Entries for February 2007

The DePauw University women whose waistlines seem to have gotten them evicted from their Delta Zeta sorority house might still belong to a wider sisterhood. "All sorority girls have, whether they will admit it or not, been told about the importance of either maintaining or improving their sorority's image," writes one sorority member at the University of Southern California in today's Daily Trojan. Last semester, for instance, a Kappa Kappa Gamma member sent her sisters an E-mail with tips on how to stay thin. "Attached," writes the columnist, "were inspirational photos of overweight sorority girls from other houses." As the E-mail writer explained, nobody wants to live in "Kappa Kappa Krispy Kreme"!So why bother to stay a member and face such judgments? The USC columnist describes two different worlds: Inside the house, "sorority members embrace quirks, tell you you're beautiful when you feel you are not," she writes. But outside, "We're told in order to ensure a good reputation that when wearing our letters we must look our best, for a sister wearing her letters on a bad hair day could potentially ruin a house's reputation."

Two recent Harvard graduates say their battles to win Rhodes scholarships have not been worth it. High faculty attrition and meager budgets make research at Oxford frustrating, they argue in a Crimson editorial. In addition, though they are special, they do not get special privileges. "There are no breaks for Rhodes scholars," they write. Not even for Harvard-educated Rhodes scholars. "Expect the H-bomb to blow up in your face," they tell fellow Crimson peers. "Your undergrad alma mater can stigmatize you in your department and Rhodes House alike." Their advice: Do some research before you decide to apply for an elite scholarship--because if you're like these brainiacs, you may not realize until you get there that Oxford is not actually in London.

• The University of California-Santa Barbara wants to replace all dorm keys with computerized identity cards that would not only give students access to their rooms but also track their movement, the Daily Nexus reports.
• Foxes roaming around campus are no big deal, the Texas Tech administration is telling students, reports the Daily Toreador.
• A Southern Illinois University-Carbondale program for disabled students has reserved several slots for war veterans who need help transitioning to college life, the Daily Egyptian reports. The transition program will happen this summer.
• At Tufts, a Valentine's Day sex fair has started a debate about casual sex on campus. Last week, a condemnation of the fair; today, a defense.

The University of Nevada-Reno's Sagebrush has a new angle on the old politicians-joining-Facebook story. The paper counted all the political groups it could find, and then counted their members. Here's a rundown of the most popular:

1. "Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)" is the largest, with over 304,000 members this morning (and 288,388 when the Sagebrush counted).
2. "Hillary Clinton for President--One Million STRONG" has 3,960. (A group called "One Million Strong against Hillary" has 7,490.)
3. "Giuliani for President '08!" has 1,980.
4. "John McCain for President--One Million for McCain" has 1,578.

PHOTO: KIICHIRO SATO--AP
Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama makes a stop to talk to reporters Monday, Feb. 26, 2007 after attending a fundraiser in Columbus, Ohio.

A Penn State Daily Collegian columnist says he was fired unfairly for comments he posted on Facebook, but the paper's editor in chief seems to be confident in her decision. Zach Good was a member of a Facebook group opposed to "Thon," a popular dance marathon that raises money for cancer research. His membership--and comments he made on the group's Facebook page--led other students to start a Facebook campaign to "FIRE ZACH GOOD FROM THE DAILY COLLEGIAN." Yesterday afternoon, the Collegian's editor in chief--in a blog post titled "I'm no Donald Trump, but . . . "--seemed to acknowledge that she followed the group's advice. "Anyone has the right to free speech," she writes. "No one has the right to be employed at a newspaper. That is a privilege."

The blog PSU STOP! has an audio interview with Good.

First step: Call your mom. That, at least, was the priority for Mississippi State's new Student Association president, elected last week. You can find a very cute photo--along with some actual news items--in the Reflector.

The University of Rochester's tennis team is at the center of a controversy that has led nine of 11 men's varsity players to quit and two coaches to file reports to campus security. The resignations were a protest against one of their coaches, whom they said they had been complaining about for two years, the Campus Times reported earlier this month. Now, two tennis coaches have filed security reports with the university after receiving anonymous phone calls, the paper reports. The former players deny involvement and instead bemoan the fact that their spots on the squad already have been filled. "I'm extremely disappointed," one player says. "I feel like my tennis career is getting cut short by this and I am afraid that tennis players will be left behind."

A University of Minnesota student says catcalls, rape attempts, and unwanted groping were frequent occurrences she had to endure on her study abroad in Tanzania last year. She'd been warned about harassment, but the student tells the Minnesota Daily that university officials could have provided her more support.

• College students who are also parents could get more help with childcare if Washington state legislators approve a new bill, the Daily reports. Spots in on-campus daycare are so rare at the University of Washington that student parents often have to sit on wait lists for three years.
• A University of Maryland table tennis whiz could go to the Olympics--if his business and engineering double major doesn't get in the way, the Diamondback reports.
• The University of Texas's president yesterday challenged the state's "top 10 percent" law, which requires universities to reserve spots for high school students who have good grades and are state residents, the Daily Texan reports.
• The protester at the center of Berkeley's so-called Oakgate has been arraigned on charges of making threats to a police officer, the Daily Californian reports.

Villanova was in an uproar last week after the school's dining services announced they would ban trans fats. "The bigger issue is what I would call a lack of mutual respect for other people, and that concerns me," the Rev. John Stack, the school's vice president for student life, tells the Villanovan. The debate is not whether students can be trusted to make their own eating decisions but rather whether they can be trusted to wield E-mail with restraint. After an initial mass E-mail was sent reporting the decision, hundreds of students replied--apparently not realizing their comments were being sent to the entire school. The Villanovan reports that responses ranged from "obscenities and personal attacks" to "roommates trying to order a pizza."

They play as many drinking games, reports UC-San Diego's Guardian; therefore the girls are just as wild. But the studies conducted by Loyola Marymount University researchers found girls also face more consequences for their binge drinking than college guys. According to the Guardian, these include unsafe sex, missed classes, and personality changes.

A black student group at Kent State is fighting to keep its permanent seat on a student government committee after a student senator proposed removing spots guaranteed to three student groups: the All Campus Programming Board, the Inter-Greek Programming Board, and Black United Students. A Black United Students member who holds the spot now tells the Daily Kent Stater the permanent designation guarantees minority groups some representation. The opposed member said earlier that he believes diversity will be preserved without guaranteed spots "because qualified minority students exist."

An undecided committee member proposes studying the history of permanent seats before getting rid of them. "If you don't know why these positions are here," he says, "you don't know the effects of removing them."

That's the conjecture made in today's Yale Daily News. As bans in Michigan and California displace minority students, the argument goes, those students will seek refuge in private colleges like Yale. But Yale's dean of admissions doesn't buy the theory; he says Yale competes with only a small number of other private schools, not the big state schools affected by recent bans.

• Wesleyan University's new Campus Fire Safety Department has collected $40,700 in fines since last September, and students are not happy, the Argus reports.
• Florida could be the next innovator in renewable energy, says a University of Florida professor who met with President Bush Friday. The Alligator reports that Karl Rove was also present.
• An Indiana University senior has entered the race for mayor of Bloomington, the Daily Student reports.