece, but we still couldn't believe that's what this was," Leslie Knoblauch, the school's records management archivist, tells the Post. "Who finds a Rembrandt randomly in their home?"
A debate over whether it's really a Rembrandt unfolded from the discovery. One appraiser confirmed through E-mail that it was a Rembrandt, and he also said that copies of Rembrandts are not uncommon. But another appraiser, based in San Francisco, has to see the print in person, according to the Post.
But perhaps the biggest question, which the Post report eloquently asks, is how could a Rembrandt—if it is one—find a temporary home in a bathroom cabinet?
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